Huawei Honor 6X: review of characteristics and capabilities

Huawei has traditionally been a strong player in the middle segment of the smartphone market. After the creation of the Honor brand, these positions were strengthened even more and, as a result, not long ago the company’s share in the global smart phone market was about 10%, which allowed the company to reach third place among global manufacturers.

If you think about it, 10% is a very large share, and it is simply unrealistic to achieve such results by chance. One of the main reasons for this success was the Honor 5x phone, which became a real bestseller in the mid-budget segment of the smartphone market. And at the beginning of 2020, its successor Honor 6x saw the light.

The official release date for Honor 6x in Russia is January 17, 2020. The phone immediately became quite popular and we can say that the 5x received a worthy replacement. But what exactly is 6x good for and why should it be valued? Or perhaps the smartphone was overpriced and not worth the attention it received? In this article, we offer you our Huawei 6x review, in which we will try to analyze the capabilities of the smartphone and answer these intriguing questions.

Specifications

Before starting a detailed review of the Huawei Honor 6x, it’s worth first taking a close look at its technical characteristics, which will tell us about the basic capabilities of the smartphone under review:

• Single-chip system: Processor – eight-core HiSilicon Kirin 655 with a clock frequency of 4x2.1 GHz and 4x1.7 GHz. Cortex A-53 cores, 16 nanometer process technology. Graphics accelerator – dual-core Mali-T830 MP2;
• Screen: 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1080×1920 pixels and a pixel density of 403 ppi;
• Operating system: Android version 6.0 plus proprietary shell EMUI 4.1. (updated to Android 7 and EMUI 5.0 in February);
• Memory: RAM – 3 GB, internal memory – 32 GB, memory card support – micro-SD up to 128 GB;
• Communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz || UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz || LTE Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20, SIM cards – nano-SIM + nano-SIM (combined slot);
• Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, FM radio, NFC;
• Navigation: GPS, GLONASS, BDS;
• Cameras: Main – 12 MP + 2 MP, f/2.2 aperture, autofocus and flash. Front – 8 MP, F/2.0 aperture, fixed focus, no flash;
• Battery: Capacity 3340 mAh, non-removable;
• Dimensions: Size – 76.2x150.9x8.2 mm, Weight – 162 grams.

As you can see, the smartphone has almost everything to be called an honest mid-budget device. At first glance, the phone is quite worthy of the money they asked for it at the beginning of sales, and even more so the money they want for it now. But, as they say, first impressions can be deceiving, so let’s move on to a more detailed analysis.

Huawei Honor 6X Smartphone: Review

Dimensions and design - 3.9

Huawei Honor 6X is a large 5.5-inch phablet with a metal body. The new product is cute, but similar to any other smartphone from the company - Huawei came to this design quite a long time ago and uses it in the same way.

From the front, Huawei Honor 6X resembles the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser and is not much different from the budget Honor 5A - the same rounded edges, touch buttons on the screen and the inscription on the bottom frame. You can only notice the 2.5D glass curved at the edges, but firstly, it is barely noticeable, and secondly, this is a popular feature that has become outdated in a short time. The width of the frames is average, but the designers again took the dubious step of creating a black “mourning” frame around the display. This is a kind of deception to make the screen appear larger than it actually is.

But the back of Honor 6X looks unusual due to two cameras and a fingerprint scanner. All three are lined up in a vertical row, which is a bit reminiscent of the solution in the Xiaomi Redmi Pro. True, in this case the lenses are united by a common rim and protrude from the body. Bold, unusual, but together with the scanner the design looks like a jumble of elements. In addition, you can only highlight the neat inserts for the antennas at the top and bottom. The side ends of the phone are also unusual - they are formed by the junction of a bending metal back and white plastic around the display.

The measured dimensions of Huawei Honor 6X are 150.9 × 76.2 × 8.5 mm, weight – 166 grams. The new product is slightly thicker and heavier than models such as Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL and Oneplus 3, and is closer in compactness to its predecessor Huawei Honor 5X. It is possible to operate the device with one hand, but it is quite difficult. The body of Huawei Honor 6X is made of metal and is non-separable. The smartphone is assembled quite well, but after a couple of accidental drops, the side end received small dents. But the back panel has not lost its presentation during use.

Huawei Honor 6X can be bought in three colors: gray, gold and silver. Its Chinese version also has a blue variant.

Screen - 4.4

Huawei Honor 6X has a fairly high-quality 5.5-inch IPS display with Full HD resolution (1920×1080 pixels).

The screen pixel density is 401 ppi, which is comparable in clarity to the iPhone 7 Plus. The display does not have a special protective glass like Gorilla Glass, but right out of the box it has a protective film neatly applied to it. Because of this, it is not clear whether there is an oleophobic coating. But if we talk about the soilability of the display as a whole, then stains from the factory film are erased only with a certain amount of effort.

