Content
- Equipment
- TECH SPECS
- Positioning
- Appearance and controls
- Display
- Working hours
- Communication features
- Memory, chipset and performance
- Камеры
- Musical possibilities
- Impressions
Equipment
- Phone
- Network adapter
- USB cable
- cover
- Instructions
- Warranty Card
| TECH SPECS | |
| Dimensions and weight | 156.28 x 73.5 x 8.22 mm, 150 grams |
| Body materials | Glass, plastic |
| Display | 6.09 inches HD + (1560 x 720 pixels), 282 PPI, IPS. Protective glass with rounded edges (2,5D). Capacitive multi-touch 10-finger interface |
| Operating system | Google Android 9, proprietary shell EMUI 9 |
| Platform | MediaTek Helio P35 (MT6765), 12nm, 64bit, 8-core, 4 × A53 2,3GHz + 4 × A53 1,8GHz, PowerVR GE8320 graphics |
| Memory | 3 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, microSD up to 512 GB (non-combo slot) |
| Wireless Interfaces | Wi-Fi b / g / n, 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC |
| Сеть | 2G: 850/900/1800/1900 МГц 3G: B1/B2/B4/B5/B6/B8/B19 4G: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20 Dual SIM nano (VoLTE / VoWi-Fi) |
| Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS |
| Sensors and connectors | Rear fingerprint reader, micro-USB. Light sensors, digital compass, proximity sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer |
| Main camera | 13 MP, 25mm, f / 1.8 |
| Front-camera | 8 MP, 25mm, f / 2.0 |
| Battery | Capacity 3020 mAh, adapter 5V / 1A |
| Audio | Two microphones for noise canceling 1 speaker for hands-free output, 1 voice speaker; FM radio works with a connected headset |
| Color | Black, blue and gold |
| Price | 9 rubles (official price on the Honor website) |
Positioning
Not so long ago, an inexpensive solution from the Honor brand appeared on the Russian market – a smartphone with the simple name 8A prime. It replaces the cheaper 8A device (it is slowly being removed from the market).
For some time I didn’t pay attention to 8A prime, because I didn’t see anything interesting in it: simple appearance, primitive parameters, low price – it’s unlikely that something worthwhile will come from such a device.
First I tested the camera – I was surprised at the quality: there is only one module, but it shoots very well. Then I decided to check the autonomy. And I was even more surprised: almost 17 hours of video playback at brightness around 70% and about 7 hours of toys already at maximum brightness. And in the settings I found NFC, VoLTE and VoWi-Fi. Moreover, contactless payment via NFC functions without all sorts of dancing with bongos, and all because Google services are installed inside the device! Yes, for me this is a novelty, since for the last six months I have been working only with Huawei / Honor without GMS.
The Honor 8A prime smartphone is thin, light, with a good screen and all the important features of a modern phone for relatively adequate money: today it can be easily ordered for 9 rubles. Of course, you can find it cheaper.
Appearance and controls
The smartphone is made of plastic and glass. The side edges and the back panel are made of plastic, it is glossy and perfectly collects fingerprints. Fortunately, they are visible only from a certain viewing angle. Glass with “oleophobic”, average quality.
In terms of design, everything is extremely simple: not a very large case with sloping edges, a flat back cover in different colors. In general, the usual appearance of the device in recent years.
The device is lightweight and easy to use, it fits well in the hand due to its optimal weight and size parameters. Collected conscientiously: the main thing is that the rear panel does not bend up to the battery. The material is non-slip even with wet hands.
The colors are pleasant: green (I would say emerald), blue and black (rather dark gray). I had the first option in my hands. It seems to me the most successful, since there are a lot of blue and black smartphones now.
Out of the box, a protective film was glued to the display, definitely not a factory one, since it literally peeled it off from the glass – thin, but durable and of high quality. Why did you take it off? To test the quality of the oleophobic coating. As I said, it is average, but definitely better than on film.
On the right is the power button and volume rocker. Below is a microphone, speaker and micro-USB. Yes, for 10 rubles I would like to see USB-C.
