It’s been a long year. So long, in fact, that I can barely recall the smartphones I’ve actually used.
For the most part, devices have been dominated by notches, tall screens, and a focus on AI in some capacity. And my latest review subject happens to tick all three boxes.
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The Honor 8X, for all intents and purposes, is what you get if you made a smartphone in 2018 almost entirely to trend, with a few added bonuses and novelties.
Speaking of which, after using the phone for 48 hours, here are some of the things that I immediately noticed about the Honor 8X.
Hell yeahs
- This phone is pretty darn beautiful, thanks to the two-tone sheen on its rear, and the virtual lack of visible bezels up front.
- I should mention there’s a red version of this phone. It’s not available in SA (yet), but it’s gorgeous.
- It’s 6.5 inches from corner to corner, but is somehow a smaller, lighter package than the 6.4 inch Galaxy Note 9 and Mate 20 Pro.
- For such a large phone, it’s surprisingly light and easy to handle, even with a transparent case.
- It feels a lot more premium and well-built than its price tag would suggest.
- It has a headphone jack. For someone who uses both Bluetooth and wired headphones, I can’t explain how important a headphone jack — when Bluetooth signal is bad, or when your headphones’ battery dies — really is.
- Battery drain is surprisingly good with the initial set of apps installed, with AccuBattery reporting an average drain of around 300mA while in use. Not bad for a phone with a huge LCD screen and autobrightness enabled.
- Dual SIM.
Oh okays
- The UI is strangely hitchy at the best of times, momentarily pausing while browsing app lists or switching apps, this with the stock launcher and Nova launcher. I can’t recall these burps on the Mate 20 Pro. Perhaps it’s the Kirin 710?
- The fingerprint reader could be better, but it could be worse. It works more often than not, but isn’t as snappy as others in its price range.
- The Honor 8X’s rear cameras offer middling performance indoors. They were slow to focus, while the results weren’t sharp. Further testing — especially using manual mode — is definitely required though.
- Reception — both WiFi and cellular — is really affected when cradling the top of the phone with your left hand. This is something I definitely need to test more acutely.
Oh nos
- It’s running EMUI 8.2, so that means no dark mode. Eye Comfort isn’t what I’d call a fair trade.
- Nearly five months after Google launched Android Pie, and we’re still launching phones with Android 8.1 Oreo. Disappointing.
- The default Honor launcher isn’t esoteric, but it’s by no means intuitive. There’s no option to long-press-to-uninstall apps from the homepage, while swipe gestures to open the app tray are nonexistent. It’s either have all your apps on the home page, or tap a tray button to access them.
- A host of apps just can’t be uninstalled, like Swiftkey. There’s a bit of bloatware apps too lumped in, including Booking.com, and Huawei/Honor’s other apps.
- Unless you use ADB commands, it’s impossible to disable duplicate apps like the Calendar or Music app.
- Why are we still using microUSB on mid-range smartphones in 2018?
Initial impressions are by no means final impressions, so look forward to a more detailed review of the Honor 8X coming to Gearburn in the weeks ahead.
Feature image: Andy Walker/Gearburn
