Honor 7A

Honor 7 Series offers its budget set in the Honor 7A handset and integrates it with a Snapdragon chipset. Priced at Rs. 7,499, Honor’s move from its own Kirin processor to the Snapdragon works well in boosting the performance of this entry-level delight.

However, while performance and battery are definite highlights of this set, the phone falters on many other aspects. It has poor architecture, and the display falls flat as well. Plus, the Honor 7A does not provide reliable photographic outcomes too. All in all, the phone is a poor handset from Honor and is not recommended.

Honor 7A is made of plastic. It is not precisely hefty at 150 grams and has a similar weight as the Huawei Y6 2018. The phone is comfortable to hold, and due to slightly curved edges, it can sit comfortably in your hand. However, the plastic makes the phone a little less durable. On twisting the model, the phone creaks a bit, which means that it is not your average durable handset. The back and front of the phone is slightly pressed, which helps as the pressure does not reach the screen too much, potentially stopping any cracks. On the front, the bezels are quite clean and thin, so you get the right screen size. But overall, the phone is just not attractive enough with its plastic case. It does have a fingerprint sensor too, which is a plus. On the other hand, Huawei Y6 2018 had a metal frame which gave it superior durability.

The Honor 7A arrives with a big 5.7-inch IPS display with a modern 18:9 format. It makes the screen tall, but due to the aspect ratio, the phone cannot be used for 16:9 content. The 720p resolution can be expanded and brought to 18:9. However, you might notice a bit of blurriness when this expansion takes place. The phone arrives at a brightness level of 395 cd/m², which is not quite significant. The brightness distribution is reduced as well, rounding off at 88%, which means that you can see brightness differences too. The phone is not suitable for outdoor use either. Plus, if we consider viewing angles, then you will see that the phone tends to darken at extreme angles.

The Honor 7A arrives with a dated but affordable Qualcomm Snapdragon 430. However, it offers excellent performance when it is compared to the processors of its competitors. The phone can deliver 46,126 Points in Antutu, which beats the 39,089 Points acquired by Huawei Y6 2018 and the 37,495 Points earned by Xperia L1. It also comes with a mid-range GPU, Adreno 505, which as an entry-level smartphone can offer playable frame rates. In case of viewing pictures, the pictures can come out great, but there is a slight lag while swiping through the images. 2D games like Angry Birds can run well on this phone, as well as less graphics-intensive 3D games like Dead Trigger 2 as well. However, you cannot run high-end games like Asphalt 9 and expect high playable frame rates.  

The Honor 7A comes with a dual-camera set up on its back – a 13MP camera supported by a 2MP camera for depth-sensing. The photos on this phone tend to give out darker images with a blue tint to it. The sharpness of the phone is just fine. However, it is only in adequately lit conditions that the phone can keep producing proper images. Texted images with coloured backgrounds become blurry. In case of videos, the phone can record 1080p videos at 30fps. The colours are slightly pale. The exposure works fast too. Plus, the autofocus works quickly, and the sharpness is kept accurate.

In case of the front 8MP selfie camera, the colours appear a bit pale, with the sharpness being just passable. Lighted areas can seem a bit too bright.

The Honor 7A comes with a 3000 mAh battery, which is just passable. Surfing on the phone at about 150 cd/m² brightness found that it was able to last only about 11 hours. So, if you use this phone for light purposes, then it can easily chug on for more than two days. The charging takes a bit long since it does not come with fast charging. It might take about 2 and a half hours to go from 0 to 100% on this set.

The Honor 7A does not have any feature that could make it stand out. It has a good display and a great battery life, but then again, other phones provide the same. Plus, the screen tends to be a bit darker than usual. Regarding performance, the Honor 7A stands out with respect to its competitors, providing decent daily performance. However, the weaknesses of the phone are too many. Plus, it comes at a price range which challenges Redmi 7, which comes with a Snapdragon 632 processor and better battery. Unless you are an Honor fan, this set is not a recommended model.