The Chinese company Huawei has entered the domestic market mobile gadgets relatively recently - literally a couple of years ago. Despite this, it is successfully squeezing out the technology giants that have been present in Russia and other CIS countries for decades. What is the secret of such success?
The quality of the products played an important role in what made Huawei models so famous and in demand. Phones sold under their logo have all the necessary qualities of a successful product: sophisticated design, powerful hardware, optimized software and, of course, low price, which is typical for many devices from China.
The hero of today's review will be the Huawei U8860 Honor model. It is not new; it was released on the market back in 2011. Despite this, even today the device seems to fully meet the requirements of buyers and does not lag behind advanced devices. More details about what the creators have to offer Huawei Honor 3 U8860 to your public, read this review.
Smartphone position
When the device was released, it was positioned as a very powerful and fast smartphone at an affordable price. At least for Chinese developers Huawei phone The U8860 Honor was a true flagship - fast, functional and attractive by all criteria. As it turns out later, the company tries to make each of its models like this. Perhaps this is the secret of her success. At the same time, while competing with Samsung, HTC and others, the Chinese did not forget about the low price of their phones.
For example, Huawei U8860 Honor at the start of sales cost only 14 thousand rubles.
But let's move on from general description model to a more specific description of its functions.
Equipment
Before we look at the device, let's take a look at the kit it comes with. Let's face it, the Chinese have always taken care of their customers in terms of accessory availability. Inexpensive devices from the Middle Kingdom are often equipped with a headset, protective films, covers. It's not that original or unusual, but it leaves a pleasant impression on the buyer.
In the case of Huawei Honor U8860, everything is quite modest. The device comes in a box along with headphones, instructions, battery, charger and USB cable.
Design and appearance
By tradition, we begin our review of the phone directly with it appearance. In this regard, the Honor 3 model doesn’t have much to boast about. The device is made in a traditional rectangular shape and has smooth corners. Along the entire perimeter of the phone you can see a silver edging - this is a decorative line that visually separates the device’s screen. True, from the point of view of practicality, claims could be made against the developers. Reviews indicate that this line is scratched very easily, while it is very noticeable and can thus ruin the appearance of the device.
The back cover of the phone has a glossy texture. This model came out when it was not yet such a banal move as it can be described today. Therefore, overall the phone looks nice, although there is nothing unusual about it.
Navigation
Below the display of the Huawei U8860 Honor there are physical control buttons. There are four of them (while traditionally there are three of them on all Android smartphones). The search button is unusual. In addition to these, there are other gadget controls, in particular the device’s power button (on the top edge of the device), as well as a swing for changing the volume of the model’s sound.
In all other respects, the device is not much different from other similar smartphones. At the bottom there is a connector for charger, above the screen you can see the peephole of the proximity sensor and the front camera; The rear panel houses the main camera and flash. The headset is connected to the jack on the top edge near the power button.
Screen
The Huawei Honor U8860 model (the characteristics confirm this information) has a 4-inch display running on TFT technology-LCD. This means that the phone is able to display a lot of colors (about 16 million), be moderately bright and colorful, but loses saturation when the screen is tilted. So, if the viewing angle changes, you can notice a complete brightening of the picture. In this regard, of course, the device loses to competitors with an LCD display.
The screen resolution is 480 by 854 pixels, due to which grain is almost invisible here. The model supports up to 2 simultaneous clicks.
For additional protection of the display, the Huawei U8860 Honor Black model is equipped with a special layer of glass that is glued on top of the screen. It resists most of the everyday scratches, chips and other damage that can occur during everyday use of the phone. However, you should not rely on it. As reviews show, even protective glass may be damaged. Screen film continues to be the best way to protect your model.
Autonomy
In 2011, when the model was presented, a question had already arisen for Android phone manufacturers regarding the operating time of their devices. Users even then noticed the low autonomy of many devices running this operating system.
It is quite difficult to say anything definite about the Huawei Honor U8860. This model does not have official technical characteristics regarding operating time. At the level of private reviews, it was found that in continuous conversation mode the device can work for about 7 hours, when listening to music - 25, and video - about 8 hours.
