These phones are usually sold to poorly educated people. And they are educated by the market that the more cpu core, the better phone. So people would usually prefer this SoC rather than Snapdragon 820, because Huawei has twice the CPU core number.
You may think it is crazy, but it is the fact in the offline-market of China.
its not efficient compare to 820 check gsmarena for batterylife, compare it with sd820 phone with 1080p display like xiaomi mi5 -honor 8 endurance 70h -xiaomi mi5 endurance 92h
xiaomi did beat honor 8 in all three test call, browsing and video playback
But the Qualcomm is way more compatible, with play store apps. Sure, for the average joe, the facebook apps work on almost anything, but when you find a game or some other app that won't work ypu're gonna be so mad.
Wheres that come from? Kirin use ARM cores and ARM GPU, which makes it just as compatible as samsung exynos. I think most developers will expect their apps to run on a samsung.
Everybody knows you shouldn't buy Asian phones since they will probably not be compatible with American or European hands and ear/mouth placement. And let's not forget the vast number of applications that simply won't start on a blue phone.
LauRoman can only confirm that Anandtech's readerbase just hit a new low.
Qualcomm is a company, not an SoC. Since you obviously missed his point, he was comparing compatibility of Qualcomm's Adreno graphics to ARM's Mali graphics.
I own a phone with Mali graphics and I can attest that I have more compatibility problems with Mali than I've had with PowerVR or Adreno graphics.
At least this goes for A72 cores rather than sprinkling 90 A53 cores in there. Are all those cores needed, probably not, but at least it has some decent per-thread performance on the big cores to back it up.
As opposed the highly educated people who buy LG, Samsung, or iPhones? Please. Is this why every grocery store or gym front desk clerk seems to be using a Samsung Galaxy or Apple?
Sir, you are poorly educated yourself, read the review before commenting, the CPU in the Kirin is both faster and more efficient then the one in the 820
One time I spent the afternoon screaming at my dresser for its lack of GPU power. It was several hours later and with a hoarse voice that I sheepishly realized I should probably have been screaming at my desktop PC instead. The neighbors heard my ravings through the wall. I don't think they want to talk to me anymore and it feels awkward when I come home from work and we happen to cross paths outside.
Thanks to people like The_Assimilator reminding us of reality, it probably won't happen here in AT's comments box.
That's pretty myopic. Improvements to the GPU just as well as the CPUs over the years in phones have allowed richer content. People were asking "Why this much power in a phone" for years, yet older models can struggle in new apps and rich internet media.
Those who doesn't game on their phone a high end GPU is pointless and waste of money and power. As I myself a non phone gamer prefers to have high end CPU with a feature packed basic performance GPU.
I actually like the fact that there's a phone on the market with a beefy CPU and middling GPU at this sort of price point, since I don't game AT ALL and would rather save money on the GPU side of things. The only thing the GPU does for me is compositing.
I actually like the fact that there's a phone on the market with a beefy CPU and middling GPU at this sort of price point, since I don't game AT ALL and would rather save money on the GPU side of things. The only thing the GPU does for me is compositing.
I game all the time (FIFA, NFS, War robots etc.) and I find the 880MP4 to be plenty enough. Power efficiency for the GPU could be better, but I never find gaming performance to be an issue. There might be games the 950 will struggle on but I've yet to encounter one.
Most people who call the GPU terrible are just overly paranoid about specs, I doubt there are that many who play the most demanding games at all high settings.
Why everybody whining about pointless powerful GPUs? You already showing you young teeneager who plays stupid pathetic games.. Grown adult people businessmen or women doesn't need your stupid powerful graphics which drains even battery more.. You need grow up and you won't need your ''GPU desires anymore .. remember me once you start feeling it.. ;)
Was there any option to take a black and white photo? I would love to see a comparison between a naturally B&W photo from the P9 versus a software B&W from the Honor 8.
