HONOR 50 Lite
RM999
Pros | Cons |
+ Sleek design | - Average camera performance |
+ Google Mobile Services included | - Single channel audio |
+ Great battery life | |
+ 66W fast charging | |
+ Has a headphone jack | |
If you've read our review about the HONOR 50 and had second thoughts due to its price, then stay on this page as we're testing out the cheaper version of the device - the HONOR 50 Lite.
The two models not only pack different specs and features but also look completely different in terms of their designs. Thankfully, this one includes Google Mobile Services too so you'll have access to pre-installed Google apps, like the Google Play Store, YouTube, Google Drive, Gmail, and more.
Design
The HONOR 50 Lite is noticeably heavier than the standard model in hands. In fact, it weighs 17 g heavier than the HONOR 50 at 192 g. On the front, the punch hole design housing the selfie camera is now located on the top left instead of in the middle.
The most obvious difference between the two devices is perhaps the rear cover. Gone is the dual-ring camera design on the back and replaced with a huge "eye". I personally prefer the rear camera bump on this phone as it's rather unobtrusive, allowing the phone to lay flat on tables. Adorning the back are some vertical lines in the middle passing through the camera setup.
The unit that I receive comes in Space Silver. If you want more colour options, there are Midnight Black and Deep Sea Blue available. On a side note, ladies, if you need a mirror 24/7 or every time you're outdoors, you should go for the Space Silver variant. It actually works pretty much like a mirror, reflecting your face enough for you to make some touch-ups in case you left your mirror home. Mirror, mirror on the phone, who's the fairest of them all? However, do bear in mind that it's quite a fingerprint magnet.
Anyway, the bottom edge houses a SIM tray, a USB-C charging port, and a speaker grille. Both the volume rocker and the power button are on the right side, leaving it clean on the left. The power button has an integrated fingerprint sensor that can easily unlock the phone. On the top, you'll find a 3.5 mm headphone jack so yay!
Overall, it may not exude the same premium vibe as the HONOR 50 but it feels good to hold in hands.
Display
The 6.67" HONOR FullView display features an LCD panel with a 1080 × 2376 resolution and a 180 Hz touch sampling rate. Since it's a budget device, the standard 60 Hz refresh rate is expected. While you won't be able to enjoy crispy colours on its display like the HONOR 50, I'm glad that it has only a 1.05 mm narrow screen bezel to make video watching more immersive.
For many of us who can't take our eyes off the screen, it comes with a few eye protection features, including TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light certification, eBook mode, and dark mode so our eyes won't go blind any time soon. The eye comfort feature lets you schedule a timetable or enable it all day long, and you can also tweak its filter levels.
You can also choose from normal to vivid screen mode, and there are options to further adjust the colour temperature. You can select from default to warm or cool, or manually toggle the colour temperature wheel.
Cameras
The quad rear camera setup consists of the following:
64 MP main camera
2 MP depth camera
2 MP macro camera
8 MP wide angle camera
The image quality that you can get from this phone suffice for your daily Insta posts but not to the chef's kiss extent. The main camera did a decent job in capturing photos under enough light sources but they still lack some vibrance.
The wide-angle camera isn't all bad since I didn't expect much after the HONOR 50. You get the same lack of clarity and some parts like the trees in the picture above, for example, appear as only patches of greens instead.
One thing that really puts me off is the macro camera. First, it struggled to focus on the subject and the results were no better than the main camera. Other features available are those that we're familiar with such as Pro mode, Panorama, Super Macro, Time-Lapse, HDR, and more.
Performance
Inside this unit, you'll get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor, along with an 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It runs on Magic UI 4.2, which is based on Android 11.
In terms of performance, it fares decently with social media and website browsing. Apps launching are also pretty smooth. It managed to handle Genshin Impact but you'll be disrupted by lags here and there even at the lowest settings, so not exactly a yay. But if you're going for casual games or less intensive games, this one's all good.
As for its audio, the single speaker grille means you won't get a balanced audio experience. It's loud enough but nothing else worth shouting out for.
What's really worth highlighting about this device is its battery life. Sporting the same 4300 mAh battery, it managed to last me all day with social media, messaging apps, music playback, and video watching. Of course, I have to charge it up at the end of the day but I didn't have worries when I was outdoors without a power bank as I felt like I didn't need one.
Included in the box is the 66W HONOR SuperCharge unit. According to HONOR, it can juice up 100% of battery life in 39 minutes. Based on my test, it took 28 minutes to charge up the phone from 24% to 99%, which is not too far from what's on the paper.
Buy or no buy
The HONOR 50 Lite pretty much serves its purpose as a cheaper version of the HONOR 50. It certainly can handle your daily tasks and social media that kind of stuff. It's a bit of a shame that photo qualities are not excellent otherwise it would be a strong competitor among other devices in the mid-range market.
With a Snapdragon 778G chipset, an AMOLED dispay, and a 120 Hz refresh rate, the HONOR 50 would be a better performer. However, if you're looking for a more budget option, the HONOR 50 Lite is not a bad choice compared to others within its price range.
