PhoneSentral Tech in Simplicity
This HONOR X7 review was made possible after two weeks of testing and using the smartphone as my main daily use smartphone.
The X7 was announced recently in March 2022, and the smartphone is considered a budget friendly smartphone due to its official retail pricing which is below RM1,000.
However, after two weeks of doing the HONOR X7 review, I can say the price can be a little deceiving and here’s my personal opinion on this smartphone.
Design: Screen & body
The X7 I obtained from HONOR Malaysia was Titanium Silver. There’s also Midnight Black and Ocean Blue.
The rear case of the HONOR X7 presents a rather matte finish which I liked, with the case reflecting different colours depending on the angle of light.
While the rear body is made of plastic, it doesn’t feel that way and I thought it looks and feels rather sturdy to say the least.
In front, the X7 comes with a 6.74-inch FullView Display with 90Hz refresh rate that support 16.7 million colours. This results in great true-to-life images when playing games, watching movies or just gaming.
The screen refresh rate is in accordance to todays standards for mobile gaming.
In the palm, I felt the X7 to be perfect in terms of size and weight with the 47° Curved Design providing a very comfortable and confident grip.
Audio system
The single firing speakers are located on the rear of the smartphone.
The sound produced is loud and clear, but since the sound only comes out of one end of the phone, it’s largely one sided.
While it’s not a huge issue to me, watching movies or listening to music did sound a bit ‘one sided’ due to the speaker placement.
However, if you are only going to use the speakers to listen to voice notes, I don’t think the audio system is a disadvantage as they are really loud and clear.
Beside the speakers is the USB-C port for charging the smartphone and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Processor & storage
The X7 is using the Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 680 (6nm) Mobile Platform processor. It is not the fastest and latest processor around, but you must note that this processor is purpose-built for extended multimedia play and hence offers optimized gaming experience.
When playing FIFA Mobile, the smartphone performed very well and it didn’t lag. Loading time of the games were fast and prompt and Call of Duty (COD) was also loaded and played without much fuss.
In terms of storage, the HONOR X7 comes with a 4GB RAM which is paired with 128GB storage space.
The RAM comes with HONOR RAM Turbo which converts 2GB to ROM to RAM if there’s a need to do so.
I tried this feature out by opening as many apps I can (above 20), and the technology is quite impressive.
During the test, I could not feel any dip in performances despite the fact a lot of apps were working at the same time. In fact, loading of any of the 20 apps felt rather smooth and fast despite the situation.
The storage space provided is the average for todays standards, which would be enough for many.
Software
The software as far as I am concerned is smooth and easy to use. There’s little bloatware in the system with HONOR keeping the operating system rather clean.
This in turn makes the smartphone supper snappy and smooth and transitions between one app and another was seamless.
On top of that, HONOR does promise constant updates for the Magic UI for 36 months under its HONOR Anti-Ageing Engine.
Camera
The front camera is placed under the screen in a small noticeable notch.
It’s 8MP selfie camera takes reasonable selfie shots but there’s nothing to really shout about. Samples of my selfie, which are taken indoors, can be seen below with the left photo taken without bokeh effects, and the right with bokeh effects.
The rear quad camera set-up, consist of a 48MP main camera, a 5MP wide camera, a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP bokeh lens.
A sample of the image taken with the main 48MP can be seen below.
The image below show the camera using 8X zoom at the same location.
A sample of the 5MP wide camera can be seen below
Since the weather during my test shot wasn’t that impressive, I decided to shoot another location using its main camera on a better day which resulted in the image below.
With its macro lens, I captured a flower and the security feature on a RM50 note as you can see below.
At night, I captured the photo below with night mode.
The night mode photos do turn out quite nice to be honest with detail of each photo seen and captured.
However, I personally feel that the photos produced by the HONOR X7 are rather average in general but this is expected for a price friendly smartphone such as this.
Video recording is satisfactory but it is rather shaky when on the move. Sounds are clearly captured nonetheless.
Battery performances
When using the provided cable and charger, which is the 22.5W HONOR SuperCharge adapter and accompanying Type-C Wired cable, the charging speed is good and it was easy to prove that you can get three hours of use by just 10 minutes of charging.
However, if you didn’t use the accompanying charging adapter and some random Type-C cable, getting the smartphone’s 5,000mAh battery fully juiced up takes over two hours.
Once fully charged, the smartphone takes a while to discharge, with HONOR claiming it can give at least 20 hours of video playback and over 49 hours of phone call.
My usage however showed the phone can last for at least 19 hours on normal use like social media, some gaming, some calling and texting, and video watching.
I also realized that the smartphone remains rather cool when I play FIFA Mobile which I think is due to its Intelligent Battery Saving Technology.
Durability
As the smartphone is made from plastic, questions on its durability do come in mind.
However, I did some ‘accidental drops’ and I can safely say that the smartphone did survive without any screen cracks.
The smartphone also doesn’t break under normal circumstances, so unless you purposely bends it, the X7 is tough.
For extra protection, HONOR has also included a free transparent case and screen protector on the smartphone as well.
Verdict and availability
The HONOR X& is now available in local stores both online and offline for just RM699.
You can buy the smartphone from the stores below.
You can also look for cases and screen protectors at the link below.
To be honest, I think the X7 feels like an under-priced smartphone because it’s smooth to use, and performs quite admirably despite it’s ‘less powerful’ processor.
When gaming, the smartphone could easily handle two games I play most, FIFA Mobile and COD without much issue. It’s of course not not as good as flagship smartphones I use, but I would say the experience is not too far off.
If you aren’t that particular about the screen like I am, the screen serves it purpose well with the 90.07% Screen-to-body ratio providing a massive space for you to enjoy any movie or video playing.
I have reservations on the speakers as they are down firing and only located at one location, but the loudness of the speakers is good.
Unlocking the smartphone is also easy The X7 also comes with a side mounted fingerprint scanner which unlocks the smartphone very fast. Alternatively, I can also use PIN, password and also face recognition.
The X7 has an average quad camera set-up which does take nice shots at night, but will struggle if you don’t use the night mode for photo taking in dark areas.
During the day, photos and videos taken using the smartphone are good.
That said, the HONOR X7 is a good all rounder for RM699 and a good option for those wanting something affordable yet able to perform daily task.