There is not, and thats one of the things i assume got taken out with the leica branding. Leica are well known for their monochrome cameras, I assume the decision to axe this feature was theirs, not Huawei's/Honors
Well, the OP3 launched with bad calibration, that was much improved with a software update. So if the screen is good and just the calibration is off, maybe they could do that.
I am really wondering about the glass surfaces. Unlike the P9 and some other high-end Huawei phones, the Honor line doesn't use gorilla glass. Some reviewers saying it's just ordinary glass - which shouldn't be the case (reportedly it should use some glass from NEG), but I'm really wondering if scratch resistance is at least in the decent category...
I totally agree -- the fact they haven't done a review of the Axon 7 at all yet is a bit disturbing. Also, in this review, they mention competitors in the same price range such as the OnePlus 3, but fail to mention the Axon 7, which many could argue is a better phone.
You're saying that would qualify as perfect? I don't know that much about it, but at a brief glance it looks like it has a perfectly unpredictable camera, for one
About what? The OPs comment was if you're looking for a perfect phone, look at the Axon 7, yet in a brief look at reviews I already found sluggish camera performance and UI freezing issues with it...Good despite that? Sure, I guess. But "perfect"? *That* can't be serious.
I'd just like to make it clear that Leica doesn't make the lenses for the P9, nor did they design them. Leica itself has made that clear. What Leica has said about that was that they approved the lens designs, and did some basic tests of the camera, giving it their approval.
What this means is unclear, because the cameras are ok, but nothing special. My feeling is that it isn't much more than marketing. Leica gets paid a small amount, and Huawai gets to stamp Leica on its phones.
It's also odd that the iphone 6S was compared in a few areas, but not in most, even where it could be, but the Galaxy S7 was compared. Why not the iPhone 7? If you're going to compare this years Galaxy model, you should include this year's iPhone as well. None of the tests shown here weren't already in in iPhone 7 review, other than the PcMark results.
The testing for this review was completed before the iPhone 7 results were available, which is why I only included results for the iPhone 6s. Also, due to the lack of cross-platform benchmarks, we cannot always compare iPhone vs. Android (NAND performance, for example).
Hi Matt, Please tell Ian he has to send you out a better mic before you join another podcast. I had the practically mute the last two podcasts anytime you chimed in due to the high frequency feedback on your line.
The number of Axon 7 = 'perfect' comments is getting a bit suspect, when the reviews I looked up of it mention UI freezes and sluggish camera performance.
I read quite a bit about the Honor 8, One Plus 3, and Axon 7 before settling on the Honor 8.
You can make any of the phones look much more stock with the Google Launcher and Google Keyboard.
If no app drawer is a problem or iOS-like look are a problem between those two and the VUI theme it looks pretty close to stock Android. The only significant difference at that point is the notification pull down menu and the app switching. Neither of which seem like a big deal to me.
I really don't understand the obsession with RGB. Displays that are set to RGB mode look really bland to me. I certainly don't see it as something to penalize an otherwise great device over. And that seems to be a common theme in all of these reviews.
I was actually pretty happy with the Honor 8's display. My only complaint was that it wasn't my preferred size (5.5" or above), but I couldn't complain otherwise.
Eh? The problem with the screen is the terrible calibration. Where you should see white you'll see light blue, and skin tones are way off. Both are big issues given the prevalence of white and skin tones on content you'll be viewing on these things, and it can't be corrected.
And it's fine if you prefer oversaturated colors to accurate colors, but when reviewing a display accurate colors are the goal. You can't objectively review whether or not an oversaturated display looks good or not.
Displays can be punchy and accurate at the same time, see Samsungs SAMOLEDs. It's a bit of a curse, but once you stare at an accurate display for a long time (rMBP in my case), you start to notice off skin tones and vegetation tones and all sorts of other things on other displays. "Inaccurate" doesn't just mean more saturated.
