Two years ago, Honor launched the honor 8 smartphone with its iconic Aurora Glass finish. Here is our sneak preview of the honor 8X that we got fresh from the oven!

Find out what’s new in the honor 8X, and see why it’s really quite different from its namesake!

 

The Honor 8X Specification Comparison

First, let’s compare the specifications of the new honor 8X against the honor 8. Look at the difference :

Specifications	honor 8X	honor 8 (Premium)
Model	JSN-L22	FRD-L14 (US), FRD-L19 (EU & Asia)
Available Colours	NA	Sapphire Blue, Sunrise Gold
Display	6.5-inch IPS display - 1080 x 2340 resolution (396 ppi)	5.2-inch LTPS LCD display - 1080 x 1920 resolution (423 ppi) - 1500:1 contrast ratio, 96% NTSC colour gamut
Protection	NA	Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Operating System	Android 8.1 with EMUI 8.2.0	Android 6.0 with Huawei Emotion UI 4.1
Processing Platform	HiSilicon Kirin 710	HiSilicon Kirin 950
Processor	4 x ARM Cortex-A73 (2.2 GHz) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1.7 GHz)	4 x ARM Cortex-A72 (2.3 GHz) 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz) i5 co-processor
Graphics Processor	ARM Mali-G51 MP4	ARM Mali-T880 (650 MHz)
System Memory	4 GB LPDDR4 memory	4 GB LPDDR4 memory
Storage	64 GB internal flash memory microSD slot (supports up to 400 GB)	64 GB internal flash memory microSD slot* (supports up to 128 GB) * shared with SIM2 (L19)
Selfie Camera	16 MP sensor, with f/2.0 lens - 720p video recording	8 MP sensor, with f/2.4 lens - 1080p video recording
Main Camera	20 MP PDAF sensor with f/1.8 lens 2 MP depth sensor	Dual 12 MP cameras (monochrome + colour) - Sony IMX286 sensor - f/2.2 lens, dual LED flash and hybrid auto-focus - 1080p video recording with EIS
GPS Support	GPS / AGPS / GLONASS	GPS / AGPS / GLONASS
SIM Support	Dual nano SIM, Dual Standby	Single nano SIM (L14) Dual nano SIM, Dual Standby (L19)
Connectivity	4G : LTE FDD LTE Cat13 : 150 Mbps (UL), LTE Cat12 : 600 Mbps (DL) 3G : WCDMA 2 G : GSM Bluetooth : 4.2 BLE OTG, VoLTE	4G : LTE FDD LTE Cat6 : 51 Mbps (UL), 301 Mbps (DL) 3G : WCDMA 2 G : GSM Bluetooth : 4.2 BLE OTG, VoLTE
WiFi Capability	802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz only) Hotspot supports up to 4 devices	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz dual-band) Hotspot supports up to 8 devices
USB Port	microUSB 2.0	USB 2.0 with USB Type C interface
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes, rear-mounted	Yes, 3D fingerprint recognition, 0.4 second unlock with Smart Key customisation
Infra-Red Transmitter	No	Yes, with Smart Control 4.0
NFC Support	No	Yes, tag read/write, P2P transfer, mobile payment
Audio		HiSilicon Hi6402 audio DSP with Dolby DTS and HiRes Audio support Dual-microphone noise reduction
Battery	3,750 mAh lithium-polymer battery 18 W fast-charging capability	2,900 mAh lithium-polymer battery 18 W fast-charging capability
Dimensions	76.6 mm wide x 160.4 mm tall x 7.8 mm thick	71.0 mm wide x 145.5 mm tall x 7.45 mm thick
Weight	175 g	153 g
Launch Price	NA	RM 1,899 (~US$ 475)

[adrotate group=”1″]

 

The Honor 8X Up Close!

The new honor 8X looks deceptively small. It actually boasts the industry’s largest display, edging out the Samsung Galaxy Note9, and matching the Apple Xs Max. Yet it still fits comfortably in our hands, thanks to extremely thin bezels and a display notch.

Despite its more modern design, honor went back a little, reintroducing the old microUSB 2.0 port. This is surprising since they first introduced the bidirectional USB-C port in the honor 8 two years ago!

They also dropped the IR transmitted at the top, which allowed the.honor 8 to be used as a remote control.

Next Page > The honor 8X Key Features

 

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

New Level Of Mid-Range Performance

The honor 8X smartphone boasts the new Kirin 710 mobile SoC from HUAWEI’s HiSilicon subsidiary.

It is not the flagship-class SoC like the Kirin 950 used in the honor 8, but thanks to advances in semiconductor design and fabrication, it offers better performance with lower power consumption.

The Kirin 710 is actually a mid-range version of the Kirin 970 SoC that powers the honor 10 smartphone.

It uses the same four high-performance Cortex-A73 cores, with the same four low-power Cortex-A53 cores – just with slightly lower clock speeds.

It is paired with 4 GB of LPDDR4 memory, and 64 GB of internal flash storage.

Advances in LTE technology allows the Kirin 710 to deliver much faster Cat13 upload speeds of up to 150 Mbps, and Cat12 download speeds of up to 600 Mbps.

