I switched to this phone from a Samsung Galaxy Edge S6. This may seem like a massive downgrade for some folks, but I am actually enjoying the Honor 6X more than the Edge S6, which I'll explain below in my comprehensive review.
Body/Form-Factor (4/5):
The Honor 6X isn't anything really spectacular to look at, but it feels durable and nice in the hand. It's aesthetic is decently pleasing to me. I do not enjoy phones that are trying to be overly flashy or fancy (mainly because I put a case on them anyway). It fits well in the hand and I love that all the buttons are on the right-side. The S6 has the volume buttons on the left-hand side which was annoying for one-handed use. The placement of the fingerprint reader is amazing, I have seen it on the back in other phones, but I think Huawei found the sweet-spot for me. It's in the PERFECT place for my long fingers. Otherwise, the build-quality is solid, it doesn't feel like it would explode on impact if I dropped it. On the other hand, the S6 was nasty-feeling without a case with all the glass and was so thin I feared shattering it.
Display (4/5):
For a mid-range budget phone the display is very attractive. There is some slight saturation on blacks, and reds seem to POP with intensity. This is especially noticeable using the camera. However, I am fond of black-themed UIs, so I have black on black and it actually looks very nice without too much saturation. You're not going to get the intense color-ranges you will with Samsung's AMOLED screen. The Honor 6X is a standard IPS LCD screen, coming in at 1080x1920 with a ~403 PPI density. Better than other mid-range devices, and you really can't beat that for the price. The screen is crisp and clear, if you're comparing it to a high-range phone, you're going to be disappointed. However, remembering you only paid ~$250 (as of this review) then you'll be pleasantly surprised! I have used the phone in bright light and darkest night, with no issues. Screen is amazing for the price, but there are better screens on higher-end phones (if you want to pay for them, that is).
Screen, Physical (2/5):
I had to say something about the actual GLASS that comes with the device. It comes with a pre-installed screen protector, it doesn't look like a factory film, it literally looks like a SCREEN PROTECTOR (however it's really not, it's just a cheap plastic thing that doesn't like to come off). If you're buying this phone do yourself a favor and GET A SCREEN PROTECTOR ASAP. I always protect my devices with either a glass or the "liquid" screen protectors (the gel-like kind) and this phone absolutely has to have one. I did a screen stress-test and it received several small scratches just by being in my pocket for a day without a protector, something a phone with any kind of tempered glass or gorilla glass would not do. It's not super bad, you're not going to encounter any massive scrapes from daily use if you carry it without anything else in your pocket, but you WILL get a lot of small, annoying scratches. The good news is any glass or gel screen protector will cover those right up!
Launcher, Emotion UI (3/5):
EMUI get's a pretty bad rap, but it's honestly not THAT bad. My biggest gripe is the lack of an app drawer, it forces everything to the main screen, which can get pretty cluttered even if you're using the folders. Alas, this is not a heavily weighing factor for me, because third-party launchers exist. Other than that it's a fairly standard launcher, it's actually very snappy and fast. If you can get over the no app drawer, then it shouldn't be an issue at all.
Speed/Snappiness/Responsiveness (5/5):
The Honor 6X is sporting a Kirin 655, 2.1GHz Cortex-A53 (with a Mali-T830MP2 GPU), which is an impressive chip for the price. I did a stress test with YouTube, a 3D game, Facebook, Chrome (with multiple windows), Google Maps, and Google Music all in the background of the device at once and saw only a minimal amount of device lag. Albeit, in reality, I wouldn't have all those things open at once anyway. Standard use sees absolutely no lag and the device is always incredibly responsive. One of the biggest issues I have had with trying out mid-tier budget phones is that after a couple of apps open they DRAGGGGG to almost a halt before closing something. This phone handles it like a bloody champ!
External SD Card Slot (5/5):
Thought I'd just add this here, most expensive phones these days are sorely lacking this, and I do love to download everything and anything. Especially since I use my device everyday as a music player, so I require a lot of space! You can add a 256 GB SD card for all your HD videos and music on the go!
