Huawei P8 - Specifications. Huawei P8 - Specifications SAR level indicates the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body while using a mobile device

Information about the make, model, and alternative names of the specific device, if available.

Design

Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, colors offered, certificates.

Width

Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use.

72.1 mm (millimeters)
7.21 cm (centimeters)
0.24 ft (feet)
2.84 in (inches)
Height

Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use.

144.9 mm (millimeters)
14.49 cm (centimeters)
0.48 ft (feet)
5.7 in (inches)
Thickness

Information about the thickness of the device in different units of measurement.

6.4 mm (millimeters)
0.64 cm (centimeters)
0.02 ft (feet)
0.25 in (inches)
Weight

Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement.

144 g (grams)
0.32 lbs
5.11 oz (ounces)
Volume

The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped.

66.86 cm³ (cubic centimeters)
4.06 in³ (cubic inches)
Colors

Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale.

Grey
Black
Golden
Champagne
Materials for making the case

Materials used to make the device body.

Aluminium alloy
Plastic

SIM card

The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.

Mobile networks

A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.

GSM

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is designed to replace the analogue mobile network (1G). For this reason, GSM is often called a 2G mobile network. It is improved by the addition of GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), and later EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technologies.

GSM 850 MHz
GSM 900 MHz
GSM 1800 MHz
GSM 1900 MHz
UMTS

UMTS is an abbreviation for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. It is based on the GSM standard and belongs to 3G mobile networks. Developed by 3GPP and its biggest advantage is providing greater speed and spectral efficiency thanks to W-CDMA technology.

UMTS 850 MHz
UMTS 900 MHz
UMTS 1900 MHz
UMTS 2100 MHz
UMTS 800 MHz (GRA_L09)
UMTS 1700/2100 MHz (GRA_L09)
LTE

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is defined as a fourth generation (4G) technology. It is developed by 3GPP based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA to increase the capacity and speed of wireless mobile networks. The subsequent technology development is called LTE Advanced.

LTE 1800 MHz
LTE 2100 MHz
LTE 2600 MHz
LTE-TDD 2300 MHz (B40)
LTE-TDD 1900 MHz (B39) (GRA_UL00)
LTE-TDD 2500 MHz (B41) (GRA_UL00)
LTE-TDD 2600 MHz (B38) (GRA_UL00)
LTE 1900 MHz (GRA_L09)
LTE 850 MHz (GRA_L09)
LTE 900 MHz (GRA_L09)
LTE 700 MHz (B12) (GRA_L09)
LTE 700 MHz Class 17 (GRA_L09)
LTE 800 MHz (GRA_L09)

Mobile communication technologies and data transfer speeds

Communication between devices on mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data transfer rates.

Operating system

An operating system is a system software that manages and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.

SoC (System on Chip)

A system on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device on one chip.

SoC (System on Chip)

A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components, such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation.

Huawei HiSilicon KIRIN 930
Technological process

Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. Nanometers measure half the distance between elements in the processor.

16 nm (nanometers)
Processor (CPU)

The primary function of a mobile device's processor (CPU) is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications.

4x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53e, 4x 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A53
Processor size

The size (in bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of the registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have higher performance compared to 32-bit processors, which in turn are more powerful than 16-bit processors.

64 bit
Instruction Set Architecture

Instructions are commands with which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute.

ARMv8-A
Number of processor cores

The processor core executes software instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Availability more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to be executed in parallel.

8
CPU clock speed

The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).

2000 MHz (megahertz)
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphics applications. In mobile devices, it is most often used by games, consumer interfaces, video applications, etc.

ARM Mali-T628 MP4+i3
Number of GPU cores

Like a CPU, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle graphics calculations for various applications.

4
GPU clock speed

Running speed is the clock speed of the GPU, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).

680 MHz (megahertz)
Volume random access memory(RAM)

Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted.

3 GB (gigabytes)
Type of random access memory (RAM)

Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device.

LPDDR3
Number of RAM channels

Information about the number of RAM channels that are integrated into the SoC. More channels mean higher data rates.

Dual channel
RAM frequency

The frequency of RAM determines its operating speed, more specifically, the speed of reading/writing data.

1600 MHz (megahertz)

Built-in memory

Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed capacity.

Memory cards

Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage capacity for storing data.

Screen

The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.

Type/technology

One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the quality of the information image directly depends.

IPS
Diagonal

For mobile devices, screen size is expressed by the length of its diagonal, measured in inches.

5.2 in (inches)
132.08 mm (millimeters)
13.21 cm (centimeters)
Width

Approximate screen width

2.55 in (inches)
64.75 mm (millimeters)
6.48 cm (centimeters)
Height

Approximate screen height

4.53 in (inches)
115.12 mm (millimeters)
11.51 cm (centimeters)
Aspect Ratio

The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side

1.778:1
16:9
Permission

Screen resolution shows the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. Higher resolution means clearer image detail.

1080 x 1920 pixels
Pixel Density

Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be displayed on the screen with clearer detail.

424 ppi (pixels per inch)
166 ppcm (pixels per centimeter)
Color depth

Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors that the screen can display.

24 bit
16777216 flowers
Screen area

Approximate percentage of screen area occupied by the screen on the front of the device.

71.58% (percent)
Other characteristics

Information about other screen features and characteristics.

Capacitive
Multi-touch
Scratch resistance
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
OGS (One Glass Solution)

Sensors

Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device can recognize.

Rear camera

The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its back panel and may be combined with one or more secondary cameras.

Sensor modelSony IMX278 Exmor RS
Sensor size4.71 x 3.49 mm (millimeters)
0.23 in (inches)
Pixel size1.133 µm (micrometers)
0.001133 mm (millimeters)
Crop factor7.37
ISO (light sensitivity)

The ISO value/number indicates the sensitivity of the sensor to light. Digital camera sensors operate within a specific ISO range. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor is to light.

100 - 1600
Svetlosilaf/2
Focal length3.92 mm (millimeters)
28.91 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame)
Flash type

The rear (rear) cameras of mobile devices mainly use LED flashes. They can be configured with one, two or more light sources and vary in shape.

Double LED
Image Resolution4160 x 3120 pixels
12.98 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution1920 x 1080 pixels
2.07 MP (megapixels)
30fps (frames per second)
Characteristics

Information about additional software and hardware features of the rear (rear) camera.

Autofocus
Continuous shooting
Digital zoom
Digital image stabilization
Optical image stabilization
Geographical tags
Panoramic photography
HDR shooting
Touch Focus
Face recognition
White Balance Adjustment
ISO Setting
Exposure compensation
Self-timer
Scene Selection Mode
Sensor type - RGBW

Front-camera

Smartphones have one or more front cameras of various designs - a pop-up camera, a rotating camera, a cutout or hole in the display, an under-display camera.

Sensor model

Information about the manufacturer and model of the sensor used by the camera.

Sony IMX179 Exmor R
Sensor type

Information about the camera sensor type. Some of the most widely used types of sensors in mobile device cameras are CMOS, BSI, ISOCELL, etc.

CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)
Sensor size

Information about the dimensions of the photosensor used in the device. Typically, cameras with larger sensors and lower pixel densities offer higher image quality despite the lower resolution.

4.54 x 3.42 mm (millimeters)
0.22 in (inches)
Pixel size

Pixels are usually measured in microns. Larger pixels are able to capture more light and therefore provide better low-light photography and wider dynamic range than smaller pixels. On the other hand, smaller pixels allow for higher resolution while maintaining the same sensor size.

1.391 µm (micrometers)
0.001391 mm (millimeters)
Crop factor

The crop factor is the ratio between the dimensions of the full-frame sensor (36 x 24 mm, equivalent to a frame of standard 35 mm film) and the dimensions of the device's photosensor. The indicated number represents the ratio of the diagonals of the full-frame sensor (43.3 mm) and the photosensor of a particular device.

