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Honor 7X review

Honor 7X

First  18:9 screen Mid-Range Smartphone




It's not just top-end flagship phones that are getting taller, skinnier and therefore easier to handle: the Honor 7X, which is expected to launch on 5 December 2017 at Honor's UK event (although you can already buy it now via some channels for £279-300), also features an 18:9 aspect ratio screen for those on a more modest budget.

That gives this mid-range model an advantage over its nearest competition. Sure, OnePlus just announced the 5T, but that'll be a pricier (and more powerful) handset. The Honor 7X, by compare, has few competitors to speak of - only really the LG Q6 and Oppo F5 offer a similar spec.

Which all points to Honor being on something of a role. The Huawei subsidiary company is finally finding its groove, offering mid-level specification in great designs for those who don't need superpower in the palm of their hand. The Honor looks a lot like Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro, but saves on cost to bring the price right down.





Honor 7X Design

Just like the Honor 9i before it, Huawei seems to be after Xiaomi’s budget smartphone offerings (Mi A1) by delivering better quality hardware and dual cameras at what I suspect would be a slightly higher price. While the Honor 9i was priced at a surprisingly low Rs 17,999, one can expect the Honor 7X to be priced even lower, because it cuts a few corners when it comes to the cameras.

The Honor 7X feels just like the Honor 9i, we received a Graphite Black variant of the device and it feels premium with a smooth matte finish around the back. It features a unibody design with discrete antenna lines that grace the back of this well-rounded smartphone; one that feels cool to hold thanks to its all-metal construction.

Unlike the Honor 9i, Huawei’s Honor logo sits on the bottom chin. The bezels on the sides are quite thin and are identical to those on the Honor 9i, with the large 5.9-inch display hogging up the front of the device.
Again, there are some minor differences here. The plastic lipping around the 2.5D glass screen has a matte finish. While it still looks quite premium, the Honor 9i appeared more seamless, because it featured a polished plastic lipping that merged well with the 2.5D glass. Slide your finger outwards from the display to the edges and you will feel the plastic edge, which is very unlike the Honor 9i. It is one of those minor details that casual users may not notice but would help a manufacturer bring down the price. Out here I am simply pointing out the differences, but in day-to-day usage, casual users would barely notice them.




Moving to the back, the vertically-aligned camera module on the Honor 9i is now replaced with a horizontal dual camera unit, which protrudes from the back of the device. The metal rings protecting the camera lens are well finished, and reminded me of the ring on my old and now ageing Apple iPhone 6s.
The fingerprint reader sits high at the top center but still feels easier to reach. Again, just like that Honor 9i, the matte coating or finish of the Honor 7X gathers fingerprints rather easily. With winter closing in and my sweaty palms, the end result is a smudgy mess. Adding to the mess, is the fact that these smudges are really tough to wipe off and need a thorough clean from time to time; like we did before shooting these photos you see in this hands-on.



Honor 7X Display

OLED screens are more expensive, so Honor has gone for an IPS panel in the 7X. It makes sense, and it’s still a great screen. Viewing angles are wide, it’s nice and bright and colours are surprisingly vibrant.

Honor is toting the 7X's display as a major upgrade, and it's certainly impressive that the company has managed to squeeze in an almost 6-inch display into the body of a normally 5.5-inch phone. The 5.93-inch screen goes closer to the sides of the device than some other phones, but it's not as attractive as the way the iPhone X or Samsung Galaxy S8adopts the 18:9 aspect ratio.

We found the screen to be bold and vibrant though with a good resolution. It isn't as good as the screens on a lot of flagship devices, as it has a Full HD+ 2160 x 1080 resolution, equaling 408 pixels-per-inch, but the display is a great one considering the likely mid-range price of this phone.

The panel is LCD, and from what we’ve seen so far, seems to be pretty decent: text, images and video look sharp, colours are vibrant without going too overboard, and brightness goes very high indeed.