Camera (5/5):
This is really where this phone SHINES. All the other mid-tier phones I have tried all have a terribad camera. I mean, it's normally VERY bad. If you're in the market for a budget phone and want a nice camera, look no further. This camera rivals my Edge S6 (which I have touted as the best camera on any smartphone, when it came out). The camera app has a bunch of awesome built-in features and you can tell they spent some time here. The Pro Photo mode really lets you change anything you want to get that AWESOME shot. HDR works as intended. The "Good Food" option seems to be some sort of macro setting, accentuating the warm tones. The "Light Painting" feature is actually really cool, it mimics and recreates those cool light-shots you can get from moving cars or spelling stuff out with lights! I had great fun with the "Slo-Mo" mode, where you can make things slow motion and even edit whatever is slow motion at the end of it. The "Document Scan" mode works AMAZINGLY. It will auto-snap and crop any document you're currently trying to take a picture of and then auto-edit it for readability. I used it at work to take a lazy-screencap of a document on my computer monitor and it worked GREAT!
The secondary camera is actually very, very nice. Coming in at 8MP, and an auto-beauty mode for those flawless selfies! It has all the same features as the standard camera so they didn't skimp on all the features just because it's a secondary.
I'd also like to add that Huawei integrated a classic Gallery instead of incorporating Photos like almost every other phone has done. I really miss the old-school gallery, and I thank Huawei for actually including one instead of me having to pay for a decent one through Google Play.
Sound (2/5):
The headset speaker is decent, you can definitely hear people. They're not particularity crisp or mega-clear. You can certainly hear them just fine, the loudness isn't a big issue. The call quality is varying, it might be my service, who knows. The speaker is sorely lacking, it's not loud and at it's max volume it kind of sounds like a muffled room noise. It's not AMAZINGLY bad, but if you're an audiophile looking for a decent speaker, this is not the budget phone for you (I don't think audiophile and budget should be used in the same sentence). It gets the job done, I usually carry headphones or a bluetooth speaker with my anyway so this didn't shy me away from the phone at all, so I don't weight very heavily on this part.
Ports/Comms (3/5):
The ONLY reason I'm giving this a 3/5 is because it lacks 5 GHz Wi-fi. Something that seemingly every other mid-tier phone has incorporated, Huawei decided to just not on the Honor 6X. This is a bit annoying to me because I was seriously spoiled on my 5 GHz wi-fi at my house. No NFC, so if you're looking to use Android Pay, you'll probably have to sync a smartwatch to the phone! Other than that, there's v4.1 bluetooth chip with all the trimmings, it works flawlessly and amazingly. It doesn't seem to use any power at all!
MicroUSB. Really Huawei? C'mon you could of scored a 5/5 with me with USB-C and 5 GHz wi-fi! With almost every other phone moving over now to USB-C (sans Samsung) it would seem natural that Hauwei would do this. They're already using it on all their other flagship phones. I guess it was to save on the price, which I can totally get. However I really, really love USB-C.
Fingerprint Reader (5/5):
Thought I'd throw this in here because most fingerprint readers are just awful. Not in terms of functionality, but in positioning. The reader on the Honor 6X is AMAZINGLY places for actual use. The S6 Edge has it on the front of the phone which is useless for me, because I normally place my phone face-down or it's in my pocket with the screen toward me. The response time on the reader is insane! One micro-second tap and BAM you're in. At first I thought it was fake, so I had several buddies try it and NOPE! Wouldn't let them in. Way to put an awesome reader that definitely rivals the high-end phones Huawei!
Battery (5/5):
Wow, my S6 Edge had a terrible battery life if you compare it to the Honor 6X. I use data, bluetooth, wi-fi and max screen brightness everyday. I'm a Reddit and YouTube lover so I'm constantly on those throughout the day. With all that on, using a Reddit app probably ~20 times a day and watching about ~30 minutes of YouTube everyday I still get home after a 12 hour work-day with about 40% battery left. With my S6 I ALWAYS had to plug it in mid-day because it would be at 10% at 3 PM. With the Honor 6X I just plug it in once a night and leave it there. On my days off I don't even have to charge it at night, it's normally sitting at about 80% without heavy use. There's also a "Phone Optimizer" built in that helps extend battery life. It will even tell you how much battery life it might save if you turn off X feature.
Overall (5/5):
Despite the small downsides, the Honor 6X comes in swinging at a $250 price point. If you're looking for a feature-packed phone that has an awesome camera and amazing battery life, LOOK NO FURTHER! I am currently using this device as my main device. I have NEVER used a mid-tier budget phone as a main device, but this one really bit me! Great job Huawei, the Honor 6X is awesome!