7.61
Svetlosila

F-stop (also known as aperture, aperture, or f-number) is a measure of the size of a lens's aperture, which determines the amount of light entering the sensor. The lower the f-number, the larger the aperture and the more light reaches the sensor. Typically the f-number is specified to correspond to the maximum possible aperture of the aperture.

f/2.4
Focal length

Focal length indicates the distance in millimeters from the sensor to the optical center of the lens. Equivalent focal length (35mm) is the focal length of a mobile device camera equal to the focal length of a 35mm full-frame sensor, which will achieve the same viewing angle. It is calculated by multiplying the actual focal length of a mobile device's camera by the crop factor of its sensor. Crop factor can be defined as the ratio between the diagonals of a 35 mm full-frame sensor and the sensor of a mobile device.

26 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame)
Image Resolution

One of the main characteristics of cameras is resolution. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in an image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often list resolution in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions.

3264 x 2448 pixels
7.99 MP (megapixels)
Video resolution

Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record.

1920 x 1080 pixels
2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video recording speed (frame rate)

Information about the maximum recording speed (frames per second, fps) supported by the camera at maximum resolution. Some of the most basic video recording speeds are 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps.

30fps (frames per second)

Audio

Information about the type of speakers and audio technologies supported by the device.

Radio

The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.

Location determination

Information about the navigation and location technologies supported by your device.

WiFi

Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless communication for transmitting data over close distances between various devices.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between various devices of different types over short distances.

USB

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.

Headphone jack

This is an audio connector, also called an audio jack. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Connecting devices

Information about other important connection technologies supported by your device.

Browser

A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.

Browser

Information about some of the main characteristics and standards supported by the device's browser.

HTML
HTML5
CSS 3

Audio file formats/codecs

Mobile devices support different audio file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode/decode digital audio data.

Video file formats/codecs

Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode/decode digital video data.

Battery

Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge necessary for their functioning.

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)

The SAR level refers to the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body while using a mobile device.

Head SAR level (EU)

The SAR level indicates maximum amount electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed when holding a mobile device near the ear in a conversation position. In Europe, the maximum permissible SAR value for mobile devices is limited to 2 W/kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard has been established by CENELEC in accordance with IEC standards, subject to the guidelines of ICNIRP 1998.

0.473 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)
Body SAR level (EU)

The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed when holding a mobile device at hip level. The maximum permissible SAR value for mobile devices in Europe is 2 W/kg per 10 grams of human tissue. This standard has been established by the CENELEC Committee in compliance with the ICNIRP 1998 guidelines and IEC standards.

1.72 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)
Head SAR level (US)

The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation that the human body is exposed to when holding a mobile device near the ear. The maximum value used in the USA is 1.6 W/kg per 1 gram of human tissue. Mobile devices in the US are regulated by the CTIA, and the FCC conducts tests and sets their SAR values.

1.407 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)
Body SAR level (US)

The SAR level indicates the maximum amount of electromagnetic radiation to which the human body is exposed when holding a mobile device at hip level. The highest permissible SAR value in the USA is 1.6 W/kg per 1 gram of human tissue. This value is set by the FCC, and the CTIA monitors mobile devices' compliance with this standard.

1.233 W/kg (Watt per kilogram)

Huawei presented new smartphone sister brand Honor 8C. The new product is a logical continuation and is aimed at the budget segment of the market. The characteristics correspond to the positioning and price. The phone is built on an inexpensive but strong Snapdragon 632 hardware platform. There is a dual camera, but the sensors are modest. The screen is large, but with HD resolution. Noteworthy is the battery capacity - 4000 mAh. And the price, which can be called very attractive.

Honor 8C: characteristics in one line

Let's get acquainted with the new product in the usual format of characteristics in one line. The eager reader will find all the key specifications of the Honor 8C here. Those who want to know more are invited to read the subsequent sections of the publication.

  • Processor Snapdragon 632, 14 nm, Adreno 506.
  • RAM: 4 GB.
  • Internal memory: 32 GB and 64 GB, there is a microSD slot.
  • Battery 4000 mAh.
  • Screen 6.26 inches, IPS LCD, 1520 by 720 pixels (19:9).
  • Dual camera: 13 MP + 2 MP.
  • operating system Android 8.1 Oreo + EMUI 8.2.

Let's highlight a powerful battery, which, with an economical processor and an HD+ screen, can provide excellent operating time on a single charge. Of interest is the new Snapdragon 632 chip. If our memory serves us correctly, this is the first time we have seen this processor in commercial smartphones. Snapdragon 632 was introduced in the summer of 2018 along with Snapdragon 439 and S429; You can read about the new Qualcomm chipsets.

Honor 8C: hardware specifications

How developers choose processors for is unknown. Some models receive , others - . Apparently, the choice is dictated by production capacity. If there are not enough home chips, the model is released on Snapdragon. In the case of Honor 8C, the logic could be different. This is a budget phone, the main advantage of which is its affordable price. Accordingly, it immediately disappears; all that remains is to choose between Snapdragon chips.

Snapdragon 632 is a good choice. The chipset is the successor to the famous 600 series, the successor to the Snapdragon 625. It is built on Kryo 250 CPU cores. Kryo 250 is a simplified version of Kryo 260, which we see in the S636 and S660. The cores in the S632 processor operate at 1.8 GHz, but are divided into two clusters - powerful and efficient. Graphics accelerator - Adreno 506, like Snapdragon 625.

The Honor 8C will be in perfect order with its speed, and you can also play games comfortably. The choice of RAM volume is correct - 4 GB. Internal memory - 32 GB or 64 GB. We decided not to place any more so as not to go out of the price range. There is a slot for memory expansion.

Honor 8C: camera, battery, screen

Camera. The Honor 8C smartphone has a dual rear camera. Main sensor resolution 13 MP, but I would like to highlight the light optics with aperture F/1.8. The second module is used to analyze the depth of the scene and defocus the background in portrait mode. The resolution here is modest (2 megapixels), the aperture is F/2.4.

Screen. The main disadvantage of the Honor 8C smartphone is the screen. The diagonal is large, 6.26 inches, but here is the resolution - 1520 by 720 pixels. Obviously, the choice in favor of an HD screen is dictated by the need to reduce the price of the phone and give it another competitive advantage - an attractive price.

Battery. The disadvantage in the form of an HD screen is partly compensated by another characteristic of the Honor 8C - a powerful battery on 4000 mAh. In combination with an efficient Snapdragon 632 chipset and an HD display, such a battery can make the new product one of the leaders in battery life ratings.

All characteristics of Honor 8C can be seen in the table, after which we talk about the price and release date of the new product.

Honor 8C: specifications
Honor 8C
Iron
  • SoC Snapdragon 632, 14nm
  • 8x Kryo 250 CPU, 1.8 GHz
  • Adreno 506
  • 4/32 GB, 4/64 GB
  • microSD slot (up to 256 GB)
Screen
  • 6.26, 19:9, IPS LCD
  • IPS, 1520 × 720, 268 ppi
  • 97.8 cm 2, 76.3%
Battery
  • 4000 mAh
Camera
  • Dual module: 13 MP + 2 MP, PDAF
  • Main: 13 MP, F/1.8
  • Additional: 2 MP, F/2.4
  • 1080p@30fps
Frontal
  • 8 MP, F/2.0
Frame
  • plastic
Other
  • Android 8.1 Oreo + EMUI 8.2
  • microUSB 2.0
  • Bluetooth 4.2
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • audio jack 3.5 mm
Dimensions, weight
  • 158.7 x 75.9 x 8 mm
  • 167 g
Colors
  • Black
  • Blue
  • Gold
  • Lilac

Honor 8C: price and release date

In China, the Honor 8C smartphone is already available for pre-order. Sales start on October 16. Honor 8C price included 4/32 GB - $158, price of Honor 8C included 4/64 GB - $201.

