Which is better Honor or Xiaomi: review of Huawei Honor 6X

Main cameras

Honor can be called the pioneer of the dual rear camera smartphone market. In 2020, they were the first to make such a device. It was Honor 6 Plus. And then the background blurred, but it did so very little. Now the manufacturer’s developments have moved forward, and interest in the topic has been greatly fueled by Apple, releasing the iPhone 7 Plus, which lathers like hell.

I’ll say right away that our hero may cost 4 times (!) less, but he won’t lose face. I’m telling you.

• resolution 12 2 MP
• f/2.2 aperture
• matrix size 1/2.9’’
• single pixel size 1.25 µm

Of course, the 6X doesn’t do the same bokeh that fixed-lens DSLRs can, but the end result is much closer now than it was two years ago. The aperture value in the range f/0.95-f/16 is achieved here, albeit artificially, but very successfully.

Photo taken with a machine gun

Photo taken in Stereo mode

It is highly desirable that there is sufficient ambient lighting. As soon as there is little light, software algorithms begin to fool around and blur parts of objects that are supposed to be in focus. So you should only use the blur effect outdoors and during the day. Let’s remember.

On pictures taken in the “Stereo” mode, you can change the focus after taking the photograph, directly in the Gallery. When you copy them to a computer, they will be ordinary frames and nothing can be changed about them. The image is saved in the same form as it was saved during the last processing on the smartphone.

PDAF autofocus, that is, fast and problem-free, is stated here. In principle, its work is visible in practice — the smartphone easily focuses in 99% of situations. At night, the focusing process is somewhat strained, but still fast and without errors.

Here’s another tip for shooting in dark places. When the lighting is low, but you want to take a clear picture and have the opportunity to somehow fix it so as not to blur the picture, it is better to use the night mode. Then the photo will look sharper and more contrasty than the exact same frame taken in normal mode.

Regular photo (automatic, HDR)

Night mode

The thing is that software algorithms tightly suppress all noise. And on the screen of a phone or laptop, night shots generally look good, but if you zoom in, the watercolor is immediately visible. Specific modes (the same “Night”) use other algorithms that are more gentle on the picture, so with a creative approach to photography you can achieve more.

We get the original examples from this link.

What I liked:

• neat design, compact dimensions;
• good display brightness reserve;
• quality of images during daylight hours, capabilities and WOW effect from the second camera;
• speed of applications and games;
• no heating under load;
• thoughtful shell, automatic management of resource-intensive applications.

What I didn’t like:

• the need to choose between a second SIM and a memory card;
• no NFC chip for contactless payments.

Thank you for your attention!

Product provided for writing a review by the store. The review was published in accordance with clause 18 of the Site Rules.

Appearance and ergonomics

The device immediately resembles the other representatives of this line. Therefore, the design of the Huawei Honor 6X is laconic and simple, which is traditional for the entire series. The body is made of pleasant-to-touch aluminum with rounded corners. The Honor logo appears under the screen and on the back. Also on the back you can see a unit with a dual camera.

A little lower is a round fingerprint scanner. The affordable smartphone is available not only in silver, but also in gold. The gadget is comfortable to hold in your hands due to the matte metal, which is rough. Although the device can hardly fit in a small palm due to the large screen.

Design

While studying the appearance of the smartphone, several thoughts came to me at once. I think you will agree with me on some things, without even holding the device in your hands.

We look at the back of the device. And we see the next version of Xiaomi Redmi Note 3/4/5/6 and so on. These plastic inserts, the metal back, the fingerprint scanner ring and the camera in the middle are all too reminiscent of Xiaomi smartphones.

I don’t know if Huawei deliberately decided to create this design or if it just happened that way. This is how it often happens in China.

On the other hand, is this important? The smartphone looks good. It fits comfortably in the hand. What more do you need?

Despite the fairly decent thickness of 8.2 mm, it is not felt here. Seriously! Some kind of magic!

Honor 6X designers are sly foxes. They greatly “cut off” the side edges, as a result of which the declared thickness of the device remained only in the very center, and in other places the smartphone feels very thin. This is also quite an option on how to competently beat the excess dimensions for a 5.5-inch device.

Another moment that impressed me. The display sandwich does not have an air gap, and therefore the screen seems to be printed on protective glass. Looks especially impressive at an angle.

I praised the smartphone, and now it’s time to scold it. Unfortunately, there is a reason.

In general, the assembly of the device is of very high quality. There are no backlashes, squeaks or other crimes. BUT!

In my copy, the screen panel was glued in vain.

Look at some photos below. In the upper left corner, the glass fits perfectly tightly to the plastic side. And the opposite corner has a huge gap (compared to the first corner). There was no dust getting in there, but there is still a residue from the build quality.

With this in mind, if you have the opportunity to test the device before purchasing, be sure to take this opportunity.

