Honor 7X review: An affordable alternative with dual cameras and 18:9 display

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Honor 7X first impressions

The Honor 7X was launched today at a global launch event held in London. The device was accompanied by the Honor V10 as well. Interestingly, the Honor 7X has been priced at a killer price point of just Rs. 12,999 for the base variant making it an enticing device for those who want an affordable smartphone that will not compromise on performance.

 

Rating:
4.0/5

Honor 7X review: An affordable alternative with 18:9 display

The Honor 7X is priced at Rs. 12,999 and Rs. 15,999 for the two variants - one with 64GB storage and the other with 128GB storage. The device is all set to go on sale in India starting from December 7 and will be exclusive to the online retailer Amazon India. Given that it is pretty much affordable, the device renders a good performance. We say this after using the smartphone for over a week and we really liked the way it performs.

Having said that, here is our detailed review of the Honor 7X for those who are interested in buying the device.

Design

Design

The Honor 7X features a unibody metal design that gives it a sleek and premium look. The device is pretty light when held. Similar to the previous generation models, this one boasts of a symmetrical and clean design. The hardware buttons and the fingerprint sensor are easy to access despite the huge display.

There is a hybrid SIM card slot at the left edge of the Honor 7X and the power button and volume controls are at the right edge. The bottom of the smartphone houses the micro USB charging port, a 3.5mm audio jack and the speaker grilles. At the top, there is a microphone.

When it comes to the rear panel, there is a fingerprint sensor at the rear and it makes sense as the device features a full-screen design with thin bezels that leave no room for the fingerprint sensor at the front. The dual camera lenses are positioned at the top left corner at the rear. The brushed metal texture on the rear panel provides a good grip while holding the phone. The antenna lines run along the dual camera lenses and the bottom as well.

On the whole, we pretty much liked the Honor 7X's design as it is nice to hold and appears taller as well than its predecessor. Also, the device is sleek and very comfortable to use.

Display
 

Display

The Honor 7X is a major upgrade in comparison to the Honor 6X that was launched last year. The major change is the full-screen design with a taller display. The smartphone boasts of a 5.93-inch FHD+ 2160 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD display. The 18:9 aspect ratio screen makes the device look tall and attractive.

On using the device, the screen is pretty responsive to the touches and renders almost accurate colors and crisp and vibrant content. We do have to mention that there is not much of color distortion that we usually come across in camera samples clicked by many smartphones in certain hues. There are minimal bezels around the screen as mentioned above and this contributes to the compact form factor of the smartphone. The screen is bright enough that it can is readable even under direct sunlight.

Camera

Camera

One of the highlights of the Honor 7X is its dual rear camera setup. The smartphone features two camera sensors positioned horizontally at the top left corner at the rear. The primary one is a 16MP sensor and the secondary one is a 2MP sensor. It goes without saying that the 2MP secondary sensor at the rear is meant to capture the depth of field information that will render bokeh effect to the shots. As you can see in the camera sample provided above, the bokeh effect is rendered in an impressive way.

Given the mid-range price tag of the smartphone, the result that the camera delivers is pretty impressive. Notably, the dual camera setup renders does not waste a lot of time with inbuilt fast auto focus. As seen in the camera sample above, the output is of good quality and produces exceptional results. The natural colors and immense details are captured by the camera.

Talking about the selfie camera, it is an 8MP sensor that is positioned as usual at the top bezel of the device. This one is capable of clicking wide angle selfies and the output is pretty sharp. The portrait mode and beauty mode in the selfie camera are also pretty impressive. 

Hardware

Hardware

The Honor 7X makes use of an octa-core 2.3GHz Kirin 659 SoC paired with 4GB RAM. There are two different storage options - 32GB and 64GB and the same can be expanded further using a microSD card as the device features a hybrid card slot. Though this processor is no match to the Snapdragon 835 SoC seen on the flagship smartphones in terms of performance, it does render a snappy experience in our everyday routine. We didn't play any intense graphics involved games but the device did perform well in terms of casual games such as Subway Surfers, 8 Pool Ball and Jungle Adventures.

The battery capacity of the Honor 7X is 3340mAh and the same does a good job in powering the 18:9 display. On moderate usage all through the day, we could get battery last for over a day without the concern of running in search of a power outlet or carrying the power bank all the time with us.

On the connectivity front, the Honor 7X has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB OTG, 4G VoLTE and other standard connectivity features.

Software

Software

The device runs the Android 7.1 Nougat OS based on the EMUI 5.1 instead of Android Oreo but that is acceptable as it is not a flagship model. We can expect the device to get an update that will take it to Oreo early next year. The interface is good and glides smoothly when we navigate through it. We could not find any clutter or lag on using the device.

Talking about the EMUI 5.1 interface, we liked the Gallery app that can categorize photos based on the location and other such data. There is a feature that will generate video highlights using your photos. The software is fast enough in registering touches and swipes making it pretty swift.

We liked the Smart Assistance under the Settings menu that comes with several capabilities. One of it is the Quick Calling feature that lets us make calls using our voice when the screen is turned off by pressing the power and volume down buttons.

Verdict

Verdict

The Honor 7X is definitely one of our favorite smartphones that can be bought within a budget. Given that the smartphone does not cost us a fortune, it does a good job with an impressive camera performance, a good overall performance, decent battery life, and a nice and vibrant display.

The smartphone has many positives that makes us consider it as our next smartphone and some of the notable ones are the bokeh mode, the 18:9 display, and the sleek metal design. The device definitely is an affordable alternative to the full-screen 18:9 smartphones that are available in the premium market segment.

If you do not want to spend all your money on a smartphone for such premium features, then you buy the Honor 7X starting from December 7 without burning a hole in your wallet.

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