The indicators are quite decent. With them, the device could work as usual for two days. In principle, this should be enough even for active users of Huawei Honor U8860, Android fans.
Camera
As already noted, the smartphone has two cameras installed at once - front and main - cameras. Of course, the first one has significantly fewer capabilities than the main one, but it was not possible to find accurate data on it. The rear camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels and is equipped with a flash. Due to this, the pictures are of mediocre quality (despite the high and promising parameter - 8 megapixels). Huawei U8860 Honor is capable of shooting in detail and beautifully, but for this you need to try.
The autofocus function is present, but in general, pointing the camera at an object is quite bad. The smartphone does not have an option that allows you to focus on an object after clicking on the screen. Because of this, in order to redirect the camera’s attention, it is necessary to move it to the side and point it at the subject of photography again. This, as you understand, is extremely inconvenient.
The device is capable of creating videos in fairly good quality.
The only thing that reviews openly complain about is the quality of the sound received by the camera. It is terrible and is transmitted at the lowest bitrate.
CPU
The model is based on the Quallcomm MSM8255 in the “Turbo” modification. At a clock frequency of 1.4 GHz, the model shows enough good results. For example, they are noticeable when opening the phone menu, when performing various operations with the device. Everything happens very smoothly and measuredly; no “jerking” characteristic of Android devices was noticed. In this regard, working with the model is pleasant.
The Adreno 205 graphics accelerator, common on other touch models, is also installed here. This module allows you to run colorful games and applications at high settings.
Memory
The phone has 512 megabytes of RAM. As you can see, this is quite enough for the phone to work without freezes and delays. Physical memory here is about 4 GB. Of these, only 1 GB is allocated for applications. However, the device supports memory cards, so you don’t need to worry about running out of space for multimedia files. If you believe the reviews, mobile device Capable of reading cards up to 32 GB.
Connection
Traditionally, the device supports several communication formats. As a rule, they are typical. And Huawei Honor 3 U8860 (the smartphone we are describing) is no exception.
These formats include regular GSM networks, Bluetooth for sending and receiving files, Wi-Fi for working with a high-speed wireless Internet connection. The device also has a GSP module based on GLONASS cards. When used with a headset as an antenna, the phone can play FM radio.
operating system
According to the technical specifications, the model operates on Android based 2.3.6. However, you should understand that 3-4 years have passed since the device went on sale, and the developers could adapt one of the subsequent versions of the OS for this model. For example, there were rumors about the introduction of Android 4.0 to this device. It may well be that they were justified. However, given that updates often lead to even more problems, it is difficult to say how the Huawei Honor U8860 will behave in the future.
If earlier it was customary to look at Chinese gadgets, in Mayakovsky’s words, “like a goat on a poster,” then recently the attitude towards them has changed to the diametrically opposite. In particular, Huawei took one of the central places at the MWC 2012 exhibition, presenting extremely interesting devices Ascend D Quad and Ascend D1. Unfortunately, top-end Huawei smartphones from 2012 have not yet arrived in Ukraine, so today we will look at their younger brother - Huawei Honor U8860.
Technical characteristics of Huawei Honor U8860
- Ranges: GPRS/GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS/HSPA 900/1700/2100.
- Form factor: keyboardless monoblock.
- operating system: Google Android 2.3.6.
- Display: 4 inches, TFT with transflective substrate, 480x854 pixels, 16 million colors, touch (capacitive matrix).
- Camera: 8 MP, autofocus, geotagging, video recording (1280x720/30p), LED backlight.
- CPU: Qualcomm MSM8255T, single ARM Cortex A8 core, clock frequency 1.4 GHz; integrated video accelerator Adreno 205.
- RAM: 512 MB.
- Flash memory: 4 GB (3 GB available to the user) + microSDHC cards up to 32 GB.
- Multimedia capabilities: MP3 player, FM receiver, video player, video editor, YouTube integration.
- Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi b/g/n supported mobile point access, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR.
- Interface connector: microUSB, 3.5 mm headphone output.
