Journey classes from every week with the Honor eight at IFA.
In case you’re a frequent traveler, you will know that nothing taxes a telephone like dragging it midway throughout a continent, by way of airport safety bins, onto planes and again once more. So each time I take a telephone with me on a visit — as I did with the Galaxy S7 edge earlier this year — it is enjoyable to mirror on the teachings discovered.
This time round my telephone of selection was the Huawei-built Honor 8, and the venue was IFA 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Learn on to learn how it fared.
1. Twin SIM is fairly neat
The European-spec Honor 8 is a dual-SIM gadget, utilizing Huawei’s hybrid slot to take both one SIM and an SD card, or two SIMs (however not each directly). So once I took the telephone to Berlin for IFA, I stored my common UK SIM for calls and texts, and used a pay as you go German SIM for knowledge. The setup course of was straightforward, and I did not discover any vital additional battery drain from utilizing two networks directly.
It is a useful method to sidestep the standard touring smartphone nerd dilemma: use an area SIM and miss all of your calls and texts, or pay over the chances by roaming on your house operator. The one compromise is which you could’t use an SD card on the similar time.
2. Use a case
The Honor eight’s extremely, ludicrously reflective glass again seems to be nice, however one unlucky aspect impact is additional fragility in comparison with metallic telephones. After simply a few weeks of utilizing the Honor eight with no case, I’ve picked up numerous hairline scratches on the again of the factor — even having dealt with it with care. The entrance and sides of my unit have to date escaped unscathed.
The opposite factor to be careful for is the “hockey puck” impact when it is mendacity on a flat floor. We have seen it earlier than — means again within the days of the Nexus 4, which was ultimately modified with rubber nubs to cease it sliding concerning the place.
The answer to each points is to make use of a case — in some markets Honor features a clear plastic case within the field; in any other case Amazon is your greatest guess. (There’s additionally an excellent thread on the AC forums with another choices.)
three. Epic battery life, and loads of power-saving tips
Slightly shocking for a telephone with a standard-sized three,000mAh battery — the Honor eight sips energy, typically racking up as a lot as 5 or 6 hours of screen-on time per cost. That is a powerful achievement made extra notable by the telephone’s ample provide of battery-saving software program tips.
ROG energy saving mode, which I enabled on a few longer days, downscales all the things on the show to 720p decision to save lots of energy. And you may also change energy profiles to have an effect on how the CPU velocity ramps up — “Sensible” for on a regular basis use, which I caught to, or “Efficiency” for gaming.
All these options mixed to provide me a number of the greatest battery life I’ve seen from an Android telephone this yr.
four. Huawei’s Fast Cost is bizarre
The Honor eight helps 9V/2A fast charging, nevertheless it’s not your common rebadged Qualcomm QuickCharge, as you could be used to from most different Android telephone makers. For quicker charging speeds you will want to make use of a Huawei Fast Charger just like the one bundled within the field. And notice that it is nonetheless merely fast-er. The telephone does not juice up as shortly as units utilizing the newest Qualcomm normal, nevertheless it’s a pleasant bump over bog-standard 5V charging.
For what it is value, I’ve additionally observed that Huawei’s Fast Charger can fast cost QuickCharge 2.zero telephones simply superb, regardless that the reverse is not true. (Different Qualcomm QuickCharge plugs will not cost the Honor eight at quicker speeds.) Bizarre.
5. I can truly use an EMUI telephone
EMUI hits a serious milestone when it comes to usability — and it is solely going to get higher.
Huawei’s EMUI software program layer has gotten a lot, lot higher over the previous twelve months. Some points stay, just like the annoying have to whitelist apps to permit them to run when the display’s off, and its closely custom-made notification shade that appears a lot — nicely, like an iPhone’s — to the purpose the place sure apps nonetheless are compatible points. (Paradoxically, a type of is none aside from Apple Music.)
However utilizing the Honor eight has been a revelation. Sufficient of the jarring stuff we used to complain about has gone that I can now use a Huawei telephone with out hating it. That is faint reward, however contemplating how damaged issues was, a big milestone.
EMUI 5, powered by Android 7.zero Nougat is on the best way. A leaked construct is doing the rounds for the Huawei P9, and early impressions are promising. Notifications look the best way they need to. So does the current apps menu. It feels extra like an Android telephone.
Till then, I can nearly put up with EMUI four.1’s lingering weirdness.