The range of brightness we measured was wide for its class - from 7 to 557 nits. This screen is easy to read outdoors on a sunny day and will not dazzle your eyes at night. The auto-brightness function works quite quickly and is adequate to the lighting conditions. The image contrast turned out to be slightly above average - 880:1, which is already good for high brightness. The color gamut is not the widest - 96% of sRGB, although we did not expect more. The color temperature is a little high, but it can be adjusted in the device settings. The only thing missing is the glove mode, which was present even in the old Huawei Honor 6.

Cameras - 3.2

The cameras of Huawei Honor 6X can be called solid and of sufficient quality for their price.

One of the main features of Huawei Honor 6X is its dual cameras. The phone received a main one of 12 MP and a secondary one of only 2 MP. Unlike the flagship version, the Mate 9, the Honor 6X cameras were developed without the participation of Leica. And if the second camera of Honor 8 and Huawei P9 was black and white, here it simply allows you to use the blur effect. In addition, Honor 6X received fast phase focusing; it works quickly and almost always correctly. The sensor used is SONY IMX386, the same one used by Meizu MX6. The cameras have fairly large pixels (1.25 microns). For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S7 has 1.4 microns, and the iPhone SE has 1.22 microns.

As for the photo quality, it is quite high in good lighting, with decent detail and clarity. But sometimes the camera sets the exposure too high, causing your photos to look brighter than they should be. However, this can be corrected manually in the settings. Things are worse with color rendering: some colors look oversaturated, others too pale. When shooting indoors or outdoors in the evening, the camera still makes noise. But to see the noise, you need to zoom in, and this is already good for a mid-price model. The camera has a fairly wide dynamic range, which may be why the HDR mode isn't that useful. At least we didn’t notice much difference between a regular photo and an HDR photo. In “Manual mode” you can only select a fairly long shutter speed, up to 8 seconds. For shooting with blur, a separate window is offered in the camera application, but by and large this is pampering for a few times. It will warn you that the effect works at a distance of up to two meters, but all the “magic” happens through software processing. So, you take a shot and then choose the focus point. It is curious that if you cover the second camera, the distance data is lost and the entire frame around the selected point is blurred. If you shoot with both cameras, those areas that were at the same distance as the desired focus object will be clear.

The front camera of Honor 6X has a resolution of 8 MP and a wide-angle lens. As usual, she knows how to take panoramic selfies and decorate faces. Footage taken on the front camera is quite suitable for social networks. They have good color rendition, fairly high detail and a relatively wide dynamic range.

Both cameras record Full HD video at 30 frames per second.

Photos from the Huawei Honor 6X camera - 3.2

Photos from the Huawei Honor 6X camera - 3.2

Blur effect thanks to the second camera

Photos from the front camera of Huawei Honor 6X - 3.2

View original photos

Working with text - 5.0

Huawei Honor 6X offers a choice of two keyboards: the standard one from Google and Huawei's own Swype.

The first one is known to most users. It is quite convenient and offers quick switching between languages, continuous input (Swype) and even marking of additional characters (enabled separately in the settings). Its own keyboard has all the same functions and even gesture control - not the most convenient feature, but it allows, for example, to hide the keyboard from the screen. In our opinion, its main drawback is the inconvenient switching between languages. You need to hold down the spacebar and “swipe” up - this takes longer than just clicking on a separate icon.

Internet - 5.0

Huawei Honor 6X comes with Google Chrome and Opera browsers pre-installed.

You've most likely already seen the first one. It is available on most Android devices. Chrome works quickly, but is quite hungry for RAM, of which the Honor 6X has quite a lot. Its most interesting feature is synchronization with the desktop version. Opera is still more functional, it has automatic adjustment of page text to the width of the screen, a reading mode and express panels with icons of sites that are interesting to you.

The smartphone easily copes with browsing with several open tabs, does not slow down or get stuck when scrolling and switching between different pages.

Communications - 3.8

The Honor 6X smartphone received a typical set of communications:

• simple Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.1
• LTE Cat.4 support (150/50 Mbit/s)
• FM radio
• NFC chip
• A-GPS.

A typical kit without any frills. There is no advanced Wi-Fi, even the connector on the new product is not new, but microUSB 2.0. The smartphone works with two nanoSIM cards (alternately), but the slot for the second of them is a combined one; a memory card also claims to be there.

Multimedia - 4.2

Huawei Honor 6X plays almost all popular audio and video formats, but the sound quality can only be called average.

The phone perfectly reproduces all multimedia files and is not friendly only with music in AC-3, but only rare mobile devices can cope with it.

