Honor 8, analysis and opinion

Honor It has already been on the market for two years as an independent brand of Huawei in Europe. Its line of devices has been expanding, attacking different ranges. The Honor 7 surprised me with the quality of its finishes and performance, now it's the turn of the Honor 8. 

The Asian manufacturer knows what it is doing and with its new flagship it has managed to take a leap in quality that puts it at the level of its competitors. I've been testing the Honor 8 for three weeks and more than one person has been impressed with the quality of its finishes.

And it is that the Honor 8 arrives with a much more elaborate design and a quality of materials and hardware that praise it at the highest in the sector, offering a very well balanced terminal that has excellent performance.  

Honor 8, a very beautiful phone with a unique design

Huawei It is characterized by offering high-end solutions at more than reasonable prices. And the Honor 8 is the best example of this: without a doubt it is at the height of the best terminals in terms of design. It is noticeable to the naked eye and to the touch even more. And be careful, we are talking about a phone that currently It costs 389 euros.

Following in the wake of design language achieved with the Honor 6, the body is slightly more rounded, being very comfortable to use and sitting really well in the hand. Measuring 145.5 x 71 x 7.5 mm, the terminal can be used perfectly with one hand despite having a 5.2-inch screen. In addition, its 153 grams of weight are perfect, giving great feeling of robustness to the phone, but without disturbing after prolonged use.  

Of course, there is one thing that is clear: the Honor 8 looks a lot like an iPhone in design, especially if we look at it from a half profile or at the top. Honor has opted for metal and glass for the construction of its phone. High-end materials that give the terminal a great feeling of robustness.

The work on the glass is perfect, with those rounded edges or 2.5 D. This makes the panel appear to be much closer to the edge of the device. On the back we find a polished glass in up to 15 layers that gives a very interesting effect to the reflections and that is reminiscent of the one achieved with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

Although there is a but. The Honor 8 it's a really slippery phone. Be careful, in my hand I have not had any problem, it has not fallen or anything like that since its design allows a perfect grip, but on any surface that is not completely horizontal the terminal will slide little by little, especially if there are vibrations caused by calls or messages. More than once I have dropped it for this reason and I can at least assure you that the phone is really resistant.

After weeks of intensive use, without putting on any type of cover or protector, the Honor has not suffered any wear, maintaining that attractive design that characterizes it. Although more than once I have seen myself cleaning its back for the marked tracks. In any case, this type of phone suffers a lot from wear and tear, so I recommend looking for a protective case or you will end up scratching the back.

A simply exquisite design that imbues the Honor 8 with its own very attractive DNA

In this same rear part is where the fingerprint sensor, one of Huawei's specialties and where the manufacturer is still king. The sensor situation seems more than correct to me, I like the sensor behind it, although I like the colors.

The Volume and power control buttons on the phone are located on the right side, offering a good route and sufficient resistance so that I cannot criticize anything in this regard. Finally say that the 3.5 mm jack connector and the audio outputs are located at the bottom of the phone.

To put a but to the design section, say that I have lacked that the Honor 8 has water resistance. At this point I have to give Huawei a slight tug on the wrist, which still does not dare to give its phones IPX7 certification. I'm sure they won't be long in doing it.

Ultimately, a simply exquisite design that imbues the Honor 8 with its own very attractive DNA, attracting glances every time he took the phone out of his pocket. Great job in this regard.

Technical characteristics: the Honor 8 stands up to it all

Huawei develops its own solutions and for the Honor 8 they have opted for the powerful Kirin 950 SoC, a processor designed by HiSilicon, belonging to the Huawei group and offering excellent performance. The point at which processors such as the Kirin 935 seen in the Huawei Mate S or the Honor 7 fell short came with the graphics section, by integrating too old GPUs. But in the case of Kirin 950 it seems that this problem is fixed.

And it is that Huawei has equipped the Kirin 950 with the powerful ARM Mali-T880 GPU with your MP4 settings. A much better graphics unit than the previous ones and that, when associated with the Honor 8's full HD screen, offers excellent performance. As you may have seen in the video analysis that heads this article, I have been able to play games that require a large graphic load without suffering any kind of stoppage or lag.

