Honor’s new entry-level mannequin is best worth than the 5X — however this £150 telephone nonetheless comes with a number of compromises.
If you’re promoting a telephone across the £150 mark, it is much less about of what you set in it and extra about what’s unnoticed. Prior to now, Motorola’s Moto G units have represented the near-perfect stability of high quality and affordability, with emphasis on show and efficiency — and a clear, slick software program expertise — above all else.
Honor, the online-centric model from Huawei, is not new to promoting low cost telephones. However in contrast to Moto, its finances telephones have but to nail it in similar approach as its Lenovo-owned rival. The Honor 5X was a multitude of efficiency glitches and nagging software program points. And the much less stated about final yr’s Honor Holly the higher.
The Honor 5C goals to treatment this, with a £150 unlocked price ticket, Huawei’s newest software program and most effective mid-range chip, metallic development and a 1080p show. So is it as much as the duty? Let’s discover out.
With a polycarbonate-framed metallic shell, the Honor 5C brings a contact of sophistication to what may in any other case have been a one other uninteresting plastic gadget. In contrast to the Honor 7 and 5X, that equation is weighted closely in favor of the plastic — the buttons, as an example, are very a lot plastic — however using any “premium” supplies in any respect units it aside from rivals at this worth level.
The again and sides have pleasing, natural curves to them, which mixed with its 5.2-inch display measurement make for a cushty in-hand really feel. And apart from Honor branding and regulatory information, the rear panel is damaged up solely by a slight digital camera hump, a single antenna line, and the LED flash.
The aluminum again panel makes use of the identical brushed impact because the Honor 5C and Huawei P9 Plus, giving it a singular sheen and a considerably shiny texture and serving to just a little with grip. The identical goes for the outer plastic trim, which has a delicate grooved texture.
A metallic again panel provides a contact of sophistication.
It isn’t shouty or spectacular, however it’s a genuinely good wanting handset, particularly for the worth.
Across the entrance there’s little or no happening — simply an earpiece up prime, together with the usual front-facing digital camera and charging LED. The star of the present is a surprisingly respectable 1080p show — a panel which is not precisely jaw-dropping, however sits a tier above the ho-hum 720p panels often present in entry-level Android telephones when it comes to readability and vibrance. I’ve usually discovered it brilliant sufficient to make use of in daylight, though fingerprints and smudges conspire to make it much less seen than some rivals.
That is as a result of, just like the Honor 5X, there is no oleophobic (smudge-resistant) layer on the display. So fingerprints shortly accumulate, and after just some minutes of use the telephone is left wanting greasy and smeary. (The 5C does include a pre-fitted display protector, however that too lacks any smudge-resistant properties.)
For those who’re utilizing an Honor 5C for any size of time, I might strongly advocate investing in a tempered glass display protector. An honest display protector will enhance the texture of the telephone immeasurably.
Audio high quality follows an analogous sample — respectable, however not excellent. The Honor 5C’s bottom-facing audio system output audio that is loud sufficient to listen to even outside in comparatively noisy locations, however is vulnerable to distortion at excessive quantity ranges, and lacks the robust bass of costlier rivals.
On the within is the place Honor is ready to actually differentiate, utilizing a Kirin 650 chip from the Huawei-owned Hisilicon. This processor is principally a lower-powered, much more environment friendly model of the Kirin 930 chip from the Honor 7, backed up by an upgraded GPU. You’ve got acquired eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores in an enormous.LITTLE configuration — a cluster of 4 higher-clocked cores for demanding duties, and one other 4 lower-clocked A53s for lighter background duties. As a result of the chip is manufactured utilizing the identical 16nm course of because the Kirin 950 and 955, the Honor 5C is ready to boast wonderful battery life whereas performing fairly properly in day-to-day smartphone duties.
Loads of efficiency — with just one caveat.
Even with comparatively heavy use, the Honor 5C all the time lasted us to the top of the day, and with EMUI’s big selection of (typically over-aggressive) power-saving options, a second day is inside the realm of risk.
What’s extra, the Mali T830 GPU stood offered respectable efficiency in mild gaming duties, with solely extra demanding titles just like the AR-equipped Pokémon Go making issues chug somewhat.
The one actual bottleneck I’ve come throughout is the RAM — the 5C is not sluggish with 2GB, however it’s clear apps are bumped out of reminiscence extra aggressively in comparison with EMUI telephones with a extra ample 3GB.