On the left you will find a plastic slot for two SIM cards and a memory card (not combined). Above is a noise canceling microphone and 3.5 mm headphone audio output.
On the reverse side, at the top left, there is a small-sized camera with a metal rim protruding from the body literally by a millimeter. Slightly lower is the flash, and the fingerprint scanner is in the center of the upper area. The sensor works perfectly, not like the current subscreen.
Total: outwardly simple, but with pleasant colors, easy to use, lightweight. All connectors are in place.
Display
| Display | 6.09 inches HD + (1560 x 720 pixels), 282 PPI, IPS. Protective glass with rounded edges (2,5D). Capacitive multi-touch 10-finger interface |
The viewing angles of the screen are maximum, no distortion, which is commendable. The 8A prime’s display is ideal for this segment. I would like FullHD +, but I’m afraid the device would become even more blunt (see the section on performance).
The brightness is high (in the region of 570 cd / m2), it is enough for trouble-free reading of information during the day. The minimum brightness is comfortable for receiving data from the screen in complete darkness – it does not blind the eyes. In addition, there is no PWM, so the eyes don’t get tired. The screen settings adjust the color temperature, sleep mode and eye protection. Opponents of the dark area at the top of the screen in the settings can hide it. I hide it even on Honor 30 Pro +.
Working hours
It would seem that the Honor 8A prime has a battery of only 3020 mAh – the operating time should be below the baseboard. But no! When playing a video at a brightness of about 70%, the gadget showed almost 17 hours of screen luminescence. Usually such data is shown by devices with AMOLED / OLED screen matrices. If you load the Honor 8A prime with toys, the battery will run out after 7 hours. Downright unrealistic numbers. In normal operation, the screen luminescence is 5-6 hours with one day of work.
It would be great if the kit included an AC adapter with fast charging, but in the box you will find only 5V / 1A, which powers the battery up to 100% in 3 hours 20 minutes. However, by purchasing a more powerful power supply, this process can be accelerated by half.
Communication features
| Сеть | 2G: 850/900/1800/1900 МГц 3G: B1/B2/B4/B5/B6/B8/B19 4G: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20 Dual SIM nano (VoLTE / VoWi-Fi) |
| Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS |
| Sensors and connectors | Rear fingerprint reader, micro-USB. Light sensors, digital compass, proximity sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer |
Traditional capabilities of almost any modern smartphone. Unambiguous pluses: VoLTE / VoWi-Fi, NFC chip functioning via Google Pay. It is also worth mentioning the support of LDAC and WHA.
The phone works with GPS and GLONASS. Finds up to 30 satellites instantly, even in a room close to a window. It operates in open areas with 15 – 25 satellites, accuracy – from 5 meters.
Memory, chipset and performance
| Memory | 3 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, microSD up to 512 GB (non-combo slot) |
The RAM speed is 4200 MB / s – a common result of budget devices. For 10 rubles, I would like to be in the region of 000 – 7 MB / s.
Built-in memory speed – 200/100 Mb / s. The reading speed of the Honor 8A prime is twice as fast as the reading speed of the Honor 8A.
There is a slot for a microSD memory card, and you do not have to think about leaving two SIM cards or still one SIM card and a memory card.
| Platform | MediaTek Helio P35 (MT6765), 12nm, 64bit, 8-core, 4 × A53 2,3GHz + 4 × A53 1,8GHz, PowerVR GE8320 graphics |
The processor here is from MediaTek – Helio P35, aka MT6765. The mobile chipset has eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 2,3 GHz (two clusters) and an IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU. For the production of MediaTek Helio P35, a 12nm process technology is used.
The phone itself is quite cheerful, without glitches and lags. But as soon as you load it with some task, such as installing an application from Google Play, the smartphone turns into a vegetable.
When I tested the Honor 8A, it seemed to me that it was a slow memory. It turns out that the problem is quite different.
The situation is the same with games: arcades run without problems, but all sorts of 3D shooters or strategies cause “heartburn” in the smartphone – drop in frame rates and other unpleasant things.