Something to expect considering the Honor 8's hardware configuration. Additionally, its Cortex-A73 cores offer a excellent consumption and heat dissipation,  ensuring that the phone will not get hot after intensive use.

I must say that the performance offered by the Honor 8 is at the height of any high-end, demonstrating once again the good work of Huawei that has managed to create its own line of processors that has nothing to envy to Qualcomm solutions

EMUI 5 is coming very soon

As standard, the Honor 8 works with Android 6.0 under the EMUI 4.1 custom layer, but you are already getting the latest version of the interface from Huawei, so I'm going to tell you about this version. I don't like custom layers. Pure Android is the best solution and then users who want to change the Google interface will install a launcher if they want. But I have to say that the latest version of EMUI Huawei has managed to achieve an exquisite quality and user experience.

To start the layer is based on Android 7.0 Nougat, the latest version of Google's operating system, something to be appreciated. The changes compared to previous versions are notable since, for example, we can activate an application drawer, an ideal option for those users who have not just got used to their desktop-based system. Although I like this system better, you can always change it if you prefer to browse the applications in a traditional way.

The vast majority of apps and features are three clicks away so it is very easy and comfortable to get to any section of the terminal. Special attention to its multitasking management that, with a slight touch on the corresponding button, we will access a system of "cards" with which we can see what applications we have open.

The Honor 8 has the option of perform different gestures with your knuckles to take screenshots or activate the split screen function that will allow us to use two applications at the same time on the same screen.

Highlight that keyboard Swiftkey It comes standard in the terminal so writing with the Honor 8 is a real joy. And special emphasis on the "twin applications" mode, a really interesting feature of EMUI 5.0 and that allows us to use the same service, such as WhatsApp or Facebook, with two profiles. Ideal for those people who have a personal number and another professional and who do not want to carry two phones at the same time.

Huawei's new interface features a own artificial intelligence platform that learns through our use of the device, adapting to our needs and offering better performance. These algorithms, which do not need an internet connection to work, adapt to our daily use and make the applications you use frequently run faster. It is effective? I have no idea, as I have not noticed an improvement in performance, but since the performance is perfect every time, I can assume that this feature is really worth it.

But not all are good news. Chinese manufacturers love to install bloatware and unfortunately Huawei is no exception. Facebook, Booking or a list of games are pre-installed on the phone and, although most of these garbage applications can be deleted, I find it annoying that applications come that I have not requested. But it is something that we are accustomed to, unfortunately, most manufacturers and at least it doesn't detract from the excellent user experience that EMUI 5.0 offers

5.2 inches with Full HD resolution, more than enough to offer good performance

The vast majority of telephones opt for a panel of 5.2 inches and the Honor 8 was not going to be less. The size is more than adequate allowing you to spend hours looking at the screen without problems. With IPS technology and a resolution Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) The screen of the new Honor flagship looks really good. Your resolution(424dpi) it is more than enough to enjoy any multimedia content without problems.

The colors are really good, offers correct viewing angles and maximum brightness allows you to use the phone in any environment, no matter how sunny the day is. The proximity of the glass to the LCD panel generates a very good sensation and the latency from when we press the screen until the phone processes said pulsation is imperceptible. Here we must congratulate the Honor 8 design team, which has managed to make the glass very close to the panel, giving the screen a great feeling of robustness.

The Honor 8 has two large speaker outputs at the bottom, offering a more than decent volume with pleasant bass that is far from the typical canned sound that so many smartphones offer.

The representation of blacks is its weakest point since they are slightly whitened with a high angle of inclination, something completely normal in a panel of this type. Remember that the king in this regard is OLED technology and there is little to do in this regard.

But in general lines the resolution and image quality offered by the Honor 8 is quite good And if we add to this a really good sound quality, we have before us a phone that invites us to enjoy video games and multimedia content.

And it is that the Honor 8 has two large speaker outputs in its lower part, offering a more than decent volume with nice bass and that are far from the typical canned sound that so many smartphones offer

Battery

Your battery of 3.000 mAh, the minimum for a terminal of these characteristics, is more than enough to support the full weight of the Honor 8 hardware. Although without much fanfare. I am used to Huawei / Honor solutions standing out in this section, but with the Honor 8 I have not been pleasantly surprised in this regard. The phone runs on a battery day, without more. What was said, complies, but without highlighting.

