Honor 8 Pro

Unlike its predecessors, Honor 8 Pro makes a statement in the flagship market by trying to reach the realms of top phones at a mid-range price. Coming at a price of Rs. 23,599, it is a capable phone that is a serious contender for a place among high-end flagships.

However, Honor 8 Pro has its hits and misses. While it packs enough grunt in its performance, it does not have the best battery despite its large size. It does not have impressive audio either. In spite of the shortcomings, it is a phone recommended for people with a mid-range budget looking to deal with high-end flagship features.

Honor 8 Pro has brought slight differences in its design compared to Honor 8. It has a metal unibody unlike the glass back of Honor 8. At 6.97mm thickness, the phone is quite sleek and comfortable to hold. The curved edges do not create any problem for your hand. The front panel is fitted with Corning Gorilla Glass for protection and has 2.5D curved edges. The best part is that the phone managed to fit in a 4,000 mAh battery. However, it adds to the weight of the phone which is quite heavy at 184g. Another problem with this phone is that it is not waterproof – a severe blow for a phone which looks well-crafted.

Honor 8 Pro comes with a 5.7-inch display featuring about 2560×1440 pixel QHD which means it has a stunning 515 pixels per inch. It is quite vivid, and the contrast is excellent. However, it might seem a bit aggressive for some people. It could be a problem as there is no way to tone it down. Only the colour temperature could be adjusted according to user preference. At night, the brightness could be reduced so that there is little strain on your eyes.

Honor 8 Pro is equipped by Huawei-build Kirin 960 chipset. It is an octa-core chipset with four Cortex A73 cores clocked at 2.3GHz and the four remaining Cortex A53 cores running at 1.8GHz. However, it might seem dated compared to OnePlus 5’s Snapdragon 835. The multi-score benchmark puts it at 6,528 which is excellent and at par with Samsung S7 Edge and goes ahead of Huawei P10. It is a power-packed processor that puts the phone among higher-priced flagship competitors. It can run heavy games efficiently without lag, and app-switching takes place smoothly. No noticeable heat buildup could be felt that can make it too uncomfortable to hold.

Huawei’s speciality lies in its camera, and it delivers with Honor 8 Pro as well. It is equipped with a dual 12MP rear camera which is its flagship feature. They are used as independent RGB and monochrome sensors. Honor says that the monochrome camera captures more light to bring up better details. To put it into use, it has made its camera app from which you can choose multiple modes. The photos capture plenty of details, and they come out better than average. It produces accurate colours without any chromatic aberration or purple bags in lighted areas. The close-ups are impressive as well, and the phone is capable of separating the backgrounds and subjects properly.

In low light, the camera would sharpen the images which improve visibility though it could result in some loss of details.

Around front, the 8MP selfie snapper produces solid photos. It has a wide f/2.0 lens which lets in a lot of light. The selfies are good. However, it might appear a bit flat.

Honor 8 Pro arrives with a massive 4,000 mAh battery. However, it does not function as well. While Huawei claims that it could go up to two days on a single charge, it tends to struggle after a single day of moderate use. The charging is not speedy enough – taking 30 minutes to replenish 20% of its charge. A 90 minutes full HD video on maxed-out brightness made it lose 25% of its battery which is a massive drop compared to OnePlus 3T which just lost 14%.

Honor 8 Pro looks great and is a well-rounded phone. It has excellent performance and a fantastic set of cameras. Though it might be lacking in some small aspects, it doesn’t dampen the user experience much. It is for the people who are budget conscious but wishes to dabble with the latest specs in a phone. However, while its camera is a unique Huawei-specialty, OnePlus 3T is a more well-rounded phone in comparison and should be up for consideration.