Honor 7X | After 1.5 Years

(Screenshot from Honor 7X launch video uploaded by Honor Malaysia)

In my 1 month search May last year for the best budget smartphone I could afford, I've come across the Honor 7X. With my tight budget of RM900 the RM899 price tag fits right well into my pocket. This phone was launched on December 2017 with EMUI 7.0 and now as of October 2019, it now runs on EMUI 9.1 (Thanks Honor).

All-Rounder Champion

Why did I choose this phone as my companion? It's simply because it's specifications fulfills what I search for. It comes with a 18:9 Honor FullView 5.93 Inches IPS LCD Display (1080 x 2160 pixels) with an aluminium body giving off that premium feel and look. It is quite comfortable in hand with those curved sides and the fact that its not too heavy. Being fitted with Hybrid Dual SIM capability, I have the freedom to choose the 2nd slot for a Nano-SIM or a micro-SD. In Malaysia, only the 64GB ROM & 4GB RAM version is available.

 It is also fitted with a fingerprint sensor on the back which in my opinion is absurdly fast and till this day it still is. There are only issues when the sensor or my fingers are wet and dirty which is normal. It has a 16MP shooter coupled with a 2MP depth sensor for the Aperture mode shots, giving off a blurred background bokeh effect. As for its internal hardware, Kirin 659 powers its processing along with its Mali-T830 MP2 as the graphics processing unit. A 3,340 mAh battery powers the device with micro-USB charging.

Looks Matters

What I like about Honor 7X is its modern and minimalistic design approach on the front and the back. Personally I do not like notches, and actually prefer designs like this phone where there's a fixed straight border that is not too tall at the top and bottom of the screen. 

Complementing the front are the front speaker grille, flushed out selfie camera and IR sensor located inside the top border and the proud HONOR logo on the bottom. The 18:9 5.93 inches display is a very satisfying to watch videos as well as for immersive gaming as the large screen allows you to pick off small details faster than on other smaller screens.

 At the back its dual camera lenses make it look like its a cute pair of eyes with the flash LED light as its cheeks (at least thats what I imagine). The fingerprint sensor situated just above the middle section of the phone is in the right position for fast phone unlocks in almost every situation.

Performance So Far

After a year and a half, it still is practically the same as it was when I bought it albeit just some very slight, brief and rare lag issues that arise due to the storage being almost full, which is perfectly normal for any device. According to AnTuTu benchmarks, when empty storage left is 25% and below, there will be a dip in storage performance. Most of the time you wouldn't be able to notice it. In fact after the Android 9.0 upgrade (EMUI 9.1) I've noticed that its speed and performance actually improved since those slight lag issues are getting more rare. I guess optimization is really good on this new UI.

When I first bought it, the battery was able to fuel it for almost one day without recharging even with occasional gaming. From 100% at 7.00 a.m to 10% at 10 p.m. Nowadays the average I would say is it would last from 7.00 a.m to 8 p.m at 10% battery left with the same level of gaming and video surfing. For phones, its normal for the battery life to slowly go down due to charging habits (overcharge and late charge) and for me, my phone's performance is actually good considering my gaming and video watching habits. Maybe you guys can share what yours are down at the comments?

Gaming?

Needless to say, we who buy Honor phones usually prefer it for either gaming or photography. I'm a heavy gamer at times in the sense that I play a lot of games. For Mobile Legends, I normally play it on Medium settings to conserve battery but it can run on High Quality with no graphics or major heat problem. For COD Mobile the graphics quality can only be set to Low and the highest frame rate setting is Medium. 

Meanwhile for PUBG Mobile I normally set Smooth or Balanced for graphics quality depending on my battery and Medium settings for frame rate. In terms of heat, there isnt any issue at all unless if you use a case in which you would feel a little warm when playing PUBG for more than 3 matches with Balanced graphics quality.

My graphics settings for PUBG Mobile (top) and COD Mobile (bottom) which are recommended by the game

Photography & Videography

I've found that taking pictures and videos had become my passion; a hobby in a sense that wherever new place I go to I have the urge to take photos whenever I think it is beautiful or if a subject pops out. Therefore during the 1 month research for a new phone, I went through countless of reviews, articles and comparison videos of photography and videography on Honor 7X and its rivals to see which suits my preferences and needs (as well as budget). 

One thing that is common between them is that in terms of overall performance of both categories, Honor 7X wins it with the 16MP main shooter + 2MP depth sensor at the back and a 8MP selfie shooter with screen flash. It takes well balanced photos in terms of lighting and contrast and the post-processing is not too much in which the opposite is the case with some phones at this price range. I like raw photos since I prefer to edit them myself using third party apps so this phone suits me like a glove.

There's also the fact that there are 16 camera modes + HiVision (available on EMUI 9.1) on Honor 7X (main 4 modes: aperture, portrait, photo and video) with some being for functional use and others for aesthetic purposes as shown below:

Camera app UI showing 4 main modes + HiVision  and 12 more modes

As for video quality, below is my Youtube video (shameless advertising) shot entirely using Honor 7X. Originally shot with 1080p resolution but only available with 720p resolution on Youtube. For general comments, as long as there's sufficient lighting you will get good video details, brightness and contrast albeit there is very little video stabilization due to the lack of OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization). This is of course due to the implementation these systems would increase the already affordable price beyond RM899 (original release price).

Dual Lens Camera

Here are some of my favourite unedited versions of photos I took with the 16MP + 2MP camera setup showcasing its features as a phone camera. It is worth noting that only the post-processing of the camera software is done on these photos.

Under the right lighting conditions, the Honor 7X is able to beautifully capture and preserve the details and colours of the subject.

However if the lighting is not optimal, there might be loss of details, presence of noise and/or photo softening which is what the camera software does to make the photo look better. This is normal for non-flagship phones such as the Honor 7X.

Aperture mode shot and Light painting mode shot on Honor 7X

Here are some more photos (edited photos) in my previous thread https://iforum-sg.c.hihonor.com/my/topic/21499/detail.htm

Selfie Camera

Standard selfie shot mode, portrait mode with beauty and bokeh are available. (Excuse the awkward selfies below)

Normal mode and Portrait + bokeh shots

Honor 7X | Max Your View

As a conclusive note, I am grateful to have this phone as my companion for the duration it has served me, and it will continue to do so until the unexpected happens. Despite the drawbacks, it is truly a jack-of-all-trades phone since it provides a hardware package that cannot other brands cannot offer at its price range and its release year. Truly hats off to HONOR for releasing this phone and giving us continued software and services updates.

Those who own Honor 7X may also share their opinions at the comments section if there are any. Thank you for those who stuck around reading this and spending your time! 

Signed,

Honor 7X user