22 4-17April 2018
T
he priceofsmartphones
has gonethroughthe
roof in the lastcouple
of years. Not so long ago,
aflagshiphandsetwould
seempricey at £600but
thesedays the likes of
Samsungand Appleseemto
thinkthat’sthe very leastyou
shouldpayfor their lowest-
cost entry-levelmodel.
Chinesemanufacturer
Honor–asubsidiaryof
Huawei–has its ownidea
aboutprices and appearsto
be reiningin the madness.
Its latest phonehas a6in 18:9
display, decent performance,
high-qualitylooksand costs
lessthan £270.Screen
In lessthan ayear,we’veseen
the 18:9 aspect-ratio display
become an essentialelement
in top-endsmartphones,and
the Honor7X is by farthe
cheapesttohaveone.While
its resolutionisn’t the highest
–astretched1080pdisplay
with a1,080 x2,160 resolution
–thatisn’t abig problem
becausethe only time you
needmorethan 1080pon a
screen this sizeisifyou plan
to strapittoyour face to
delveintovirtualreality.
Colour presentation isn’t
the strongest, but it’s not a
deal breaker.Our colorimeter
registeredanoverall coverageHonor 7X
of Microsoft’s sRGBstandard
at 85.3%,whichis closeto
the MotoG5S and atouch
shyofthe 89.2% achievedby
the Honor7X’spredecessor,
the 6X. Moreimportantlyfor
mostusers, the contrastis
ridiculouslygoodforanIPS
screen, with aratio of 2,109:1.
With apeak brightness
measured at 499cd/m^2
(candlesper squaremetre),
you’reunlikely to have any
troublereadingit in sunny
daylight.Design,buildand
batterylife
Therestofthe phoneis
beautifullybuilt,too, and
lookslikeitshouldcost alot
morethan it does.However,
thereare afew designquirks
thataren’t to everyone’staste.
Firstofall, the fingerprint
reader is on the back,because
the 18:9 screen leavesno
room foritonthe front.
Second, it doesn’thave
built-inNFC(Near Field
Communication),so youcan’t
use Android Payat
contactlesspayment
terminals.Third, the Honor7X
hangson heroicallyto the
Micro-USBformat, which
meansslowerdatatransfer
rates, thoughit will at leastbe
compatible with the pile of
USB cablesyou’ll have kicking
aroundfrom previousheel of Kirin processors has
beentheir 3D-graphical
performanceand,
unfortunately,the same
remainstrue here. It’s worth
mentioningthatGFXBench’s
Manhattan 3testis
demandingand alow score
doesn’tmeanyouwon’t be
able to do any3Dgamingof
anysort, justthatyou won’t
be powering throughgamesTheHonor 7X has the looks
of atop-of-the-rangephone
but costsagreat deal less.
AlanMartinchecksout how
muchof abargain it is
gadgets.Thankfully,italso
has a3.5mmheadphonejack.
Insidethe phoneis Honor’s
own2.36GHzocta-core
HiSilicon Kirin 659processor
and, forthe price, it’s no
slouch.It’s not goingto match
the SamsungGalaxyS8or
iPhoneX, but the Honor7X
performsadmirably,asshown
in our chart,right.
Historically,the Achilles’ProductTest
We test and comparethe latest products
You’llbesurprisedbywhattheHonor7X
offersfor themoney,andits6in18:9ratio
screenis undoubtedlyanasset