As Josh rightly notes, the S650 is going to be a killer (A72s) in midrange phones.
Still, aren't the Zenfones still king of the budget for the performance you get? The Intel chips are significantly more powerful than the A53s and you can often get very good devices from Asus at this same price point.
I'm expecting a similar device such as this but with the S650 but for $150 from Xiaomi. They're probably going to expand even further this year. There's less and less reason to get a ultra-high end phone unless you want an iPhone, as the flagship space in Android becomes less differentiated from the mid-range and the delta shrinks.
yeah, I'm super curious about SOC's with the A72. If performance is as good as promised, even the 65x socs on 28nm will probably not be far off from the 80x and 810 series... And A72 cores on 14/16nm will be very nice to get.
I'd like to request a new measure for phone specs: the ratio of screen area vs. front surface area. That would make it so very easy to compare bezel sizes.. :-)
The product promo page on Newegg says it's a "72.5% screen-to-body ratio." I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments, it's an important statistic that really matters to users.
I'd like to request a new measure for phone specs: the ratio of screen area vs. front surface area. That would make it so very easy to compare bezel sizes.. :-)
Can you swap the battery? Nope? Not interested. Can you extend the memory? Nope? Really not interested.
Maybe that should be mentioned early on in a review/hands on... so that we know if it's worth reading on/getting excited over the device or not.
I mean I'd be fine if it is possible to replace the battery, but requiring a few screws to do so. Just after half a year, maybe a year I want to be able to swap the battery, because it'll be half dead by then. Having to buy a new phone because the battery inevitably has died is not an option.
Btw., I've seen a really impressive phone recently, that I am kind of tempted by. It's the Doro 825. Meant for old folks/pensioners, it is the only phone in recent times that is actually well designed. The glass screen is recessed into the device. Perfect. A phone that can survive without the need of a case, thus in the end being much slimmer than all those stupid smartphones everyone else produces.
Back to the Huawei... I don't think the performance issues you noticed is because of the hardware. I've seen lesser hardware run very smooth. The problem is that Huawei insists on putting their EMUI on top of Android, and they aren't good programmers (just like Lenovo). The result is poor performance. If it were running stock Android or MIUI (Xiaomi) it should be more than fast enough. The Honor does look good, and Huawei knows how to produce expensive feeling phones. Shame it's all design at the expense of usability... but almost all manufacturers are like that.
Finally, a reasonably priced Huawei. Not only that, the hardware and price is more interesting than the Nexus 5X. I would take a plastic body though to receive a better Wi-Fi part as this is going to be slow on congested 2.4 Ghz networks. Additionally, with the naming scheme, this could have the Nexus 5X instead.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
14 Comments
Back to Article
Mondozai - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
As Josh rightly notes, the S650 is going to be a killer (A72s) in midrange phones.Still, aren't the Zenfones still king of the budget for the performance you get? The Intel chips are significantly more powerful than the A53s and you can often get very good devices from Asus at this same price point.
I'm expecting a similar device such as this but with the S650 but for $150 from Xiaomi. They're probably going to expand even further this year. There's less and less reason to get a ultra-high end phone unless you want an iPhone, as the flagship space in Android becomes less differentiated from the mid-range and the delta shrinks.
Infy2 - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
S650 is based on 28nm process... Interesting too see how A72 works when not based on state of the art 14/16nm FinFet process.jospoortvliet - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
yeah, I'm super curious about SOC's with the A72. If performance is as good as promised, even the 65x socs on 28nm will probably not be far off from the 80x and 810 series... And A72 cores on 14/16nm will be very nice to get.jvl - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
I'd like to request a new measure for phone specs: the ratio of screen area vs. front surface area.That would make it so very easy to compare bezel sizes.. :-)
jvl - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
Damnation, wrong thread. I'm on mobile device, pardon me. @mods, please feel free to delete (both posts, obviously)dave1231 - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
Not enough screen area?911paramedic - Thursday, January 7, 2016 - link
The product promo page on Newegg says it's a "72.5% screen-to-body ratio." I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments, it's an important statistic that really matters to users.http://promotions.newegg.com/huawei/15-6921/index....
(wow, its been a while since I've posted on the anandtech site)
jvl - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
I'd like to request a new measure for phone specs: the ratio of screen area vs. front surface area.That would make it so very easy to compare bezel sizes.. :-)
kadajawi - Wednesday, January 6, 2016 - link
Can you swap the battery? Nope? Not interested. Can you extend the memory? Nope? Really not interested.Maybe that should be mentioned early on in a review/hands on... so that we know if it's worth reading on/getting excited over the device or not.
I mean I'd be fine if it is possible to replace the battery, but requiring a few screws to do so. Just after half a year, maybe a year I want to be able to swap the battery, because it'll be half dead by then. Having to buy a new phone because the battery inevitably has died is not an option.
Btw., I've seen a really impressive phone recently, that I am kind of tempted by. It's the Doro 825. Meant for old folks/pensioners, it is the only phone in recent times that is actually well designed. The glass screen is recessed into the device. Perfect. A phone that can survive without the need of a case, thus in the end being much slimmer than all those stupid smartphones everyone else produces.
Back to the Huawei... I don't think the performance issues you noticed is because of the hardware. I've seen lesser hardware run very smooth. The problem is that Huawei insists on putting their EMUI on top of Android, and they aren't good programmers (just like Lenovo). The result is poor performance. If it were running stock Android or MIUI (Xiaomi) it should be more than fast enough. The Honor does look good, and Huawei knows how to produce expensive feeling phones. Shame it's all design at the expense of usability... but almost all manufacturers are like that.
blzd - Thursday, January 7, 2016 - link
This is impressive stuff for $199. A more capable SoC and Android 6 would make this a must buy.911paramedic - Thursday, January 7, 2016 - link
Product page says that you can expand the memory by up to 128GB. That's double my Galaxy S4.MykeM - Saturday, January 16, 2016 - link
128GB is crazy amount of memory. Even most desktop has a limit of 32GB. Are you sure it's memory and not storage?MonkeyPaw - Sunday, January 31, 2016 - link
No smartphone allows you to expand the memory (RAM).zodiacfml - Thursday, January 7, 2016 - link
Finally, a reasonably priced Huawei. Not only that, the hardware and price is more interesting than the Nexus 5X. I would take a plastic body though to receive a better Wi-Fi part as this is going to be slow on congested 2.4 Ghz networks. Additionally, with the naming scheme, this could have the Nexus 5X instead.