Quick Specs:
Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 659(Octa Core Processor)
3/4 GB RAM
5.6" Full HD+ IPS LCD Screen with 18:9 Aspect Ratio(428 ppi)
32/64 GB Internal Storage
Dual SIM Hybrid MicroSD Card Support
Rear Dual Camera 13 megapixels f2.0+ 2 megapixels(with PDAF)
Front Dual Camera 13 megapixels f2.0+ 2 megapixels(with LED flash)
3, 000 mAh Battery
Fingerprint Scanner
What I Liked about this Device:
DESIGN & BUILD QUALITY: It has a glass sandwich design and the new 18:9 screen aspect ratio which make it one of the most premium looking smartphone at this price point. Its in-hand feel is also really great. The weight balance has also been done very well. It is not very heavy.
SCREEN: The screen quality that Honor has used here is also very good. In fact, the auto brightness sensor calibration has also done very well.
SENSORS: Honor has not skimped on sensors also. It has all the necessary sensors including the gyroscope sensor.
CELLULAR CALL QUALITY: The cellular calls are also very good. There is no issue regarding signal reception. The audio via the earpiece is also very clear and crisp.
SPEAKERS: It has a single bottom firing speaker which is adequately loud and clear. Calls via loud speaker were also fine.
PERFORMANCE: In my daily usage, I didn’t notice any UI lag. General performance was good.
GAMING: I did some casual gaming on this smartphone and it ran without any issues. But with some heavy games like the Modern Combat V, there were some frame drops here and there. So, with very heavy games you might notice some frame drops but with most of the games, it played very well.
CAMERAS: It has dual camera setups both at the front as well as the rear. And in this price bracket, it has the best front facing camera. The pictures from the rear camera were also very good. No issues regarding camera performance in general(check the cons).
BATTERY LIFE: With typical usage, I was getting very good battery life out of this one. It easily lasts for a full working day. I was getting screen on time of about 4.5 hrs to 5 hrs. The battery backup was for over 24 hours on a single charge. With very heavy usage you might get a full day of juice on this one.
What I didn’t Like:
RAM MANAGEMENT: The RAM management is quite aggressive on this one. After using about 4-5 apps, when I get back to the first app, it reloads it. But don’t get me wrong, it is one for most of the users.
CAMERAS: No doubt it has very good cameras at the front as well as at the rear, but the portrait mode on the rear camera is not great. It looks very artificial as of now. Hope Honor fixes it with a software update. Also, the camera performance in very low lighting situations is not so good. Moreover, it also doesn’t have any kind of stabilisation while recording video.
DIALER: There is no video calling option on the dialer by default. I hope Honor fixes it with a software update.
CONCLUSION: It is a pure value for money(3GB RAM & 16GB Storage variant). It has a nice rear camera, one of the best front cameras, very premium look and feel, a decent processor and comes with very good battery life. At about 11K rupees, it is really a very good smartphone and if you are willing to buy it, then go for it. I’m sure you’ll not regret.