Pros | Cons |
+ Slim and lightweight | - Slow charging |
+ Inexpensive | - Mono-speaker |
+ Pretty good quad-camera | |
HONOR X8
RM 899
As HONOR has just released the HONOR X series namely X7, X8 and X9. I took on the pleasure of reviewing the HONOR X8.
Design
Upon opening the box, one thing that piqued my interest straight away was how slim and light the X8 felt - and that’s because it comes with a thickness of 7.45mm and weighs just 179g, allowing it to fit comfortably in my pockets without creating a bulge.
The HONOR X8 comes in 3 stylish colours for those young adults (or if you’re young at heart) who love to mix and match their colours. There is Titanium Silver, Midnight Black, and the Ocean Blue, which is the colour of my review unit. I especially love this colour as it’s not a striking blue that makes it hard to match to an outfit - rather, it comes in a deep blue that you would usually see on the sky after the sunsets.
On the back of the phone, the quad camera gives a small bump but not overly exaggerated to bother me. The HONOR logo is also located on the bottom of the back. I would like to mention that since the back of the phone is made of glass, it is kind of a fingerprint magnet but it wipes off pretty fast and neatly too.
In terms of accessibility, the volume rocker and lock button is located on the right and the SIM card tray can be found on the left. On the bottom of the phone, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB-C charging port.
Display & Audio
The HONOR X8 comes with a 6.7 inch FullView ultra-thin LCD display that is coupled with a 2388x1080 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. The screen is very pleasing to look at with incredibly thin bezels, allowing the viewing experience to have more screen-to-body ratio.
In the settings, you also have the option to choose between refresh rates for performance or to save power. This allows you to change up your refresh rates to suit your needs and preferences for different tasks.
One addition that I find great is the Eye Protection features. The HONOR X8 has a TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification to reduce harmful blue light output, which helps with eye strain and fatigue after long hours of usage.
Audio-wise, it comes with a mono-speaker that I am not particularly fond of as it makes the audio output imbalance especially when gaming. However, if you want to listen to songs or watch an episode of your favourite drama it should suffice.
Camera
As mentioned above, the HONOR X8 features a quad camera setup - the 64MP being the main rear camera, a 5MP wide-angle camera, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP bokeh camera.
The main camera actually worked pretty well for an entry-level smartphone. Despite losing a little bit of sharpness on the picture, it didn’t ruin the overall picture. The wide-angle camera also did not disappoint me as the picture maintained its clarity without compromising the colours.
With regards to the selfie camera, I personally do not like looking heavily filtered though I do know some people who actually prefer it. The selfie camera did blur out most imperfections I have but it did leave the skin around my nose area cakey.
Overall, the pictures should suffice for casual social media postings every so often and it doesn’t necessarily look the worst for a entry-level budget phone.
Performance
The HONOR X8 is powered with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor and the unit I have is equipped with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, which can be expanded with an additional 2GB with the HONOR RAM Turbo.
Speaking from experience, this phone is definitely easy to slip into your bag or pockets as it’s slim and lightweight. It is also great if you are a gamer or feel the need to scroll through social media every so often as it doesn’t really get stuck on you halfway through.
In terms of battery, it is equipped with a 4000 mAh battery that managed to last me throughout the day without the need for a charge. However the 22.5W charger doesn’t really impress me as it took me 70 minutes to charge from 20% to 100%.
Buy or no buy?
Personally, I think the HONOR X8 is alright and it could be a great phone if you are not looking for anything mainstream and more towards the budget-friendly side of things.
Overall, I like how it’s a phone that’s within the budget and has pretty nice features making you really get the full worth of the phone. However, if you feel like the HONOR X8 is not satisfying you enough, stay tuned for our HONOR X9 review that is going to come soon.
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