The phone comes pre-installed with proprietary music and video players, but their functionality is quite typical. In the first there are no special settings regarding sound. If there is a function that makes the sound more voluminous, but it only works with headphones. At the same time, it is not clear where the equalizer that was on older Huawei smartphones went. As for the sound quality, it is only average. The frequency response shows a slight roll off at high frequencies, and the dynamic range can be called typical.

The video player is also quite trivial. O in different directions, with which you can adjust the volume, brightness and rewind the video. Besides this, the only thing worthy of attention is blocking the image and watching a movie in a separate small window.

Performance - 3.4

The performance of Huawei Honor 6X can be assessed at a level between typical and flagship.

The smartphone received a proprietary eight-core Huawei Kirin 655 processor (4 Cortex-A53 cores at 2.1 GHz and 4 Cortex-A53 cores at 1.7 GHz) and modifications for 3 or 4 GB of RAM. The new Huawei P8 Lite (2017) runs on the same chipset. In terms of parameters, Honor 6X is slightly more powerful than Honor 5C and Huawei P9 Lite, but weaker than current flagships. The only thing I didn’t like was the relatively weak Mali-T830MP2 graphics accelerator. It can handle heavy games, but only on low settings or with occasional drops in frame rate. Heavy toys like NOVA 3, Asphalt or mobile strategies do not run perfectly smoothly, although they are quite playable. Average games like Thumb Drift or Minion Rush barely noticeably slow down at high settings. As a gaming platform, Honor 6X is still not the best solution. But in daily use there are no complaints about the phone - everything works quickly and smoothly, even if you record video from the device screen.

In various benchmarks, Honor 6X received the following scores:

• Geekbench 4 (processor test) - 3263 points, only half a thousand lower than Xiaomi Mi 5
• Ice Storm Unlimited from 3DMark (graphics) - 11752, a couple of thousand inferior to Huawei Nova
• AnTuTu 6 (mixed test) - 57042 points, slightly higher than Huawei Honor 7.

Battery - 3.4

The autonomy of Huawei Honor 6X can be called quite high. In any case, it is noticeably higher than that of its predecessor.

During our tests, the phone lasted us for a day of fairly intensive use and even a little longer. With moderate use, two days of battery life will not be a problem for it. The battery capacity of the smartphone is 3340 mAh, a typical value for phablets of this size. For comparison, the Asus Zenfone 3 Laser or Meizu MX6 has a lower battery capacity - 3000 and 3060 mAh, respectively. Although the same Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has a much higher capacity - 4050 mAh.

As for the tests themselves, the results are as follows: the smartphone lasted 9.5 hours when watching HD video at maximum brightness, and if you turn down the brightness, you get the 11.5 hours promised by the manufacturer. For comparison, the long-lasting Asus Zenfone 3 Max lasted only 8.5 hours. Shooting a 30-minute Full HD video took only 10% of the battery, which is also not much. The phone lasts about 4 hours when playing games, which is also better than the average result. Even in talk mode, the device lasts about 23 hours, which is also quite good. The only test in which the Honor 6X failed was the player mode, only 49 hours. Even the “junior” Honor 5C lasted a little longer. A small disadvantage is the lack of fast charging; today many models of this level have it.

Memory - 4.5

Huawei Honor 6 has two modifications: 32 and 64 GB of permanent memory, with the first having 3 GB of RAM, and the second having 4 GB. In Russia, only the first one is officially sold, with 24 GB available to the user. This is quite enough for a mid-level model. And if this volume is not enough, it can be expanded using a microSD memory card (up to 128 GB). True, if you do not use a second SIM card. Initially, quite a lot of applications are pre-installed on the phone, and only the largest ones can be removed from them (such as Sberbank, Mail.Ru mail, Odnoklassniki, and so on), but thanks for that. The smartphone interface does not provide the ability to transfer applications from internal memory to external memory.

Peculiarities

Huawei Honor 6X runs Android 6 OS and proprietary EMUI 4.1 interface. In the foreseeable future, the manufacturer promises an update to the seventh version of Android.

The phone doesn't have many special features - it uses a dual camera (which adds some novelty) and its own functional interface. Other parameters like 2.5D glass and a metal body can hardly be called unusual; they are found all the time. A fingerprint scanner is also ubiquitous, but here it allows you not only to unlock the device, but also to control it - scroll through photos, pull out the settings curtain using “swipe”, and so on. By the way, it remembers up to five fingerprints.

Equipment

The smartphone, traditionally for mid-range Honor models, comes in a beautiful turquoise box with a bright, but nevertheless very strict design. The phone package includes:

• The smartphone itself;
• Clip for removing the SIM card tray;
• Charger (5V/2A) with USB cable;
• User's Manual.

