It's happened to all of us before. At lunch with a coworker or maybe dinner with a friend, and out they pull their sleek new smartphone or phablet. You ask to take a peek, feel the twinges of green-eyed envy, and realise the very real need to upgrade your own device. 

It's a fact. Smartphone technology is constantly improving. Are you ready to experience all the incredible benefits that an upgraded device will provide? Your timing couldn't be better with the recent release of the Huawei Ascend Mate 7.  

To provide fuel for your decision-making, here are seven telltale signs that the Ascend Mate 7 will prove to be everything you've ever dreamt of in a smartphone and more.

1) Trying to remember all your passwords is driving you crazy

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When you've used up every dog/street name/birthday combination, you've officially reached password overload. Fear not! We have the perfect 007-inspired solution for you.

Ascend Mate 7 is equipped with a fingerprint reader on the back of the handset that can store up to five sets of fingerprint records. Especially key is that the Ascend Mate 7 incorporates the latest single-touch fingerprint technology enabling users to unlock the phone at least 80 per cent faster than devices that use a slower sweeping recognition option. In other words, no more prolonged finger dragging or multiple taps!

Also important, fingerprint records can activate either normal or guest mode, which means while your fingerprint can provide access to private folders, applications, or payment information, you can still lend your phone to someone else and not worry about them gaining access to your stash of, um, "personal files."

2) You need something that runs longer

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You know the feeling. You've been engrossed in various apps and features of your smartphone for a while and then, uh-oh, it happens.

Your battery dies. Or even more frustrating, you are alerted that your battery is critically low.

Total buzzkill, right? With your upgrade to the Ascend Mate 7, you can avoid this all too common scenario with the longer lasting 4100mAh Li-Polymer battery, which combines with Huawei's proprietary power-saving technology, to deliver unprecedented longevity (more than two days of non-stop normal use) for when you need it most.

3) You need high-speed connectivity

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Wireless broadband technology has developed so fast, even your friends' 3G smartphones seem like they connect over 56K modems these days. Blow them all away with the Ascend Mate 7, which features the fastest LTE Cat 6 connectivity with speeds of up to 300Mbps. What does that mean in real terms? It means you can download an HD movie in the time it takes to read this paragraph. Impressed yet?

4) You're too sexy for your phone

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Right, so you bought 20 new outfits, dropped a small fortune on your shoes, and spent the last hour wrestling your hair into the perfect 'do. Good to go, right? Not so fast. Have you looked at your phone recently? Whether it's a QWERTY brick or a me-too smartphone, chances are it's going to drag down your style quotient.

Time to dial up the chic! The Ascend Mate 7 is made up of more than 95 per cent metal with interior structure composed of strong aluminium alloy in a slim 7.9mm, 185g profile. What does this mean for you? Well for one, you won't be the only one turning heads tonight as your new "smart" companion is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. For another, and proving you don’t need to sacrifice style for practicality, the Ascend Mate 7 features superior heat reduction and, with ergonomically curved back, makes one hand operation a breeze.

To put the final touches on your "new" look, the Ascend Mate7 is available in three striking colors: moonlight silver, obsidian black, or amber gold.

5) Life is already complicated enough

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Let's face it. In the hustle and bustle of modern life, whether it be rushing off to that important meeting stack of files in hand or grasping the handle bar on a crowded subway commute, having to awkwardly fumble around with your phone with your "free" hand to search for a contact or send a simple text doesn't help on an already stressful day. Good news: the Ascend Mate 7 comes with EMUI 3.0, a UI designed with you in mind, enabling easy one-handed operation, consistency across apps, and innovative user-friendly features such as switching between the call, contact, and messaging functions with a single horizontal swipe.

6) You crave entertainment, whenever and wherever

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We've all been there: you're waiting for a friend who's late (again) and you have a few minutes to kill. Your options were once (a) stare at the ground, (b) twiddle your thumbs, or (c) play another game of Tetris. Luckily for all of us, technology has made entertaining ourselves every minute of the day easier than ever.

With its 6-inch screen, full HD display, and 1500:1 high contrast ratio, the Ascend Mate 7 provides sharp images and is the perfect tool for enhanced entertainment. Not only that, but the phone is equipped to deliver an uninterrupted 8 hours of video streaming and 9 hours of web browsing (more on that in a minute).

7) You wish your smartphone was actually smart

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"Smartphone" can sometimes seem like a misnomer when the device in question isn’t powerful or fast enough to actually, well, seem all that smart. Not so with the Ascend Mate 7. Its intelligent Huawei Kirin 925 processor is made up of four large A15 1.8GHz and four small A7 1.3GHz chipsets that are activated in different configurations depending on the power needs of a specific app or function. This translates to an ultra-fast experience and optimal power usage and efficiency.

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