- GPS: yes, A-GPS support, support Google Maps.
- Dimensions and weight: 122x61x11 mm, 140 grams.
Appearance and design
If the appearance of Huawei Honor could be described in one word, it would be the word “nondescript”. The device is made entirely of black plastic; there are no bright accents in its design. Personally, I found the combination of different textures interesting (glossy plastic on the front panel, corrugated back cover), but overall the phone looks quite pale. On the other hand, if we consider the smartphone itself solely as a frame for user content, then such modesty in design can be called a plus.
The U8860 is roughly the same size as the iPhone 4S, but it has a 4-inch screen, not 3.5, like the Apple device.
There is no point in talking about the controls, since they are the same for everyone modern Android smartphones. I will only note that Huawei Honor has a separate “Search” button under the screen, which other manufacturers abandoned a year ago.
The battery cover of the U8860, like some HTC devices, covers not only the back surface, but also the side edges of the phone. There are also no surprises underneath, except for the respectable capacity of the standard battery - 1930 mAh (7.2 Wh). I would especially like to note very high quality phone assembly and finishing. In terms of production culture, Huawei is clearly not inferior to such giants of consumer electronics as Samsung and Nokia.
Display
Huawei U8860 is equipped with a 4-inch TFT screen with a resolution of 480x854 pixels. Brightness and color reproduction are good, but viewing angles can be described as mediocre. But the display in Honor has a transflective substrate and therefore remains fully readable even in the brightest sun, something that not all devices even in the highest price range can boast of.
Interface and software
IN this moment Huawei U8860 runs the Android 2.3.6 operating system, and the manufacturer promises to release an update to Android 4.0 by the end of summer. The smartphone has its own shell installed on top of the operating system, which I don’t like in appearance (many of the icons are drawn very primitively), but I’m very pleased with its convenience and functionality. Let's start with the fact that right from the lock screen you can go to the camera, call list or messages. The device supports several desktops on which you can place widgets and application icons, and icons can be grouped into folders. The same applies to the application menu - folder creation is supported, unnecessary programs you can delete using the “iPhone method” (by clicking on the red cross that appears in the corner of the icon in menu editing mode). Like all self-respecting Android devices, in the notification area there are “switches” for quickly controlling wireless interfaces, including a separate button for full shutdown mobile internet, for which a special thank you to Huawei.
Separately, I would like to note a fairly convenient music player; simple, but also convenient FM receiver; built-in file manager; as well as a pre-installed “light” version office suite Documents To Go, which can view Microsoft documents Office, but can't edit them. In general, I repeat, the Huawei U8860 interface is functional and convenient; you can use the phone comfortably without any fiddling around. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of Russian T9 when dialing a number.
An interesting point: when connected to a computer, a virtual CD drive appears in the system with drivers and software for working with the phone (I could not check its performance and functionality due to the lack of computers with the Windows operating system at hand).
Performance and autonomy
The U8860 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with clock frequency 1.4 GHz and integrated Adreno 205 graphics, as well as 512 MB of RAM. In other words, it specifications are at the level of flagship devices of 2010. Today, a device with such filling can be called a strong “middle peasant”, which is confirmed by performance test data. IN Everyday life The phone performed well, there were no significant glitches. Thanks comparatively high capacity The battery life of the device is one of the most “tenacious” Android smartphones: it can work for a full day even with active use, and if at least the minimum rules of energy saving are observed, it can last for two days.
