Huawei has shown off the latest addition to its Honor range of well equipped yet affordable Android handsets. Is the Honor 8 the first real Galaxy Note 7 rival we’ve seen?
The Honor 8 was actually released in China earlier this year, but last night saw the beginning of its (presumed) world tour as the company catwalked it over in the States.
A 5.2-inch handset featuring a Full HD screen, the Honor 8 is smaller than the 5.7-inch Note 7 – that’s a good thing, if you ask me – and features competitive specs across the board.
Under the hood, there’s Huawei’s own-brand Kirin 950 SoC – the octa-core Exynos CPU configuration clocks at up to 2.5GHz and is supported by a Mali T880 GPU – backed up by 4GB of RAM and an ample 3,000mAh battery.
Charging is via a new-gen USB-C port, and you can choose between 32GB and 64GB of on-board storage, expandable up to 256GB via the microSD card slot.
The camera is being pitched as one of the phone’s biggest selling points, and while we’ve yet to try it out, it looks good on paper – a dual 12-megapixel setup that perhaps offers a taste of what’s coming with the iPhone 7.
The Honor 8 will ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but overlayed with Huawei’s Emotion UI – one of the more finnicky, intrusive skins if you ask me.
All of this comes at an affordable price, with the Honor 8 starting at $400 off contract in the States, or about £300 before tax – we’d expect a final UK retail price of between £330 and £350.
Pre-orders are now live in the US and we’re hoping to learn more about the Honor 8’s arrival in the UK sooner rather than later.
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Tempted by the Honor 8 or is it still Apple and Samsung FTW? Let us know in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.