Characteristics

  • Case materials: metal, plastic, glass
  • Operating system: Android 5.0, Huawei EMUI 3.1
  • Network: GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE (two slots for SIM cards and a combined microSD slot)
  • Platform: HiSilicon Kirin 930/935
  • Processor: Quad-core 2 GHz (Cortex-A53) and Quad-core 1.5 GHz (Cortex-A53)
  • Graphics: Mali-T628 MP4
  • RAM: 3 GB
  • Memory for data storage: 16/64 GB, card slot microSD memory(128 GB cards supported)
  • Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP, LE), microUSB connector (USB 2.0, USB-Host) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset, DLNA, NFC, IR port
  • Screen: IPS LCD, 5.2”, 1920x1080 pixels (FullHD), automatic backlight level adjustment, Gorilla Glass 3
  • Main camera: 13 MP, dual LED flash (works as a flashlight), optical image stabilization (OIS)
  • Front camera: 8 MP fixed focal length
  • Navigation: GPS/Glonass ( A-GPS support)
  • Sensors: accelerometer, position sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, barometer
  • Battery: non-removable, Li-Pol, capacity 2680 mAh
  • Dimensions: 144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4 mm
  • Weight: 144 grams

Positioning

The line of Huawei P-series smartphones has been developing since 2012, and even then, at the start, the P1 was a successful and interesting smartphone, whose features and ideas formed the basis for the development of this series. Huawei Ascend P1 could not be called an unconditional flagship at the time of its release, but this device looked balanced and moderate in everything - in characteristics, in ease of use, and finally in cost. Three years and several models in this line later, Huawei introduced the P8 - another smartphone from the category of balanced devices: not too large, but not small, moderately productive and with the necessary set of capabilities, as well as characteristics close to flagships. In this review, I will try to talk about all the features of the new device from Huawei – P8.


Design, body materials

From a design point of view, I can’t call the P8 an interesting or bright device; it’s a typical thin piece of metal without any distinctive features. At the same time, the smartphone looks high-quality and dignified, and one cannot say that it is ugly. The result was moderately simple, albeit without recognizable details, but a universal device.


The main feature of the Huawei Ascend P7 case was the combination of a metal frame and glass panels on the front and back sides. Yes, it's impressive, but from a practical point of view, this solution has problems. The first is that the glass gets dirty, and it’s noticeable. Secondly, if a smartphone falls on any hard surface (asphalt, tiles, etc.), there is a high chance of getting the case, that is, the glass, cracked at the front or back. In Huawei P8, the company has changed the materials used; here we see an all-aluminum body, with the exception of the panel in the upper area near the camera, where the antennas are located, as well as the screen. The P8 may not look as impressive on a store shelf or in your hand, but otherwise the metal body is a better solution. The device still looks impressive, but it has become more practical than the previous model: marks and prints on the metal “back” are almost invisible, and there is less chance of damaging the smartphone if it falls. In my opinion, in terms of materials used, the new P8 is a step forward.

Only the front panel can be called a brand, and even then it’s a stretch. Traces and prints on it remain barely noticeable and can be easily removed.

In Russia, the smartphone will go on sale in three colors: silver, gold and black.

Assembly

The build quality is excellent, and I make this conclusion not based on one sample, but on several devices: I looked at the first P8 at the company’s office, then studied it again at the presentation, and finally, to prepare the review, I used the P8 as my main phone for more than two weeks

The trays for SIM cards are adjusted as precisely as possible to the plane of the edge, you can swipe your finger and feel the flat surface, the buttons “sit” securely in their places, nothing plays or dangles. During my use, my smartphone fell to the floor (at home) several times from a height of about one and a half meters, but no damage appeared on the body of the device.


Dimensions

Small frames to the left and right of the screen, minimal body thickness and reasonable margins at the top and bottom with a screen diagonal of 5.2"" make the Huawei P8 quite compact smartphone even in the category of five-inch models, not to mention devices with a diagonal of 5.2”. It is also important that the P8 is not just compact, but also ergonomic - due to the small bevels of the body at the transition points of the planes, the smartphone does not crash into the palm, but fits comfortably into it. Holding and using the device is a pleasure. Compared to models with screens of 5.5" or larger, the device from Huawei seems incredibly convenient, and compared to many phones with a 5" display, the P8 is more compact.


In terms of convenience Huawei usage The P8 can even be compared to the Xiaomi Mi4, and this is one of the most balanced five-inch devices in terms of size, along with the P7. It’s not for nothing that I pay such close attention to the dimensions of the device at first glance. It seems to me that balanced dimensions in 2015-2016 will become one of the most important advantages of smartphones. When every second device is equipped with 3-4 GB of RAM, a high-quality FullHD screen has become the norm, and chipset manufacturers compete in the frequency of eight-core processors, the overall ease of use of a smartphone comes to the fore. And in this regard, the new P8 looks very advantageous.

Here is a comparison of the dimensions of Huawei P8 with some popular models:

  • Apple iPhone 6 (4.7”) – 138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm, 129 grams
  • HTC One M9(5”) – 144.6 x 69.7 x 9.6 mm, 157 grams
  • (5.2”) – 144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4 mm, 144 grams
  • Samsung Galaxy S6(5.1”) – 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm, 138 grams
  • Xiaomi Mi4(5”) – 139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm, 149 grams


Compared to HTC One M8


Compared to Meizu MX4 Pro


Compared to Nokia 3310



Compared to YotaPhone 2

Despite the quite compact dimensions of the Huawei P8, the smartphone settings have several options for simplifying one-handed operation of the device, as well as various functions related to gestures and movements - muting the sound when flipping the screen, and so on.

Controls

In terms of controls, Huawei P8 is a typical Android smartphone with a couple of hardware keys and on-screen touch buttons. The hardware buttons are located on the right edge: on top is the volume key, below is the power button. Even lower are two slots for SIM cards and a memory card. One of these slots is combined with microSD, so you can choose what to use this slot for - to install a second SIM card or for a memory card. The left edge of the smartphone is empty.




At the top end there is an additional microphone (noise reduction) and a 3.5 mm mini-jack. On the bottom there is the main microphone, a microUSB connector and a grille for two speakers.



The on-screen keypad includes three buttons: “Back”, “Home” and calling the running program manager.



If desired, the location of the buttons can be changed; a button for calling up the notification shade and a button for hiding the navigation bar itself are also added here. It is very comfortable!

When you touch any of the on-screen buttons, the device vibrates slightly.

Unfortunately, you cannot unlock your smartphone by double tapping the screen. Perhaps this feature will appear with new firmware, because in the previous Huawei smartphone I tested, Honor 6 Plus, I also did not have it. At the same time, after the review, several readers immediately sent screenshots of their devices purchased not in Russia, where the ability to unlock with a double tap is present.

On the front side at the top there is a speaker, an 8 MP camera peephole and sensors.


A factory thin protective film is glued to the front panel; the quality of the film is such that it is difficult to see it the first time without looking closely. I didn’t take it off precisely for this reason; the film is virtually invisible.

Screen

Huawei P8 uses a high-quality IPS LCD matrix with a 5.2" diagonal and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Screen with maximum viewing angles. No matter what angle you tilt it at, diagonally, edges or ends, the picture is not distorted. There is a good reserve of brightness. The color rendition of the display is close to natural, and in the settings you can always adjust the color temperature, making the picture on the screen warmer or cooler. Personally, I preferred to turn up the temperature a little on my P8 towards cooler tones.


Automatic brightness adjustment works very well, as is the case with the Honor 6 Plus. Having enabled this option, I forgot that sometimes on other smartphones I set the brightness manually depending on the conditions (in the daytime - one brightness, in the evening at home - another).

An important point related to the Huawei P8 screen is the standard design themes. Below in the text I will return to the “topics”, but now I want to note one important feature. If we take all the well-known Chinese brands: Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi, Meizu and even some smaller ones, then the proprietary shell from Huawei from a design point of view will probably be the most unsightly. We are talking specifically about the design, and not about its capabilities. How does this relate to the screen and its perception? Very much, in fact. When you pick up the Huawei P8 for the first time, turn it on and see the scary basic theme with khaki-colored icons, it seems as if the device’s screen is at least dim or dim. It’s worth changing the topic to a more juicy one or just filling out start screen application icons instead of basic ones and change the picture, and now you see a good display. In the end, I stayed with the basic design theme because, having sifted through about 4 GB of themes for EMUI, I didn’t find anything worthy, but take this point into account. The display itself in the P8 is excellent, but its perception when turned on for the first time may be slightly spoiled by not the most successful “themes”.


