The Honor lineup of smartphones could be described as the tail of a comet. They’re fantastic flagship smartphones that just aren’t at the top when compared to the likes of Samsung, Apple, or even their sister brand, Huawei. The Honor 8 was seen as a step to revitalize the brand and to lend credibility to the term “affordable flagship smartphone”.
Premium Design
Right of the bat, the Honor 8 is an exquisitely pristine smartphone. It’s subtly thinner than its predecessor, the Honor 7, with its dimensions measuring in at 145.5 x 71 x 7.5 mm. As a result of its form factor and its 153g negligible weight, it fits perfectly in that range of smartphones that are comfortable to use with one or both hands, much like the Huawei P9. The placement of the speakers grating, dual cameras, USB-C port, headphone jack, fingerprint sensor, volume rocker, and power button have been virtually lifted from the P9, with only minor variations in spacing distinguishing the two phones. That and the Honor logo.
However, it still stands out in terms of beauty. The aluminum alloy unibody frame, curved edges, premium paint job for both the metal body and both pieces of the 2.5D glass scream “flagship smartphone” at you. While the 2.5D glass panels at the front and back give it that extra nudge of refinement it does come at the cost of being a fingerprint magnet. While Honor would like to boast about seeing the sun reflect off the back of the phone, that may be impeded by all the smudges and fingerprints that accrue in as short as a five-minute period. That and it makes the phone supremely slippery. However, Honor supplied me with a case that protects the back of the smartphone and ensures it won’t slip out of your hand like a wet bar of soap.
Despite having a fingerprint sensor at the back, that also functions as the Honor “Smart Key”, Huawei felt the need to add a power button to the side of the phone. Unfortunately you can’t bind a “lock phone” function to the smart key (effectively rendering the power button redundant); instead, you’re meant to use it to open a plethora of apps such as the camera or Twitter. I’ll be honest I never saw much use for the Smart Key in any of its variations across the multitude of Honor phones that have featured it.
Unlike most smartphones that highlight the rear facing camera by utilizing a differently coloured panel, the Honor 8’s camera isn’t put on prominent display, allowing for a seamless design.
Display
The Honor 8 features a 1080 x 1920 pixel LTPS capacitive touch screen that measures across at 5.2-inches. Sure, it isn’t the 2K or 4K displays we’ve come to expect on our smartphones but it still delivers exceptionally well. Brightness is spot on, letting you use the smartphone outside but the 2.5D glass paneling means you’re going to be seeing a lot of reflections in low light situations. Furthermore, the glass paneling also accrues scratches quite easily.
Two cameras are better than one
The Honor 8 is another smartphone that’s adopted the dual-camera sensor aesthetic. It’s another similarity it shares with the Huawei P9. Much like the P9, one of the camera sensors on the Honor 8 shoots in monochrome, to better capture detail in low light situations, while the other sensor shoots your mundane colour pictures. Both sensors capture images in their 12 megapixels glory. That and the Honor 8’s camera software result in some great fun for the average photographer. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to shoot directly in monochrome mode, which I guess is the trade off for not having the Leica branding, but you do have a B&W filter you can use, that utilises both cameras. The camera software has also gotten an upgrade, letting you shoot in manual mode for RAW photos, and dilly dally on the multiple adjustable settings such as shutter speed, ISO level, focus, etc. The result are some great pictures:
Meanwhile, you can shoot HD video (1080p) in up to 120FPS and the Pro video mode will let you alter the focus, white balance and more. Additionaly, the forward facing camera boasts 8 megapixels for all your selfie needs.
Software AKA bloatware
The Honor 8 runs on Android 6.0, also known as Marshmallow, with the added EMUI skin on top. I’ve never been a fan of the Emotion UI, although to be honest anything which is not Stock Android instantly gets a big no from me. Huawei’s EMUI 4.1 liberally changes how stock Android looks; with the bane being no app drawer. I’m sorry, but I don’t like sticking everything onto one of my home screens. Honor also has its famous knuckle gestures implemented on this smartphone, if ever the day comes where you refuse to use your smartphone like a normal person and would rather knock on your phone with Neanderthalian grace. And of course, with Android skins come bloatware, with EMUI 4.1 being no different.
However, the notifications drop down list has always been a favourite of mine, solely due to the timestamps and the Smart Controller app actually came into use when my TV’s remote stopped working.
Performance
Chinese OEM’s are famous for shipping premium specs without the premium price tag and the Honor 8 is a prime example of that. The Honor 8 is powered by Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 950 which features an octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A72 cores clocked at up to 2.3GHz (compared to the 2.5GHz of the Kirin 955’s), and four Cortex-A53 cores ticking at up to 1.8GHz (same as Kirin 955). It’s backed up by 4GB of worth of RAM with the result being a fluid experience, one that’s lag free and stutter less. The GPU is again a quad-core Mali-T880 MP4 that performs admirably well when it comes to gaming but don’t bet on it being as future proof as some other high-end GPUs out there. Storage wise the Honor 8 comes with 32 GB worth of internal storage that can be expanded with up to 256GB via the external Micro-SD card slot; you will be sacrificing a SIM for that though. Other markets can availe the 64 GB version of the smartphone.
The battery on the Honor 8 has 3,000 mAh to its name, which during my tenure of testing I found to be barely adequate for about a day’s worth of medium to heavy usage. Thankfully, the Honor 8 comes with fast charging via the USB-C port, letting you get to 40% after half an hour of charging. Furthermore, the 3 battery modes can also let you milk as much life out of the battery as you can, with the ultra power saving mode easily extending the battery life for another day. However, you do sacrifice quite a few functions with that. All said and done, the Honor 8 scored 88,138 on the AnTuTu benchmark, placing it below the Huawei P9, which came in at 91,771.
Final Verdict
The Honor 8 is a great upgrade compared to its predecessor, the Honor 7. Its premium design, great cameras, and beastly performance instantly put it up there with the likes of the Huawei P9 and other medium to high-end flagship smartphones, especially when you consider the fact that it’s only $400. However, the EMUI software and the battery life are quite big turn offs that would deter the power user.
You can win an Honor 8 courtesy of Absolute Geeks here!
