A year later, the company has now launched its upgraded variant Honor 8. Like the previous phone, the new handset also makes its place in the upper mid-range segment. Due to which this phone will compete with OnePlus 3 (Review) and Asus Zenfone 3 (ZE553KL).
Currently, OnePlus 3 remains our recommendation in this price segment. But will Honor 8 be able to change our thinking? Will this phone be successful in garnering praise with its attractive features and specifications on paper? Know the merits and demerits of this phone in our review.
design and construction
Honor has completely changed its design and the new handset looks attractive. This phone has a glimpse of the 2016 variants of Samsung’s A series. For beauty in the phone, a metal frame has been provided between two curved glass sheets. With this look, Honor 8 gives a completely premium look but the fingerprints on it look very bad. If you are not careful, there is a danger of the phone slipping from your hands.
The Honor 8 has a 5.2-inch display and thanks to its Full HD resolution, text looks quite sharp. The quality of the display panel of Honor 8 is good and the colors also look good on it. The viewing angle is good and the phone is easy to use in sunlight. You can toggle color temperature and a blue light filter by going to the Settings app. The thin border on the edge of the display makes the phone easy to use with one hand. It is a light phone with a weight of 153 grams.
The buttons given in the phone are easy to use. The earpiece grill also has a hidden notification LED, an infrared emitter on the top, a USB Type-C port on the bottom, and a SIM and a microSD card tray (up to 128GB) on the left. Although there is a cutout for a second Nano SIM in the SIM slot, the phone does not recognize it.
There is a dual camera, laser autofocus sensor and a dual tone LED flash on the rear of the phone. The fingerprint sensor is quite sensitive and it unlocks the phone quickly. Apart from this, the fingerprint sensor can also be used to lock the app, access hidden files and as a gesture to answer a call, to take a selfie and to view the notification shade. Honor has gone a step ahead and placed a sensor above the physical button, which the company has named Smart Key. Depending on how long you press your finger on it (once, twice or for a long time), you can perform various functions like recording voice, toggling the flashlight, taking a screenshot or launching an app.
The Honor 8 comes with an 18-watt charger, data cable, SIM projector tool, and an instruction leaflet in the box.
Specifications and Features
Honor has given Huawei processor in this smartphone. The Kirin 950 octa-core processor is a poor processor for most popular apps. We got good figures from this smartphone in benchmark tests. However, these figures are better than any other smartphone with Snapdragon 820 processor. But during actual use it is quite difficult to tell the difference between the two phones.
Honor 8 has 4 GB RAM. The phone has 32 GB inbuilt storage. Apart from this, features like dual band Wi-Fi B/G/N/AC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB OTG and NFC have been provided for connectivity. FM radio is not provided in this phone which may be disappointing for some people. The Honor 8 supports 4G LTE for FDD and TDD bands. VoLTE support is not currently available in India. But the company says that this feature will be available in future through software updates.
The biggest feature of this smartphone is the company’s custom UI given on Android Marshmallow. Now-on-tap feature of Android is also provided with the latest version (4.1). Apart from this, there are many new customization features also. It is a single layer interface that comes with its own icons, Settings app, and notification shade. The layout of the buttons given onscreen can be changed anytime which is good.
The Link+ section in ‘Wireless & Networks’ allows for improvements like better signal, faster network connection while roaming, enabling auto updates, and Wi-Fi+ (automatic switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data).
EMUI also has several gesture based features and the voice control feature can also be accessed in ‘Smart Assistance’ by going to Settings. Single-handed mode can be activated for the dial pad or the entire display by swiping right on the navigation bar. Apart from this, if you say ‘Where are you’ through voice control, the phone will ring, vibrate and turn on LED flash light so that you can easily find the phone. Voice control works well and most of the time it was successful in recognizing our commands.
Apart from this, there is another gesture feature called Knuckle Sense in the phone, through which you can take a screenshot or by touching the screen with your fingertips or making a circle, the screen is recorded. Tapping the display with the knuckles is fine but we had to apply a lot of force to draw a circle, which is quite awkward. Apart from this, there is a floating dock for general tasks which is similar to Quick Ball of MIUI.
Many apps do not come pre-installed in Honor 8. But you will get Google App Suite, Smart Controller in the phone which works well for basic functions with IR appliances.
Performance and battery life
Multitasking can be done very easily in Honor 8. Popular games like Mortal Kombat X-Work also run smoothly on the phone. We did not face any heat problem in the phone. But in our review unit, we faced the problem of the phone getting very hot while using the camera. Honor says this is an isolated incident as it was a preproduction unit and the retail device will function normally.
The phone’s display and support for high-resolution video files (including 4K) make for a great media playback experience. The stock music and video player has a sleek design and supports DTS audio (for headphones only). The mono speaker at the bottom is quite loud but sounds weak while using apps like YouTube. The audio quality from the headphones is good but the sound could have been better.
The most special feature of the Honor 8 smartphone that the company is presenting is its dual camera. The dual camera has 12 megapixel color and monochrome sensor. The rear camera has an F/2.2 aperture while the 8-megapixel camera comes with an aperture F/2.4. Landscape and macro photos come with good detail and colors are also good in natural light. The camera produces a good amount of background blur but this can be improved with wide aperture mode. Apart from this, the blurred background can be adjusted using a slide near the focus. There is a lack of detailing in photos taken in low light but still the quality remains decent.
The features provided in the camera app can be easily controlled and it quickly becomes a habit to use the camera app. Pre mode is available for videos and photos. Controls like HDR, Panorama, Slow Motion, Light Painting (Slow Shutter), Time Lapse and Beauty are provided. The recorded video quality is also good. Video can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 1080 pixels at 60 frames per second. But 4K video recording cannot be done from the phone. We liked the quality captured by the front camera which produces pictures with good detail even in low light.
Honor 8 has a 3000 mAh non-removable battery that supports fast charging. Using the adapter and cable that comes with the phone, we were able to charge the battery up to 45 percent in just half an hour. By charging the phone once, we could easily use it for the whole day. The battery lasted 11 hours and 7 minutes in our video loop test. We found ROG power saving mode very useful. By activating it, the display comes down to 720 pixels, which reduces battery consumption.
our decision
If you’ve read our full review it’s clear that the Honor 8 is as good a handset as it looks on paper. It has some shortcomings like no VoLTE support (for now), no FM radio, slippery body and poor camera performance in low light.
Talking about the price, Rs 29,999 is a bit high. Because OnePlus 3 and Asus Zenfone 3 are much better phones at a lower price than this. But like most other smartphones, we expect their launch prices to drop slightly.
Overall, the Honor 8 is a great all-rounder in every way. And if you are looking for something different then it is better than OnePlus 3 and Zenfone 3. It has many features like powerful processor, useful software tricks, very good display, capable cameras and battery that lasts all day.