Everything is done quite well, but it’s impossible to call the package anything other than standard. The box contains only the minimum necessary equipment to operate the device. At the same time, it would be very nice in this price range to find additional things, for example, headphones, a rear bumper, or at least a microfiber cloth for cleaning the screen.

Design

Huawei Honor 6x can be purchased in colors such as gray, silver and gold. This color scheme is already familiar to fans of Huawei phones in general and the Honor brand in particular. In our opinion, the gold smartphone turned out to be the most beautiful. The color looks noble, plays with shades in the sun and goes very well with the white front of the smartphone. By the way, for some reason the 6x line is not made in the same style. The gold and silver phones have a white front, while the gray phone has a front panel that matches the color of the entire body. This is strange, to say the least, since the previous 5x line adhered to a single design and each phone had a front panel in the same color as the body.

If we evaluate the entire design of the device as a whole, the phone does not look unusual. What we have in front of us is a completely standard phablet, of which there are very, very many on the market in this segment. But the devil, as they say, is in the details. After you've held the phone in your hands for at least fifteen minutes, you begin to notice how beautiful it is and how comfortable it lies in your hand. Honor successfully plays on the combination of colors; the appearance of the phone is well emphasized by beveled edges, an unusual dual camera and the design of other functional elements of the device. In addition, thanks to the rounded back side, the phone is comfortable to hold in your hand, it does not slip or cut into the palm, and the metal cover, in turn, gives a feeling of pleasant coolness.

On the manufacturer's website, the Honor 6x case is described as all-metal, but in fact, Huawei is a little disingenuous in this regard. In fact, only the back cover of the smartphone is made of pure metal, while the top, bottom, and front under the glass of the phone are completely plastic. But if the plastic layer at the front is quite understandable as a gasket under the glass, then at the top and bottom the plastic elements serve not just as inserts, but as the end parts of the case, in which all the connectors and functional elements are installed, such as a headphone jack and a USB port. The company’s desire to make the smartphone a little cheaper in this way is understandable, but the wishful thinking is not clear. It’s not good to do this, gentlemen, marketers.

The phone also has fairly wide upper and lower bezels for a mid-budget smartphone. The Honor 6x does not have functional touch or mechanical buttons on the lower front panel and instead of them the “Honor” inscription appears on the phone. We already talked about this in one of the previous reviews, but it’s no sin to repeat that this is only forgivable for a state employee. In this price category, devoting so much space simply to the inscription and at the same time depriving the user of part of the useful screen space with virtual buttons is a waste.

As for other functional elements, everything is according to the standard. On the front we have an earpiece, a front camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as an indicator of missed events. At the back there is a main dual camera, a single LED flash and a fingerprint scanner slightly recessed into the body. On the right side there are a very comfortable and pleasant-to-touch lock key and a volume rocker, which, when pressed twice, also serves as a quick-shot button. On the reverse side there is a combined tray for SIM cards and micro-SD memory cards. At the bottom there are slots for speakers, one of which is purely decorative, a micro-USB connector for connecting charging and external devices, and at the top there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a noise-canceling microphone. As you can see, everything you need is in place, however, this arrangement is already very familiar to fans of the Honor brand.

Overall, we really liked the design of the Honor 6x and, although the smartphone does not seem particularly durable, we have no particular complaints about it. Of course, I would like a real all-metal case with narrower frames, but it is noticeable that the designers tried and ultimately made the smartphone very nice.

Characteristics of Honor 6X 2017

The manufacturer has relied on raising the bar for shooting quality in the mid-price segment. The remaining characteristics meet the expectations for a device in this class.

Design, case materials, dimensions and weight

The body is almost entirely metal, not counting the plastic inserts on the top and bottom. Well assembled. Available in grey, silver and gold. Due to its streamlined shape, it looks stylish and fits well in the hand. Case dimensions and weight: 150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2 mm, 162 g.

The front part is covered with 2.5D glass. To the right of the front camera and earpiece there is a light indicator for notification of missed events.

The Honor logo appears on the platform at the bottom of the screen, and the navigation buttons are displayed on the screen. Button display options are customizable according to user preferences.

Buttons for controlling power and volume are located on the right side.

On the left is a combination tray (either 2 SIMs, or a memory card and 1 SIM).

A 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and an additional microphone are located on the top edge.

On the bottom there is a MicroUSB connector with OTG support, and symmetrical holes on the sides. The main speaker is hidden in the holes on the right, the microphone is placed on the left.

