Honor 8C first impressions: We are yet to fully test out the performance, though it is one of the first phones in the market to offer Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 632 processor.Huawei’s sub-brand Honor, which directly competes with Xiaomi, has launched a slew of devices in 2018. The list of affordable options includes Honor 9N, Honor 8X, Honor 7A and 7C. Now, the company is gearing up to launch Honor 8C smartphone in India on November 29.
Honor 8C is expected to be priced at around Rs 15,000 in India, though we will have to wait for official launch to know more. The phone is being seen as a potential competitor against Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro and will be exclusive to Amazon in India.
Honor 8C has a full screen display, dual rear cameras and it runs Snapdragon 632 processor. The battery is a 4,000mAh one, same as the Redmi Note 6 Pro. Ahead of its official debut, we used Honor 8C for a day and here is our first impression.
Honor 8C first impressions: Design and Display
Honor 8C gets a 6.2-inch IPS LCD HD+ display with a resolution of 1520×720 pixels. The screen looks vibrant and icons appear sharp, which is great. The viewing angles are decent, though in bright sunlight I did struggle to look at the screen. A FHD+ resolution display would have definitely been a plus since it is fast becoming a standard on mid-range phones.
Honor 8C is a stylish looking phone. It has a plastic back with curved edges.The screen has a rectangular notch at the top, which I don’t mind unless it comes in way of my viewing experience. The good thing is that the notch can be disabled or customised for select apps from the Settings menu.
Honor 8C is a stylish looking phone. It has a plastic back with curved edges. The Navy Blue that we got for review is very subtle, yet stands out in the mid-range price segment. There is a gradient of black on the sides that very subtly blends into the blue, which looks great. The overall design is impressive.
The good thing is that the notch can be disabled or customised for select apps from the Settings menu.The phone is using a micro-USB Type 2.0 port for charging, which is placed at the bottom and a 3.5 headset jack is placed on top. The fingerprint scanner is accurate and was, on most occasions, quick to unlock the device. I have not had the chance to set up the face unlock yet.
Honor 8C first impressions: Camera
Honor 8C sports dual-rear cameras, which includes a combination of 13MP primary lens with f/1.8 aperture and a 2MP secondary camera. The camera is said to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) feature that can recognise 500 odd scenarios to optimise photos accordingly. There’s Portrait mode as well.
Honor 8C camera sample. (Image resized for web)
Honor 8C camera sample. (Image resized for web)
Honor 8C camera sample. (Image resized for web)The back camera clicks decent photos in bright outdoors with enough details. In Portrait mode, though the colours looked a bit washed out and dull. We still have to test the camera more extensively. The indoor shots also look fine.
The front camera is 8MP with soft LED flash and this has features like Beauty mode, AR Lens etc but no bokeh mode. Even in normal mode, the camera tends to smoothen out skin but not too much. The detailing in indoor photos is decent and colours look close to natural, which I liked.
Honor 8C first impressions: Processor, Battery and Memory
Honor 8C is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 632 processor and our review unit has 4GB RAM, 64GB storage. Honor is expected to launch more storage variants in India. The apps opened quickly and I could switch between tabs seamlessly. Daily performance does not seem like an issue on the phone, which should keep most users happy.
For people who love to play games on their mobile phone, there is game acceleration mode that minimises notifications during gameplay as well as uninterrupted gaming mode where all notification are blocked when a user is playing a game.
Honor 8C is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 632 processor and our review unit has 4GB RAM, 64GB storage.Honor 8C is backed by a 4,000mAh battery, which should easily last for one and a half days. You get two different slots for SIM cards and a slot for a microSD card, which I feel is a useful tweak keeping in mind the Indian market.
Honor 8C first impressions: Verdict
Honor 8C’s price will end up deciding whether it is worth recommending or not. We are yet to fully test out the performance, though it is one of the first phones in the market to offer Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 632 processor. This will be a good option to consider if priced at under Rs 13,000. As for competition, Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro packs a dual front camera as well, which gives it a slight edge.