The "Smart" battery saving mode also changes the brightness of the screen. Quite drastically for web browsers. I think you need to revise your data if you did not catch it. It also says changes network usage according to the description in the setting but I have not found out what it does. That probably should also figure into your analysis.
That's a good point. The Smart mode selectively reduces screen brightness when using specific apps. It does not alter screen brightness for the PCMark test, which is one reason why there is not a bigger gap between it and the Performance mode; however, it does drop brightness from the calibrated 200 nits to about 100 nits when using the Chrome browser, which would increase the battery life in our web browsing battery life tests (these were run in Performance mode).
Honor 8 is not a dual-standby dual sim phone. Please check again. it is supposed to have Dual Sim Full Active (which is a major selling point). DSFA is supposed to be present in all but Indian variations of the Honor.
Thanks for the nicely written, well balanced and non-biased review matt. This is the standard I've come to expect from anandtech that imo, some other reviewer on this site hasn't been delivering, especially on the camera portion of the review. Of course, entirely just my opinion
"It’s a bit unfair to point our fingers solely at the OEMs and carriers, of course, because it was Google that created this mess and, ultimately, only Google can clean it up."
Do you even Android? Version distribution. Google can't force OEM's or carriers to update the devices. Even Android N's "auto update" doesn't really fix anything. Why would the carrier or OEM keep updating the devices if they can just drag their feet on the ground making the update process as slow and painful as possible or just flat out not update them? Even once? The consumer will just buy a new device anyway. Between 29th Aug and 5th Sept, of all the devices "phoning home" to Google a whopping 81.3% were running Android Lollipop 5.1 or older version. If you take Lollipop out of the equation, 46.3% of the devices were running KitKat 4.4 or older. If you take KitKat out of the equation, still almost 20% of the devices were running Jelly Bean 4.3 or older.. https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/ind... http://www.infoworld.com/article/3072591/android/g...
Google even tried to downplay the issue during May I/O event saying "it's not fragmented". https://data.apteligent.com/download-report?report... Yeah, that looks SO much better... 80%+ of devices being used are running Lollipop or older. A third of the devices being used are running KitKat or older.. And saying yeah, well only KitKat, Lollipop and Marshmallow matter because reasons and hey look at that 92% of devices being "used" are running Android OS's that "matter" and oh hey in contrast to iOS there's only iOS8 and iOS9 that matter and oh hey that comprises 97% of the iOS traffic. We're just as good as Apple! Yey us! Uhm no.. Apple keeps it tidy because they have CONTROL... iOS 9 only runs on devices that are from 2011 or older. iOS 10 only runs on devices that are from 2012 or older. Google has no control what so ever of Android devices that are not made by them. Bloody hell, there's still Android devices sold new that run KitKat. And guess what, most of them are not going to receive a single damng update because the OEM doesn't give a flying fuck about it. Look at Apple, look at what devices they sell. Guess what, they run iOS 10 or are just waiting to be turned on so they can nag you that there's a pending update.
With Android Nougat Google should have grabbed the "bull by the horns" and just fix the God damn problem. They should have made a way for them to be able to at least deliver the critical security updates to the devices "automagically" no matter what sort of customizations OEM's or carriers have done. I don't have the faintest idea of how that could be done but it's the least that needs to be done.
P.S. I'm an Android user and always will be. I don't like Apple's devices or their OS but I like how good control they have over their devices.
Matt, did you also do testing on the Cellular Performance? Anandtech is famously good at really testing and not just testin, but I'm totally missing this part. I'm asking because some other reviewers had serious issues with the LTE performance of the device, losing LTE connection in well covered area etc. Maybe partner with people like http://cellularinsights.com/ - they have the testing hardware for cell that you have for displays and all the other stuff.
I am so glad I went for the Moto Z Play instead of the Oneplus 3. It has a premium build quality, great display, awesome battery life, buttery smooth performance and decent cameras. It also excels in areas we tend to take for granted like call quality and signal retention. And to top it off it is bound to get fastest Android updates of any non Nexus/Pixel device. What else can you wish for in a $350 smart phone?