CPU

The processor used is a development from Huawei - HiSilicon Kirin 655, with 64-bit architecture. The chip consists of 8 Cortex A53 cores, 4 of which are high-performance (2.1 GHz) and another 4 are energy-efficient (1.7 GHz). One of the key features of this chip is the use of 16nm process technology in its production. Among all its advantages, it is worth noting the economical energy consumption. Kirin 655 includes an integrated Mali-T830MP2 video processor.

For a mid-range device, Honor 6X demonstrates good performance. It copes well with 3D games, even if some do not run at maximum graphic settings, but still. Familiar tasks such as watching videos, surfing the web and launching applications, the smartphone clicks like seeds. Under intense loads, the device does not overheat. The average hardware performance score in the AnTuTu benchmark is 56 thousand points.

Memory

6X is presented on the market in two versions: with memory capacities of 3/32 and 4/64 GB. Moreover, the more common version is with 3 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and a 32 GB eMMC drive. The amount of RAM is sufficient so that you don’t have to worry about the minimized application being immediately unloaded from memory. Of the 32 GB of built-in storage, about 23 GB is available to the user. If you do not use 2 SIMs, you can expand the memory using a MicroSD card up to 128 GB.

Autonomy

The smartphone body is non-separable, so the installed 3340 mAh battery is non-removable. It can last up to 2 days with moderate use. With intense loads, it easily lasts for one day. This is not the maximum, but a very decent indicator of autonomy. The main thing is that users who are used to squeezing all the juice out of their smartphone will not have to look for a charger and outlet after three hours. If you purposefully stream Full HD video at full brightness via Wi-Fi, the battery will last for 7 hours.

The secret of good autonomy, as usual, lies not only in the battery capacity. The complex plays a role in good firmware optimization, energy-saving shell settings and an energy-efficient processor from Huawei. Using a standard 5V/2A power adapter, the device is fully charged within two and a half hours.

Camera

That's what's really interesting about this smartphone. More precisely, it is a mutual union of the main Sony IMX386 camera with 12 megapixels and an additional one with 2 megapixels. This solution gives a wide aperture range from f/0.95 to f/16. If you select Wide Aperture mode when shooting, it will use the secondary camera. With its help, you can control the depth of field and achieve a beautiful bokeh effect. This is when the focus is on the near object and the background is blurred. Moreover, you can select the focus point on the finished photo, and even remove blur altogether.

A wide aperture range only allows you to change the depth of field, but does not affect the actual aperture (f/2.2). But the pixel size of the main camera is 1.25 microns (as in Huawei P9), which allows the sensor to capture more light. Fast and accurate focusing is ensured by phase detection autofocus, which operates in 0.3 s. There is a professional mode with manual settings and many modes. With its help, amateur photographers will be able to get the most out of it.

In clear daytime weather, the image quality is expectedly high, and comparable to more expensive models. In low light, photos sometimes turn out blurry. Nevertheless, acceptable detail of objects is maintained, and the noise level is minimal. Sometimes the program makes a mistake and blurs the subject with bokeh, often resulting in halos along the edges of the subject. Here are some examples of pictures in different conditions (click on the photo of interest to enlarge):

Comparison of “Bokeh” on iPhone 7 Plus and Huawei 6X:

The device can record FullHD video at a frame rate of 30 fps. When shooting video, it is possible to activate tracking autofocus. But stabilization is still lacking. The front camera shoots with a resolution of 8 megapixels. Nothing supernatural, but quite suitable for a selfie.

Display

The phablet is equipped with a 5.5” IPS screen with FullHD resolution and a pixel density of 403 PPI. The display has a good reserve of maximum brightness. It transmits a clear, contrasting image with pleasant color rendering. In the settings you can adjust the color temperature. There is an “Eye Protection” function, which is useful for those who like to read on a smartphone. Its activation eliminates the harmful effects of blue spectrum colors on the eyes.

There is no air gap between the glass and the display. The bezels around the display are small. Accordingly, viewing angles are maximum for an IPS matrix. Capacitive multi-touch supports up to 10 simultaneous touches.

Connection

The device is designed for simultaneous operation of two nanoSIMs. Can connect to 2G, 3G and 4G networks. The model is equipped with NFC wireless modules, single-band Wi-Fi b/g/n (2.4GHz), and Bluetooth 4.1. Geopositioning and work with navigation applications are provided by satellite systems GPS, A-GPS, Glonass and BeiDou. They quickly (within 10-15 seconds during a cold start) find satellites and connect to them.

Sound

The external speaker is medium in volume, which is quite normal. At maximum volume, the sound remains clear, does not wheeze and does not merge into mush. With headphones, the sound quality will seem good to anyone who is not an audiophile. And the audibility during a conversation is generally excellent. The speaker is loud and accurately conveys the speech of the interlocutor. There are also no complaints about the sensitivity of the microphone.