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From the manufacturer
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Dual Lenses Deliver Professional-Grade ImagesThe dual-lens 12MP + 2MP rear camera captures colorful HD photos day or night and features an ultra-fast focus time of 0.3 seconds as well as plenty of dynamic editing features. |
More Filters, More Creativity, More Memories to ShareHonor 6X’s wide aperture range(F/0.95-F/16) lets you decide how much focus you want, and whether that shot calls for a stylish professional-grade shallow depth of field blurred background effect. |
Vivid PhotosHonor 6X’s 8MP front camera has a 77° wide angle lens and a Prim ISP. Add this to a self-adaptive skin-color detection and an auto portrait touch-up software, and your selfies have never looked better. |
Features
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Precision Engineering and DesignThe Honor 6X is alluring; its ergonomic design, smooth curves, slim 8.2mm body with metal frosted material, and 2.5D curved glass with premium texture design is just as impressive as its overall performance. |
High Quality Viewing ExperienceHonor 6X’s HD sunlight display delivers clarity even in direct sunlight, allowing for a high quality viewing experience every time. Built-in eye comfort mode filters out blue light, and helps to relieve screen-related visual fatigue. |
Responsive Touch TechnologyA third generation fingerprint scanner allows you to unlock your phone in 0.3 seconds at the touch of a finger. An integrated touch response to make your life easier: swipe left and right to browse your photo album and make a call or take a selfie with a single finger tap. |
Reviews with images
Honor next budget friendly phone. How does is it compare to the 5x?
Update:I am changing the review to 5 stars. After few more days of use: the 6x clearly outranks the 5x in design (which is growing on me), WiFi and cell reception, performance and battery life.Honor 5x was the first true “budget” smart phone. Metal design and fingerprint sensor where rarely seen on any phone with close price tag at that time, are becoming more and more standard now. That being said that device had some shortfalls. The performance with the snapdragon was lacking under pressure and the EMUI android skin is not everybody’s cup of tea. Today we look at the true successor of the Honor 5x with similar price tag. How did the devices rank against each other? And are the differences worth the extra $80 or so? (Both available on Amazon now for $249 vs $169)Un-boxing and accessoriesPretty standard boxes with nothing fancy for both. Accessories much easier to find for 5x but 6x is just launched so I am sure it will catch up. Not much to talk about here.DesignBoth are gorgeous. I had the gold Honor 5x and now compared to the gray Honor 6x, they both look way much more premium than their price tag. You could easily mistake them for a $600 phone. That being said the Honor 6x is more round around the edges, has more mate finish on the back (both has aluminum body) and feels more comfortable to hold. Honor did improve the design but not much. Honor 6x still is marginally better.Processor, RAM and performanceHonor 5x had the more widely known Snapdragon 617, while Honor opted for the in house Kirin 655. Honor 5x had 2 GB of RAM and 6x has 3 GB (in USA anyway). On paper, the Kirin outperforms the Snapdragon (it is actually more in line with Snapdragon 625-650). This is confirmed by multiple benchmark tests although I will not bore you with the details (easily obtainable by googling both processors). Kirin also seems more power efficient thanks to the more semiconductor size (28 nm vs 16 nm) which should translate into more less heat generation as well. How did this translate into real life performance? Both devices perform well for everyday use. You will notice a slight hiccups here and there for the honor 5x particularly when opening apps (Google maps seems to take few seconds) and this becomes more prominent when you install more apps (I had 100+ apps installed). The 6x seems to handle this much better. The lag is almost non-existent and apps open up quickly (even google maps! I hated those extra seconds of waiting on 5x when checking traffic in the morning before I head to work – no more with 6x!). Is it the new processor? Is the extra RAM? Being an in house chipset optimized more to work with the user interface? Or is it simply that devices become slower with time and the 6x will follow lead? Could be any of those, but for the time being I have to go with the 6x as a winner!One last word: my only concern regarding the 6x is the GPU (which handles the display and 3d part, gaming mostly). The GPU on the 5x is Adreno 405 – no match for much better GPUs in today’s flagships but performs OK and tried in and out. The Mali T830MP2 is not as much. They both seem to handle things comparably now but will see how the Mali handles games released a year or two from now.ScreenBoth are gorgeous. Is this the best screen