Looks like a pretty decent phone. It's nice to see that the high screen to body ratio is trickling down the price range, though I wish it wasn't exclusively in gargantuan sizes. I'd love to see something with a 4.3-4.5" screen with barely any bezel and innards that aren't complete garbage on a 3yr old mfg node.
Me too! If they can fit a6.5" screen in an old 5.5" body, I really wonder how awesome it would be to have just 5.5 inch phone in 5" body. Specially with powerful internals.
Yeah, for some reason nobody's making normal sized phones any more. It's nostalgic and quaint to look back at how people thought a 4" smartphone was unusably large, but now every smartphone is larger.
Lower end phones from China seems likely to have microUSB. I'd rather take the slightly more expensive one for this alone for the benefit of using laptop USB-C charger which is faster and much longer.
USB-C is good stuff, but literally everything I currently own is microUSB so I see no problems with the interface choice on the 8X. I think I represent the majority rather than minority when it comes to existing chargers and cables out there in the wild.
TÜV Rheinland, it has an umlaut. :) Alt 0220 is the way to get it on other keyboard layouts. :) As for the phone, it looks pretty good. My HTC U Ultra (S821, 4/64GB, 5.7" 1440p, 12MP) is still in the good enough range, especially for the 200€ I bought it at new some time ago. Only the battery has been bad since the Android 8 upgrade. Gets me through a day when it was 2 before. Oh well. I'll definitely keep this one in mind though.
I'll second that. I'd pretty happily try this out if I could get LTE. The price is certainly low enough for a device that doesn't have *only* LITTLE cores.
It's the main reason why I've been using Moto Es and Gs. I broke my last one a couple months ago - I always break them, thus why I buy at the $200 range - and I decided to try a Nokia 3.1. Positively surprised - amazing build and good performance for the $160 I paid. I'm much more likely now to go up to a Nokia 5.2 or whatever mid-range model they release next year, than to a Moto G7.
Huawei also sells a monstrous 8X Max with a 7.1" screen, 5000 mAh battery and SD636 chip. I would rather go for this one for the long battery life and better GPU compared to the Kirin 710.
Inside the phone is the Kirin 710, Huawei's latest mid-performer SoC with four Arm Cortex A73 cores and four Arm Cortex A53 cores, combined with Mali G51MP4 graphics. The CPU portion of this chip is plenty fast, although that graphics is not going win any awards on the latest 3D smartphone titles.
You're living in a bubble, man - everything we have is microUSB, and those cables are in high demand since one of them broke. We have one Lightning iPad, too (along with a 30-pin iPad 2). Really, if it's still USB 2.0, there's little point in USB-C - you might as well retain compatibility.
We also have microSD, so it's nice that they have it there. Actually, looking at the table, I was a little confused at which one was meant to be the flagship. Not quite as fast a CPU/GPU, but eh.
Agreed. Ian's world of tech journalism puts him into constant contact with new hardware and detaches him from the technological realities of the rest of us. It's only been in the past 1.5 years that I've gotten my hands on computing hardware with USB 3.0 Type A ports. Everything up to 2016 was using USB 2.0 and I've yet to even physically touch any computing hardware with USB-C yet I work for a major TELCO and have a small mountain of computers and consumer electronics laying around in my home. There is indeed a big disconnect between him and us.
Just to put it in perspective, USB 1.1 (the first version widely used) was released in August 1998. We've had USB-A for over 20 years, mini B since 2001, and micro B since 2007. In that time people have collected a bunch of stuff that fulfils their needs.
Here's the systems I personally maintain at home: * Sony laptop (2003) * Dell E1510/6400 laptop (2006) * Sony all-in-one PC (2008) * Lenovo ThinkPad (2011) * Original Surface Pro (2013) * HP Microsever Gen8 (2014)
All of these are still being updated and usable (although I wouldn't want to use the 2003 laptop all the time), thanks in part to Microsoft's patches for POSReady 2009 (works on XP) and Windows Server 2008 (Vista). In fact, thanks to Microsoft's drive to get us onto it, most can run Windows 10.
*None* have USB-C - the only ones with USB 3.0 ports are the Surface Pro and the MicroServer. My brother's XPS 15 (2017) *does* have a USB-C port. but I don't think he uses it yet. So if I bought a USB-C phone, I'd instantly need some kind of adaptor to plug it in to any of them.