Camera
I’ll say right away, without mincing words: the camera is the weakest point of the Huawei U8860. Despite the excellent declared characteristics (8 MP, autofocus), even in sunny weather it takes pictures “not very well”, and with the slightest deterioration in lighting (clouds have rolled into the sky) it is very “not very good”. The photos are not very clear, with pronounced noise, and there is also a noticeable “pink spot” in the center of the frame, which is typical for many camera phones. However, enough words, judge for yourself:
Bottom line
As you probably guessed, the Huawei U8860 Honor smartphone made the most favorable impression on me. Its undoubted advantages include excellent workmanship, a generally good screen, a convenient and functional shell, and sufficient performance for any task. It is worth noting that there is 4 GB of internal memory, of which 3 GB are available to the user (2 GB in the form internal SD card and 1 GB as a storage device). The device has only two disadvantages - a mediocre camera and a small amount of RAM (512 MB), which can negatively affect responsiveness when running several applications simultaneously. In general, Huawei U8860 Honor is on par with such quality phones, like HTC Incredible S, Samsung Galaxy W - and costs about the same as them. It can be argued that if the price of U8860 decreases by at least 200-300 hryvnia, then another bestseller will appear on the Ukrainian market. 6 reasons to buy Huawei U8860 Honor:
- good workmanship;
- screen with transflective substrate;
- comfortable branded shell;
- good performance;
- 4 GB of internal memory;
- Capacious battery and good autonomy.
2 reasons not to buy Huawei U8860 Honor:
- weak camera;
- only 512 MB of RAM.
Huawei has consistently delivered inexpensive smartphones middle class, for example, Ideos X5 and the Ascend series. Although the manufacturer often reserves its best models for Asia, they began to appear in Europe and the USA. Huawei Honor U8860, which was priced at $249.99 at the time of release, runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is equipped with a 4-inch screen, a 1.4 GHz single-core processor, 8 MP rear and 2 MP front cameras, as well as a battery that ensures operation of the device for at least one day. In 2011 it was at the higher end of the spectrum mobile phones, although still lagged behind premium models.
Design
According to reviews from owners, the Huawei U8860 Honor is a pretty nice smartphone, which, with its dimensions of 122 x 61 x 11 mm, falls into the popular range - not too big and not too small. The reason for some of the phone's fullness is the battery. The screen has a glossy black bezel surrounded by a silver bezel, and the back panel comes in six colors: glossy and textured black, burgundy, white, bright yellow and pink. The plastic material of the case significantly reduces the class of the device. There is no scratch-resistant glass or coating, but daily use does not significantly damage the smartphone's screen. The phone is long and quite thin with rounded corners and straight, sharp-edged sides, very reminiscent of the iPhone 4. It weighs 140g, fits comfortably in the hand and is almost imperceptible in a narrow trouser pocket.
Above the display there is a 2-megapixel front camera, and below it there are four touch buttons for calling up the menu, going to home screen, going back and searching. There's also a small message light that lights up when you receive notifications. Micro USB port The charging port is on the bottom, the volume rocker is on the left, and the power button and 3.5mm headset jack are on the top. On the back panel you can find the camera lens and LED flash. Unfortunately, user reviews find access to the microSD card slot in the Huawei Honor U8860 not very convenient - you will have to remove the battery to do this. Installing a SIM card requires a lot of maneuvers. Judging by the feedback from owners, they would like the manufacturer to simplify this procedure.
Display
4" capacitive touch screen Ideal for those who find devices with 5-inch displays seem awkwardly large. Its resolution is FWVGA 480 x 854 pixels with support for 16 million colors. The pixel density is 245 dpi. The screen is very bright and colorful, and the large icons are clearly detailed and easy to click. According to user reviews, this best display among budget smartphones 2011 model, the disadvantages of which are insufficient brightness for working in the sun and a glossy surface that casts glare and attracts fingerprints.
Interface
U Huawei smartphone The Honor U8860 firmware is based on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, but it was the first phone that could be updated to Android 4.0 by downloading the software from the manufacturer's website. In the past, the company has played with adding different skins to differentiate its smartphones from other manufacturers' products. This time the user interface is slightly different.
The lock screen is similar to those found on HTC devices. It lets you move the circle over the lock, phone, map, and camera icons to unlock the device and reveal the home screen, call log, text messages, or photography app, respectively.
The user is offered five customizable home screens with default animations that make them look like they are the sides of a cube. The drop-down menu has shortcut buttons to enable wireless communication. mobile network, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, geopositioning, automatic screen orientation.
The application bar contains two large static buttons. One lets you go to the home screen, while the other “activates” application icons, making them vibrating squares that can be rearranged in the application list. This is not a very useful and not the most intuitive feature.