around? No. but for practical purposes both did great with a small edge for the 6x, colors seems more accurate. However, for the price range they may be the best you can get and it looks amazing for watching a movie or displaying pictures. Given the slightly higher price tag for he 6x, I would say this is a tie.CameraBoth perform adequately. Both are poor in low light situations. Both will take OK pictures. Did the two lens format in the 6x make a huge difference? In my personal opinion, no. The second Camera is not a monochrome camera like you see in pricier phones, and mostly functions to give that nice background blurring but not much more. This seems odd as the two lens format seems to be a selling point to Honor but the phone has more to offer anyway. This is a tie.SoftwareThis is where it gets messy. You will always hear bad things about EMUI. Let me get out of the way: It is not as bad as people make it look like. It is just different. It is somewhere in the middle of Android and iPhone and I think it took some nice features from both (I like that you can search for apps simply by swiping the home screen down like you can do on iOS). You still get the customizations of android, you get the widgets and you get the ability to run 3rd party launcher (Nova launcher seemed to make my honor 5x faster). But it is not stock android. If you like android as it is, do not go for this one. If you don’t mind Honor tweaks then I think you will do fine with both. For what it is worth, I think the EMUI is one of the best android skins to prevent battery drains – it seems well optimized.As far as comparing the two devices: while it is disappointing that Honor 6x launched with EMUI 4 on android M, we are promised an update to Android N with EMUI within weeks. Honor kept their word re updating the 5x from android 5 to 6 so hopefully they will keep their track record.This is also a tie.BatteryHonor 5x best selling point for me was the battery. No, it will not last 2 days, 3 days or longer. No you will not get 10 hours of screen on time. But that is not what I am looking for in a phone. I am looking for a phone that can give me few hours (3-5 at least of screen on time) to check my emails and browse internet, may be the occasional game or two, and not drain itself to death when I am not using it. Basically I want a phone I can use moderately with no need to charge mid day. You would think this is easy to get but to me it was not. I tried several phones at this price range and higher since my nexus 4 died. I tried Lg g2, xperia z1 and z2, nexus 6p (yes), note 4 and Axon 7. They all had one issue or the other. My biggest problem that I do not get good reception in my work area where I spend several hours a day and this seems to suck the life out of every battery I tried. My phone would go from 100 in the morning to 40 or so while not being used but rarely. Not with Honor 5x. I finally would be able to go home with 50 – 60% + when I get home with moderate usage and 2-3 hours screen on time. It may be the software or the way honor handles the bad reception but that was why I stuck with the 5x for a year. Honor 6x seems to follow lead as well and I have no issues using it for 2 days with light use. It also lacks true quick charging but it charged to 100% in about two hours. At the price range I really do not care about the extra 30 min it seems to take when compared to, say, Axon 7 which took me around an hour and a half to fully charge. So far both devices perform well. A slight edge for honor 6x.MiscellaneousThey both have fingerprint scanner. For all intents and purposes is it excellent and it does not get much better than this. I cannot remember last time I had to try more than once to open the device. It works while screen is off (unlike older Samsung models where screen had to be turned on manually first). The honor 6x sensor is faster than the 5xBoth are fully compatible with T mobile and AT and T. LTE is excellent: I get around 10-15 mg download speed in a major metro area. It does have band 12 on t mobileBoth have double sim, the second sim doubles as an SD card slot in both6x is reported to have an IR port but I am unable to get it to work yet! no built in remote control app.Both have the much more available USB 2 for a charger. While this may become problematic years from now for the time being, to me, this an advantage. You can use any old android charger with no need for adaptersVerdictThis is an excellent phone. I am really happy that so called mid-range phones are getting better and better each year. It will not disappoint you and will perform more than adequately for everyday use and then some more. After few more days of use the much better battery life, design and performance easily justifies the price difference. Good work Huawei!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017
I am changing the review to 5 stars. After few more days of use: the 6x clearly outranks the 5x in design (which is growing on me), WiFi and cell reception, performance and battery life.