OS

The software is based on Android 6.0, with a beautiful and functional EMUI 4.1 shell installed on top of the system. It contains many useful features and settings, and supports removable themes. At the same time, it is well optimized and works quickly. The firmware is initially multilingual, regardless of where the smartphone will be purchased. An update to Android 7 for this model is planned in the second quarter of 2020.

Display

Honor 6x is equipped with a high-quality IPS display with a diagonal of 5.5 inches, a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a pixel density of 403 ppi. Due to this screen size, operating a smartphone with one hand is a little complicated, but as a multimedia device it looks very attractive. The clarity of the screen is at a very high level, the colors are natural and do not hurt the eye. If desired, the owners of this phone can use it in virtual reality systems with high-quality lenses, although, of course, the phone itself was not intended for such purposes.

The maximum brightness of the 6x display is 520 cd/m2, which, combined with a high-quality anti-glare coating, allows you to use the smartphone in bright daylight conditions. There is also automatic brightness adjustment, which sets adequate backlight intensity depending on external lighting conditions and works quite quickly. The viewing angles of this Honor model are excellent; at sharp angles the image practically does not lose its quality. Even if there are some changes in the palette and contrast, it is very difficult to catch this difference simply “by eye” without comparing it with a more expensive device.

The screen offers good image contrast, white color is transmitted correctly, it is not “snow-white”, but does not turn yellow or violet at all, and is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the display. The black color, of course, is not of such quality, but it is quite comparable to the level of the best IPS matrices. As mentioned earlier, colors are rendered close to natural, the default color temperature is shifted closer to cold shades, but the phone is equipped with a very convenient program for adjusting this parameter, with which the owner can choose the color temperature to his liking. The phone does not have an air gap between the glass and the matrix, the colors are even, and no flickering was noticed.

The smartphone recognizes up to ten touches simultaneously in multi-touch format. Also, thanks to the very high sensitivity of the sensor, the phone is very good for games. However, questions arise regarding the oleophobic coating of the device. Right out of the box, the device’s screen is covered with a protective film, but if you remove it, fingerprints begin to quickly accumulate, and the finger does not slide so comfortably in the same games. Based on this, we can conclude that the oleophobic coating is either absent or very mediocre.

In general, the screen of the Honor 6x is of quite high quality and is quite consistent with the price category of the smartphone. Huawei engineers could not avoid some disadvantages, but this display has much more advantages. In the end, we were satisfied with it and moved on with peace of mind.

Sound

The sound of the 6x is clean, smooth, but quite simple. Yes, engineers in this case can be understood, no matter how much we would like surround sound in the middle segment, so far only a few companies can offer this, often saving on other functions. So it turns out that 6x still strives for high sounds, while mid and low frequencies are, as always, lacking. Using headphones, the sound of the smartphone does not improve much; there is still no full coverage of the sound range, and we also did not observe any extraneous noise; the volume of the device is enough to shout out the surrounding noise with a large margin.

The smartphone, as standard for Honor models, is equipped with a proprietary player, but it still lacks manual settings. Among the advantages are the presence of karaoke mode and FM radio.

Appearance

The appearance is simple and classic.

Three colors - black, dark blue, gold with white front.

The case is metal at the back, rounded glass at the front. The device is matte, but still quite slippery. I don’t know about other colors, but on the black back surface, fingerprints and stains are quite visible.

The build is traditionally excellent. The battery is not removable. There is an LED. Android on-screen buttons. Combined card tray.

Some boring details

Above the screen are sensors, a front camera peephole, a speaker, and an LED.

Below the screen there is only the “honor” logo.

Rear There are narrow plastic strips on the top and bottom. The camera, flash and fingerprint scanner are, as usual, at the top. The camera protrudes quite a bit, almost a millimeter.

Top edge. 3.5mm audio output and noise-canceling microphone hole.

Bottom edge. In the middle is a Micro-USB connector. On the sides there are two identical gratings. Behind one is a loud speaker. Behind the other is the main microphone.

The power button and volume rocker button are in their traditional place on the right side.

The card tray is on the left.

Cameras

The Honor 6x smartphone, just like the company’s more premium devices, has two modules installed simultaneously in the main camera. However, it is worth noting that this is not such an advanced tandem as, say, in the Huawei P10. The second 6x camera is a module with a resolution of only 2 megapixels, which is designed for beautiful, high-quality blur of backgrounds when shooting with a “wide aperture” effect. And it should be said that it copes with its function with a bang; when focusing on close objects or macro photography, the background is blurred really very well; such an effect is very difficult to achieve using only software blur. If desired, the user can adjust the blur effect within very wide limits or turn it off completely.