However, its WiFi support is limited to a/b/g/n protocols, and only in the 2.4 GHz band.

 

Display Notch

The honor 8X has a Full HD+ display, with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. It features the display notch made popular by the iPhone X, to maximise its display size.

Although the notification icons nearest to the notch can appear “cut-off”, the hnor 8X is smart enough to work around the notch. In games and applications that don’t support the notification area, it just displays the main 1080 x 2240 section.

 

The Honor 8X Cameras

Hidden in the display notch is a high-resolution 16 MP camera with f/2.0 lens. It is supposedly capable of recording 1080p videos, but in our early firmware, it is limited to 720p video recording.

We were hoping that the honor 8X’s AI Camera would be based on the dual-camera design of the honor 10 and the honor 8 smartphones, they went instead with a single 20 MP camera paired with a 2 MP depth sensor.

The 20 MP camera uses a PDAF (phase detection autofocus) sensor paired with a fast and bright f/1.8 lens.

The 2 MP depth sensor has only one job – to deliver better depth perception, so the honor 8X can better differentiate the background from the subjects and more accurately apply the software bokeh effects.

Despite its high-resolution image sensor, the 20 MP camera can only record 1080p videos at up to 60 fps. It is not optically-stabilised, and surprisingly lacks electronic image stabilisation.

 

Fingerprint Sensor

To maximise display size in a relatively small form factor, honor had to use a rear fingerprint sensor. You may recall that they used a front sensor for the honor 10.

The honor 8X’s rear fingerprint sensor is very good – easy to train and works fast and accurately. The only problem that all rear fingerprint sensors have – you can’t use it while it’s attached to a car mount. If you intend to use it while driving, make sure you set-up and use the Face unlock feature.

[adrotate group=”1″]

 

Triple Slot Tray

honor smartphones all have dual SIM, dual standby capabilities. However, to save space, the honor 10 offered two nano SIM trays and removed the microSD card slot. The honor 8, on the other hand, opted for a hybrid SIM tray – the second nano SIM can be swapped out for a microSD card.

The honor 8X offers the ultimate option – a triple slot tray. You can use a microSD card to expand its storage, while still using two nano SIM cards.

 

Ergonomics

With its very large 6.5-inch display, the honor 8X is definitely a much larger smartphone than the honor 8 or honor 10 smartphones.

The honor 8X is just over 76 mm wide, and 160 mm tall, but remains under 8 mm thick. It is comparable in size to the new Apple iPhone Xs Max, but quite a bit lighter at just 175 grams.

The IPS display is very bright and vivid indoors, and does a decent job outdoors despite not being an AMOLED display. The non-standard 19:9 aspect ratio, while useful in giving you more screen space, will result in some pillarboxing for movies.

Next Page > honor 8X Camera Performance – Photos + Videos

 

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

honor 8X Camera Performance – Photos

honor did not reveal the model of the sensor used in the 20 MP main camera, but the photos have a resolution of 5120 x 3840 pixels, with the 4:3 aspect ratio.

Despite the high resolution, Honor appears to use a more efficient (or lossier) compression algorithm, resulting in a file size of between 3 MB and 4 MB in most photos.

Here are 8 high-resolution samples for you to check out. Click on them to load the full-sized photos, which you can also download to examine.

[adrotate group=”1″]

 

honor 8X Camera Performance – Video Recording

Despite its high-resolution 20 MP sensor, the honor 8X can only record 1080p videos at up to 60 fps. Here are two videos we recorded to test its video recording capabilities.

Honor 8X Video Recording Sample #1 : Piano

First off – we can see that there is no optical or electrionic image stabilisation, so the video can get very jerky. The audio also lacks sufficient noise cancellation.

On the bright side, the image quality is very good, and the colours are vivid, albeit a little oversaturated. There is also very good control of the highlights. A shame about the lack of stabilisation.

Honor 8X Video Recording Sample #2 : Food Fair

The lack of image stabilisation is obvious from the jerkiness. A real shame because the image quality is very good.

 

Never Coming – The Full Review

When HONOR loaned us this unit, they said that it was a production unit running on a beta version of the firmware.

We were planning to upgrade this preview to a full review after testing with a production firmware, but the review sample never received it.

 

Recommended Reading

[adrotate group=”2″]

• HONOR 9X Smartphone : Everything You Need To Know!
• HONOR Band 5 To Add SpO2 + Remote Music Control!
• HONOR 20 Pro Icelandic Frost : Cool Colour For A Hot World!
• HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear : The Full Details!
• HUAWEI WiFi Q2 Pro : What Does This WiFi Router Offer?
• 5 Ways How HUAWEI Smart Life Devices Boost Productivity!
• Experience Life of the Future with HUAWEI Smart Life Devices!
• Why PUBG Mobile Is Best Played On The Honor Play!
• Honor Play In-Depth Review – Mobile Gaming FTW!
• The Top 5 Reasons Why The Honor 10 Is Awesome!
• The Honor 10 AI Camera Smartphone Reviewed!
• The honor Point Cloud Depth Camera Sneak Peek
• The 360° Honor VR Camera Preview & Demo

Go Back To > First Page | Mobile Devices | Home

 

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!