Honor 5x was the first true “budget” smart phone. Metal design and fingerprint sensor where rarely seen on any phone with close price tag at that time, are becoming more and more standard now. That being said that device had some shortfalls. The performance with the snapdragon was lacking under pressure and the EMUI android skin is not everybody’s cup of tea. Today we look at the true successor of the Honor 5x with similar price tag. How did the devices rank against each other? And are the differences worth the extra $80 or so? (Both available on Amazon now for $249 vs $169)
Un-boxing and accessories
Pretty standard boxes with nothing fancy for both. Accessories much easier to find for 5x but 6x is just launched so I am sure it will catch up. Not much to talk about here.
Design
Both are gorgeous. I had the gold Honor 5x and now compared to the gray Honor 6x, they both look way much more premium than their price tag. You could easily mistake them for a $600 phone. That being said the Honor 6x is more round around the edges, has more mate finish on the back (both has aluminum body) and feels more comfortable to hold. Honor did improve the design but not much. Honor 6x still is marginally better.
Processor, RAM and performance
Honor 5x had the more widely known Snapdragon 617, while Honor opted for the in house Kirin 655. Honor 5x had 2 GB of RAM and 6x has 3 GB (in USA anyway). On paper, the Kirin outperforms the Snapdragon (it is actually more in line with Snapdragon 625-650). This is confirmed by multiple benchmark tests although I will not bore you with the details (easily obtainable by googling both processors). Kirin also seems more power efficient thanks to the more semiconductor size (28 nm vs 16 nm) which should translate into more less heat generation as well. How did this translate into real life performance? Both devices perform well for everyday use. You will notice a slight hiccups here and there for the honor 5x particularly when opening apps (Google maps seems to take few seconds) and this becomes more prominent when you install more apps (I had 100+ apps installed). The 6x seems to handle this much better. The lag is almost non-existent and apps open up quickly (even google maps! I hated those extra seconds of waiting on 5x when checking traffic in the morning before I head to work – no more with 6x!). Is it the new processor? Is the extra RAM? Being an in house chipset optimized more to work with the user interface? Or is it simply that devices become slower with time and the 6x will follow lead? Could be any of those, but for the time being I have to go with the 6x as a winner!
One last word: my only concern regarding the 6x is the GPU (which handles the display and 3d part, gaming mostly). The GPU on the 5x is Adreno 405 – no match for much better GPUs in today’s flagships but performs OK and tried in and out. The Mali T830MP2 is not as much. They both seem to handle things comparably now but will see how the Mali handles games released a year or two from now.
Screen
Both are gorgeous. Is this the best screen around? No. but for practical purposes both did great with a small edge for the 6x, colors seems more accurate. However, for the price range they may be the best you can get and it looks amazing for watching a movie or displaying pictures. Given the slightly higher price tag for he 6x, I would say this is a tie.
Camera
Both perform adequately. Both are poor in low light situations. Both will take OK pictures. Did the two lens format in the 6x make a huge difference? In my personal opinion, no. The second Camera is not a monochrome camera like you see in pricier phones, and mostly functions to give that nice background blurring but not much more. This seems odd as the two lens format seems to be a selling point to Honor but the phone has more to offer anyway. This is a tie.
Software
This is where it gets messy. You will always hear bad things about EMUI. Let me get out of the way: It is not as bad as people make it look like. It is just different. It is somewhere in the middle of Android and iPhone and I think it took some nice features from both (I like that you can search for apps simply by swiping the home screen down like you can do on iOS). You still get the customizations of android, you get the widgets and you get the ability to run 3rd party launcher (Nova launcher seemed to make my honor 5x faster). But it is not stock android. If you like android as it is, do not go for this one. If you don’t mind Honor tweaks then I think you will do fine with both. For what it is worth, I think the EMUI is one of the best android skins to prevent battery drains – it seems well optimized.
As far as comparing the two devices: while it is disappointing that Honor 6x launched with EMUI 4 on android M, we are promised an update to Android N with EMUI within weeks. Honor kept their word re updating the 5x from android 5 to 6 so hopefully they will keep their track record.
This is also a tie.