The first camera, in fact, is the main one; it is equipped with a 12-megapixel module and f/2.2 aperture. The camera is equipped with fast phase detection autofocus, which focuses on the subject very clearly and almost instantly. There is also a single-color LED flash, which does not “spoil the mess” at all when shooting in low light.

The photos taken with this camera are of good quality. The color reproduction is close to natural, the frame clarity is at a high level, the resolution of the matrix is ​​sufficient for detailing both distant plans and close objects during macro photography. In low-light shooting conditions, the camera was also a positive surprise. There is practically no digital noise in the frame, and if necessary, noise can be hidden using software, almost without sacrificing the clarity of the picture.

The Huawei proprietary program, as always, contains a lot of different effects for photography, as well as various decorations, including: HDR, night photography, panorama, “Delicious food”, “Light”. If desired, the user can select the professional mode and fine-tune white balance, shutter speed, exposure compensation, sensitivity, and many other parameters with his own hands.

The main camera can also record video in FullHD format at 30 frames per second. The quality of the picture and sound was no less pleasing than the photo before. The picture is clear, extraneous noise is effectively eliminated, the only thing that added a “fly in the ointment” is the lack of optical stabilization, which would obviously be useful when shooting in motion. The camera can also shoot slow-motion video in a resolution of 640x480 and a recording speed of 120 frames per second.

The phone is equipped with an 8 megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture, fixed focus and without its own flash. The camera has a portrait beautification mode and also has a smile detection function, which is very convenient. In general, the capabilities of the front camera are practically not inferior to those of the main one, you just have to make allowances for the much lower resolution, the absence of an additional module, autofocus and flash. Selfie lovers should be pleased.

Memory and memory card

Honor 6x exists in two versions: 3/32 and 4/64 gigabytes of RAM and permanent memory, respectively. However, only the junior model with 3 gigabytes of RAM and 32 gigabytes of flash memory is supplied to the Russian market.

Such characteristics today are the norm for the mid-budget segment, and entering this market with less memory is simply not respecting yourself. Huawei understands this very well and emphasizes it, hoping that the buyer will be attracted by the tempting numbers in the characteristics. As for the technical side, three gigabytes of RAM is currently enough for all tasks and there is even a small reserve for the future, so you don’t have to worry about this parameter for now.

About 24 out of 32 gigabytes of permanent memory are available to the user. And this is actually a reason to think about buying a memory card. Of course, on-board flash memory is much faster than a removable card, but 24 gigabytes in modern conditions can run out quite quickly if you don’t take care of the free space. By the way, the 6x supports memory cards up to 128 gigabytes, but when using it you will have to sacrifice a second SIM card, since the SIM card tray is combined. That's how things are.

Huawei Honor 6 Plus

If innovations like these sound familiar, that's for a reason. Just remember the HTC One M8. Just like the M8, the new Honor 6 Plus has the ability to change the focus of photos after taking them. But that's certainly not all it has to offer.

Design

Huawei didn't just try to stuff a dual camera into a device and call it a breakthrough. Honor 6 Plus is only 7.5 mm thick and is similar in design to its predecessor - black glass, a metal line around the edges (in fact, it is plastic, but it looks like metal). The back cover is not entirely smooth, but I was able to see the patterns on it only from a certain angle and good lighting. They are best seen on the gold model. As is the case with other devices from this company, the brand name is not on the case or during a reboot (only the Honor inscription appears).

If you think about it and take a good look, the design of the new 6 Plus, apart from the fact that it is a little larger, is no different from the Honor 6. And, of course, the presence of a dual camera on the back side. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're a fan of the old iPhone 5S design. Considering how much Chinese manufacturers love to copy Apple's designs, we'll be seeing a lot of phones with curved edges again pretty soon.

Peculiarities

If we talk about the technical specifications, the Honor 6 Plus is packed with a good set of powerful components. Kirin 925 processor – there are four ARM Cortex-A7 and four Cortex-A15 on board, where the former perform all the main tasks, and the latter handle simple processes to save energy.

The 5.5-inch display operates in full-HD resolution – 1,920x1,080 pixels. That works out to about 401 pixels per inch, which is very close to the iPhone 6 Plus, which also has a 5.5-inch display.

The screen has a 1,500:1 contrast ratio and 85 percent color spectrum. If you look at the iPhone 6 Plus and Honor 6 Plus at the same time, the colors of the latter seem more saturated. Yes, it was hard for me to believe it too, until I put them next to each other. In addition to the screen, the smartphone boasts 3 gigabytes of RAM, a 3,600mAh battery and 32 gigabytes of internal memory, which can be expanded using a microSD card by another 128 gigabytes.