In the P8 settings there is a “smart film” item. By turning on this mode, judging by the description, you can transfer the functions of the on-screen keys to the area under the display, and also assign selected actions to touching the corners of the case on the top left and right of the screen, provided that there is a special film on the glass. This mode does not work with factory film.

Camera

Probably half of the entire Huawei P8 presentation was devoted to the device’s camera. Key features: Sony's new 13MP four-color RGBW sensor, optical image stabilization and dedicated ISP. In theory, the camera should be one of the best among all smartphones on the market in any shooting conditions: day, evening, night, as well as in low light (f/2.0 will come in handy here).


The camera interface is simple and clear, switching modes, turning on HDR and other essential settings are collected on one screen, it can be called up by clicking on the options button, more detailed settings can also be opened by clicking on the options button already in this window.



Burst shooting modes are available, after which you can select the best frame, as well as a mode that is already familiar to all top-end devices with choosing the focus point on the final image (the camera takes several frames with different focal lengths and merges them into one). There is a “decoration” mode for both the front and main cameras, in which a retouching effect is applied to the skin, wrinkles, pimples, and so on are smoothed out.

The “light” mode is interesting; a lot of attention was also paid to it at the presentation. The point is this: you press the “shoot” button, and the camera begins to photograph one frame, while the picture is taken in such a mode as if you had chosen a shutter speed value of about a minute, conventionally. But in reality, you don't choose the shutter speed before shooting, you simply stop photographing after as many seconds as you need. This results in shooting with a shutter speed set at the end of the photographing process. The mode is interesting, and using it together with a tripod on the Huawei P8 you can take unusual shots at night. However, I note that this mode is, in fact, a piece of the manual mode present in HTC, Lenovo, Meizu and Xiaomi smartphones; there you can also select the shutter speed value manually, but before you start shooting.



Now about the quality of the photos.

I'll start with the main thing - Huawei P8 has excellent macro. The minimum distance to the subject when shooting is about 3-4 centimeters. For example, in Meizu MX4 Pro with an excellent camera this distance is about 6-7 centimeters, and in HTC One M8, also with good macro photography, about 7-8 centimeters. At the same time, for macro photography in Huawei P8 you don’t even need to turn on any separate mode, you just point your smartphone at the object as close as possible and take a picture - that’s all.

When shooting on a bright sunny day, the photos turn out generally good, although personally, when studying the images, I can’t shake the feeling that the frames are a little lacking in overall richness. Minus - in the center of the frame you can often notice the transition of the picture into a pink color scheme; this “feature” is also typical, for example, for some HTC smartphones and is most clearly manifested when shooting a white sheet with text. At the same time, I would like to note the excellent performance of optical stabilization - even when you are simply moving your smartphone around in search of a frame, the operation of this system is visible on the screen, the picture moves smoothly, it is more comfortable to shoot on the P8 with OIS than on devices without a “stabilizer”, often there Where on another smartphone I would need to take 3-4 frames to choose one sharp one, on Huawei P8 I simply took one photo and got the desired sharp photo.

Shooting at night is perhaps one of the strengths of the Huawei P8 camera. Yes, in complete darkness there is still some blurring and blurring of frames, but if you compare the final night photos with pictures from many other smartphones (I compared with LG G3 and G4, for example), the difference is in favor of the P8, and it is noticeable “by eye” . Photos are sharp, with fine details visible, albeit with a noticeable presence of digital noise.

When shooting at night, you can manually set the shutter speed and ISO.


The camera also has a shooting mode with effects and HDR, the latter works very well and accurately.



Front-camera. The front camera with a resolution of 8 MP and a fixed focal length in the Huawei P8 is very good if we are talking specifically about shooting portraits. Yes, there is no autofocus here, but this does not prevent you from taking photos with good detail: all the pimples and black “things” on the face are visible, and if desired, they can be removed by turning on the “decoration” mode.

Video recording. The smartphone records video in a maximum resolution of 1080p, the device does not have tracking autofocus, only selecting focus by tapping on the screen, which is now when this opportunity found in almost every smartphone, it looks pretty strange. But there is software stabilization in addition to optical stabilization; if you turn on both, the image turns out very smooth. I suggest you evaluate the overall quality of the video in the attached files with examples.

If we evaluate the camera in the Huawei P8 based on some individual shooting modes, it has strengths and weaknesses: excellent macro, good shooting at night, but at the same time, a lack of richness when shooting on a clear sunny day and average video quality. The front camera is excellent, there are no complaints about it. As for the main one, I can’t call it one of the best among modern smartphones. Yes, it is more or less universal and allows you to get decent photos in difficult conditions, but paying for it is not the most convincing quality when shooting in seemingly ideal situations on a sunny day. Perhaps with software updates Huawei will improve this aspect, because the potential of this sensor on the P8 with optical stabilization is simply enormous.

Autonomous operation

The smartphone uses a non-removable Li-Pol battery with a capacity of 2680 mAh. In my case, Huawei P8 worked on average until the evening with the following mode: 40-60 minutes of calls, 10-20 text messages, Gmail, 3-4 hours of listening to music and about 1-2 hours of active use mobile internet(Instagram, Twitter, Facebook messenger, browser) plus the use of a camera (about 50 pictures, conditionally). The performance is not the best; the device's operating time is inferior to such smartphones as LG G3, HTC One M8 and M9 and many others. However, if you, like me, are used to constantly carrying an external battery with you or charging your smartphone as soon as possible, this will not be a problem. Not the best operating time indicators - the price for the thin and compact body of the device.

Platform, memory

The smartphone is built on Huawei’s own platform – HiSilicon Kirin 930/935 (depending on the version and memory size) with a quad-core 2 GHz (Cortex-A53) and quad-core 1.5 GHz (Cortex-A53) processor. Graphics subsystem (GPU) – Mali-T628 MP4. The device has 3 GB of RAM and 16 or 64 GB of internal memory for storing user data. There is also a slot for a memory card, combined with a slot for a second SIM card.

There are no performance issues with the device. Everything, from the shell and launching programs to games like GTA San Andreas and WoT Blitz, works quickly and without lag at maximum graphics settings. Below are the test results of Honor P8 in the Antutu benchmark.

I didn’t notice any noticeable heating of the smartphone’s body (as was the case with the HTC One M9) even under load.

Interfaces

The smartphone works in GSM, HSDPA and LTE networks; all LTE bands common in Russia are supported. You can turn wireless interfaces on and off through settings or using one of the notification curtain pages.

To synchronize with a PC and transfer data, use the included microUSB cable and USB 2.0 interface.

The smartphone has support for USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) – you can connect flash drives and other storage devices, for example, a camera, to the device via an adapter to transfer pictures from it to the device’s memory.

Bluetooth. Built-in Bluetooth 4.1 module with A2DP and LE support.

Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n). The Wi-Fi module in Huawei P8 does not support the 5 GHz band, only the familiar and common 2.4. The module works flawlessly.

Wi-Fi router . Typically for Android smartphones, there is the ability to “share” a 2G/3G/4G Internet connection via Wi-Fi. In the settings, when starting for the first time, you need to select a network name and password (WPA2).

NFC. The smartphone has an NFC module, it works correctly: you can check the balance on your transport card and write tickets to it or top it up when you install the appropriate application.

Navigation

The smartphone has GPS/Glonass support; searching for satellites takes a minimum amount of time, from 5 to 15 seconds. There is no special navigation software in the smartphone.

Software, EMUI 3.0

The smartphone works under Android control 5.x, the proprietary Emotion UI – EMUI version 3.1 is used as the shell. According to the general logic, the shell resembles MIUI and Flyme, and its roots go back to iOS - there is no separate application menu, all programs are collected on desktops.

There are many detailed settings and useful things: displaying network speed, displaying or hiding the operator’s name, changing the location of the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen, customizable “do not disturb” mode, and so on.

There is illogicality in some shell solutions. Let's say when you see a notification about a new event (message, missed call, WhatsApp, etc.) on the lock screen, to go to it, you need to swipe the notification card to the right. And when you see the same notification while on the home screen or in some application, to go to it, you just need to touch the card. It's inconvenient at first, it takes some getting used to.

