After launching the Honor 9i back in October, Huawei’s sub-brand is gearing up to launch another new smartphone in India. This new device is called the Honor 7X, and as the name suggests, it is the successor to the Honor 6X. The smartphone is set to be launched in December, but I have got my hands on a pre-launch unit. Here are my first impressions of the Honor 7X.
Right out of the box, you can see that the Honor 7X is much more contemporary than its predecessor. In line with the current trend, the upcoming smartphone flaunts a tall display surrounded by thin bezels, and a dual-camera setup at the back. The unibody metal design gives the Honor 7X a premium look, and build quality is quite good too. The Matte Black variant we received is good to look at, but unfortunately a fingerprint magnet.
The tall design means it is easy to hold the Honor 7X in one’s hands. Despite featuring a 5.93-inch display, the smartphone doesn’t feel unusually big. The front part of the device is dominated by the display, which comes with full HD+ resolution (1080×2160 pixels), and 18:9 aspect ratio. The display is quite bright, text look sharp, and viewing angles are quite decent. Overall, the wide display makes it ideal to watch videos on the go.
Another talking point of the Honor 7X is its dual-camera setup at the back. The Honor 6X too was launched with a vertically placed dual-camera setup – 12-megapixel sensor with PDAF, and 2-megapixel sensor to capture depth information. The new smartphone however features a different setup. For one the camera lenses are placed horizontally at the top-left corner of the smartphone. The setup includes a combination of 16-megapixel and 2-megapixel sensors. The camera allows one to shoot portrait photos with a blurred background, and there’s also a ‘Motion picture’ mode that is similar to ‘Live Photos’ on iPhones. While it is too early to pass a judgment, early impressions about the camera are quite positive. Up front, there’s an 8-megapixel snapper for selfies and video calling.
Powering the Honor 7X is a Kirin 659 octa-core SoC paired with 4GB of RAM. In my short time with the phone, I have yet to come across any major lags or stutters. I will however put the smartphone through more strenuous tests to ascertain its performance capabilities. A slightly disappointing aspect of the smartphone is that it still runs on Android Nougat 7.0-based EMUI 5.1. Hopefully by the time the smartphone hits the stores there will be more clarity about a possible Android Oreo update.
There’s a 3,340mAh battery powering the device, which should ideally be enough to survive the day on a single charge. On paper, the Honor 7X comes with 64GB storage, but right out of the box only around 48GB was available for users.
While it is too early to pass a judgment on the Honor 7X, early signs are quite positive. This seems to be an all-rounder with contemporary features like 18:9 display, and dual cameras to name a few. It will then all come down to the final price tag, and Honor has promised an ‘aggressive’ price tag. In the meantime, the upcoming smartphone is up for registrations on Amazon India.
To put things into perspective, the Honor 6X was launched in two variants priced at Rs 12,999 and Rs 15,999. It is highly likely that Honor will stick to this price range. That said, unlike earlier this year, competition is now quite fierce in the sub-Rs 15,000 segment. Is the Honor 7X capable of surviving in this segment? We will find out the answer soon in our review. Until then stay tuned to BGR India.