Honor 6X | Huawei
HUAWEI HONOR 6X REVIEW
Honorable mention.
by Felipe Parada
Spending hundreds on a new phone isn't something that I particularly look forward to but some do . I know many can't wait until the new Samsung or iPhone hits the market but how different are these phones, really? I had to replace my old Samsung Galaxy On5 recently (I know, it's an old phone), so it was time to start shopping. I poured though pages and pages of phones but nothing really stood out as a viable replacement. At this point ANY phone would have been a viable replacement, in comes the Huawei Honor 6X
I never owned a Huawei product and knew very little of the brand. What I came to find out was that Huawei currently sits at #2 in worldwide cellular phone sales, surpassing Samsung. Hugely popular in the Chinese market, Huawei is slowly starting to gain traction in US sales but still hasn't managed to gain mainstream success. I'm a bit surprised that this phone isn't more widely popular in a market that consumers have no issue pouring billions of dollars into.
Currently sitting at $179.99 on amazon.com, the 32GB unlocked Honor 6X brings a host of nice features that are worth a long look. Slim, sleek and the overall performance is on par with phones like the Moto G5 Plus and ZTE Axon 7. Boasting an impressive UI layer, secondary lens camera and a dual SIM card option, the Honor 6X feels like a phone that certainly feels like a worthy alternative if you aren't looking to re-finance your home in order to get a new cell phone. Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the features in detail, shall we?
Honor 6X | Huawei
Design, Display, and Features OH MY!
The design of the Honor 6X is as simple as can be, there really isn't anything overpowering about the look. On the back you have dual camera lenses that sit on top of a circular fingerprint sensor. You would think that the fingerprint sensor would get in the way of operating your phone but its the complete opposite. I love how the fingerprint sensor allows for easy access without inputting complicated pins and complex patterns. The case itself is a metal unibody slab that also comes available in gray, gold and silver.
The phone measures roughly 6"H x 3"W x 0.3"D and weighs about 6 ounces. The phone fits nicely in my had but I can foresee there being a problem with people who have smaller hands. The phone can be a bit too wide, especially when you try to reach across with your thumb. The good thing is that there's a Mini Screen function that allows you to shrink what's on your screen and moves the keyboard to one side for easy handling.
The volume and power button can both be found on the right which took me some time to get used to because I was always used to having them on the left with my Samsung. The left side has SIM and microSD slots which are features if you want to use two different numbers. A 3.5mm audio jack sits at the top, and the micro USB charging port is at the very bottom in between the speaker grills and a microphone.
Honor 6X | Huawei
The feature that I love the most is the fingerprint sensor that's located on the back. It's quick, very responsive and it has a set of programmable features that give you complete control over your phone. For example: when your camera app is open, the fingerprint sensor allows you to touch and hold it to take a photo and swipe left or right to browse your photos. I didn't think I would ever use this feature but it's one that is very intuitive.
The front of the phone has a nice 5.5-inch, 1,920-by-1,080-pixel IPS LCD which allows for all of your text messages and videos to displayed in crisp and vibrant HD. If you feel that you aren't getting a good picture, the color reproduction is highly customizable. You can choose between warm and cold color temperatures for optimal viewing. The automatic brightness setting further improves your viewing angles, especially during those days that are extremely sunny. When I do use the phone during those days I don't feel as much eye strain as compared to other phones.
Lights, Camera, ACTION!
This is the first cell phone I own that has a dual-sensor camera. The Honor 6X has a 12-megapixel camera on the top and a 2-megapixel image sensor on the bottom. The dual cameras allow for brighter, more detailed photos and videos, and a wider color capture. The camera works wonders when there is enough light, the pictures come out crystal clear and very detailed. The only downside is the shots may become a bit grainier in low light. You can activate HDR and night modes to alleviate the graininess but it wont help much which makes taking pictures at night can be a bit of a challenge.
The 8-megapixel front-facing camera takes clear shots. But also keep in mind that the images can come out soft depending on lighting, so make sure that your sufficient lighting conditions before you shoot away. For all you professional photographers out there, the 6X has a bit of a surprise in store. Pro Camera and Pro Video modes are available for even more control. The modes allow you to adjust the ISO, white balance, aperture, and focus. In the hands of a true professional, the camera on the 6X can product some truly stunning images. If beautiful images aren't enough, it also records stable 1080p video at 30fps.
All photos taken with the Honor 6X | Huawei
Connectivity and Network Performance
This one is short and sweet. The unlocked GSM phone comes with LTE bands 2/4/5/12/20/38. I have T-Mobile as a carrier and the phone showed strong network performance. The only downside is that you cannot use Wifi calling with ANY unlocked GSM phone because that feature is only available to T-Mobile Phones. Even without the Wifi calling feature, the call quality is very good. Calls are crisp and clear with the phone working particularly well in troublesome areas like basements. I wish all phones worked this well.
Processing Power and Battery
The Honors 6X uses Huawei's proprietary Kirin 655 octa-core chipset. Clocking in at 2.1GHz, its more than capable of running very heavy apps and the fact that it comes with 3GB of RAM make regular usage a real breeze. I have a couple of real heavy apps on this phone and multitasking is real smooth. I never once encountered any type of slowdown, and I have many, many apps running at the same time.
Battery life is solid, averaging about 5-6 hours with heavy usage. In regular stand-by mode, you can get up to 2 days worth of use, not bad off of 1 charge. If you want to get even more life out of your battery, then accessing the built in battery manager is a must. It allows you to reduce the power drainage caused by apps running in the background. There's even a nifty alert that warns you when background apps are consuming too much power.
Honor 6X | Huawei
Software
The Honor 6X has a UI layer called EMI 5.0 but runs Android 7.0. The UI has sleek animations, quick toggles and is fully customizable. The settings seem simple enough for you to navigate. If you are switching from iOS, there's no need to worry. The switch is easy and painless as the background manager makes using the phone a breeze.
The phone already comes installed with a lot of bloatware like booking.com, CNN, Mopria Print Service, News Republic, and TripAdvisor. Thankfully, all of the bloatware can be uninstalled. Once all if the bloatware is removed, you're left with 19.29GB out of the 32GB of internal storage. But don't worry, you still have the option of using a microSD card if you need more space for apps or photos.
The Verdict
Currently priced at $179.99, you can't go wrong with the Huawei Honor 6X. For the price, the 6X is a real good buy. The phone really works well and it does everything you would hope for, and more. It has tons of customizable options and adding the fingerprint sensor is a real nice touch. If you are someone who really puts emphasis on a phones camera (like myself), then this phone really is for you.
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