[Review] A Budget Device with Great Battery Life: The HONOR X7
HONOR X7
RM699
Pros | Cons |
+ Beautiful design | - Average camera performance |
+ 5000mAh battery | - No expandable storage |
+ Google Mobile Services are available | |
+ Budget-friendly | |
We've recently reviewed the HONOR X9 with 5G support and the middle one in the X series (HONOR X8) so, we figure why not give the cheapest model a try too!
Design
If you've seen HONOR's latest X series smartphones, you'll notice that they differ mainly in the design of their rear camera modules, in terms of appearance. The X7 employs a dual-ring design that resembles the one you get on the HONOR 50. Also, both the X9 and the X7 have the same curved edges for a comfortable grip as compared to the flat surface of the X8.
Available in Ocean Blue and Titanium Silver, ours is the latter with a holographic effect with different colors appearing when you look at it from different angles. The rear cover is smooth and has a matte finish, which feels good to touch. The camera rings are housed on a reflective bump where you can see your tiny reflection in it.
On the top of the phone, we have a SIM card slot and a microphone while the volume rocker and the power button with a built-in fingerprint reader can be found on the right. There's a USB-C charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack, a second microphone, and a speaker grille located at the bottom.
Display
The X7 boasts a slightly bigger display than the X8 with a 6.74" screen on an LCD panel. It has a 90.07% screen-to-body ratio and a 1600 x 720 resolution. For an entry-level device, I actually expect that the refresh rate will be set at the most basic 60Hz but I'm glad that HONOR decides to give it a 90Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz touch sampling rate. This means that scrolling and launching apps will be smoother.
You can opt to choose the screen's refresh rate though, between 90Hz for smoother visuals and 60Hz for battery conservation. Like the other two devices, it offers an eye comfort mode, an eBook mode, and a dark mode depending on your needs. The display is also TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light certified to protect your eyes.
Even though it's not an OLED display, colors are still crisp and rich as it supports 16.7 million colors so, watching videos or binging Netflix is pretty great. To enjoy the best experience, I'd recommend you to use your earphones.
Cameras
The quad rear camera module includes:
48MP F1.8 main camera
5MP F2.2 wide camera
2MP F2.4 macro camera
2MP F2.4 bokeh camera
Under bright conditions, the main camera struggles a little when capturing images. Colors are not vibrant and appear slightly washed out. When you zoom in, you'll notice sharpening effects on the photos.
The night mode did a fairly good job in adding brightness to photos taken at night or under dim lights. Again, you'll see the sharpening effect and there's a lack of details.
The macro camera can focus on the object pretty quickly but the photos are very grainy.
On the front, there's an 8MP camera that can take some decent OOTD shots for your daily social media.
Performance
The X7 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor and Adreno 610 graphics, along with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There tend to be occasional delays when we try to launch apps as it takes some time for the apps to open after launch, though that didn't happen very often.
While there are only 4GB of RAM onboard, it offers 2GB of RAM expansion with the HONOR RAM Turbo to make multi-tasking smoother. In any case, it's a budget-friendly option for light users who just need a device for daily social media, light tasks, and casual games.
Since you can't do heavy tasks with this phone, battery life is relatively long as the 5000mAh battery can easily last for almost two days of average use. It allows you to stream online videos for up to 10 hours or talk on the phone continuously for 49 hours on a single charge. With the 22.5W SuperCharge support, the battery can be filled up from 37% to 74% in 30minutes.
Buy or no buy
Like its siblings, the HONOR X7 also comes with Google Mobile Services, which becomes a perk for this entry-level smartphone. It has a beautiful design, a 90Hz refresh rate on a 6.74" big screen, and a large 5000mAh battery. Objectively, you need to make sacrifices for its camera performance and specs for a device budget like this one.