Battery
Honor 5x best selling point for me was the battery. No, it will not last 2 days, 3 days or longer. No you will not get 10 hours of screen on time. But that is not what I am looking for in a phone. I am looking for a phone that can give me few hours (3-5 at least of screen on time) to check my emails and browse internet, may be the occasional game or two, and not drain itself to death when I am not using it. Basically I want a phone I can use moderately with no need to charge mid day. You would think this is easy to get but to me it was not. I tried several phones at this price range and higher since my nexus 4 died. I tried Lg g2, xperia z1 and z2, nexus 6p (yes), note 4 and Axon 7. They all had one issue or the other. My biggest problem that I do not get good reception in my work area where I spend several hours a day and this seems to suck the life out of every battery I tried. My phone would go from 100 in the morning to 40 or so while not being used but rarely. Not with Honor 5x. I finally would be able to go home with 50 – 60% + when I get home with moderate usage and 2-3 hours screen on time. It may be the software or the way honor handles the bad reception but that was why I stuck with the 5x for a year. Honor 6x seems to follow lead as well and I have no issues using it for 2 days with light use. It also lacks true quick charging but it charged to 100% in about two hours. At the price range I really do not care about the extra 30 min it seems to take when compared to, say, Axon 7 which took me around an hour and a half to fully charge. So far both devices perform well. A slight edge for honor 6x.
Miscellaneous
They both have fingerprint scanner. For all intents and purposes is it excellent and it does not get much better than this. I cannot remember last time I had to try more than once to open the device. It works while screen is off (unlike older Samsung models where screen had to be turned on manually first). The honor 6x sensor is faster than the 5x
Both are fully compatible with T mobile and AT and T. LTE is excellent: I get around 10-15 mg download speed in a major metro area. It does have band 12 on t mobile
Both have double sim, the second sim doubles as an SD card slot in both
6x is reported to have an IR port but I am unable to get it to work yet! no built in remote control app.
Both have the much more available USB 2 for a charger. While this may become problematic years from now for the time being, to me, this an advantage. You can use any old android charger with no need for adapters
Verdict
This is an excellent phone. I am really happy that so called mid-range phones are getting better and better each year. It will not disappoint you and will perform more than adequately for everyday use and then some more. After few more days of use the much better battery life, design and performance easily justifies the price difference. Good work Huawei!
Honor next budget friendly phone. How does is it compare to the 5x?
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017
Update:Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017
I am changing the review to 5 stars. After few more days of use: the 6x clearly outranks the 5x in design (which is growing on me), WiFi and cell reception, performance and battery life.
Honor 5x was the first true “budget” smart phone. Metal design and fingerprint sensor where rarely seen on any phone with close price tag at that time, are becoming more and more standard now. That being said that device had some shortfalls. The performance with the snapdragon was lacking under pressure and the EMUI android skin is not everybody’s cup of tea. Today we look at the true successor of the Honor 5x with similar price tag. How did the devices rank against each other? And are the differences worth the extra $80 or so? (Both available on Amazon now for $249 vs $169)
Un-boxing and accessories
Pretty standard boxes with nothing fancy for both. Accessories much easier to find for 5x but 6x is just launched so I am sure it will catch up. Not much to talk about here.
Design
Both are gorgeous. I had the gold Honor 5x and now compared to the gray Honor 6x, they both look way much more premium than their price tag. You could easily mistake them for a $600 phone. That being said the Honor 6x is more round around the edges, has more mate finish on the back (both has aluminum body) and feels more comfortable to hold. Honor did improve the design but not much. Honor 6x still is marginally better.
Processor, RAM and performance
Honor 5x had the more widely known Snapdragon 617, while Honor opted for the in house Kirin 655. Honor 5x had 2 GB of RAM and 6x has 3 GB (in USA anyway). On paper, the Kirin outperforms the Snapdragon (it is actually more in line with Snapdragon 625-650). This is confirmed by multiple benchmark tests although I will not bore you with the details (easily obtainable by googling both processors). Kirin also seems more power efficient thanks to the more semiconductor size (28 nm vs 16 nm) which should translate into more less heat generation as well. How did this translate into real life performance? Both devices perform well for everyday use. You will notice a slight hiccups here and there for the honor 5x particularly when opening apps (Google maps seems to take few seconds) and this becomes more prominent when you install more apps (I had 100+ apps installed). The 6x seems to handle this much better. The lag is almost non-existent and apps open up quickly (even google maps! I hated those extra seconds of waiting on 5x when checking traffic in the morning before I head to work – no more with 6x!). Is it the new processor? Is the extra RAM? Being an in house chipset optimized more to work with the user interface? Or is it simply that devices become slower with time and the 6x will follow lead? Could be any of those, but for the time being I have to go with the 6x as a winner!