Input Devices
According to user reviews, the TouchPal virtual keyboard, which is one of four input options, is better designed. The rest are Android Keyboard, MobiDiv and Huawei IME. While not all innovations are necessary, users really liked the fact that any virtual key can be swiped up to uppercase and down to the corresponding number, instead of simply holding the button down until its alternative value pops up. The TouchPal virtual keyboard offers the fastest and most convenient way to change case and dial numbers. The only thing that is a little inconvenient is that the on-screen keys are too high and narrow. You can also slide your fingers across the keyboard without leaving the screen, and you can swipe right or left to choose from three keyboard configurations. There are buttons quick setup, elements for editing and a shortcut for working with voice.
Restoration cost
Repairing a Huawei Honor U8860 phone will not be very cheap. According to owners, you will have to pay $30 to replace the display. It will cost twice as much new camera, speaker or bell for Huawei Honor U8860. Replacing the touchscreen will cost $25. Therefore, it would be a good idea to purchase a protective case.
Functionality
Huawei U8860 Honor has standard communication capabilities such as Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth, access to multiple accounts Email and creating multimedia messages. Usage supported social networks and web surfing. There is a clock, calculator, calendar, basic music player and FM radio. Shop Android applications allows you to install a large number of additional software. Google services are one of the main advantages of Android, and they are present here, as always: Google Maps with voice directions, Places, Talk, YouTube, etc.
Additional software is also installed. It includes Facebook, Twitter, DLNA and voice recorder. There's also Cloud+ Drive, an app for Reserve copy, TouchPal Settings and Traffic Manager. The third package contains a weather forecast, an alarm clock, an application installer, a document viewer, a notepad and a voice dialer. Even without operator software, the list of preinstalled programs is impressive.
In the settings you can find additional functions. There is everything here - from enabling traffic distribution to customizing the appearance of the phone interface.
Cameras
As already mentioned, the Huawei U8860 Honor phone is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash. Its application allows you to choose from several types of scenes and take pictures in size 8, 5, 3 or 2 megapixels, as well as a small VGA format. There are the usual presets for white balance and color effects, autofocus, and support for HDR (high dynamic range, often used in landscape photography). The last function, according to user reviews, does not work quite as they expected. Creative filters are available, including sepia, negative and solarize. There is no physical shutter button, nor are there any zoom or touch-to-focus functions. The camera is responsive, but not as fast as Sony Xperia S or HTC One X.
According to user reviews, automatic mode The pictures come out to be of varying quality, but overall they lack the crispness and edge sharpness of high-end smartphones. As usual, outdoor photos turn out better than indoor ones, especially in scenes with even lighting.
The Huawei U8860 Honor smartphone allows you to shoot video in 720p format at 30 fps. When played back on a phone screen, it looks good, without any noticeable compression, pixelation, blurring or stuttering. The recorded sound is slightly compressed and appears mechanical.
Although 2 megapixel front-camera and yes, users do not recommend using it for taking glamorous selfies. Even the most best picture It is highly grainy when viewed closely, noticeably inferior in quality to other phones.
Connection quality
According to user reviews, the quad-band GSM module mobile communications Huawei U8860 Honor demonstrates acceptable connection quality. The voice sounds a little boomy and muffled, and every word the subscriber says is accompanied by a high-frequency sound. Although the squeak is weak, it is clearly audible and difficult to ignore. After using it for a long time, it will become very annoying. Subscribers on the other end of the communication line hear the owner of Huawei Honor quite well, although the quality of the connection makes it clear that the call is made using cell phone. The voice seems a little muffled.
Users rate it worse speakerphone. The interlocutor's voice is distorted to such an extent that it is difficult to recognize him. The sound is intermittent and too deep, as if a person is speaking while clenching his cheeks and lips. The voice on the other end of the line is quiet and difficult to understand, but is otherwise clear and clear.
Performance
The Huawei Honor U8860 has 1 GB of internal memory, which is clearly insufficient for storing applications, but this is compensated by support for microSD memory cards with a capacity of up to 32 GB. The processor is powered by 512 MB of RAM.