Using this device now for 6 months alongside Samsung 7. It's still very fast and performs without any lag as opposed to Samsung for 2/3 of price. Screen is very good imo. So are pictures taken by it. Actually prefer these than Samsung's. Also great at multitasking. Doesn't heat up like Samsung. Build quality is on par. Only gripe is loudspeaker. Couldn't fault it otherwise. Statistics and numbers isn't all
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TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Why dont these companies use a T880-MP6 instead of a MP4? It never makes sense why they skimp on the GPU, but make a powerful CPU.mmrezaie - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
probably the same person who choses the glass on back of the phone makes that decision! One wonders...Lolimaster - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Put glass behind for more premium feel, --> everyone sees those nasty fingerprint grease, is that premium?zeeBomb - Sunday, October 16, 2016 - link
Yo I ship it!dsumanik - Monday, October 17, 2016 - link
Better than overpriced iShit, and you can still use headphones.utferris - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
These phones are usually sold to poorly educated people. And they are educated by the market that the more cpu core, the better phone. So people would usually prefer this SoC rather than Snapdragon 820, because Huawei has twice the CPU core number.You may think it is crazy, but it is the fact in the offline-market of China.
negusp - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
You seem poorly educated yourself; the Kirin 950 is, in most cases, faster then the 820, while being just or more efficient.lashek37 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
The original Nokia is faster than this phoneoynaz - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Without a doubt. To be fair, the original Nokia was a rubber boot.Ethos Evoss - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
which u won't buy .. another pathetic/naive child who talks about pointless performance and won't buy them.. what is even point you to comment ?!??hemedans - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
its not efficient compare to 820 check gsmarena for batterylife, compare it with sd820 phone with 1080p display like xiaomi mi5-honor 8 endurance 70h
-xiaomi mi5 endurance 92h
xiaomi did beat honor 8 in all three test call, browsing and video playback
Impulses - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Will be interesting to see where the Pixel falls: 820 + 1080p - slightly smaller battery + better optimizations, you'd hope.Impulses - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
821 rather...Meteor2 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Hmmm? Gsmarena lists specs, not test results. The test results in this review demonstrate that this phone is very efficient.LauRoman - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
But the Qualcomm is way more compatible, with play store apps. Sure, for the average joe, the facebook apps work on almost anything, but when you find a game or some other app that won't work ypu're gonna be so mad.Gordonium - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Wheres that come from? Kirin use ARM cores and ARM GPU, which makes it just as compatible as samsung exynos. I think most developers will expect their apps to run on a samsung.close - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Everybody knows you shouldn't buy Asian phones since they will probably not be compatible with American or European hands and ear/mouth placement. And let's not forget the vast number of applications that simply won't start on a blue phone.LauRoman can only confirm that Anandtech's readerbase just hit a new low.
ianmills - Sunday, October 16, 2016 - link
Are you the ghost of steve jobs?Lolimaster - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
There are many games that are kind of broken with mali gpu's. You can see a video of gta san andreas on exynos vs snapdragon.negusp - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
You have no idea what you're talking about. I think you're referring to x86 CPUs (Intel Atom), which aren't compatible with quite a few apps.The Kirin and Qualcomm SoCs are ARM and therefore have pretty much the same compatibility with all apps.
rarson - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
Qualcomm is a company, not an SoC. Since you obviously missed his point, he was comparing compatibility of Qualcomm's Adreno graphics to ARM's Mali graphics.I own a phone with Mali graphics and I can attest that I have more compatibility problems with Mali than I've had with PowerVR or Adreno graphics.
tipoo - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
At least this goes for A72 cores rather than sprinkling 90 A53 cores in there.