One last word: my only concern regarding the 6x is the GPU (which handles the display and 3d part, gaming mostly). The GPU on the 5x is Adreno 405 – no match for much better GPUs in today’s flagships but performs OK and tried in and out. The Mali T830MP2 is not as much. They both seem to handle things comparably now but will see how the Mali handles games released a year or two from now.
Screen
Both are gorgeous. Is this the best screen around? No. but for practical purposes both did great with a small edge for the 6x, colors seems more accurate. However, for the price range they may be the best you can get and it looks amazing for watching a movie or displaying pictures. Given the slightly higher price tag for he 6x, I would say this is a tie.
Camera
Both perform adequately. Both are poor in low light situations. Both will take OK pictures. Did the two lens format in the 6x make a huge difference? In my personal opinion, no. The second Camera is not a monochrome camera like you see in pricier phones, and mostly functions to give that nice background blurring but not much more. This seems odd as the two lens format seems to be a selling point to Honor but the phone has more to offer anyway. This is a tie.
Software
This is where it gets messy. You will always hear bad things about EMUI. Let me get out of the way: It is not as bad as people make it look like. It is just different. It is somewhere in the middle of Android and iPhone and I think it took some nice features from both (I like that you can search for apps simply by swiping the home screen down like you can do on iOS). You still get the customizations of android, you get the widgets and you get the ability to run 3rd party launcher (Nova launcher seemed to make my honor 5x faster). But it is not stock android. If you like android as it is, do not go for this one. If you don’t mind Honor tweaks then I think you will do fine with both. For what it is worth, I think the EMUI is one of the best android skins to prevent battery drains – it seems well optimized.
As far as comparing the two devices: while it is disappointing that Honor 6x launched with EMUI 4 on android M, we are promised an update to Android N with EMUI within weeks. Honor kept their word re updating the 5x from android 5 to 6 so hopefully they will keep their track record.
This is also a tie.
Battery
Honor 5x best selling point for me was the battery. No, it will not last 2 days, 3 days or longer. No you will not get 10 hours of screen on time. But that is not what I am looking for in a phone. I am looking for a phone that can give me few hours (3-5 at least of screen on time) to check my emails and browse internet, may be the occasional game or two, and not drain itself to death when I am not using it. Basically I want a phone I can use moderately with no need to charge mid day. You would think this is easy to get but to me it was not. I tried several phones at this price range and higher since my nexus 4 died. I tried Lg g2, xperia z1 and z2, nexus 6p (yes), note 4 and Axon 7. They all had one issue or the other. My biggest problem that I do not get good reception in my work area where I spend several hours a day and this seems to suck the life out of every battery I tried. My phone would go from 100 in the morning to 40 or so while not being used but rarely. Not with Honor 5x. I finally would be able to go home with 50 – 60% + when I get home with moderate usage and 2-3 hours screen on time. It may be the software or the way honor handles the bad reception but that was why I stuck with the 5x for a year. Honor 6x seems to follow lead as well and I have no issues using it for 2 days with light use. It also lacks true quick charging but it charged to 100% in about two hours. At the price range I really do not care about the extra 30 min it seems to take when compared to, say, Axon 7 which took me around an hour and a half to fully charge. So far both devices perform well. A slight edge for honor 6x.
Miscellaneous
They both have fingerprint scanner. For all intents and purposes is it excellent and it does not get much better than this. I cannot remember last time I had to try more than once to open the device. It works while screen is off (unlike older Samsung models where screen had to be turned on manually first). The honor 6x sensor is faster than the 5x
Both are fully compatible with T mobile and AT and T. LTE is excellent: I get around 10-15 mg download speed in a major metro area. It does have band 12 on t mobile
Both have double sim, the second sim doubles as an SD card slot in both
6x is reported to have an IR port but I am unable to get it to work yet! no built in remote control app.
Both have the much more available USB 2 for a charger. While this may become problematic years from now for the time being, to me, this an advantage. You can use any old android charger with no need for adapters
Verdict
This is an excellent phone. I am really happy that so called mid-range phones are getting better and better each year. It will not disappoint you and will perform more than adequately for everyday use and then some more. After few more days of use the much better battery life, design and performance easily justifies the price difference. Good work Huawei!
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EL VERDADERO JIN
Honor ofreciendo características de gama alta, a precios de gama media
Reviewed in Mexico on October 30, 2017