There are few complaints from owners about the speed of the smartphone, which uses the Snapdragon MSM8255T chipset, which combines a 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU and Adreno 205 graphics processor. The animation is smooth, applications open quickly, but not all of them. The gallery is especially slow if there is a lot of content accumulated in it.
The phone's gaming index is higher than that of Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V or HTC Sensation. The Smartbench 2012 test shows a performance index of 1077 points, and AnTuTu gives the smartphone 3713.
But the same cannot be said about the speed of working with data. The phone, which theoretically supports 3G with download speeds of 14.4 Mbit/s and transmission speeds of 5.7 Mbit/s, turned out to be capable of a maximum of EDGE. The reception speed is terribly slow and does not match the normal user experience. NFC is missing.
Battery life
The battery life of 1900 mAh does not exceed 10 hours in talk mode. The manufacturing company claims that this should be enough for three days. According to reviews from users who tested Huawei U8860 Honor Black in video viewing mode with wireless communication, the phone lasted 7 hours 40 minutes.
Conclusion
At one time, a good mid-range smartphone, Huawei Honor U8860, whose price was $250, is distinguished by its small volume internal memory mediocre camera and low call quality. Fingerprints are a big problem and the brightness of the LCD leaves a lot to be desired, especially in direct sunlight. But the phone's 720p video capture is satisfactory, and the hardware and software are fast and easy to use. Serious competition to such analogues as Samsung Galaxy S Plus, HTC One V and Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro as per functionality, and in terms of cost, a smartphone does not amount to.
Design, body materials
The smartphone has a strict rectangular shape without any frills; we can only note smooth bevels on the battery cover around the perimeter and a thin frame around the front side, made to look like metal. This is a very simple device in design, we can say about it “ big screen and four touch buttons“, the charm and magic of Apple phones is not here, but I personally wouldn’t dare call Honor a Chinese craft. It looks simple and tasteful.
In Russia, the device is presented in black and white colors, although in Asia the smartphone is also sold in more cheerful colors. For review, we took a white model; its battery cover is made of glossy plastic, which quickly gets dirty, but it’s difficult to see traces and prints on it, so we can’t call this a critical disadvantage. The screen cover is tempered glass; after a month of use, one small scratch appeared on my sample, but otherwise the screen looks like new. True, it also gets dirty.
Dimensions
By Huawei sizes Honor is a typical representative of middle-class smartphones, not too big, but far from compact. In terms of weight, the model turns out to be a little heavier than you expect when you see the device, the situation is the opposite of what arises when looking at the Samsung Galaxy S II, which weighs less than expected.
- Apple iPhone 4S– 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm, 140 g
- HTC Desire S– 115 x 59.8 x 11.6 mm, 130 g
- Huawei Vision– 122 x 61 x 11 mm, 140 g
The smartphone is convenient to carry in the pockets of any clothing, no discomfort. If people carry their favorite iPhone weighing 140 grams in their jacket pockets, then why not carry Huawei Honor?
Controls
The set of controls in Huawei Honor is standard for a smartphone based on Android OS. This is a panel of four touch keys under the screen, as well as volume buttons on the left edge and power buttons on the top end. From left to right below the screen are the “Home”, “Menu”, “Back” and “Search” keys. The touch unit has a bright white backlight; when you touch the keys, the body vibrates slightly, which makes working with the key unit easier.
A long press on the “Home” key calls up a convenient dispatcher running applications. Programs are presented as thumbnails in the lower area of the screen and scroll left and right; next to each mini-picture there is a cross to close the application; you can also close all programs with the button of the same name.
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Pressing the "Back" key on the main screen brings up a matrix of all available desktops, and holding down the "Search" button, like in any other Android smartphone, the function voice control and search.
The volume key on the left edge is convenient; it protrudes noticeably above the plane of the edge and can be pressed blindly. The power button on the top left is small and also convenient.
Also on top is a 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones or a headset.
On the front side, in the upper part, there is a speaker covered with a mesh. There are also light sensors and a proximity sensor hidden from view. To the right of the speaker is the peephole of the front VGA camera, and even to the right is an indicator light that lights up during charging or when connected to a PC, and also blinks if there are missed calls or messages.
