HONOR X8a Review: Affordable all-rounder Smartphone
HONOR Philippines officially launched its new all-arounder smartphone the HONOR X8a, with an eye-catching design, a large display with excellent visual clarity, solid photography capabilities, and an affordable price.
The new HONOR X8a retails for only ₱10,990 and boasts a 100-megapixel ultra camera that focuses on photography. Here's an in-depth look at this new smartphone.
HONOR X8a Specs
Android 12, Magic UI 6.1
6.7-inch Full HD+ LTPS LCD display, 2388 x 1080 pixel resolution, 391ppi
90Hz refresh rate
2.0GHz MediaTek Helio G88 octa-core processor
Mali-G52 MC2 GPU
8GB RAM
128GB internal storage, non-expandable
100MP + 5MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro rear cameras, LED flash
16MP selfie camera
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
No headphone jack
Loudspeaker
Dual SIM, Dual standby
4G LTE
WIFI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth 5.1
GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
USB Type-C
Colors: Cyan Lake, Titanium Silver, Midnight Black
4,500mAh battery, 22.5W HONOR SuperCharge
179g
Android 12, Magic UI 6.1
6.7-inch Full HD+ LTPS LCD display, 2388 x 1080 pixel resolution, 391ppi
90Hz refresh rate
2.0GHz MediaTek Helio G88 octa-core processor
Mali-G52 MC2 GPU
8GB RAM
128GB internal storage, non-expandable
100MP + 5MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro rear cameras, LED flash
16MP selfie camera
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
No headphone jack
Loudspeaker
Dual SIM, Dual standby
4G LTE
WIFI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth 5.1
GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
USB Type-C
Colors: Cyan Lake, Titanium Silver, Midnight Black
4,500mAh battery, 22.5W HONOR SuperCharge
179g
Design and Built
The HONOR X8a features an elegant, modern design with a slim and lightweight profile. With only 7.48mm in depth and weighing only 179g, it is easy to hold and comfortable to use. The plastic body gives it a stylish, upscale appearance.
The HONOR X8a features an elegant, modern design with a slim and lightweight profile. With only 7.48mm in depth and weighing only 179g, it is easy to hold and comfortable to use. The plastic body gives it a stylish, upscale appearance.
Options available for the HONOR X8a include Cyan Lake, Midnight Black, and Titanium Silver. Our review unit, a Titanium Silver, is very shiny and appears in various shades depending on the direction the light is coming from.
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The right side of the phone houses the volume rocker and power button (which also serves as a fingerprint scanner). The fingerprint reader makes it easy to unlock the phone, and the buttons provide a pleasant feel when pressed.
The SIM card slot, which can hold two nano SIM cards, can be found on the other side of the phone. Unfortunately, you can't expand the device's storage using a microSD card.
This phone doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the main microphone, the USB Type-C port, and the speaker are all on the bottom. Using wired headphones will require the use of a type-C adaptor.
A large flat 6.7-inch screen with a screen-to-body ratio of 93.6% and a refresh rate of 90Hz is featured in the front. It also boasts a 16-megapixel selfie camera in the screen's punch hole.
Given its price, the overall design of the HONOR X8a is attractive; it has a nice feel and is comfortable to hold. Thanks to the included case, the back and camera are protected from scratches and accidental bumps, and minor drops.
Display and Sound Quality
The 6.7-inch LTPS LCD display offers a huge screen-to-body ratio of 93.6%, a 90 Hz refresh rate, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and minimal bezels. Using the HONOR X8a as a multimedia device is entertaining, and playing games is even more enjoyable.
Given its price, the overall design of the HONOR X8a is attractive; it has a nice feel and is comfortable to hold. Thanks to the included case, the back and camera are protected from scratches and accidental bumps, and minor drops.
Display and Sound Quality
The 6.7-inch LTPS LCD display offers a huge screen-to-body ratio of 93.6%, a 90 Hz refresh rate, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and minimal bezels. Using the HONOR X8a as a multimedia device is entertaining, and playing games is even more enjoyable.
With HONOR Display Color Calibration, the display appears more bright and colors are more accurately rendered. Low blue light certification from TÜV Rheinland means that the screen is safe for prolonged use and effectively mitigates the potentially harmful effects of blue light.
The display's viewing angles are favorable, which makes watching videos more engaging. The 90Hz refresh rate is intended to smooth out scrolling and animations.
The display's viewing angles are favorable, which enhances the experience of watching videos. The 90Hz refresh rate is intended to make scrolling and animations more smooth.
Even though it's not the loudest, the bottom speaker offers a reasonable volume level and clarity. However, for a more immersive audio experience, earphones are recommended; regrettably, there is no audio jack, so a better alternative would be wireless TWS earbuds such as the JBL Tune 130NC or Tune 230NC.
Even though it's not the loudest, the bottom speaker offers a reasonable volume level and clarity. However, for a more immersive audio experience, earphones are recommended; regrettably, there is no audio jack, so a better alternative would be wireless TWS earbuds such as the JBL Tune 130NC or Tune 230NC.
Performance and Software
The Honor X7a is powered by MediaTek's Helio G88 octa-core chipset, which was made for devices coming out in 2021. It's built with 12-nanometer process technology. Two powerful ARM Cortex-A75 cores running at up to 2 GHz and six energy-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 1.8 GHz give this device competitive performance.
This gives it balanced performance, gameplay, and power efficiency. The phone's 8GB of RAM with HONOR RAM Turbo and 128GB of internal storage will be adequate for the majority of users.
For typical everyday tasks, the Honor X8a provides more than enough performance. While launching apps and switching between them is quick, there is a noticeable lag when playing more resource-demanding games.
When playing games like the popular shooting game Call of Duty Mobile, Mobile Legends, and other MMORPGs, the graphics settings should be set to medium to ensure smooth gameplay performance.