But most of all, what upsets me personally is a seemingly trifle, but very annoying in my case. The fact is that all themes for EMUI change some of the application icons to their own. And I couldn’t find a topic where such a substitution would not exist. And to make sure that there are no such themes, I went through about 4 GB of design themes for all versions of EMUI for stock icons. What do I mean by "stock icons"? This is when, having installed Instagram or WhatsApp, you will see the same program icon that is displayed for it in Google Play, that is, intended by the developers. In EMUI, about half of the programs end up with changed icons; this does not in any way affect the usability of the smartphone, but it annoys me, at least. An attempt to remove all the icons in one of the base themes, so that when the theme is installed they are replaced by standard ones from Android, leads to the system “digging out” very old icons from its depths and placing them at the heart of the interface. In general, I have not yet found a solution to overcome this feature of EMUI.

Another feature of EMUI that I personally don't like is that it's too much of a redesign compared to pure Android OS. In this respect I am closer current versions LG UI and HTC Sense, where the developers tried to leave all the convenient functions from Lollipop - the notification shade, cards and the logic of working with them on the lock screen and some other things. In EMUI, all these elements have been redone, and if you are switching to Huawei P8 from some device with Android 5.0, you will need to study the interface again.

If you close your eyes to it, as well as to some of the illogicalities of the shell described above, then in general, EMUI turns out to be a quite convenient interface, with many detailed settings and useful options.

Accessories

Along with the presentation of the Huawei P8 smartphone, the company also presented an interesting accessory for it - a cover with an e-ink screen. The accessory is produced by Oaxis, known for producing similar cases under its own brand, and is equipped with a 4.3" e-ink display, its own battery, charging connector and connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth.

Conclusion

I had no complaints about the quality of signal reception while using the Huawei P8. The device picks up the network well, the sound in the conversational speaker is clear, without wheezing or extraneous noise, there is a volume reserve. The vibration alert is felt well in different conditions, including when walking. The volume of the ringing speaker is above average, while the sound is clear and clear, but without wheezing. The presentation also announced the function of quickly searching for a network when leaving an area where there is no network coverage, or disabling the “airplane” mode, but to be honest, there is not much difference here between the Huawei P8 with this function and, say, the LG G4 and Meizu I didn't notice the MX4 Pro without it.


In Russia, the smartphone will go on sale in a single 16 GB version and with two slots for SIM cards, one of which is combined with a slot for microSD. The exact cost of the device for Russia has not yet been determined, but the preliminary price for Huawei P8 will be about 30,000 rubles. If we remember that immediately after the presentation the estimated price tag was announced in the region of 40-45 thousand rubles, 30 thousand now seems more adequate. This is about 10-15 thousand cheaper than the cost of flagships from Samsung, LG, HTC, and if you consider that in terms of characteristics Huawei P8 is not much behind them, and in terms of dimensions it looks even more interesting, the price turns out to be quite acceptable.

Yes, Huawei P8 is far from perfect smartphone, but the strengths of this device, such as a high-quality display, high operating speed without much heating of the body even under load, moderate dimensions, small thickness and a good main camera combined with an excellent front camera, make the shortcomings forgivable. If you are looking for a compact modern smartphone with current characteristics, but are not ready to overpay for a flagship from a major manufacturer and for some features that are unnecessary for you (like 2560x1440 resolution on a five-inch screen), it’s worth taking a closer look at the Huawei P8.

The next flagship of the premium family of Huawei mobile devices, a smartphone called Huawei P8, presented at the end of last spring in London, has finally reached Russia. Compared to its predecessor, the P7 model, a lot has changed in the new flagship: more practical case materials have been used, a more powerful hardware platform has been installed, the amount of RAM has been increased, and the communication part has been redesigned. Of course, the developers did not ignore the issue of shooting with a camera: the Huawei P8 was equipped with the latest module manufactured by Sony, and software for working with the camera has been further improved, and new shooting modes have been added. At the same time, the main thing has been preserved: the flagships of the Huawei P series have always been and remain one of the most compact, thin and light expensive fashion models on the market among the top smartphones of our time. The new Huawei flagship looks like a very balanced device in most aspects, and we will look at more specific details in this review.

First, let's take a look at the characteristics of the smartphone; the hardware is impressive.

Key Features of Huawei P8 (UL00)

Huawei P8 LG G4 HTC One M9 Samsung Galaxy S6 Meizu MX5
Screen 5.2″, IPS 5.5″, IPS 5″, S-LCD 3 5.1″, Super AMOLED 5.5″, Super AMOLED
Permission 1920×1080, 424 ppi 2560×1440, 538 ppi 1920×1080, 441 ppi 2560×1440, 577 ppi 1920×1080, 401 ppi
SoC HiSilicon Kirin 930 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @2+1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2x Cortex-A57 @1.8GHz + 4x [email protected]) Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.0 GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5 GHz) Exynos 7420 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.1 GHz and 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5 GHz) Mediatek MT6795T Octa-core (8 Cortex-A53 cores @2.2 GHz)
GPU Mali-T624 Adreno 418 Adreno 430 Mali-T760 PowerVR G6200
RAM 3 GB 3 GB 3 GB 3 GB 3 GB
Flash memory 16 GB 32 GB 32 GB 32/64/128 GB 16/32/64 GB
Memory card support microSD microSD microSD
operating system Google Android 5.0 Google Android 5.1 Google Android 5.0 Google Android 5.0 Google Android 5.0
Battery non-removable, 2680 mAh removable, 3000 mAh non-removable, 2840 mAh non-removable, 2550 mAh non-removable, 3150 mAh
Cameras main (13 MP; video 1080p), front (8 MP) main (16 MP; 4K video), front (8 MP) main (20.7 MP; 4K video), front (4 MP) main (16 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP) main (20.7 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight 145×72×6.4 mm, 145 g 149×76×9.8 mm, 155 g 145×70×9.6 mm, 157 g 143×70×6.8 mm, 138 g 150×75×7.6 mm, 149 g
average price T-12435227 T-12466715 T-12259334 T-12259333 T-12675734
Huawei P8 offers L-12435227-10
  • SoC HiSilicon Kirin 930, 1.5 + 2.0 GHz, 8 cores ARM Cortex-A53
  • GPU Mali-T624
  • Operating system Android 5.0, EMUI 3.1
  • Touch display IPS, 5.2″, 1920×1080, 424 ppi
  • Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, inner memory 16 GB
  • Support microSD cards
  • Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
  • 2G communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
  • 3G Communication: WCDMA
  • Data transmission FDD LTE (Cat4, up to 150 Mbps) Band 1, 3, 4, 7
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • USB 2.0, OTG
  • GPS (A-GPS), Glonass
  • 13 MP camera, autofocus, optical stabilizer, LED flash
  • Camera 8 MP (front), fixed. focus
  • Proximity, direction, lighting, accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass
  • Non-removable battery 2680 mAh
  • Dimensions 145×72×6.4 mm
  • Weight 145 g

Contents of delivery

Huawei P8 is sold in a box that is completely unusual in appearance and unusual in structure. It is immediately clear that the designers worked closely on this topic, completely reconsidering their vision of what the packaging of an image model of a modern smartphone should be. All accessories, arranged in boxes, along with the smartphone itself, are inserted vertically into it, like books on a bookshelf (if you lay it on its side). On the outside, all this is also covered with a varnished plastic panel with a golden inscription on a black background, and when assembled, the box looks fresh and incredibly stylish, immediately setting you up for further acquaintance with the contents.

The equipment is standard: the smartphone comes with a not very powerful charger(output current 5 V 1 A), Micro-USB connecting cable, wired headphones, as well as a metal key for removing SIM cards and thin paper instructions.

Appearance and ease of use

The company's developers have always paid maximum attention to the appearance of smartphones from the flagship Huawei P line, because from the first days this line was positioned, first of all, as an image line. Some of the previous representatives of the series (P1 and P6) were at one time record holders for [minimum] thickness, and even now the new products of this family remain among the thinnest fashion models on the mobile device market. The new Huawei P8 does not disappoint in this regard: the thickness of its all-metal body is only 6.4 mm, which makes the smartphone one of the thinnest modern flagships.