Are all those cores needed, probably not, but at least it has some decent per-thread performance on the big cores to back it up.
s.yu - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
In the Chinese market, some will buy just because it's a Huawei. The stupid fanboys.UtilityMax - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
As opposed the highly educated people who buy LG, Samsung, or iPhones? Please. Is this why every grocery store or gym front desk clerk seems to be using a Samsung Galaxy or Apple?Ethos Evoss - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
You sir are PROPER pathetic/naive person!Fidelator - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
Sir, you are poorly educated yourself, read the review before commenting, the CPU in the Kirin is both faster and more efficient then the one in the 820The_Assimilator - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Maybe because IT'S A F**KING PHONE.BrokenCrayons - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
One time I spent the afternoon screaming at my dresser for its lack of GPU power. It was several hours later and with a hoarse voice that I sheepishly realized I should probably have been screaming at my desktop PC instead. The neighbors heard my ravings through the wall. I don't think they want to talk to me anymore and it feels awkward when I come home from work and we happen to cross paths outside.Thanks to people like The_Assimilator reminding us of reality, it probably won't happen here in AT's comments box.
tipoo - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
That's pretty myopic. Improvements to the GPU just as well as the CPUs over the years in phones have allowed richer content. People were asking "Why this much power in a phone" for years, yet older models can struggle in new apps and rich internet media.
svan1971 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
$kuttan - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Those who doesn't game on their phone a high end GPU is pointless and waste of money and power. As I myself a non phone gamer prefers to have high end CPU with a feature packed basic performance GPU.Gordonium - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Cost, GPUs takes a lot of space and space on 16nm fab is expensive.Enough GPU is probably what they looking for, 880MP4 is plenty when u not gaming.
johnny_boy - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
I actually like the fact that there's a phone on the market with a beefy CPU and middling GPU at this sort of price point, since I don't game AT ALL and would rather save money on the GPU side of things. The only thing the GPU does for me is compositing.johnny_boy - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
I actually like the fact that there's a phone on the market with a beefy CPU and middling GPU at this sort of price point, since I don't game AT ALL and would rather save money on the GPU side of things. The only thing the GPU does for me is compositing.beachletter - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
I game all the time (FIFA, NFS, War robots etc.) and I find the 880MP4 to be plenty enough. Power efficiency for the GPU could be better, but I never find gaming performance to be an issue. There might be games the 950 will struggle on but I've yet to encounter one.Most people who call the GPU terrible are just overly paranoid about specs, I doubt there are that many who play the most demanding games at all high settings.
Ethos Evoss - Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - link
Why everybody whining about pointless powerful GPUs? You already showing you young teeneager who plays stupid pathetic games.. Grown adult people businessmen or women doesn't need your stupid powerful graphics which drains even battery more..You need grow up and you won't need your ''GPU desires anymore .. remember me once you start feeling it.. ;)
dcianf - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Was there any option to take a black and white photo? I would love to see a comparison between a naturally B&W photo from the P9 versus a software B&W from the Honor 8.Mobile-Dom - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
There is not, and thats one of the things i assume got taken out with the leica branding. Leica are well known for their monochrome cameras, I assume the decision to axe this feature was theirs, not Huawei's/Honorsfanofanand - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Terrible screen, terrible GPU, this is a $250 phone, not $400.Mobile-Dom - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Terribly *calibrated* screen, there is a difference. until we get proof that this cannot be calibrated, its just a poorly calibrated display.s.yu - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
And how many buyers are gonna go on and calibrate it? You need a Spyder for that?tipoo - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Well, the OP3 launched with bad calibration, that was much improved with a software update. So if the screen is good and just the calibration is off, maybe they could do that.mczak - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
I am really wondering about the glass surfaces. Unlike the P9 and some other high-end Huawei phones, the Honor line doesn't use gorilla glass. Some reviewers saying it's just ordinary glass - which shouldn't be the case (reportedly it should use some glass from NEG), but I'm really wondering if scratch resistance is at least in the decent category...Pino - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
"It’s not perfect (I’ve yet to see a phone that is)"Why don't you give ZTE Axon 7 a shot?
