Specifications
Processor: Octa-core 2.2GHz Kirin 935, Screen Size: 5.2in, Screen resolution: 1,920x1,080, Rear camera: 20 megapixels, Storage (free): 16GB (10.4GB), Wireless data: 3G, 4G, Size: 143x72x8.5mm, Weight: 157g, Operating system: Android 5.1.1
Ever since the OnePlus 2 arrived, competition between mid-range smartphones has been kicked into overdrive. The top-end specification and a price less than half of a traditional flagship means it puts other similarly-priced phones to shame. However, when this year's best bargain is locked away behind a strict invite-only system, those without invites must look elsewhere for a better deal. Enter the Honor 7, the follow-up to last year's great value Honor 6.
With a 5.2in Full HD screen, 20-megapixel camera and octa-core chipset, the Honor 7 has a pretty impressive feature list. It even has a rear fingerprint sensor, which is a pretty unusual addition for a mid-range handset. Located just below the rear camera, its square recess is the perfect height for your forefinger, and can open and unlock your phone from sleep mode in little more than a second, beating the OnePlus 2 to the punch in terms of overall speed.
The fingerprint sensor isn’t just for unlocking the phone, though, as
it also returns to the home screen, takes photos and videos, answers
calls and stops alarms. The latter can be a bit tricky to silence,
particularly if you have the phone face up when it goes off, but I have
to admit the rest of Honor's additional functions are rather handy,
particularly when it comes to answering calls.
Design & Display
However, while the Honor 7's fingerprint sensor might increase the phone's security, its overall build quality and sturdiness leave something to be desired. Despite having a tough aluminium unibody chassis, I found the front glass panel was very prone to getting scratched, and it even suffered some full-blown cracks during my short time with the handset.This is a shame, as the 5.2in, 1,920x1,080-pixel panel is easily one of the most colour accurate I've seen in quite some time. With an sRGB colour gamut score of 98.8%, colours were very rich and vivid, and a black level of 0.3cd/m2 meant that text looked deep and inky. Likewise, a contrast ratio of 1,158:1 ensured there was plenty of detail in my various test images, and a high brightness of 482.28cd/m2 makes it easy to see outside.
Performance
Inside, the Honor 7 is powered by a 64-bit octa-core 2.2GHz Kirin 935 chipset and 3GB of RAM – the same chipset as Huawei's flagship P8 – and it puts up a pretty decent fight against the top-end Qualcomm chips you'll find in other Android smartphones. For instance, in Geekbench 3, the Honor 7 scored a respectable 923 in the single core test and 3,554 in the multicore test, putting it just behind the HTC One M9. It's also significantly faster than the Motorola Moto X Play, which is more expensive than the Honor 7, so it comfortably one of the fastest smartphones you can buy in this price range.Likewise, gaming performance was fantastic compared to other £250 handsets, as it managed 476 frames in the offscreen Manhatten test in GFX Bench GL. This equates to roughly 7.7fps, which might not sound great in practice, but it's more than enough to run games like Hearthstone. Card animations were lovely and smooth, and I didn't see any signs of stutter when the pop-up dialogue boxes appeared either.
Similarly, web browsing was also a cut above the competition, as its score of 1,075 in Peacekeeper puts it a long way ahead of the LG G4 and only a little way behind the Samsung Galaxy S6. I could see it in daily-use, too, as it coped very well with media-heavy pages like the Guardian, and showed very few signs of stutter even when there were embedded videos and lots of photos onscreen at the same time.
Android 5.1 & Emotion UI
The only problem is that the Honor 7 uses Huawei's Emotion UI 3.1 interface, which is possibly one of my least favourite versions of Android. Not only does it ditch the app tray in favour of crowded iOS-like home screens, but it also insists on separating your notifications from the menu shortcut button screen. This is particularly irritating when all you want to do is go to the settings menu, as it automatically defaults to the notifications bar if you haven't dismissed every last alert. Likewise, I'm not a big fan of the general look and feel of Emotion UI, as third-party apps just look badly designed alongside the bespoke rounded icons of Honor's first-party apps, and none of the pre-installed themes are particularly appealing.That said, Honor has gone to great lengths to make the Honor 7 easier to use than its previous handsets, as the phone has an additional Smart Key button on the side which can be assigned to perform up to three separate functions. With a single tap, double tap or long press, you can immediately launch any app of your choice, activate the camera or turn on the flashlight. It's certainly more convenient than having to search through home screens every time I want to open Twitter, for example, but its small amount of tactile feedback can make it a little difficult to press at times.
^ The Honor 7's Smart Key can be assigned up to three separate shortcuts
Honor's also taken a leaf out of Nokia's Z Launcher book by letting you draw out certain letters with your knuckle as well to launch certain applications. It only supports four letters – E, C, M and W – but they can be configured to open anything you like, from your internet browser to the camera. However, while it's certainly one of the more novel ways I've seen to interact with your phone, I don't find it particularly intuitive and pawing at your phone with your knuckle seems rather inelegant when the Smart Key does almost exactly the same thing.
^ Honor uses Huawei's Emotion UI, which ditches the app tray in favour of a more iOS-like approach to Android
Battery Life
More disappointing was the Honor 7's mediocre battery life. Despite having a large 3,100mAh battery, it lasted just 6h 28m in our continuous video playback test with the screen set to 170cd/m2 brightness, which is even worse than the Huawei P8, one of this year's poorest battery life performers. This is very disappointing, and is easily the worst score I've seen this year. With such little staying power, it rather puts a bit of a dampener on the Honor 7's reverse-charging feature, as this lets you use the phone to power other devices - once you've bought the dedicated cable, of course.
Conclusion
The Honor 7 has all the makings of a great mid-range smartphone, but concerns over its build quality, its frustrating version of Android and terrible battery life means it can't help but fall short of its goals. At this price, the £270 Motorola Moto X Play is much better value if you can't get hold of an invite for the OnePlus 2, but if you'd rather save some money, the £200 Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is an excellent alternative.| Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Octa-core 2.2GHz Kirin 935 |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Screen size | 5.2in |
| Screen resolution | 1,920x1,080 |
| Screen type | IPS |
| Front camera | 8 megapixels |
| Rear camera | 20 megapixels |
| Flash | LED |
| GPS | Yes |
| Compass | Yes |
| Storage (free) | 16GB (10.4GB) |
| Memory card slot (supplied) | microSD |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11ac |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.1 LE |
| NFC | No |
| Wireless data | 3G, 4G |
| Size | 143x72x8.5mm |
| Weight | 157g |
| Features | |
| Operating system | Android 5.1.1 |
| Battery size | 3,100mAh |
| Buying information | |
| Warranty | Two years RTB |
| Price SIM-free (inc VAT) | £250 |
| Price on contract (inc VAT) | Free on £20-per-month contract |
| Prepay price (inc VAT) | N/A |
| SIM-free supplier | www.vmall.eu |
| Contract/prepay supplier | www.three.co.uk |
| Details | www.hihonor.com |
| Part code | PLK-L01 |
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