Whenever I analyze a phone I use it as the first terminal. I install my applications and use it as if it were mine browsing social networks, messaging, photos, music playback ... In this scenario the phone has had an average of 4 or 4.5 hours of screen activated.

The good thing is that the Honor 8 has fast charge and its 18 W charger offers a very interesting performance: it charges from 0 to 25% in 13 minutes and in half an hour we will have half the phone charged.

One fingerprint sensor to dominate them all

As I mentioned in the design section, the Honor 8's biometric reader is located at the back. I personally like your situation so I cannot criticize anything. And less its operation. Huawei has the best fingerprint readers and the Honor 8 is a new example of that.

Its sensor detects our fingerprint at the moment, from any angle and with a zero error rate. It has never failed me. As simple as that. In addition the sensor also functions as a button to activate various functions on the device as it can be configured to quickly access the camera or activate the flashlight

The dual camera system is installed in the high-end of Huawei and Honor

The Honor 8 has a dual cameras, both with a resolution of 12 megapixels. A system that we already saw in the Huawei P9, although in this case no sign of Leica. Without this agreement we lose that retro aspect that the P9 camera does have, although I did not dislike the camera at all. Honor 8 camera interface.

Your camera allows you to record videos in Full HD at up to 60 frames per second. There is no trace of 4K, although I think this resolution is more than enough. The Honor 8 has mixed focus, contrast and laser, both systems working simultaneously to better and faster adjust the focus of our scenes. And let's not forget the dual-tone flash, which compensates for poorly lit environments.

The interface is simple and intuitive, with a multitude of options that will delight photography lovers. Especially the Professional mode, available both for taking pictures and in video mode, and that allows you to make the most of the camera's potential.

With this function we can modify a large number of parameters, such as exposure, shutter speed or white balance, opening a range of possibilities.  I recommend you play with the settings until you understand the system since the improvement in the photographs is remarkable.

 

Anyway, With the automatic mode, pictures taken in environments with adequate lighting are really good: colors look vivid and sharp, and contrast and saturation more than meet expectations.

As usual in a double camera system, there is a mode that will allow us to adjust blur of photographs, just like a reflex camera. Its aperture is fixed and we can play with the focus after taking the picture. This results in captures with a very interesting bokeh effect and reminiscent of reflex cameras.

When taking night photographs the camera suffers, although if we activate the night mode and we use a tripod or we rest the terminal on a fixed surface, the results improve notably, offering night captures with great quality.

The front camera, which has 8 megapixels of resolution, is more than enough to make quality self-portraits and video calls, although without great fanfare. In short, a camera that, without being the best on the market, more than fulfills its function by offering a more than correct level of detail and sharpness.

Examples of photographs taken with the Honor 8 camera

Final conclusions

Huawei is already the manufacturer that sells the most smartphones in Spain, a milestone that shows the good work of the company. A few years ago it suffered in the camera section, but with terminals like the Huawei Mate 9 it has managed to reach the level of its main competitors.

The Honor line was a very risky bet. Would a new brand work on the European market? Would it cannibalize Huawei phone sales? Yes and no. Honor is being a bestseller in Europe, and let's not talk about the Asian market where it is sweeping. And when it comes to taking sales away from Huawei, the losses reaped by the success of Honor are clearly offset by the success of this new brand.

I can absolutely say that the Honor 8 is the most attractive phone of all the ones I have used. I haven't seen a WOW effect for a long time! so clear on a phone. And let's not kid ourselves, it's cool that people ask you about that cool phone you carry. Less when they ask you which iPhone it is. That no longer made me so funny.

In short, a highly recommended phone that shows that the manufacturer has known how to choose a suitable path, combining design quality, hardware power and perfect marketing at knockdown prices. Without a doubt, a terminal that I recommend to those who want a high-end range without having to scratch their pockets excessively. Because, For 389 euros, there is no better option on the market. As simple as that.

Editor's opinion

Points in favor

Points against