Rocket321 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
I second this, I'd love to see an in depth Axon 7 review.FlyBri - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
I totally agree -- the fact they haven't done a review of the Axon 7 at all yet is a bit disturbing. Also, in this review, they mention competitors in the same price range such as the OnePlus 3, but fail to mention the Axon 7, which many could argue is a better phone.tipoo - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
You're saying that would qualify as perfect? I don't know that much about it, but at a brief glance it looks like it has a perfectly unpredictable camera, for onehttp://mobilesyrup.com/2016/09/06/zte-axon-7-revie...
pedjache - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
You...cant be serious?tipoo - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
About what? The OPs comment was if you're looking for a perfect phone, look at the Axon 7, yet in a brief look at reviews I already found sluggish camera performance and UI freezing issues with it...Good despite that? Sure, I guess. But "perfect"? *That* can't be serious.melgross - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
I'd just like to make it clear that Leica doesn't make the lenses for the P9, nor did they design them. Leica itself has made that clear. What Leica has said about that was that they approved the lens designs, and did some basic tests of the camera, giving it their approval.What this means is unclear, because the cameras are ok, but nothing special. My feeling is that it isn't much more than marketing. Leica gets paid a small amount, and Huawai gets to stamp Leica on its phones.
s.yu - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
And you are absolutely correct. More ignorant buyers go for the logo.tipoo - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
So about as useful as a "POWERED BY SKULLCANDY" logo on a laptopmelgross - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
It's also odd that the iphone 6S was compared in a few areas, but not in most, even where it could be, but the Galaxy S7 was compared. Why not the iPhone 7? If you're going to compare this years Galaxy model, you should include this year's iPhone as well. None of the tests shown here weren't already in in iPhone 7 review, other than the PcMark results.Matt Humrick - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
The testing for this review was completed before the iPhone 7 results were available, which is why I only included results for the iPhone 6s. Also, due to the lack of cross-platform benchmarks, we cannot always compare iPhone vs. Android (NAND performance, for example).Rocket321 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Hi Matt,Please tell Ian he has to send you out a better mic before you join another podcast. I had the practically mute the last two podcasts anytime you chimed in due to the high frequency feedback on your line.
Matt Humrick - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Yeah, sorry about that. I'll be using a better mic for future podcasts.zeeBomb - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Huawei: great hardware, bad optimization.s.yu - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
I think you said that before but the current review says otherwise, I think it says something like: mediocre hardware, good optimization.zeeBomb - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Damn...you're actually right 😯realbabilu - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Add: but Little bit pricey than xiaomiMeteor2 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Argh, great hardware, crap software (and I'd include the display calibration in that).Why can't someone build a phone with hardware like this, calibrate the screen, and just put stock Android on it.
Meteor2 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Just read about the Axon 7. Sounds perfect! I would love to read an Anandtech review of it.tipoo - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
The number of Axon 7 = 'perfect' comments is getting a bit suspect, when the reviews I looked up of it mention UI freezes and sluggish camera performance.negusp - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
When I see your comments I is getting a bit suspect, you seem like the only person that is getting this problems.:p
evilpaul666 - Sunday, October 30, 2016 - link
The Axon 7 forums bemoan the software as glitchy and what ruins an otherwise "perfect" phone.evilpaul666 - Sunday, October 30, 2016 - link
Particularly the notification "Bell" on the lock screen.prku - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
not only that. signal reception is apparently a problem in the Axon 7, which kinda beats the purpose of owning a "phone".fanofanand - Saturday, October 15, 2016 - link
The specs are there on the A7 but I too would like to see an anandtech level review of it.evilpaul666 - Sunday, October 30, 2016 - link
I read quite a bit about the Honor 8, One Plus 3, and Axon 7 before settling on the Honor 8.You can make any of the phones look much more stock with the Google Launcher and Google Keyboard.