Elsewhere, the Honor 5C continues the model’s technique of providing dual-SIM capabilities — SIM slot 1 takes a daily nano-SIM, whereas slot 2 can accommodate a micro-SD card or a micro-SIM. (With 16GB of inner flash, I think most 5C consumers within the West will go for expandable storage over a second SIM.)
In relation to software program, the Honor 5C is a welcome change from the mess of previous, bizarre, damaged stuff I’ve witnessed on some earlier Honor telephones at launch. The handset runs Android 6.zero Marshmallow and the newest EMUI four.1 out of the field, and as I’ve seen from different Huawei and Honor telephones with this software program, every part just about works as meant. (It might sound bizarre to need to say that, however take a look at our Huawei MediaPad assessment for an instance of how dangerous older EMUI variations could be.)
EMUI takes design cues from each Android and iOS, with a launcher that lacks a standard Android app drawer, and icons that favor rounded rectangles and vibrant colours. And notifications are dealt with in a different way to most Android telephones — solely new notifications are proven on the lock display — in any other case you will need to navigate EMUI’s notification shade to seek out incoming messages and different alerts. And notifications stay one in every of Huawei (and Honor’s) weaknesses. Though rarer than earlier than, I’ve nonetheless run into situations the place black textual content shall be displayed on a black background, making some notifications virtually inconceivable to learn. And even when notifications show correctly, there are sometimes alignment points with buttons and graphics — notably in streaming apps like Google Play Music.
EMUI is not all up in your icons.
However a minimum of EMUI is not sticking its nostril in your app icons. Like the newest updates to the Huawei P9 collection, the construct on our evaluate system options no customization in any respect for bundled Google apps, and solely minor tweaks for a handful of third-party icons. So it is nonetheless not good, nevertheless it’s an enormous enchancment on the place issues have been just some months in the past.
Honor 5C house owners will profit from EMUI’s expansive function set, together with tight energy administration settings that’ll assist you to take advantage of the three,000mAh fastened battery. Elsewhere, you possibly can simply tweak issues like colour temperature, notification panel behaviour and even efficiency with a view to enhance gaming body charges or battery life. There’s so much to find within the settings app, and a helpful search device that will help you discover what you are in search of.
MORE: The first six things you need to change on a new Honor phone
One other main power for the Honor 5C, comparatively talking, is its rear digital camera. It is a comparatively run-of-the-mill 13-megapixel sensor, however it advantages from Huawei’s newest digital camera app and software program processing. Particularly I have been impressed with HDR and flash HDR modes, which makes use of a mixture of a number of exposures (each with and with out flash) to conjure up an evenly uncovered picture.
It additionally advantages from devoted panorama, meals and light-painting modes, having inherited these from Huawei’s high-end handsets, together with options like movement monitoring autofocus and fast seize — accessed by double-tapping the quantity key when the display is off. (The 5C often went from screen-off to seize in a bit over one second.)
A £169 Nexus 5X makes any telephone at this worth level a troublesome ask.
The digital camera is not any afterthought, however on the similar time do not anticipate miracles in low mild — at the least for those who’re not capable of stabilize the telephone in a tripod and use one of many longer publicity modes.
Do you have to purchase it?
So the place does the Honor 5C sit within the (very broad) panorama of price range Android telephones? Nicely, it is a extra balanced telephone than the Honor 5X, which presents fingerprint safety and a bigger show, however on the expense of efficiency. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless unlucky to see Honor delivery a premium metallic again on a telephone that lacks one thing as primary as a smudge-resistant oleophobic display. And though it has been improved significantly up to now yr, EMUI stays one thing of an acquired style.
The larger drawback for the 5C and every little thing priced round it could be final yr’s LG Nexus 5X. It isn’t potential to pay money for the Google-branded telephone for simply £169, with quicker efficiency, a greater digital camera and an imminent replace to Android 7.0 Nougat. (And for lovers, that is a extra thrilling proposition than a basically finances providing just like the 5C.)
However, the Honor 5C is an honest entry-level telephone with a number of standout options — strong, multi-day battery life, a contact of sophistication with that metallic again panel, expandable storage and straightforward dual-SIM connectivity. And in the event you’re on the lookout for an reasonably priced Android telephone which covers all the main bases, it is undoubtedly value a glance.