Honor 8 Lite review: A mid-ranger that doesn’t compromise on performance

The Honor 8 Lite has been launched in India at a price of Rs. 17,999. This smartphone is a watered-down variant of the Honor 8 that has advance features such as dual-lens rear camera setup. The downgraded specs and features do make sense considering the pricing of the phone.

PROS

• Decent camera output
• Smooth and lag-free performance
• Elegant and sleek design
• Good battery life

CONS

• Hybrid SIM card slot
• Rear panel is a fingerprint magnet

Lately, Huawei's sub-brand Honor is focusing on releasing impressive devices that can outperform the rivals and win the smartphone race. This brand has already occupied a significant position in the market.

Talking about the recent offerings, the Honor 8 Lite, here is our complete review of the device that will let you know if it is worthy enough in the market.

Design - Glass on both sides makes it sleek

The Honor 8 Lite is similar to the Honor 8 in terms of build quality and design. We say this as the smartphone inherits the glass back from the Honor 8. The device looks impressive and gets the score for its attention-grabbing looks.

One thing to be noted is that the smartphone lacks a protective layer such as Gorilla Glass on top that will make it durable. Moreover, the glass at the rear seems to be a fingerprint magnet, but this isn't a major trouble.

The volume rocker and power button are on the right edge and the hybrid SIM card slot is on the left edge. The micro USB port and speaker grille are at the bottom of the device while the 3.5mm audio jack is at the top. As it has a hybrid SIM card slot, you can either use two nano SIM cards or a nano SIM and a microSD card slot in the Honor 8 Lite.

The Honor 8 Lite does not have any physical button at the front below the screen. The fingerprint sensor is positioned at the rear and is easy to access while using the device. The rear camera is at the top right corner along with the flash.

The Honor 8 Lite measures 7.6mm in thickness and fits well when it is held. The device weighs in at 147 grams that gives it a lightweight feel. Using this device in one hand shouldn't be a trouble due to its form factor and weight. Even if there is any trouble, you can enable the one-handed mode from the settings menu.

Display: It is vibrant and readable

The Honor 8 Lite adorns a 5.2-inch FHD 1080p IPS LCD display. This screen has a pixel density of 424 pixels per inch that seems to be acceptable for a mid-ranger. The color reproduction and contrast are vibrant.

Also, the screen is bright enough even in the outdoors, so there are no glitches in reading the text or viewing the screen when the device is used under direct sunlight.

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The EMUI version running on the Honor 8 Lite comes with a feature called Eye Comfort mode in the settings menu. This feature gives a yellow tinge on the screen when it is turned on. By cutting out the blue light emitted by the screen, this feature makes the screen easier to be viewed even under dark ambient conditions.

Hardware: Smooth and lag-free performance

This smartphone is powered by the company's in-house octa-core Kirin 655 SoC. This processor is teamed up with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage space. As there is a hybrid dual SIM card slot, the second SIM card slot can be used as the microSD card slot that can support expandable storage up to 128GB.

While using the Honor 8 Lite during our review period, the smartphone rendered an impressive performance. Smooth and lag-free performance is one thing that we liked during our review period.

We tried multitasking on this smartphone and the device passed through it easily. It managed to switch between different apps conveniently without any lag. On the whole, the performance was pretty smooth. Even the fingerprint sensor at the rear is snappy in terms of performance.

Interface: EMUI 5.0 does a good job

The Honor 8 Lite runs on EMUI 5.0 that tops Android 7.0 Nougat. This interface is similar to the previous iterations, but includes some differences. It brings back the App drawer and comes with battery optimizations, security features, smart services, and more.

The interface is smooth in the regular tasks. Also, the flipping between apps is fluid enough. The interface seems to be pretty responsive for a mid-range smartphone. The snappy interface lets us open and close apps easily and doesn't take a long time to respond.

Apart from the app drawer, the EMUI 5.0 includes features such as HiBoard, a universal search bar, SOS calling during emergency situations and more. The EMUI 5.0 was released recently to bring about more features and improvements to the Nougat based devices. It comes with many feature highlights as mentioned above to give a better user experience.

Camera: An impressive selfie camera on board

The Honor 8 Lite boasts of a 12MP main snapper with f/2.2 aperture and autofocus. Up front, there is an 8MP selfie snapper with f/2.0 aperture and 77-degree wide-angle lens. While trying our hands on this smartphone, we were impressive with the performance of the front camera.

The selfies were bright with good level of detailing. The color reproduction was pretty amazing. The outdoor shots captured using the rear snapper also has a decent level of detailing.

The camera has many modes for the photography enthusiasts to try out. There is a Pro mode that lets you adjust the ISO and other settings. The auto focus feature is a little disappointing as it is not quick enough. However, the shutter speed of the Honor 8 Lite is really snappy.

Battery: Adds to the credits

The Honor 8 Lite is fueled by a 3,000mAh battery that lasts a day on a single charge without any difficulty. There are a slew of battery optimization features that manage to stretch the battery life of the device.

During our review period, we did not find the necessity to charge this phone more than once a day. A single charge was sufficient for a day with 4G turned on most of the time.

Verdict: A decent mid-ranger

The Honor 8 Lite is priced at Rs. 17,999 in India, which sounds acceptable for the smartphone with many positives on its side. The device bags the credits for its performance and design.

It is a mid-ranger that has an elegant and good looking design similar to the premium smartphones. It doesn't let the users down in terms of performance and even the battery is pretty good.

If you want a mid-ranger that can perform well and be a value for money purchase, then you can choose to invest in the Honor 8 Lite. It can render a good battery life, decent camera performance, a great overall performance, and an acceptable display.