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Earlier today, Honor had introduced its new budget smartphone for global markets, the Honor 8X. This handset was originally introduced in China last month, but today marks its arrival to markets outside of China. Europe is first in line to get the Honor 8X, as the phone is already available in France, and it will hit Spain and Italy later today. The Honor 8X will become available in the UK and the US soon, though Honor did not share exact dates nor price points for those two markets. In any case, the Honor 8X is a budget smartphone, but quite a compelling one, just like its predecessor, the Honor 7X, which was actually available in both Europe and the US (and it still is). The Honor 7X was one of the company’s best-selling smartphones since it was announced, and the company has similar expectations for the Honor 8X, which is not all that surprising at all considering that this device really does have a lot to offer at its price tag.
Premium Build, On A Budget
The design is the first thing that comes to light when you look at a phone, especially if it’s a nice-looking device. Well, the Honor 8X definitely is, though that’s a thing of personal preference, of course. The device is made out of metal and glass, unlike its predecessor, which was a metal unibody handset. The Honor 8X has a rather similar back to that the company utilized on the Honor 8, 9 and some other devices that it released in the last couple of years. That essentially means that you’re getting a number of glass panels stacked one on top of the other, and all that creates a really nice look, it reflects light in an interesting way, though it’s worth noting that the portion below and above the phone’s rear-cameras sports a somewhat different pattern, for one reason or the other. The phone feels sturdy in the hand, and the fact that it has such thin bezels is only a plus. The Honor 8X’s ‘chin’ is really thin, while there is no bezel above the display, only a notch, which is not as small as some ‘teardrop’ notches out there, but it’s not particularly large either. The Honor 8X basically looks and feels like it costs more than it does, and that’s always a good thing… and it’s worth noting that the Honor 7X shipped with a much thicker set of bezels, and Honor’s branding below the display, which is not the case here, of course.
Plenty To Offer Under The Hood
The Honor 8X is not the most powerful smartphone out there, far from it, but considering its €249.90 starting price tag (for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant in France, as the 3GB RAM model is not available), its specs are more than satisfactory. The Honor 8X improves upon pretty much everything the Honor 7X had to offer, it comes with a more powerful Kirin 710 64-bit octa-core processor, which is noticeably more capable than the Kirin 659. The device improves its rear-facing cameras, whereas the Honor 7X sported a 12-megapixel camera main camera with an f/2.2 aperture lens, the Honor 8X comes with a 20-megapixel main camera with an f/1.8 aperture lens. Both phones have an additional 2-megapixel camera for depth perception on the back, and it’s quite probably the same sensor as well. Those of you who are into large displays will also be at home here, as the Honor 8X has a 6.5-inch fullHD+ display, while the Honor 7X came with a 5.93-inch panel. The Honor 8X is a bit larger than the Honor 7X because of this, which may present a problem to some people, but if you’re all about that display, the Honor 8X delivers on this front, as it minimizes bezels, so that the 6.5-inch panel manages to shine through. Even though this is an IPS LCD display, it’s a well-balanced panel, and you can’t really expect an OLED display at this price tag.
Wrap Up
The Honor 7X was introduced back in December last year, and the Honor 8X only shows how much things can change in less than a year, at least when it comes to smartphones. The Honor 8X basically has the same price point as the Honor 7X when it arrived, and it improves quite a bit on what the Honor 7X had to offer. The Honor 8X is meant to be accessible to a wide range of people, no matter if you’re looking to save up on some money, buy a phone for your kid, or perhaps you’re looking or a secondary device. Whatever may be the case, the Honor 8X has plenty to offer, and it actually performs really well. At €249.90, you’ll hardly find a better deal, at least in Europe, though Xiaomi does have some solid offerings in this price range, like the Xiaomi Mi A2, for example. All in all, the Honor 8X is a great budget option, and something to consider if you’re in a market or a sub €250 smartphone.