If no app drawer is a problem or iOS-like look are a problem between those two and the VUI theme it looks pretty close to stock Android. The only significant difference at that point is the notification pull down menu and the app switching. Neither of which seem like a big deal to me.
greyhulk - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
I really don't understand the obsession with RGB. Displays that are set to RGB mode look really bland to me. I certainly don't see it as something to penalize an otherwise great device over. And that seems to be a common theme in all of these reviews.I was actually pretty happy with the Honor 8's display. My only complaint was that it wasn't my preferred size (5.5" or above), but I couldn't complain otherwise.
kyuu - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Eh? The problem with the screen is the terrible calibration. Where you should see white you'll see light blue, and skin tones are way off. Both are big issues given the prevalence of white and skin tones on content you'll be viewing on these things, and it can't be corrected.And it's fine if you prefer oversaturated colors to accurate colors, but when reviewing a display accurate colors are the goal. You can't objectively review whether or not an oversaturated display looks good or not.
tipoo - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Displays can be punchy and accurate at the same time, see Samsungs SAMOLEDs. It's a bit of a curse, but once you stare at an accurate display for a long time (rMBP in my case), you start to notice off skin tones and vegetation tones and all sorts of other things on other displays. "Inaccurate" doesn't just mean more saturated.
UtilityMax - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Finally another fine mid-range priced no-contract smartphone you can just pick in any Best Buy. I hope more will come.1_rick - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Well, as long as you're on T-Mobile or AT&T. It would be nice for us poor Sprint and Verizon users to have some choices.I switched to Sprint from AT&T a few years ago because AT&T had just about no coverage inside my office.
svan1971 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
But does it explode?Gordonium - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Its not a samsung ;)Andydoesfargo - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Thanks for this review! I am so glad anandtech is reviewing more phones. Keep it up!Gigaplex - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
"Most of these issues go away if you slip it into a case, though."And once again the whole point of "premium" materials is ignored by putting the device in a case.
Smudgeous - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Scion went defunct 2 months ago, buddy.lopri - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
The "Smart" battery saving mode also changes the brightness of the screen. Quite drastically for web browsers. I think you need to revise your data if you did not catch it. It also says changes network usage according to the description in the setting but I have not found out what it does. That probably should also figure into your analysis.Matt Humrick - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
That's a good point. The Smart mode selectively reduces screen brightness when using specific apps. It does not alter screen brightness for the PCMark test, which is one reason why there is not a bigger gap between it and the Performance mode; however, it does drop brightness from the calibrated 200 nits to about 100 nits when using the Chrome browser, which would increase the battery life in our web browsing battery life tests (these were run in Performance mode).prku - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Honor 8 is not a dual-standby dual sim phone. Please check again. it is supposed to have Dual Sim Full Active (which is a major selling point). DSFA is supposed to be present in all but Indian variations of the Honor.randomlm - Saturday, October 15, 2016 - link
Thanks for the nicely written, well balanced and non-biased review matt. This is the standard I've come to expect from anandtech that imo, some other reviewer on this site hasn't been delivering, especially on the camera portion of the review.Of course, entirely just my opinion
Feegenie - Saturday, October 15, 2016 - link
Fair.........jvl - Saturday, October 15, 2016 - link
"It’s a bit unfair to point our fingers solely at the OEMs and carriers, of course, because it was Google that created this mess and, ultimately, only Google can clean it up."What.
lagittaja - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
Do you even Android? Version distribution. Google can't force OEM's or carriers to update the devices.Even Android N's "auto update" doesn't really fix anything.
Why would the carrier or OEM keep updating the devices if they can just drag their feet on the ground making the update process as slow and painful as possible or just flat out not update them? Even once? The consumer will just buy a new device anyway.
Between 29th Aug and 5th Sept, of all the devices "phoning home" to Google a whopping 81.3% were running Android Lollipop 5.1 or older version.