The right edge is empty; at the bottom end there is a universal microUSB connector for connecting a charger and cable, as well as a microphone hole.
Slots for a memory card and a SIM card are located in the lower area of the device under the battery cover; to change the SIM card or memory card, you need to remove the battery.
Screen
Huawei Honor uses touchscreen capacitive type, made using TFT technology. Screen diagonal 4”, physical dimensions 89x50 mm, resolution 480x854 pixels (FWVGA). The display has a good reserve of brightness and in the sun it remains quite readable, although the colors become faded. Viewing angles are not the best; even with a slight deviation the picture begins to fade, and if you tilt the display too far, the entire image becomes whitish.
The clarity of the picture is excellent, the color rendition is not bad, the response to finger presses is clear and fast, among the shortcomings we can note the “multi-touch” technology with only two simultaneously processed clicks, but while using Honor I did not notice any practical problems using zooming and other functions that involve “ multi-touch."
Camera
The device is equipped with an 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. The camera eye is located at the top of the rear side of the case, flush with its surface. The flash is to the left.
The smartphone's camera uses a standard Android interface, the shooting button is at the bottom right, just above there is a photo-video switch and an icon for going to the gallery. A little to the left is a vertical panel with basic settings, where you can select detailed settings or set the flash mode, white balance, scale and geotags. The maximum image resolution is 3264x2448 pixels. You can evaluate the quality of the photo from the examples below; in my opinion, the camera doesn’t take very good pictures, although I probably just chose too difficult conditions for shooting.
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Shooting text:
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Zoom example:
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Video
Video is recorded in mp4 format (mpeg-4 codec) at an average speed of 26 frames per second. Sound recording is done using the samr codec. The maximum video resolution is 1280x720 pixels (720p). During video, you cannot scale the image; there is no tracking autofocus.
Autonomous operation
The smartphone has a Li-Pol battery with a capacity of 1930 mAh. The battery, which is atypically large in capacity for an Android smartphone, of course, does not provide a huge increase, but I think it is largely thanks to it that the device works stably for two days in quiet mode: an hour of calls per day, two mail accounts in Pushmail mode and 10-20 text messages. If you listen to music for 2-3 hours a day and go online for 1-2 hours, the work time is reduced to one and a half or one day. In my opinion, the indicators are not bad, I’m already unaccustomed to the fact that Android can’t be charged until the evening of the first day, but Huawei Honor is just like that, the device usually has to be charged the morning of the next day.
Performance
The smartphone is built on the Qualcomm MSM8255T platform. CPU has a frequency of 1.4 GHz, the device is equipped with 512 MB of RAM. For data storage there is a total of approximately 2,800 MB of memory and a slot for a microSD card.
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The device plays videos in HD resolution (1280x720 pixels) without any problems, however, for this it is better to choose a third-party player. The overall interface speed of the device is excellent.
For those interested in the benchmark results, they are shown below:
Quadrant Standard
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Interfaces
The smartphone operates in GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and UMTS (900/2100) networks. Both high-speed data transfer standards are supported - EDGE and HSDPA. Enabling and disabling different communication modules can be done in the settings menu or using widgets that are displayed on the desktop. To synchronize with a PC and transfer data, the included microUSB cable is used. USB interface 2.0. Copying a 10 MB file to a memory card in Drive mode takes less than three seconds. When connecting your smartphone to a computer, you can select a connection mode for synchronizing with the Hi Suite program, transferring data to a memory card (Disk Drive) or using the device as a modem (to access the Internet via a 2G/3G channel).
The Hi Suite app supports synchronization via cable or Wi-Fi assistance connections. In the program you can set automatic synchronization, creation backup copy In addition, using Hi Suite, you can install new applications on your smartphone from .apk files on your computer, as well as delete existing ones, download music and pictures to the device and, accordingly, take them from there.
Built-in module Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. All common profiles are supported, including A2DP. I tested the operation of this profile with Creative WP-300 headphones, the sound quality, to my simple hearing, is acceptable.