I will not describe each element of appearance separately, because everything here is quite standard. The only thing we will focus on is the touch keys, which are not on the case. They take up part of the screen space. This bothers some people a lot, but not at all for me. And all because in this way you can conveniently hold the device in landscape orientation, without fear of accidentally pressing the “Back” or “Home” button and exiting the game or player to the home screen.

Unfortunately, Huawei doesn’t want to hear my plaintive moans about the fact that in the Gallery the navigation bar does not hide anywhere and is constantly active. Why doesn’t she just “smartly” hide from the display when she’s not needed? Like in the same games, for example.

Another mandatory element in the review program is the quality of the external speaker. He is alone here, taking a place to the right of the Micro USB port. The volume is slightly above average, the quality is about the same. In other words, an ordinary, quite decent multimedia speaker without kinks in one direction or another. You can set your own ringtones, they won’t scare others with their quality.

Display

I already spoke about the lack of an air gap. I repeat once again that with this type of screen, the convenience and experience of use (positive, of course) increases significantly.

Despite the fact that the smartphone is not a flagship, it is inexpensive — we have Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) and a decent level of pixel density — 403 ppi. For a 5.5-inch diagonal this is the standard, and nothing more is needed.

For virtual reality, such a resolution will not be enough, however, Quad HD does not do anything special, so you should not chase after incomprehensible and unnecessary characteristics. Especially in the middle price segment. Believe me, it is impossible to see individual pixels here from a comfortable distance for the eyes.

The screen itself is juicy, there is a good reserve of brightness, the picture is not greatly inverted at different angles, so rest assured. Below we compare the screens of Honor 6X (top or left) and Neffos C5 Max (bottom or right).

The oleophobic coating on the glass is, of course, in place. Traces of use, of course, remain, but can be easily removed by simply wiping the screen on your jeans. The finger glides across the glass easily and naturally.

The protective glass itself (the brand is not disclosed) has a very slight bend of the 2.5D type. As for me, the more it is rounded, the better, but this is also quite good. Those who like to “decorate” their device with a protective film will love this.

Iron

The smartphone received a filling similar to its classmates — an eight-core processor, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. You can also find a 4/64 GB version on sale, but there is no point in paying extra for it. An additional gigabyte of RAM will not make any difference, and the memory in the basic version can be expanded with a microSD card (up to 256 GB). True, for this you will have to sacrifice one of the SIM cards.

The processor is the proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 655 chip, which carries 2 clusters of 4 Cortex A53 cores. The “energy-saving” quad operates at a frequency of 1.7 GHz, while the productive one operates at 2.1 GHz. In benchmarks, the processor shows average results (Antutu — less than 60,000 points), but in real life it feels much better.

Unlike solutions based on MTK (Helio X20), the Kirin 655 chip does not heat up at all — the smartphone body remains cool even after 20-30 minutes of play.

The only confusion in the hardware of the device is the presence of an NFC chip. We couldn’t find any signs of the module’s presence in our copy; the video disassembling the device confirms my theory, but some reviewers noted that it was present in their versions of Honor 6X.

Hardware and performance

The fairly new Kirin 650 processor with eight cores provides good performance. This chip is not only 64-bit, but also made on a 16-nanometer technical process. This step allowed to reduce power consumption and also improve the performance of the smartphone. The maximum operating frequency of Kirin 650 reaches 2000 MHz.

The device confidently copes with most everyday tasks. In the AnTuTu test, the new Huawei Honor 6X scores about 55,000 points, which is an approximate result of flagships from two years ago. In games, there is enough power to run projects at medium or high graphics settings. In regular applications and menus, the speed of operation will please every user.

Cameras

The sweet spot of the Honor 6X is the cameras. The only question that tormented me: “Is the second camera a tribute to fashion, or a really useful thing?” Based on the testing results, I am more inclined towards the first option.

The main role when shooting is always played by the main 12 MP sensor (Sony IMX386; f/2.2), and the 2 MP appendage (Omni Vision OV2680) is used to measure the depth of the frame and create a bokeh effect. Among the camera’s abundant settings, you can select a special mode that allows you to change the focus point after the fact, when the photo has already been taken.

The degree of persistence of the Chinese on the topic of cameras is quite high. For example, the Honor 6X has a special mode for photographing food, and when you launch the front camera (an average 8 MP Sony IMX219 sensor), the “blonde joy” filter automatically turns on, which smooths out the unevenness of your face and hides pimples, also known as “beauty mode”.

In general, I liked the work of the main camera of the smartphone. During daylight hours the pictures are good, especially if there are few details in the frame. In the dark, the camera begins to make noise as expected and blur the pictures, but few people find it easy in such conditions.

Sound quality

Ordinary, does not stand out from its competitors. In other words, listening to music on headphones is possible and even necessary. It’s just that all modern smartphones sound about the same. Equally good.

There is some strange enhancement called SWS (it used to be DTS), which in fact makes the sound louder and that’s it. No revelation occurs after its activation. All these software algorithms seem to return the sound to a normal state, which was artificially lowered in order to justify the insertion of these very software chips. It’s kind of stupid.