As for the design itself, there is nothing particularly to admire here: we have before us a completely ordinary rectangular block with no frills. The corners are perhaps too sharp, and the side edges themselves are neither this nor that. That is, either they had to be made completely straight, or they had to be fully rounded, like the iPhone 6. Here, there is some kind of incompleteness: the edges were rounded quite a bit, and then for some reason they were additionally chamfered. As a result, the case looks peculiar, and this rather wide, heavy and very thin metal plate constantly tends to slip out of your hands. This, by the way, oddly enough, is facilitated by the fact that the metal surfaces here were given a dullness and slight roughness - ordinary smooth metal would be held even more reliably in the hands.

The smartphone has no removable parts, the case is non-separable, so the appropriate method for installing cards is used. The side edge on the right is equipped with two slot-like connectors into which metal slides with cards are inserted, and they are removed using the supplied paperclip key. It should be noted that one of the slots can be used either for a memory card or for a second SIM card, but not at the same time, which is depressing: the smartphone does not have so much of its own built-in memory that it is easy to refuse to use a memory card. As a result, the user faces a dilemma - it would be nice to have both.

The camera module on the back of the smartphone does not protrude beyond the rear surface at all. It is combined in a single unit with a two-section multi-colored LED flash mounted in a mirrored non-metallic strip embedded in the body. If necessary, the flash can be used as a flashlight, which can be quickly turned on from a panel that slides out from the bottom of the screen, which Huawei at one time borrowed from the Apple iPhone.

The same iPhone ultimately contributed to the fact that most self-respecting manufacturers finally stopped placing the speaker on the back of the smartphone - where the output sound is constantly blocked by the surface of the table and directed in the opposite direction from the user - and finally moved the speakers to the bottom end. The situation is the same in the case of Huawei P8: two rows of holes are made in the lower end of the metal case, but the sound, as usual, comes out only through one grille, the second one is installed only for symmetry. Perhaps there is a conversational microphone hidden behind it, but the sound of the speaker definitely does not pass through it (this is easy to verify by covering the holes one by one with your finger).

In the middle, between the two grilles, there is a Micro-USB connector, which, unlike the same grilles, for some reason was not centered relative to the central axis. This looks a little annoying: it’s unclear why designers miss such little things in their work. Just look at the same iPhone: you won’t find a single element placed crookedly there; everything is thought out to the smallest detail, and that’s what captivates.

The same can be said about mechanical buttons - more precisely, one button, the main one, used for locking. It is clear that it was copied from Sony smartphones series Z, but even there this “find” does not look very organic, to put it mildly. And so all the elements placed on the edges, including the covers of the card slots and the volume key, have a uniform appearance here, and only this button for some reason is made almost square, and is also recessed into some kind of shapeless recess cut out in the metal, which Other elements do not. All this looks completely out of place and goes out of the general style. The buttons themselves have an elastic, but too short stroke; they are not ideal, but you can get used to them.

At the top end, the same picture is observed: the exactly cut hole for the audio connector looks quite organic, but right next to it, they again missed the central axis with the hole for the second, auxiliary microphone. Apparently, the designer in his work was guided by something else, but not by the concept of symmetry.

The front panel is completely covered flat without edges protective glass. In its upper part, in addition to sensors and a front camera, there is such a useful element as an LED event indicator. The function of blinking this small dot in the right corner when receiving new notifications can be disabled independently in the screen settings menu section.

There are no hardware buttons at the bottom under the screen; all the buttons are virtual, so their set and relative position can be changed to your taste in the corresponding section of the settings menu.

According to information gleaned from the Huawei branded online store, the smartphone will be presented in Russian retail in two color options: dark gray, as in our photographs, and champagne color with a white front panel, although corporate photographs show images of Huawei P8 , whose front panel is painted in this very light brown shade. Obviously, such a modification will either not go to the Russian market or will become available later.

Screen

The Huawei P8 smartphone is equipped with an IPS sensor matrix produced using in-cell technology. The screen dimensions are 65x115 mm, diagonal - 5.2 inches, resolution - 1920x1080 pixels. The pixel density is 424 ppi. The width of the frame from the edge of the screen to the edge of the body on the sides is about 3.5 mm, and on the top and bottom - about 15 mm.

The display brightness can be adjusted manually, or automatic adjustment can be enabled based on the operation of the light sensor. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Operating the screen with gloves is supported, but double tapping in this case does not activate the screen, although such functionality has previously been found in Huawei smartphones. Perhaps it's all just a matter of the firmware of the test sample.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Huawei P8, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Huawei P8 is even a little darker (brightness according to photographs is 105 versus 112 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Huawei P8 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (slightly worse in effectiveness than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed more easily and appear at a slower rate than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 440 cd/m², the minimum was 10 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 120 cd/m² (too much), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets it to 300 cd/m² (it could have been lower), in very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more), the brightness increases to 440 cd/m² (to the maximum - this is how it should be); if the adjustment is approximately 50%, then the values ​​are as follows: 10, 115 and 440 cd/m² (ideal combination), the regulator at 0% is 10, 30 and 220 cd/m² (the last two values ​​are slightly underestimated, which is logical). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately and allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering.

IN this smartphone An IPS type matrix is ​​used. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of Huawei P8 and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

The colors on the Huawei P8 screen are oversaturated and the color balance is slightly different. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Huawei P8 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong highlighting of blacks. And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the screen of the Huawei P8 is still lighter (brightness according to photographs is 240 versus 235 for the Nexus 7). When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a reddish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is not ideal, since closer to the edge the black is lightened in places:

And with a different arrangement of on-screen buttons:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1400:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 22 ms (12 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 34 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.17, which is close to the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve almost does not deviate from the power-law dependence:

This device has some kind of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. It should be noted that in this case, the brightness correction is weakly expressed and has a not entirely obvious dependence on the image, but it would be better not to have it at all.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

They are atypical, but we have already seen them in the case of, for example, Sony Xperia Z2. Sony indicates that these screens use LEDs with a blue emitter and green and red phosphors (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix filters, allows for a wide color gamut. Most likely, this statement is true in the case of Huawei P8. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant disadvantage, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the tint warmer or cooler.

The curves in the graphs above Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr.— data obtained after moving the correction slider to the “warm” side all the way. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature approached the standard value, but ΔE, unfortunately, increased noticeably and reached a critical value of 10 units. Perhaps it doesn't make much sense to make the correction.

Let's summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Also, the advantages of the screen include the presence of an oleophobic coating, the absence of flicker and air gaps in the layers of the screen, high contrast, and a color balance close to standard. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane and an excessively wide color gamut. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics specifically for this class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high, although you should be prepared for strange and not entirely natural shades.

Sound

The Huawei P8, despite its extremely thin body, sounds very high quality. There is only one external speaker, but the device produces high-quality sound both through it and through headphones for comfortable listening. This is not at the level of Oppo or HTC; the smartphone does not abound in deep bass, but in terms of volume, Huawei P8 is definitely not inferior to anyone. The sound is very loud, but the sound is clear, without wheezing or distortion, bright, rich, low frequencies are also partly present, although not fully. In conversational dynamics, the interlocutor’s speech, timbre and intonation remain recognizable. There are no manual settings to control the sound quality in the proprietary player; there is only the ability to turn on or off the DTS sound enhancement technology, and then only for headphones.

There is an FM radio in the smartphone; it only works with connected headphones.

Camera

Huawei P8 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 8 megapixels. For front shooting, an 8-megapixel module with a lens with an f/2.4 aperture is used, without autofocus and its own flash. Among the settings, there is the ability to track a smile, as well as shooting using the hardware volume key, including when the screen is locked (to do this, you need to double-click on volume down, but shooting will be done with the main camera located on the back of the smartphone). For the front camera there are also manual settings, in which you can independently set exposure, contrast, and brightness. Also here we can mention the special “Perfect Selfie” mode with the ability to save personal data in memory, in which you can apply additional effects to photos (enlarge your eyes, whiten your skin, etc.).

