After unveiling its Ascend W1 Windows Phone handset at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, China-based device manufacturer Huawei said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the entry-level Windows Phone smartphone will hit the UK markets on March 7; and will be available exclusively from O2.

According to the details shared by Huawei, the Ascend W1 handset will become available in store and online in UK for £119.99 on prepay, and for free on contracts from £13.50 a month. Initially, the handset will be available in `Electric Blue' from March 7; with `Electric Pink' becoming available from March 18.

A significant ATL marketing campaign across UK media will apparently be supporting the Huawei Ascend W1, which will essentially challenge Nokia's newly-announced Lumia 520 and other handsets in the similar price range.

Some of the most impressive features of the Huawei Ascend W1 include a bright 4-inch IPS LCD 480 x 800 touchscreen; a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor with an Adreno 305 GPU; and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash.

In addition, the Ascend W1 handset will also boast 4GB built-in storage capacity, which will be expandable to 32GB with a micro SD card; and a notably big 1950mAh battery that will be capable of providing the longest standby time of smartphones in its category.