Samsung is set to announced the Galaxy Note 7 at an event later today, but it could be in for some keenly priced competition in the form of the Huawei Honor Note 8.
The Chinese manufacturer recently unveiled its new phablet at the Huawei Exhibition Center in Beijing, and it looks likely to make a big impact. Quite literally.
Inevitably, the big talking point here is the Note 8’s whopping 6.6-inch QHD display. Yes, you read that right. The Note 8’s display will be closer in size to that of a small Android tablet than it will to a typically large Android phone.
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At least the side bezels appear to be extremely thin, which should mean that the phone isn’t a complete pain to hold. The fingerprint sensor is located on the back, too, so the phone isn’t as long as it might have been.
As noted by PC-tablet, the Huawei Honote Note 8 will run on a Kirin 955 SoC and a Mali-T880 MP4 GPU, which is the same set-up as the Huawei P9. It also features 4GB of RAM and a choice of 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB of internal storage.
On the photographic front, there’s a 13-megapixel rear camera with laser autofocus and a dual-LED flash, while around front you get an 8-megapixel front-facing snapper.
Given the massive display, you’d hope for a larger-than-average battery to keep things ticking along. Fortunately that appears to be the case, courtesy of a 4500mAh unit.
Of course, the penalty for such super-sized components – and for the phone’s all-metal body – is a chunky weight of 219g. That’s a pocket stretcher alright.
It’ll come pre-installed with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but presumably will be in line for an upgrade to Android Nougat given the close proximity of Google’s next mobile OS.
The Honor Note 8 is set to hit the Chinese market on August 9, with prices starting from 2,299 yuan (£260) for the 32GB model. Meanwhile the 64GB model will cost 2,499 yuan(£283) and the 128GB will cost 2,799 yuan (£317). It should make its way to the US market on August 16.
Watch: Galaxy Note 7 – All you need to know
Is 6.6-inches too big for a phone? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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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.