The main camera uses Sony's new 13-megapixel sensor with a four-color RGBW sensor and its own image processor. According to the developers, the RGBW sensor reduces brightness by 32% in high-contrast lighting and increases by 78% in low-light conditions, and the DSLR camera's independent image processor allows it to suppress noise and evaluate shooting conditions, identifying high-contrast and low-light parts of the frame. The camera also features an f/2.0 lens with improved optical stabilization technology (compensates for shifts up to 1.2°) and tracking autofocus. The LED flash has two multi-colored sectors.

The design of the proprietary camera settings menu is the same as in previous models in the series, but several additional shooting modes have been added. Most of the menu functions are collected in a single vertical scroll, and additional shooting modes are selected by pressing the button in the upper right corner. In addition to the automatic shooting mode, there are several specific modes, such as Successful photos, Decoration, Panorama, HDR etc. Using a separate mode, you can play around and adjust the focus on different areas of an already captured photograph. Also, someone may find the new entertainment mode interesting Drawing with light. This mode uses manual control of the camera's shutter to capture various lighting effects. The developers suggest using this mode when shooting at night to capture the light pattern created by moving flashlights. According to their plan, users can create their own light paintings using the smartphone as a source of illumination in the dark.

The camera can shoot video with a resolution of up to 1080p; when shooting, you can use tracking autofocus; it is also possible to use optical and electronic stabilization, and at the same time. As a result, the shooting turns out to be very smooth indeed, but the image quality itself leaves much to be desired. It's a pity that there is no shooting mode at 60 fps or at least in 4K resolution. An example of a test video is presented below.

  • Video No. 1 (19 MB, 1920×1080, 30 fps)

The camera copes well with indoor shooting.

Sometimes the noise reduction work looks really subtle and pleasant.

The camera is not afraid of long exposures: apparently, the stabilizer helps out.

Good sharpness over almost the entire field of the frame.

With the removal of the plan, the image becomes soapy.

An example of very good sharpness according to plans.

In the middle and long shots, the soapiness is again felt.

The license plates of nearby cars are distinguishable.

Good sharpness across the field and plans.

The camera copes well with macro photography.

With the removal of the plan, the foliage merges quite smoothly.

It’s worth noting right away that the camera copes well with shooting in low light, much better than most smartphones. The remaining minority reaches this level quite well, but the good coordinated work of the stabilizer and noise reduction is really noticeable here. Otherwise, the camera has no superpowers. She works out the details well, but often gets soapy. There are also small areas of blur; sharpness is not always uniform across the frame and across the shots. Nevertheless, the camera is well suited for documentary and sometimes artistic photography.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone operates in modern networks 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA, and there is also support for fourth generation networks LTE Cat4, up to 150 Mbit/s (FDD LTE Band 1, 3, 4, 7). The most commonly used frequency in Russia, 2600 MHz, is also supported. In practice, with SIM cards from domestic operators Megafon and Beeline, the smartphone is registered and works in LTE networks.

The remaining network capabilities of the smartphone are as follows: there is support for Bluetooth 4.1, but only one Wi-Fi band is supported (2.4 GHz) and no NFC. There is Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. Micro-USB 2.0 connector supports connectivity external devices V USB mode OTG. The developers also claim that the smartphone uses a new dual antenna design of its own, Signal+, which, in combination with fast switching technology, allows the smartphone to select the optimal communication mode and improves the quality of the connection even while driving. high speed, for example, if the user is talking while on a high-speed train.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing telephone number A search for contacts is also carried out immediately. The settings provide a continuous input method such as Swype. For ease of operation with one hand, it is possible to change the size of the virtual keyboards or even the entire working area of ​​the screen.

The smartphone supports dual SIM cards. All work with them in the menu is conveniently organized on one page, the settings are conveniently combined into groups, you just need to check a couple of boxes - and the choice is made. Everything is clear and intuitive. Perhaps this menu for managing work with two SIM cards is the most convenient of all the options we have previously encountered.

Any of the SIM cards can be designated as the main one for organizing voice calls, transferring data and sending SMS messages; When dialing a number, you can also select the desired card using the corresponding buttons. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G/4G networks, but only one of them can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Work with two SIM cards is organized according to the Dual standard SIM Dual Active, when both cards can work in parallel and simultaneously, that is, the smartphone uses two separate radio modules - this is a very rare and, of course, very user-friendly option.

The proprietary interface traditionally modifies the design and entire internal arrangement of the standard system so much that there is little left of the original Android design. There is no separate application menu here, the original notification curtain with a timeline and its own recent menu open source software look completely different, and in general the traces of Material Design are almost invisible here. There is not very wide support for basic gestures; there is also a special software control button that calls up a pop-up menu for quick access to some frequently used applications. The bottom row of virtual control buttons can be reassigned at your discretion, and it is also possible to reduce the entire working area of ​​the screen.

There are not many additional pre-installed programs, but useful ones include: file manager, as well as a set of system utilities, including the Dispatcher program, which includes functions of energy saving, memory cleaning, protection against virus threats and traffic monitoring.

Performance

The Huawei P8 hardware platform is based on the eight-core HiSilicon Kirin 930 single-chip system (SoC), which, along with the Kirin 935, is currently one of the most powerful 64-bit platforms used by Huawei in its serial products. The configuration of this solution includes two clusters of four Cortex-A53 processor cores with a frequency of 1.5 to 2.0 GHz and a Mali-T624 GPU. That is, the Kirin 930 competes with top-tier SoCs such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and MediaTek MT6795.

The smartphone's RAM capacity is 3 GB. The device has 16 GB of flash memory, of which 10.5 GB is available for the user’s needs. The memory capacity can be increased using microSD cards, but then, according to the established bad tradition, you will have to remove the second SIM card, which is extremely inconvenient. On the market you can find many solutions that perfectly combine support for two SIM cards and a memory card at the same time, there is nothing supernatural about it. Why Huawei decided to stick with the version with reduced functionality is unclear.

According to the test results, the Kirin 930 platform showed itself to be quite worthy of the title of a top-end SoC platform of the highest level. More specifically, in comprehensive benchmarks its performance is equivalent to that of competing platforms Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and MediaTek MT6795 (in AnTuTu it is more than 45K in 32-bit and about 50K in 64-bit testing modes).

As for specialized tests, both in graphics and even in browser benchmarks the platform is noticeably inferior to its competitors, and of course, in all respects it is far from the currently leading Exynos 7420, used in the most powerful modern devices Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge .

In any case, Huawei P8 is currently among the most powerful and advanced modern smartphones in terms of performance; its hardware capabilities will be enough to perform any tasks for a long time.

Testing in latest versions comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark game tests,GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Huawei P8
(Hisilicon Kirin 930)
LG G4
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 808)
HTC One M9
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)
Samsung Galaxy S6
(Exynos 7420)
Meizu MX5
(Mediatek MT6795T)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme
(more is better)
6556 Maxed out! Maxed out! Maxed out! Maxed out!
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited
(more is better)
11909 18372 20538 21204 16390
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen) 18 fps 25 fps 37 fps 30 fps 27 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen) 13 fps 35 fps 36 fps 46 fps 27 fps
Bonsai Benchmark 3333 (48 fps) 3340 (48 fps) 4092 (58 fps) 4185 (60 fps) 3966 (57 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface (the top of the image is on the right), obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is slightly more localized approximately at the center and closer to the right edge of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 35 degrees, which is relatively little. Apparently, the metal body of the device helps to delocalize the heating area.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the testing results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are necessary for full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

Format Container, video, sound MX Video Player Standard video player
DVDRip AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3 plays normally plays normally
Web-DL SD AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3 plays normally plays normally
Web-DL HD MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3 The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 720p MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3 The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3 The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; The standard player does not have this setting

Tested video output features Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720/30p Great No 720/25p Great No 720/24p Great No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades of gray do not differ in brightness from black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

Huawei P8 has a non-removable battery with a capacity of 2680 mAh that is far from the maximum for modern smartphones. As a result, the smartphone did not demonstrate records for duration battery life, everything is within normal limits for flagships with a large display.