The Honor X8a's results on some popular benchmarking apps are as follows:
AnTuTu v9.5.6 - 199,726
Geekbench 6: Single Core - 434 / Multi-core - 1,233
3DMark: Sling Shot - 1,173 / Sling Shot Extreme OpenGLES 3.1 - 1,170
PC Benchmark for Android: Work 3.0 - 5,553
It supports 4G LTE for mobile data connectivity, which is already a plus because it's widely available and fast enough for web browsing, updating social media, and downloading and uploading files, photos, videos, and other data.
Magic UI 6.1
Magic UI 6.1, which is based on Android 12, it's HONOR's independently developed custom interface. The user interface has been given a facelift, with a cleaner design, modernized icons, and updated animations.
Geekbench 6: Single Core - 434 / Multi-core - 1,233
3DMark: Sling Shot - 1,173 / Sling Shot Extreme OpenGLES 3.1 - 1,170
PC Benchmark for Android: Work 3.0 - 5,553
It supports 4G LTE for mobile data connectivity, which is already a plus because it's widely available and fast enough for web browsing, updating social media, and downloading and uploading files, photos, videos, and other data.
Magic UI 6.1
Magic UI 6.1, which is based on Android 12, it's HONOR's independently developed custom interface. The user interface has been given a facelift, with a cleaner design, modernized icons, and updated animations.
The new design is much more streamlined and pleasing to the eye, and we love it. The improved performance of the system optimization is a cool feature that ensures smooth performance.
100MP Ultra Clear Camera
The triple camera setup on the HONOR X8a, led by a 100-megapixel main camera, is the device's highlight feature. It's paired with a 5-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 2-megapixel macro lens. There's also a 16-megapixel front-facing camera for shooting selfies.
It's no big surprise that photos taken with the 100-megapixel camera look fantastic. The post-processing of the original colors detracts from the overall effect. Using AI scene detection can add some flair to the photos, giving them a more vibrant look.
Photos taken in low light are usually not very appealing because they have a lot of noise and look grainy. Even when night mode is used, it only helps photos taken in dim light, so it's always best to use the LED light to add a little light when taking photos in dark places.
The camera app is straightforward and offers a wide variety of shooting modes (including Aperture, Night, Portrait, Photo, Video, Slow-mo, Panorama, HDR, Time-lapse, Stickers, Super Macro, Dual-view, Pro, High-Res, and Story).
The camera's AI scene detector is a nice feature, as it can identify many of the photos we've taken, including those of food, animals, vegetation, buildings, and more.
The 5-megapixel wide-angle lens produces pleasing results when used during the daytime. Indoor shots, on the other hand, lack the same visual appeal.
The 2-megapixel macro camera comes in handy for shooting subjects as close as 4cm, and while the quality isn't great, it's more than adequate for sharing on social media.
Explore additional Sample Photos captured with the HONOR X8a camera here.
The 16-megapixel front camera captures colors and skin tones that are relatively good. Even in low light, photos look sharp and detailed. It's best to use the standard Photo mode as opposed to Portrait mode since it uses beautification filters as a default setting.
The 100-megapixel camera on the HONOR X8a is quite impressive, as it can produce sharp pictures. It only supports 1080p video at 30fps, which is not bad, but sadly there is no support for 4K video, which is far better quality. Overall, we enjoy taking photos and are pleased with the results.
Battery
The HONOR X8a is equipped with a 4,500mAh battery and a 22.5W fast charger. Compared to other midrange smartphones, it has a slightly lower capacity. While the Honor X7a has a significantly larger 6,000mAh battery.
On average, during our daily use, the battery was able to last for around 10 hours, so that's more or less a day of screen time with the phone. However, when playing games with high brightness and wireless connectivity enabled, the battery life will be shorter.
A 30-minute charge will fill the battery to more than 50% capacity, and it takes about two hours to fully charge the battery from 15% capacity. While the 22.5-watt charger isn't the fastest, it does get the job done. A GaN fast charger, such as the Ugreen 100W GaN fast charger, is another option for fast charging.
Pros
Elegant design
Large display
Good Performance
Good cameras
Cons
Underwhelming performance
No microSD card support
Not Android 13
Slightly lower battery capacity
No audio jack
Verdict
Overall, the Honor X8a is a solid mid-range smartphone that offers a comfortable design, a vivid display, a very capable 100MP camera, and good battery life. If you are looking for a new smartphone with good camera capabilities, the Honor X8 is a good option to consider.
The HONOR X8a comes in three stunning colors; Cyan Lake, Titanium Silver, and Midnight Black, and is available for pre-order until 24, 2023 with FREE HONOR Earbuds worth ₱1,590 via all HONOR kiosks and partner online stores – Lazada (http://bit.ly/40iFPjB), Shopee (http://bit.ly/3mNbds1), and Tiktok Shop (http://bit.ly/3ZYbqqy).
Elegant design
Large display
Good Performance
Good cameras
Cons
Underwhelming performance
No microSD card support
Not Android 13
Slightly lower battery capacity
No audio jack
Verdict
Overall, the Honor X8a is a solid mid-range smartphone that offers a comfortable design, a vivid display, a very capable 100MP camera, and good battery life. If you are looking for a new smartphone with good camera capabilities, the Honor X8 is a good option to consider.
The HONOR X8a comes in three stunning colors; Cyan Lake, Titanium Silver, and Midnight Black, and is available for pre-order until 24, 2023 with FREE HONOR Earbuds worth ₱1,590 via all HONOR kiosks and partner online stores – Lazada (http://bit.ly/40iFPjB), Shopee (http://bit.ly/3mNbds1), and Tiktok Shop (http://bit.ly/3ZYbqqy).
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