In early 2016 Huawei launched the Honor 5X model. It was very successful launch. Not because it was one of the cheapest high-spec smartphones on the market, but it was superb.
But why most of us never heard of it? There were no reviews on biggest YouTube channels and tech websites. Because the Honor 5X was slow. It was the most significant issue why Honor 5X wasn’t nominated as the cheapest and the best high-spec smartphone of 2016.
In 2017 Huawei decided not to make the same mistake again and conquer the phone market with a new flagman Honor 6X.
Release date
Huawei Honor 6X was launched in October 2016. With a few minor changes and similar price as a predecessor, one of the biggest Chinese brand is going to encourage you to try it.
Design
Honor 6X has a metal unibody design, so at first point, it gives you a premium feel. Also, It might be a too big for some people. It has a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display which makes this smartphone quite a large. But we are going to talk more about the display in a section below.
There are crafty plastic inserts on the bottom and the top of the smartphone for antenna signals. They blend sleekly into the Honor 6X metal body design. Sides of the smartphone are gently curved and here are no sharp edges. It perfectly rests in your palm. On one of the side, there are volume and power buttons. Most of the time I’m using my iPhone, and this design choice with all the buttons on one side was a little bit tricky. It takes the time to get used to it. But on another hand, it’s quite easy to reach power and volume buttons with your thumb.
The biggest change for me was the placement of the fingerprint sensor. Most phones have it on the front; the Honor 6X puts the fingerprint sensor on the back. Above the fingerprint sensor, there is a dual lens camera.
On the right side of the smartphone, we have a dual-SIM card slot and the microSD card tray. On the top of the smartphone 3.5mm headphone jack.
It’s also worth noting you’ve got three color options on the Honor 6X. There’s a gray, silver and a gold version of the smartphone.
Overall, the design is beautiful and sophisticated. It feels and looks comparable to other high-end smartphones. Also, the device is quite slim and light at 8.2mm thick and 162 grams, compared to the iPhone 6S at 7.1mm thick and 143 grams.
Display
As I mentioned you before, Honor 6X has a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with 1920×1080
resolution. Similar screens can be found on Sony’s most expensive phones like Sony Xperia XZ or Sony Xperia X Performance. Both Sony models cost around $500 on Amazon.
Honor 6X is a much cheaper smartphone, and the colors are that little bit less poppy, and the contrast might be a little less clear. But it gets bright enough to allow for clear visibility indoor and outdoor.
Overall, the Honor 6X display is an excellent display for the price. It provides a good experience when browsing the web, watching videos or Netflix and playing games.
Fingerprint Sensor
I want to single out this feature because it’s substantially different from what most people are used to. The fingerprint sensor sits below the two camera lenses on the back of the smartphone. With it, you can quickly unlock your phone and use the gesture feature in different apps.
When you’re in your photo gallery, for example, you can swipe left or right to flip through your pictures. The response time of the fingerprint sensor is very fast—you can unlock your device in just 0.3 seconds (and it can be used for Android Pay, too).
Camera
We’ve seen a lot of smartphones release this year featuring dual-cameras. Huawei did a great job with camera setup on the Honor 6X. It’s one of the main features of this smartphone.
The rear smartphone camera includes a 12-megapixel sensor and a 2-megapixel sensor with a wide aperture range from f/16 down to as wide as f/0.95. It allows you to create a very large bokeh effect. Also, there’s an 8-megapixel front-facing camera on the device. 8-megapixel camera is enough to take brilliant selfies or had a video call. Both cameras take clear and sharp pictures with excellent detail and color balance. And usually, the resulting image is quite realistic.
We need to understand that Honor 6X is a budget phone, and dual-lens 12-megapixel setup might look like some of the today’s most expensive phones. However, the results are not as you might expecting. Its second camera is a weakling, with a 2-megapixel eyeball, and there’s no optical image stabilization, and sometimes it does tend to blur if you move too much, because the shutter speed slows down.
Overall, it’s a solid camera for a budget phone that even does fairly well in low light and at night. At the moment Honor 6X won’t challenge the Samsung, Sony, Apple or Google smartphones but It’s very impressive.
Battery
Another huge plus is a powerful 3340 mAh unit battery. According to Huawei, the smartphone can last for as long as two days with moderate usage and for 1.5 days with heavy usage. Also, it gives us 12 and a half hours of locally-stored video playback.
When I tried phone by myself, for me it most of my days ended with the phone still having at least 50 – 45% of battery left. I’m not a gamer, but I’m taking a lot of pictures and videos. Especially on my Instagram stories. It happened me few times that I went to bed with only a several percent lefts and the smartphone never died during the night.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a heavy user or not. It’s a perfect smartphone for any users.
Specifications
Let’s take a look at specifications of the Honors 6X:
| Display: | 5.5-inch IPS LCD display, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 403ppi |
| Processor: | Huawei Kirin 655 octa-core processor |
| GPU: | Mali-T830MP2 |
| Storage: | 32/64GB, with optional expandable storage up to 256GB |
| Ram: | 3/4GB |
| Cameras: | Front Camera: 8MP Rear: Dual 12 & 2MP with phase detection autofocus |
| Connectivity: | Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 2.4GHz Bluetooth BT4.1 Micro USB GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BeiDou Navigation Satellite System |
| Battery: | 3,340mAh (Non-removable) |
| Software: | Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 |
| Dimensions: | 150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2mm |
| Weight: | 162g |
| Colors: | Gray, Silver, Gold |
Pros & Cons
When it comes to the part with Cons and Pros, everything is only my personal opinion. Maybe someone will not agree with me; it’s from my point of view.
| Pros | Cons |
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Pricing
In the US, pre-orders of the Honor 6X started on the January 4. The device goes on sale through Amazon.com, HiHonor.com, BestBuy.com, and Newegg.com for just $249.99.
In Europe, re-orders also started on the January 4. The smartphone can be purchased from Vmall.eu and Amazon.co.uk for €249.
Bottom Line
By myself, I’m not a huge fan of Android smartphones. But Honor 6X gave me an excellent impression. Maybe it’s not the more potent and doesn’t have amazing-sounding specs, but with a solid camera, screen, and massive battery it’s the best choice for $250. I think that in 2017 the Honor 6X is the best price to performance ratio smartphone in the market.
Justas Markus is the Founder and CEO of Just&Tom and JustasMarkus.com. He is a passionate traveler and blogger at Entrepreneur.com, Observer.com, Business.com, Influencive.com and others.
