Content
- Video review
- Equipment and design
- Software
- cameras
- Performance
- findings
Remember Honor X smartphones? It seems that quite recently this line was on horseback, annually competing for the title of the best mid-budget smartphones on the market. Now independent, Honor launched three X-phones at once in different markets, the central one being the Honor X8. Will he be able to restore the reputation that has been forgotten in recent years? Let’s find out!
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Specifications Honor X8 |
|---|---|
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Firmware | Android 11 with Magic UI 4.2 |
| Screen | 6.7″, 2388×1080 pixels, 19.9:9, 391 ppi, IPS, 90 Hz, touch 180 Hz |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 , 6 nm CPU: 4 x A73 x 2.4 GHz + 4 x A53 x 1.9 GHz GPU: Adreno 610 |
| RAM | 6 GB |
| ROM | 128 GB |
| SIM and memory card | Two nano-SIM slots |
| Camera | quadruple Main : 48MP, f/1.8, phase detection autofocus, 1080p@30fps video recording Wide Angle : 5 MP, f/2.2, 1080p@30fps video recording Macro : 2 MP, f/2.4 Bokeh : 2 MP, f/2.4 |
| Selfie | Center hole , 16 MP, f/2.5, 1080p@30fps video recording |
| Battery | 4000 mAh |
| Charger | 22.5W |
| Wireless interfaces | WiFi 5 bluetooth 5 A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo FM radio |
| NFC | Not |
| Biometrics | Fingerprint scanner (at the end) |
| Sound | 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Waterproof | Not declared |
| Dimensions and weight | 163.4 x 74.7 x 7.5mm 177 g |
Video review
Equipment and design
The set is usual: documentation, USB-C cable, charger, protective film on the screen (applied at the factory), SIM-tray needle. It’s good that they didn’t abandon the charger – it pleasantly surprised me, but more on that later.
Honor X8 has three colors: silver, black and blue. They differ in the texture of the back; silver, for example, looks matte and shimmers very cool under the rays of the sun. However, this is only a visual difference, otherwise the body of all models is plastic, and the back panel material is glossy.
However, despite the simple materials, the design of the Honor X8 is excellent. Firstly, the smartphone is very thin (7.5 mm) and light (177 g). Secondly, the company managed to combine the trend towards flat ends with good ergonomics. Nothing sticks into the hand and does not cut, the grip is strong and comfortable. Well, it looks really nice.
The combination of matte and glossy back elements also looks beautiful. This idea is far from new, but it looks really cool, and the Honor X8 is implemented very well. Well, we can’t say about the frames – they are incredibly thin, which allowed Honor to place a large 6.7 “screen in a case measuring 163.4 x 74.7 mm. For comparison, Redmi Note 11 Pro with a slightly smaller diagonal (6.67” ) is 0.8 mm longer and 1.4 mm wider. But here IPS!
By the way, about IPS. The screen resolution is 2388×1080 pixels, which corresponds to an aspect ratio of 19.9:9. Due to technology, there is no PWM here, which is undoubtedly good; in addition, thanks to the RGB pixels, the picture looks a little sharper than on AMOLED screens. But there are also disadvantages: on the street, the maximum brightness of the Honor X8 is enough back to back. 90 Hz in the interface is felt clearly, as in many applications; The touch constantly threshes at 180 Hz.
About little things. There is no stereo, and the bottom speaker is average in quality. But you can listen through headphones, 3.5 mm is in place, like a fingerprint scanner, it is in the power button and works quickly and clearly. Vibro simple, rattling. There’s no microSD space in the tray, so 128GB of onboard storage is all you’ll get.
Software
The Honor X8 comes pre-installed with Android 11 and the proprietary Magic UI 4.2 skin. Neat, functional, stable – there is nothing to scold her for. Unless you have to admit that lately it has been standing still. But there are Google services and Google Play certification. It is, of course, very pleasant.
cameras
Honor X8 received a quad rear camera, but upon closer inspection, the quartet is rather modest: a 48-megapixel main module, 5-megapixel wide and two 2-megapixel sensors: macro and bokeh. There is autofocus on only one camera, there is no opto-stub, as the vast majority of classmates do not have it. The flash is simple, just one LED. It doesn’t sound very cheerful, but we know that Honor can “pull” photos with algorithms. Did you make it this time? We look.
Main camera
Foundation and macro
Shirik
In my opinion, the camera is capable of good results – and the more light, the better for it. Even the digital zoom on the main module is quite working. The ultra-wide does its job of providing a wide angle, but don’t expect more. In general, the Honor X8 camera is in line with the segment – no more, no less.
Video recording is available on the main, wide-angle and front cameras, the maximum quality is 1080p@30fps. Not 4K, not even 2K, not 60 fps. But they brought in the “Dual View” mode, which allows you to simultaneously shoot on the main and front cameras – this is cool, although I would appreciate the EIS stabilization function more. Sound capture was a pleasant surprise, the system of two microphones copes with a bang.
Performance
The hardware basis of the Honor X8 is the Snapdragon 680 chipset. Recently, Qualcomm has been in trouble with naming, so I’ll explain: this is a slightly updated version of the Snapdragon 665, which was released three years ago and became the basis for Redmi Note 8, Xiaomi Mi A3, Realme 5 and many other smartphones. They increased the frequency of the cores, reduced the manufacturing process (6 nm instead of 11 nm), but the video accelerator remained the same (Adreno 610), as did the architecture: 4 x A73 + 4 x A53. Although such a combination can hardly be called modern, this chipset is extremely popular with Android manufacturers: over 20 models based on it have been released in six months.
The graphs from the benchmarks inspire optimism – even without a performance mode, the smartphone is not that much throttling, and if you turn it on, then both the CPU and GPU give out an almost perfect straight line. But in absolute terms, the results are not the highest. The smartphone is enough for simple games (tested in Standoff 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Subway Surfers), but in the same Genshin Impact you have to set low graphics (by the way, it turns out quite playable – see the video review).
Now about autonomy. For the sake of the small thickness, the manufacturer installed a 4000 mAh battery in the Honor X8. However, it is still enough for 5-6 hours of screen on, depending on scenarios. That is, in general, enough for a day without problems. For two hours of showing a video from YouTube, the smartphone was discharged by 17%, for an hour in the game – by 22%. Thus, you can count on 11-12 hours of YouTube or 4.5 hours of gaming on a single charge.
The smartphone charges to some extent quickly – partly due to the battery capacity of 4000 mAh, partly due to the high efficiency of charging. With its modest power (22.5 W), the battery is charged half in 29 minutes, up to 75% in 45 minutes. The smartphone reaches 90% in an hour, and it took me 85 minutes to fully charge. Almost half an hour for the last 10% is not fast, but in this way Honor saves your battery life. If this is critical, then you can turn off smart charging and smart battery capacity, which optimize the charging process based on user patterns to increase battery life.
findings
At the time of writing the review, Honor X8 can be bought for 24,990 rubles. Prices for different smartphones are now changing so quickly and chaotically that I can’t even say if it’s expensive, normal or super profitable. At the beginning of the year, selling such a smartphone for such money would definitely have been a bold move, but now, maybe not. One way or another, Honor X8 is a pleasant smartphone with high-quality software, a safe smooth screen, some kind of width, acceptable performance and autonomy, as well as a stylish and comfortable body.
And once again, I note that the last three Honor models come with Google services. These are Honor 50 Lite, Honor 50 and Honor X8. For many, this is important.
© Ilya Nerybov. mobile phone