The standard player is convenient and moderately functional. There is everything you need to simply listen to music and sort it conveniently. Even an analogue of Cover Flow, which left us with the release of iOS 7, is present here.

Equipment

I have nothing to tell you here, because the Russian representative office traditionally does not indulge the journalistic community by providing a complete set for testing. I only had the device itself in my hands, however, here is a picture from the “Internets” that shows what to expect when unboxing the Honor 6X.

Productivity

The eight-core Kirin 655 processor is mainly responsible for the performance. Yes, this is not a top-end, 950 series or higher, but, as practice shows, even its capabilities are enough to solve all the problems necessary for a modern smartphone owner. The device doesn’t shoot 4K video, but I have a feeling that this is a software limitation on the manufacturer’s part. I am sure that the smartphone would support this function.

In general, Kirin solutions are consistently inferior to similar “stones” from Qualcomm. Thus, the top Kirin 960 chip is slightly inferior to the Snapdragon 821. In our case, the 655th processor directly competes with the Snapdragon 625, but again is slightly behind it. This is eloquently evidenced by synthetic tests.

Let me remind you that a similar 625th “snap”, all other things being equal, gains about 60,000 virtual parrots. It’s not that important anyway. It’s much more interesting how the device performs in everyday tasks.

The system interface works perfectly smoothly.

Nothing slows down, doesn’t lag, and there’s no hint that some processes are difficult for the smartphone. When navigating and switching between programs, you get the feeling that you are using some kind of flagship.

Applications launch quite quickly, and this also applies to heavy programs. I don’t even know what to complain about here.

Let’s look at the games and the best litmus test here is World of Tanks Blitz. At high graphics settings, FPS does not drop below 30 frames per second. An excellent result for such a device.

The smartphone swallowed 4K video easily and never even choked. And this, by the way, is an indicator that the device has a certain margin of safety and a reserve for the future.

Communications and sound

Thanks to the modern processor, Huawei Honor 6X supports not only third-generation networks, but also LTE Cat 6. The communication quality is very good. The loud multimedia speaker is a pleasant surprise. It is also pleasant to talk with your interlocutor. It’s quite possible to listen to music on headphones, but you can hardly expect any miracles.

Specifications honor 6x (model bln-l21)

• HiSilicon Kirin 655 processor with 8 Cortex A53 cores, 4 of which operate at 2.1 GHz, 4 others operate at 1.7 GHz (16 nm, 64-bit)
• Mali-T830 MP2 graphics
• RAM 3 (1523 MB free after reboot) or 4 GB (not sold here)
• data storage 32 (22.50 GB available out of the box) or 64 GB (non-Russian version)
• support Micro SD memory cards up to 128 GB
• 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (403 ppi density), without air gap
• 8 MP front camera (f/2.0 aperture, fixed focus, 77-degree lens)
• main cameras 12 2 MP (f/2.2, sensor size 1/2.9’’, one pixel 1.25 microns, PDAF focusing, 1080p video recording)
• battery 3,340 mAh (charging at 5V, 2A)
• OS Android 6.0.1
• EMUI 4.1 shell
• sensors: accelerometer, light and distance sensor, Hall sensor, digital compass fingerprint scanner
• connectors: Micro USB 2.0 (OTG works), 3.5 mm audio port
• dimensions: 150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2 mm
• weight 162 grams

Wireless capabilities:

• 2G, 3G, 4G LTE Cat. 4 (strips: 1, 3, 7, 8, 20)
• support for two SIM cards
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n, 2.4 GHz only), Bluetooth 4.1, FM radio, NFC
• navigation: GPS, Glonass, Beidou

Perhaps in 2020 it’s time to start scolding devices for not having USB Type-C, but I won’t do that. I think it’s still too early. It’s worth waiting until winter. Then the release of a device without a new universal port will definitely be considered bad manners.

There is one very nice bonus that is guaranteed to please device owners — the presence of NFC.

Honor 6X, as it were, marked the beginning of a new round of development, when contactless payments and other wireless goodies come to affordable devices. Until now, the number of cheap smartphones equipped with an NFC chip tended to zero. I hope that this trend will soon become a mass phenomenon and NFC will no longer be the preserve of exclusively expensive and flagship products.

For full-fledged “tasty”, the only thing missing is support for dual-band Wi-Fi, but the 2.4 GHz frequency is enough for reliable signal reception. Fortunately, the 6X has no problems with receiving “waffles” and connecting to cellular networks.

Specifications of Huawei honor 6x

Screen

The smartphone display is a typical solution for the mid-price segment. 5.5 inches, good viewing angles, color rendering is limited to warm tones, but can be easily corrected with the slider in the settings. Resolution — FullHD, like its classmates.

The brightness reserve is good, the speed of automatic adjustment leaves much to be desired (1-2 seconds), but the accuracy is excellent. In the sun, the display remains readable, and reading a book in a dark room at minimum brightness does not tire your eyes.