It is also worth noting that the testing was carried out without using any energy-saving functions, and with them the smartphone is obviously able to last longer. As usual, in the settings of the proprietary energy-saving mode, Huawei smartphones have three different levels, from normal to maximum economical.

Battery capacity Reading mode Video mode 3D Game Mode
Huawei P8 2680 mAh 13:00 9:00 a.m. 3 hours 10 minutes
LG G4 3000 mAh 17:00 9:00 a.m. 3:00 am
Nexus 6 3220 mAh 18:00 10:30 a.m. 3 hours 40 minutes
HTC One M9 2840 mAh 11:00 am 8 a.m. 20 p.m. 3 hours 50 minutes
Samsung Galaxy S6 2550 mAh 20:00 12:00 pm 4:00 am
Meizu MX5 3150 mAh 15:00 11:00 am 4 hours 10 minutes
LeTV One 3000 mAh 10:30 a.m. 8 a.m. 20 p.m. 3 hours 50 minutes
Lenovo Vibe X2 2300 mAh 13:00 6:00 am 3 hours 15 minutes
Meizu MX4 3100 mAh 12:00 pm 8 hours 40 minutes 3 hours 45 minutes

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme, without auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness at the beginning of the test was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted 13 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and with continuous viewing of high-quality videos ( 720p) with the same brightness level across home network The Wi-Fi device lasted 9 hours. In game mode, the smartphone functioned for just over 3 hours. Full charging time is just under 3 hours.

Bottom line

Huawei has already announced the imminent start of sales of Huawei P8 in Russia, the official price of a certified device will be almost 30 thousand rubles, the start of online sales is scheduled for July 24. An uncertified device can already be purchased in online stores at a price of 27 thousand rubles. Considering the current realities of the market, this is a very reasonable price for a fashionable flagship smartphone with a metal body, a high-quality large screen, excellent sound, a powerful hardware platform, a good camera and decent battery life.

The Honor brand is widely known in Russia and the world as a supplier of smartphones designed for a young audience. Each representative of one price category or another has a recognizable appearance and impressive characteristics for its class. However, the 8th model of the popular X line can be called a kind of rethinking of the established tradition.

Previous models of this mid-budget series like 6X and 7X, which were extremely warmly received by users and technical experts, were assembled in either all-metal cases or with the addition of plastic. But the new Honor 8X attracts attention at first glance with its chic glossy double-sided glass surface. And in terms of its filling, the new smartphone is more likely to gravitate towards the category of top flagships.

In our Honor review 8X, we will look at the technical characteristics of the gadget and tell you why the new product has every chance of becoming a real hit of the season.

Honor 8X equipment

Let’s face it, it’s quite difficult to surprise a modern user with the contents of a smartphone box. But you can sincerely please with the attention to detail. And Honor 8X does this very well. Indeed, in addition to the standard set of the gadget itself, cable, manual and clip for the SIM card tray, you will find a silicone case and film that will protect the sparkling surfaces of the smartphone.

Design and ergonomics

When you pick up the Honor 8X for the first time, you won’t be able to take your eyes off it for a long time. Both panels are made of tempered glass with a 2.5D effect and an oleophobic coating, shimmering hypnotically in the light. The gadget looks especially stylish and impressive in blue and red colors.

The screen occupies almost 90% of the front panel. Together with the elongated aspect ratio of 19.5:9, this made it possible to fit a panel with such a large diagonal into the body of a regular 5.5-inch device. The smartphone received the most minimal dimensions for such a display - 160.4 × 76.6 mm × 7.8 mm . For comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus is about the same size.

On top there is a fashionable “bang” with a front camera and sensors. The vertically located main cameras are given a place in the upper left corner, so that when you activate the smartphone through the fingerprint scanner, you will not touch them with your finger.

Despite complete absence sharp corners, Honor 8X fits perfectly in the hand and does not slip out. The physical control buttons are located at the optimal height, and due to the elongated shape, all on-screen elements can be easily reached with your thumb.

Screen Specifications

The display characteristics clearly indicate that Honor 8X meets all the requirements of today's advanced youth. A huge 6.5-inch screen on an IPS matrix with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 is ideal for watching videos, mobile games and studying news feeds on social networks.


The resolution of 2340 × 1080 allowed us to achieve a high image density of 397 ppi, due to which the picture looks rich and contrasting even at the widest viewing angles. The smartphone has an excellent brightness reserve, which can be adjusted automatically using adaptive settings. For those who prefer a clean screen without unnecessary cutouts, there is an opportunity to hide the “unibrow” with black tiles that are almost invisible.

Performance and software

A new generation smartphone - and an updated chipset. Honor 8X is powered by a powerful 8-core Huawei Kirin 710 processor with 4 GB of RAM, which is 75% faster in performance than the Kirin 659 used in the brand’s previous mid-budget hits.

The minimum amount of internal memory is 64 GB. A external SD card will allow you to increase storage up to 256 GB.

High speed and smooth switching between light and heavy applications is achieved by optimizing processor clusters. For such voluminous tasks as launching games, video processing and multi-page Internet surfing, a 4-core ARM Cortex A-73 unit at 2.2 GHz is used, and for office applications and service utilities the smartphone switches to ARM Cortex A-53 at 1 .7 GHz.

Kirin 710 is the brand’s first mid-budget chip assembled using a 12nm process technology. Due to this, the load on the battery was significantly reduced compared to the same Kirin 659.

The already advanced capabilities of the updated Mali-G51 MP4 graphics chip are further enhanced by the proprietary GPU Turbo function, which was previously successfully implemented and tested in the Honor Play gaming smartphone. This technology allows you to increase gaming performance by 60% while providing 30% battery savings.


Gaming tests showed that Honor 8X copes well with graphically intensive games such as PUBG and World of Tanks. The frame rate remains stable at 35–40 fps with minimal stuttering even on ultra settings.

Honor 8X runs the proprietary EMUI 8.2 shell, which adds several important features to the pure Android 8.1 OS:

  • navigation settings;
  • display color control;
  • protected profile Private Space;
  • control calls and alarm clocks using hand movements;
  • advanced system process manager;
  • energy consumption optimization;
  • placement of quick icons on the lock screen.

In addition, the smartphone has a feature that is rarely found not only in mid-priced smartphones, but also in top-end flagships. Honor 8X allows you to place 2 SIM cards and a flash memory card in one tray - a small but extremely important detail for those users who prefer to combine mobile plans and always stay connected.

NFC technology will also be a nice bonus, which allows you to make contactless payments through the Android Pay system.

Smart smartphone cameras

The first thing that modern young smartphone users pay attention to is the quality of the cameras in the gadget. And Honor 8X is ready to compete with more expensive models here.

The main dual camera of 20 and 2 MP with F/1.8 + F/2.4 aperture and combined autofocus produces excellent detailed photos even in difficult lighting conditions. The photo module uses an artificial intelligence system that automatically detects about 500 scenes for shooting. The camera can also recognize faces, blur the background and add a bokeh effect.


The front camera of Honor 8X has a 16-megapixel sensor and F/2.0 aperture. Thanks to AI support, the front camera can also blur the background, resulting in high-quality portrait photographs. Despite the fact that additional effects are implemented not by physical modules, but by using software methods, the selfie camera is not inferior in quality to dual lenses.

Among the additional features, it is worth noting that both cameras shoot video with a resolution of 1080 at a frame rate of 30 fps, the main module supports the SuperSloMo shooting format, and front camera HDR mode is provided.

Autonomy Honor 8X

The lithium-polymer battery has a capacity of 3750 mAh. Due to software optimization and the chipset's energy-saving function, it will keep the smartphone in active load mode for up to 1.5 days.


Verdict

The Honor 8X review showed an indisputable fact - the Chinese brand has once again managed to surpass its achievements in terms of balance between price and quality. Specifications Honor 8X already allows us to call the smartphone one of the main contenders for the title best smartphone in the middle price category.

A chic, glossy smartphone will not only complement the stylish image of the modern young user, but will also provide him with the widest opportunities for communication, games, interaction with multimedia and photography. The start of pre-order in Russia is October 11. The first customers to pre-order from October 11 to 15 will receive a tablet from Huawei as a gift!