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n). The operation of the Wi-Fi module did not cause any complaints. On your smartphone, you can configure rules for Wi-Fi to go into sleep mode, use only a static IP address when connecting, and add security certificates. During work Wi-Fi device practically does not heat up. There is an access point mode, as in any other Android smartphone with OS version 2.3 and higher, in addition, the device supports the DLNA standard.
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Navigation
For navigation, the device uses a GPSOne chip on the Qualcomm platform. There is no special navigation software, only Google programs Maps, Navigation and Yandex.Maps, however, if desired, the user can independently install any navigation software and turn the smartphone into a compact navigator.
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Text input
Huawei Honor has two text input methods, the standard Android keyboard and the Swype keyboard. I liked the standard one better, Swype has a convenient English layout, but the Russian one has very narrow buttons, I often missed them, however, Swype’s functionality is, of course, better than the basic keyboard.
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Software
The smartphone works under Android control 2.3, the aHome shell is used as an interface, which costs $5. In the Android Market, you can download dozens of different themes for this shell, 99 percent of which, in my opinion, are terrible through and through and easily fall into the “pitch hell” category. The design theme chosen for Huawei Honor is one of the most calm and beautiful, however, if you wish, you can install any other theme.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Already available for Huawei Honor smartphone official firmware before Android versions 4.0 ICS. You can download it (website in Chinese). For those who want to upgrade right now, there is detailed instructions and a repack of the firmware (with morelocale for installing the Russian language) on the 4pda.ru forum. The main thing is to remember that you update entirely at your own peril and risk, besides, I repeat, officially there is only a Chinese version of the firmware, although it supports most languages, including English in different versions.
I would like to note that, in my opinion, the release of the update to Android 4.0 for Huawei Honor in such a short time gives the device serious advantages over its competitors. Even if the company does not release updates for the smartphone in other languages so quickly, it has already Chinese firmware enough for people to renew themselves.
I used the firmware for only one day, during which there were no problems with it, everything works smoothly and without glitches. Below are screenshots of Huawei Honor with the latest firmware installed and the English language selected.
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Conclusion
Over the course of a month of use, I had no complaints about the device in terms of communication quality. I can rate the volume of the ringing speaker as above average for standard melodies, if you put your mp3 files on the call, they don’t sound so loud, but still good. The calling speaker is average in volume, the vibration alert is also average or slightly weaker than average, sometimes I didn’t feel it when the device was in my jeans pocket and started to vibrate.
The average cost of Huawei Honor at the end of January is 14,000 rubles. For this money you get a smartphone with a good large screen, a productive platform with a 1.4 GHz processor and almost 3 GB of internal memory for data storage and in a nice case, albeit made of plastic. Among the shortcomings, I will note the soiledness of the case, mediocre viewing angles of the screen, and also not best quality cameras. One of the significant advantages is the availability of an update to Android 4.0 ICS, which can be installed in 10 minutes and completely transforms the device. In my opinion, if you need an Android smartphone with good functionality, and, most importantly, you want to start using the fourth version of the “robot” now, Huawei Honor is perfect.
Description:
- Class: smartphone based on Android OS
- Form factor: monoblock
- Case materials: plastic
- Operating system: Android 2.3, aHome shell (upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS available)
- Networks: GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS/HSDPA 900/2100
- Qualcomm MSM8255T platform, 1.4 GHz processor
- RAM: 512 MB
- Storage memory: ~2,800 MB + microSD card slot
- Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (A2DP), microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset
- Screen: TFT, capacitive type, 4” diagonal with a resolution of 480x854 pixels (FWVGA), automatic backlight level adjustment
- Camera: 8 MP with autofocus and flash, video is recorded in HD resolution (1280x720 pixels)
- Navigation: GPS on Qualcomm platform gpsOne chip (A-GPS support)
- Additionally: FM radio, accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor
- Battery: removable Li-Pol with a capacity of 1930 mAh
- Dimensions: 122 x 61 x 11 mm, 140 mm
- Weight: 140 g.