If you take Lollipop out of the equation, 46.3% of the devices were running KitKat 4.4 or older.
If you take KitKat out of the equation, still almost 20% of the devices were running Jelly Bean 4.3 or older..
https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/ind...
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3072591/android/g...
Google even tried to downplay the issue during May I/O event saying "it's not fragmented".
https://data.apteligent.com/download-report?report...
Yeah, that looks SO much better... 80%+ of devices being used are running Lollipop or older. A third of the devices being used are running KitKat or older..
And saying yeah, well only KitKat, Lollipop and Marshmallow matter because reasons and hey look at that 92% of devices being "used" are running Android OS's that "matter" and oh hey in contrast to iOS there's only iOS8 and iOS9 that matter and oh hey that comprises 97% of the iOS traffic. We're just as good as Apple! Yey us!
Uhm no.. Apple keeps it tidy because they have CONTROL...
iOS 9 only runs on devices that are from 2011 or older.
iOS 10 only runs on devices that are from 2012 or older.
Google has no control what so ever of Android devices that are not made by them.
Bloody hell, there's still Android devices sold new that run KitKat. And guess what, most of them are not going to receive a single damng update because the OEM doesn't give a flying fuck about it.
Look at Apple, look at what devices they sell. Guess what, they run iOS 10 or are just waiting to be turned on so they can nag you that there's a pending update.
With Android Nougat Google should have grabbed the "bull by the horns" and just fix the God damn problem.
They should have made a way for them to be able to at least deliver the critical security updates to the devices "automagically" no matter what sort of customizations OEM's or carriers have done.
I don't have the faintest idea of how that could be done but it's the least that needs to be done.
P.S. I'm an Android user and always will be. I don't like Apple's devices or their OS but I like how good control they have over their devices.
phuzi0n - Sunday, October 16, 2016 - link
Is this a phone review or a car review? We could do without all the car analogies in the first three paragraphs.Badelhas - Sunday, October 16, 2016 - link
I hate these Chinese UI skins which are iPhone iOS imitations. But that's just me.nkuehn - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Matt, did you also do testing on the Cellular Performance? Anandtech is famously good at really testing and not just testin, but I'm totally missing this part. I'm asking because some other reviewers had serious issues with the LTE performance of the device, losing LTE connection in well covered area etc.Maybe partner with people like http://cellularinsights.com/ - they have the testing hardware for cell that you have for displays and all the other stuff.
Savanah - Thursday, October 27, 2016 - link
I am so glad I went for the Moto Z Play instead of the Oneplus 3. It has a premium build quality, great display, awesome battery life, buttery smooth performance and decent cameras. It also excels in areas we tend to take for granted like call quality and signal retention. And to top it off it is bound to get fastest Android updates of any non Nexus/Pixel device. What else can you wish for in a $350 smart phone?Impulses - Wednesday, November 9, 2016 - link
Isn't it $350? Not that it isn't a strong value either way... I wish Moto was still in the business of making <5.5" phones.Valis - Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - link
The Moto Z Play is without a doubt undisputed battery time King of the mid-range section. Probably top 10 of all time as well.lagittaja - Saturday, October 29, 2016 - link
Do you, you being Anandtech's mobile device reviewers, plan on switching to PCMark for Android's new Work 2.0 benchmark suite in the near future?Rafher - Sunday, March 12, 2017 - link
Using this device now for 6 months alongside Samsung 7. It's still very fast and performs without any lag as opposed to Samsung for 2/3 of price. Screen is very good imo. So are pictures taken by it. Actually prefer these than Samsung's. Also great at multitasking. Doesn't heat up like Samsung. Build quality is on par. Only gripe is loudspeaker. Couldn't fault it otherwise. Statistics and numbers isn't allHuaweiUser - Friday, August 18, 2017 - link
Can you use the (Huawei P9) or (Huawei P9 Lite) battery for Honor 8