Budget phones are selling like hot cakes these days. No wonder, Huawei is trying to bring high-end technologies found on its premium smartphones down to the budget segment. The Honor 6X is the company’s newest smartphone featuring a dual-camera setup. The smartphone has already been launched in China for around $150 (Rs 10,200 approx.), and is expected to launch in India soon.
Though unlike the flagship Huawei P9 or the recently launched Honor 8, the Honor 6X is the company’s most affordable dual-lens camera phone to date. The device is the successor to last year’s Honor 5X, and packs twin rear cameras just like the Honor 8 and the flagship Huawei P9. Even other specs on the device look rather solid such as a Full HD display, Kirin 655 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. On paper, the Honor 6X might just be the perfect smartphone for your budget needs. We try to find out if it lives up to that in our review.
Box Contents:
Honor 6X smartphone
User Guide
Warranty Card
SIM Ejector PIN
5W Wall Charger
USB Cable
Build and Design
Most budget phones these days rock metallic bodies and the Honor 6X is no different. It seems well-built when you hold it for the first time. The phone’s back is decked in silver-colored aluminium alloy which gives it a premium look and feel. It fits nicely in the hand and doesn’t feel slippery, thanks to its subtly curved edges and slightly rounded back. Also, the phone doesn’t feel bulky at all for a 5.5-inch phone, and at the same has a nice weight to it.
That said, it doesn’t really stand out from the crowd. The Honor 6X looks like any typical 5.5-inch phone. The volume rockers and power button are housed on the right, the 3.5 mm jack is on the top edge of the phone, while the USB slot sits at the bottom. I also liked the placement of the phone’s external speaker which sits at the bottom edge, as it doesn’t block the sound even the phone is lying down.
The built-in fingerprint sensor is again, located on the back. And it’s not only fast, but can perform other functions as well in the form of gestures. You can use it to pull down the notifications bar, take photos, and more. It unlocked the device in less than half a second.
All-in-all, the metal construction and overall build quality work rather well for the price tag. The only downside is that the phone’s rear camera module sticks out of the back.
Display
The phone packs a 5.5-inch Full HD display with pixel density of 403ppi. I found the phone’s IPS panel to be quite impressive. It offers good viewing angles, punchy colors, and sharp details. Besides, its bright, vibrant, and has no issues whatsoever while using outdoors. Texts look sharp and crisp, and the phone’s 5.5-inch makes it ideal for editing documents, excel sheets and presentations while on the move.
Also, you can tweak the color gamut under Display settings as per your preference. There’s also an ‘Eye Comfort’ mode that comes in handy for users who read a lot on their smartphone. It essentially gives the screen a yellowish tint that reduces eye strain.
Overall, the phone’s 5.5-inch Full HD display and can surely hold on its own for most users. It’s great to watch movies, play games, or reading and editing documents.
There’s also an ‘Eye Comfort’ mode that comes in handy for users who read a lot on their smartphone.
Performance and Hardware
The smartphone gets powered by Huawei’s in-house 2.1 GHz Kirin 655 octa-core processor bundled with Mali-T830 GPU and 4GB of RAM. And as I went through the usual grinding which involved opening multiple apps, emails, watching HD videos on YouTube – the phone did not disappoint. The Honor 6X can handle anything thrown at it with ease. I did not experience any lags or stutters while navigating around the phone’s screen, and it was smooth sailing all the way.
Lags here are as rare as a rain drop in Sahara. The phone can also run most high-end games like Asphalt or Mortal Kombat X at ease without any stutters.
As far as synthetic benchmark scores go, the Honor 6X racked up an Antutu score of 56479. While in GeekBench 4, the phone pulled off single and multi-core scores 789 and 3327.
The phone’s microphone also works great, and I faced no issues during both incoming as well outgoing calls.
Battery
Even the phone’s 3340mAh battery is quite a workhorse. I got an on-screen time of around 6-7 hours. For a heavy user, the Honor 6X can easily last over a day of intense usage. While for average usage, the phone can easily churn out over two days of battery life. That said, it doesn’t get any quick-charge technology, however, the device still reaches full charge in about an hour n half with the bundled charger.
Camera
The phone’s camera is a massive improvement over its predecessor. The Honor 6X packs a 12MP + 2MP dual rear camera which can take some stunning pictures. With a dual-camera setup on board, the Honor 6X can capture more light in low-light situations.
In bright light, photos captured look highly detailed and vibrant with plenty of details to drool over. It even performs well in low-light conditions, barring some noise levels creeping in.
Besides, it also has built-in Bokeh mode which lets you adjust the focus even after clicking a photo. The camera app comes with a wide array of shooting modes for all types of situations. For instance, there’s a Night Mode, Food Mode, Ultra-snapshot, Pro Mode, Beauty Mode, and a lot more. The phone’s dual-cam snapper is certainly the phone’s strongest USP’s. Considering the phone’s price, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Even the phone’s 8MP selfie shooter belts out Instagram and Facebook-worthy selfies. Photos taken look sharp and crisp, and you get a wide array of customisations and beauty modes to get that perfect selfie.
It has built-in Bokeh mode which lets you adjust the focus even after clicking a photo.
Android and UI
The Honor 6X runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow wrapped over the company’s EMUI UI 4.0 skin. While it lacks the look and feel of stock Android, but the interface itself is quite snappy and responsive. I did not come across any visible pauses or stutters while navigating around the phone’s UI.
The UI hasn’t been bombarded with a lot of bloatware either, unlike many other Chinese smartphones who often come loaded with bloatware. Besides, there are some extra features as well such as Knuckle sense, screen recording, Glove Mode, and a lot more. Moreover, an Android Nougat update is also on the cards which is expected to arrive sometime in March.
Pros:
- Metallic design lends a premium look
- Lag-free performance across the board
- Dual rear cameras capture stunning photos
- Attractive price point
Cons:
- Camera module doesn’t sit flush on the back
- No fast charging
- No dual-SIM slot (only hybrid)
Wrap Up
The Honor 6X is one of those smartphones that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket, and at the same time offers the very latest in smartphone technology. The phone’s dual rear camera is as good as it gets in this price segment. It’s feature-packed, looks premium, and the phone’s overall performance across the board might even put flagships to shame. There are zero-lags while playing high-end games or during multitasking. The phone’s dual rear camera is an absolute delight and quite a rarity in this price range.
While it does have a few downsides such as the lack of fast-charging, but for the price it is offered at, the Honor 6X has the potential to be crowned as the new budget king of Android smartphones. Period.
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