Honor 7X Camera

On the camera front, Honor has decided to tread a slightly different path to the current dual camera norm. As you can see from the two 
circular optics on the rear, it does also have two, but only one is a proper camera, the second is a low-resolution sensor used solely for depth perception.

This depth-derived information can then be used to blur the background of a shot, via software, to get more pro-looking portrait shots and the like. It's something we've seen in Huawei phones before, but the Honor is similar but ditches the Leica endorsement, thus its software and abilities are slightly lesser.




It does have plenty of positives though. The phase-detection autofocus system is fairly quick, as is the shutter (although not instant like current flagship phones), and there are various modes ranging from fun effects and filters to the more serious full manual mode.

We'll be playing around with the camera more as we get to grips with the 7X ahead of its launch, with a fuller review to follow.




Honor 7X Performance


Inside the Honor 7X is a 2.36GHz octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 659 processor and 4GB of RAM. This gives it a slightly snappier experience over the Honor 6X but the difference is negligible, both in terms of raw speed and GPU capabilities, so don’t expect to play the most intensive games on the 7X, or do lots of multi-tasking.
It packs a 3,340mAh battery, which is the same that’s in the Honor 6X so I don't expect it to do all that well, especially with that larger screen. And the Honor 6X wasn't exactly the last word in stamina; it lasted a mere 11hrs 19mins, which is distinctly average in that test.




Honor 7X OS

The 7X doesn’t have Oreo, but it’s possible Honor will release an update in the not too distant future. Out of the box you get Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 – older than the EMUI 8 you’ll find on the Mate 10 Pro.


Still, the interface is pretty much identical and it’s hard to spot many differences between the versions. For those unfamiliar with EMUI, it’s looks a lot like Samsung’s TouchWiz and the default setting of placing all apps on home screens makes it very familiar to iOS users.

It has some nifty features such as double-tapping the screen to wake it, and double-pressing the volume-down button to launch the camera app. You have to enable these through the settings as they’re disabled by default.

There’s one-key split-screen so you can carry on watching a video (on Netflix, say) while you reply to an email or message. You’ll also find the same App Twin menu option, but unlike the Mate 10 Pro, you can only sign into two Facebook accounts – there’s no option for Whatsapp or Messenger here.

Like EMUI 8, you’ll get warnings when apps are using a lot of power in the background and it’s generally helpful for stopping lots of apps running, freeing up memory with one tap.




Honor 7X Speaker

The single speaker can pump out surprisingly loud audio, but it’s only really good for YouTube clips - anything more taxing and it shows its limits. The placement isn’t ideal, either - it’s all too easy to muffle it with your hands.

Honor’s Hasten 3D surround sound EQ setup returns, as long as you plug in a pair of headphones. We weren’t blown away by it on the Honor 8 Pro, but will be giving it another chance when the 7X gets fully reviewed.




Honor 7X Battery



It's a 3,340mAh cell - just like in the Honor 6X - and that sounds to be enough for a full day's use, but it likely won't last longer than that.  Honor estimates that 12 hours of video playback is possible from 100% charge, but we'll be sure to put it through its paces for our full review.

One feature you may miss is fast-charge. Honor didn't see fit to add the feature to this phone, so you may have to wait a while for it to charge up.




Honor 7X Price

Honor hasn’t yet announced a price for the 7X, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do a little educated guesswork. It replaces the 6X, which cost £224. If the 7X is anywhere near that, it’ll be a terrific bargain, but it’s likely to be more as the specs are better.
Honor has disclosed the phone's release date: 5 December 2017




Verdict



The Honor 7X might have some strange design quirks, but on the whole it looks to be a decent smartphone with a very nice display for the price. If Honor gets it right, there’s not much else out there that matches it for the price. Motorola’s budget models all have old-school 16:9 screens, as do the rest of the affordable crowd like Alcatel and in-house handsets from Vodafone.
We need more time and accurate pricing information for the Honor 7X to make a full judgement of the phone, but right now everything we've seen from the device is positive.

The combination of having an 18:9 display on a cheaper device is already an attractive idea, and that's before you consider the upgraded camera features and extra firepower under the hood.

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