For those who travel frequently and actively use multiple SIM cards, I also have good news - Huawei managed to implement support for two active SIM cards in its phone. There is also 4G support. This means that one SIM card can work in 4G, and the other in 3G.

Dual camera

The camera is very similar to the one used in the One M8. But Huawei is missing some pretty important features, such as optical zoom, for example. You can change the focus of a photo after it has been taken. And, unlike the simulation of background blur, the effects here look very realistic.

In addition to this feature, Huawei also equipped the camera with a 1.98 micrometer sensor. Almost the same as HTC's. At 8 megapixels, this allows you to take very detailed photos. The camera also boasts fast autofocus (0.1 seconds), which allows you to take pictures of fast-moving objects. And, of course, there is a front camera – 8 megapixels. Android 4.4.

The smartphone runs Android KitKat 4.4 – not the latest Lollipop 5.0, but with an interface from Huawei called Emotion UI 3.0. The developers decided to do away with dragging and dropping icons - application shortcuts are now always on the home screen. It's very similar to iOS. The lock screen has also been slightly improved. Media control, a calculator and a flashlight are now available there.

Prospects

Huawei Honor 6 Plus will go on sale in China first in three colors – black, white and gold. There will also be a version of the smartphone without 4G support, which will accordingly cost a little less. The start date for sales in the US and Europe has not yet been announced.

The smartphone turned out to be not bad at all and it has excellent potential. But its success, of course, will largely depend on the price. In my opinion, as long as Huawei tries to copy Apple's design, people will think of their smartphones as just a cheaper version of the iPhone. But the dual camera is a feature that is still quite exclusive.

Connection

Huawei Honor 6x supports LTE Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20, as well as GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz networks. The smartphone catches the network confidently, without significant interruptions in reception. The signal strength is equally good both in the city and outside the city. The interlocutor can be heard well, there is no extraneous noise, and the connection is not interrupted.

The phone also has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 wireless modules, which work without any complaints at good speed. The NFC module is also present, which will undoubtedly please people who are used to using their smartphone as a pass on public transport and more. Among navigation satellites, the phone supports such devices as: GPS, GLONASS and BDS. Signal reception is good, even if you try to connect while inside the building. You can expect to catch the first few satellites within a minute or two.

Communication with the outside world

Alas, Wi-Fi is single-band. Alas, no NFC. Otherwise there is nothing to complain about. Everything that is there works as it should.

Battery life and performance

Honor 6x is equipped with a processor developed by Huawei - HiSilicon Kirin 655. This is an eight-core chip built on Cortex A-53 cores using a 16-nanometer process technology and has a frequency formula of 4x2.1 GHz and 4x1.7 GHz. This chipset is well suited to the mid-budget segment and demonstrates the expected level of performance. Today it is more than enough for everyday tasks, such as surfing the Internet, watching videos and listening to music. If we compare this processor with other colleagues in the workshop, the most similar chip is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, which demonstrates similar results in everyday tasks. In the Antutu benchmark, Kirin scores 57,000 points, which is an acceptable result for such a processor.

We bring to your attention a summary table of testing results of several mid-level single-chip systems.

The Kirin 655 single-chip system is equipped with a Mali-T830 MP2 graphics accelerator, the capabilities of which are quite sufficient for comfortable playing most modern heavy games at medium graphics settings. For example, let's take the popular online game World of Tanks Blitz, in which our test subject confidently produces 50-55 frames per second at medium settings and with a resolution of 1920x1080. In lighter projects, for example, in the game Asphalt 8, the chip easily provides stable 60 frames per second without drops or freezes.

As for the autonomy of the device, the results of 6x fit well into our understanding of them. The 3340 milliamp-hour battery is quite reliable for two days of operation with moderate use. The phone also performs quite well when reading and listening to music, but in games the battery still “melts” before our eyes, which is affected by the large screen and a fairly powerful processor. As a result, you can expect from your smartphone: in reading mode – 15 hours, in video viewing mode – 10 hours 30 minutes, in gaming mode – 4 hours 30 minutes.

Bottom line

To summarize, we can say that the Honor 6x phone really turned out to be very good and became a worthy replacement for its predecessor Honor 5x. But whether to buy it now or not is a much more difficult task for the mind. Now the 7x version is available on the market, which looks more modern and interesting, but it also costs much more. On the other hand, 6x today can be bought for 12,000 or even 11,500 rubles. If you manage to find this smartphone at these prices and already with an updated operating system, then it will be a very good purchase.

Pros of Honor 6x:

• High-quality display;
• Good dual camera;
• Greater autonomy;
• Not a bad processor.

Cons of Honor 6x:

• Fake "full metal" body;
• Weak oleophobic coating.