Hot on the trail of mid-range smartphone launches of 2016, the honor 8 is the brand’s latest flagship model, aiming to marry both design and performance. The model I received this time around comes from its standard line – the Pearl White, to be specific – housing 32GB internal storage and 4GB RAM. The honor 8 certainly does look more premium that it’s actual price tag, something that consumers could appreciate. One thing that grind my gears is the number of comments I received about it looking very much like a shiny fruit product (no points to guessing that one).
Beware of Glass
The design of the honor 8 gets a total revamp, departing from the metal back of its predecessor – featuring a glass front and back, with a metal frame. The use of glass for its body is reminiscent of the ASUS Zenfone 3, but a little less slippy. That doesn’t mean that it won’t end it tears if it were to fall…something that I fear every single time I handle the honor 8. honor has done well on this front though as it offers customers a one-time 3-month warranty for both glass parts. No questions asked.
Hot, Hot, Heat
Aside from its delicate disposition, I often find the honor 8 too hot to handle…and not in a good way. In a well ventilated (read: air conditioned room) area, the device feels slightly warm to the touch. I took it out for a spin at the KL Butterfly Park and its heated up tremendously outdoors. And all I was doing was snapping away at the butterflies and my little girl. The price of a glass body; it conducts heat a wee bit too easily.
Snapping Away
A prime contender with the Huawei P9, the honor 8 isn’t one to back away from a challenge. The honor 8 performed exceeding well in taking a variety of photos. Of course, with two 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras, I expect nothing less. If the P9 is a master at taking monochrome photos, the honor 8’s strengths lie in producing vibrant colours.
Quick to Charge
If you’re one to go through your smartphone battery, the honor 8 charges up rather quickly. I had purposely left my apps running in the background and turned on my Wi-Fi hotspot just to test it out. I went about my day as usual: receiving and sending emails, notifications from WhatsApp and Messenger, along with browsing Instagram and Facebook. By the 12th hour, my battery was at 7%. Plug in its USB-C charger for just 30 minutes, you’ll get a few extra hours of usage from it.
Point 1: Grubby Hands
Since it’s all glass, fingerprints are going to be extra visible. Avoid if you can’t stand having smudges all over.
Point 2: Layers Upon Layers
The back panel is made from 15 layers of glass, which honor dubs as Aurora Glass. You can’t see the effect on the Pearl White, but the dancing colours can be better seen on other colourways.
Point 3: Be Smart
The fingerprint scanner doubles as a button, which can be configured. Single-click, double-click, hold down, the Smart Key will make access a little easier and quicker
24-Hour Experience
First Hour
Oh, it’s glass… *puts honor 8 in a soft pouch before putting in handbag*
4 Hours
I love the camera, but why is the phone heating up so much?
12 Hours
Why won’t Mystic Messenger run?! TT__TT
24 Hours
I left it to charge for an hour and the battery is almost full again.
Example
The wide aperture mode, a feature that comes available with most dual-camera smartphones, is very handy. It brings focus – hard or soft – to your subject during or after shooting the photo.
Colours produced are vibrant, but can feel too vivid at times.
Pretty good at capturing the tiniest of details, now to work on my focus.
Byline: By Nur Atifi
Specs
Price: RM1,699
Dimensions: 145.5 x 71 x 7.45 mm
Weight: 153 g
Operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display: 5.2-inch LTPS capacitive touchscreen, 1920×1080 pixels
CPU: Hisilicon Kirin 950, Octa-core
GPU: Mali-T880 MP4
Memory: 32GB Internal Storage, 4GB RAM
Camera: Front – Dual 12 MP, f/2.2. Back – 8 MP, f/2.4
Benchmarks
AnTuTu Benchmark: 91804
3DMark: 863
PassMark PerformanceTest Mobile: 7172
Geekbench 4: CPU – 1704 (single-core), 4857 (multi-core). Compute – 2901
Rating
Value: 9
Performance: 8
Feature: 8
Design: 8
Usability: 7
Total score: 8
Verdict: At this mid-range price point, the honor 8 ticks all the right boxes for a flagship device. Still not sure of the glass though.
