Let the war of the giant screens begin. Huawei went big–real big–with the Ascend Mate: A 6.1-inch screen and 4050mAh battery headline for the Ascend Mate, along with a long list of features like Magic Touch and Smart Reading that will put the device in direct competition with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2.

If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it big. That appears to be the strategy Huawei has taken when creating its newest line of smartphones. The biggest of them all, the Ascend Mate, made its debut on the CES 2013 stage today. With a 6.1-inch (6.1-inch!) screen, the device will immediately draw comparisons to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 — a challenge Huawei seems to welcome.

The Ascend Mate isn’t just a big screen, but the device itself is mostly screen. With a 0.73 screen-to-frame ratio and 9.9mm thickness, Huawei is wasting little space on this device. Every part of that 6.1-inch screen will be sending through a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, touting 316 pixels per inch.

Providing power for that display will be a battery bigger than any rumor was able to guess: A 4050mAh battery, the largest such battery in a mobile device we know of. While that battery is huge, it also won’t be drained easily. With the heelp of a patented technology, Automatic Discontinuous Perception, the Ascend Mate consumes 20% less power. CEO Richard Yu also bragged of 25 percent less time charging compared to the Galaxy Note II.

Aside from the size, the Ascend Mate has quite a few other features centered around the screen that should intrigue. A feature called Magic Touch makes the touchscreen function even if a user is wearing gloves. Richard Yu placed his tie between his hand and the screen and was still able to operate the device. 

Displayed on the screen of the Mate are several new user interface elements. Starting with the One Hand UI, owners of the handset will have the capability to shift elements like the keyboard or dial pad to another side of the screen, making it usable with one hand. Another of the UI innovations is Easy Panel, which allows apps to float over other apps, giving access to multiple apps and information inside them at the same time.