The device runs Google Android version 9.0, but the proprietary shell EMUI 9.0.1 is installed on top of the system. The link below is an overview of this UI:
Of course, I would like Android 10 and EMUI 10, but it is unlikely to be.
Камеры
Loudly named the “Cameras” section in the plural. But in fact, there is only one main camera and one front camera. Even somehow unusual.
| Main camera | 13 MP, 25mm, f / 1.8 |
| Front-camera | 8 MP, 25mm, f / 2.0 |
I didn’t expect anything good from one module, but my assumptions turned out to be wrong: during the day the camera shoots just fine – high sharpness, good detail, accurate colors, no artifacts. The HDR mode does its job well. By the way, I would recommend using it in the Honor 8A prime, as sometimes the software misses the exposure.
If you are shooting at home lighting conditions, then a large aperture hole comes to the rescue: a larger aperture means more light in the frame. Yes, there is a little noise, but overall the picture looks good.
In the dark, of course, the picture begins to crumble, but the detail is still preserved. Believe me, devices for 10 rubles and cheaper sometimes take pictures in such a way that it is better not to show them to anyone.
The smartphone shoots video in 1080p at 30 fps. The picture is pleasant, the exposure almost does not “jump”, the focus is instant and accurate. In the dark, the number of frames does not drop, which is good, but the image becomes noisy. The sound is clear, stereo (48 kHz, 128 kbps, AAC).
The front camera is great! It even has a slight natural blur in the background. Colors are vibrant, accurate, sharp and crisp on par with more expensive devices.
Total: the best front camera in its price range, a very good photo-video camera for 10 rubles!
You can read about the interface here:
Sample Photos
Musical possibilities
The Honor 8A prime uses a single speaker for hands-free output. It is loud, sounds clear, without distortion and overload.
I tested musical capabilities with JBL Live 300 TWS, Harman / Kardon FLY TWS, Huawei FreeBuds 3 and Bose QC35 (with and without wire). In general, the volume was above average, the sound quality was most accurately revealed by the Harman / Kardon headphones: the accent of the sound is shifted to the middle, there are quite a lot of high frequencies, and the low ones are heard perfectly.
There is an FM radio, but it does not work without a headset. Although in the previous generation of the device it was “started up” without headphones.
Impressions
Honor 8A prime is a lucky guy! Despite my initial skepticism about such a simple device, the gadget made a good impression.
But in 8A prime, two things confused me:
- System brakes under load
- A somewhat high price. If they asked for Honor 6 – 000 rubles, I would even close my eyes to the low performance.
On the positive side:
- Excellent screen quality: IPS, 700 cd / m2
- Long battery life
- NFC, VoLTE / VoWi-Fi, 3.5 mm
- Google services
- Good quality cameras
- Excellent build of the device
What can you buy now for about 10 rubles?
- realme C3… 5000 mAh battery, three cameras, 6.5-inch screen, NFC and Google Android 10
- really 5… Four cameras (even shooting in 4K, slow motion 240 fps), 6.5-inch screen, Qualcomm 665 processor, 5000 mAh battery, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5, NFC
- in vivo Y12… Three cameras, 5000 mAh battery, 6.35-inch screen, Bluetooth 5. I did not see the NFC chip in the characteristics
- oppo A5s… Dual cameras, 4230 mAh battery, 6.2 inches screen. Cons – no NFC
- redmi 8… 5000 mAh battery, fast charging, dual cameras, Qualcomm processor, USB-C
- Redmi Note 8T… Four cameras, 3G RAM and 32GB internal memory, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, 6.3-inch FHD + screen, 4000 mAh battery, Wi-Fi ac standard, Bluetooth version 5.0 and NFC. Simply the best for your money: on the official website it is sold for 10 600 rubles.
I think from the list of competitors it becomes clear that the Honor 8A prime for 10 rubles looks a little strange: minus 000 rubles – and it will be just right.
I’m waiting for you in the comments: how do you think the presence of an NFC chip in an inexpensive smartphone is now relevant?
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