The actual need for USB-C on a mobile is limited. It's not like they need the increased bandwidth - heck, they're all running USB 2.0 over it. It's size, possibly power delivery, and sheer newness. So micro B ports might well be a selling point - if nothing else, the battery boat plugs straight in with existing cables.
[And as for the wider issue of USB-A ports on laptops: think of all the accessories! We have USB 2.0 scanners/printers (2007), digital cameras, phones (various years from 2001 onwards), mobile battery boat and a SoundCore speaker (both bought in 2018), DisplayLink DL-165-based USB video dongle (2009 tech, bought new in 2017, because I knew the USB 2.0-only one worked in Linux, and the Thinkpad only had USB 2.0 - it was also the cheapest), ColorMunki Display colorimiter (2011, bought in 2018), Xbox One and Steam controllers (2017), U2F security dongle (2017), mice, keyboards, webcams (2001, 2002), numerous USB flash keys and wall chargers...]
USB-C to A cables do exist and (in case of Huawei) are included in the box. The connector itself is far superior to micro b in reliability/strength/insertion count/usability. Discarding it just because you hoard a bunch of ancient hardware is honestly pretty silly.
Not to mention with properly implemented USB-C you can use phone to charge other devices, output Displayport to monitors/etc, use cheap C to A/HDMI/etc hubs, the list of benefits goes on and on. And if you're a luddite, just use the included C to A cable and forget the type of port you got there.
I'm doubt you'll to be able to do most of those things in this case because the USB-C is just being used as a path for USB 2.0 and power. It *might* charge a bit faster, but that isn't stated here.
I'm not at all opposed to USB-C being used where it's useful. I'd look for it in a new PC with Type-A. In this case, Honor has correctly determined that it'd be a bit of a pain for the target audience.
Only mechanically superiority is good enough reason to demand USB-C in a new phone, let alone all other benefits. It is much more reliable and convenient to use. Once you try it you never want to go back to mushy old micro USB. And it is much more important in a phone than in a laptop since USB-A i still good, fast and reliable connector despite its age.
I don't have any USB-C equipment either. I suppose even at USB 2.0 speed, a USB-C port would be slightly more convenient than micro USB because the connector is reversible, but it was strange to see the lack of USB-C highlighted as a major deficiency.
I bought my first usb c phone 2 years ago, been using the same cable that came with the phone ever since, and another cable for the car. Cannot say the same about my microusb phones i have had before this, had to buy a new cable every 5-6 months because the old one get so loose would simply fall off, or the pins on the cable would get bent. Never going back to microusb ever again.
Subtract roughly this phone price from Apple or any other so called "high end" phone one (and OK, subtract also 10-20 bucks for more pricey SoC and same for the screen -- naive people think that all these new processors and screens cost hundreds) and you will get the figure how much mobile hardware manufacturers overcharge you.
This was ticking EVERY box I needed.... until the micro-usb thing. I literally will not get another micro-usb phone as everything else I'm buying is USB-C now. That's a deal-breaker for me. Same for the new Microsoft devices not having USB-C, was hoping to buy a new laptop/tablet and the surface was gonna be high on my list, instead it isn't even going to be considered.
@Ian, thanks for the hands-on overview. One question, one request: How does the Honor 8x compare to the Xiaomi Mi Max 3, also on square inch per Dollar/Euro/Pound? The Mi Max 3 is (roughly) in the same price class, has a larger screen, larger battery, and a similar processor (A73 "custom core" 4 each A 73/53, but Adreno 509 as GPU).
@Ian and @ Andrei: Please add the LTE bands that are supported by a phone's modem to the summary table. That information is crucial to check if the phone can use a provider's LTE network (or not). Even an otherwise outstanding phone doesn't do much good if it cannot access one's carrier's high speed mobile networks. Thanks!
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hybrid2d4x4 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Looks like a pretty decent phone. It's nice to see that the high screen to body ratio is trickling down the price range, though I wish it wasn't exclusively in gargantuan sizes.I'd love to see something with a 4.3-4.5" screen with barely any bezel and innards that aren't complete garbage on a 3yr old mfg node.
milkywayer - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Good phone I'd buy as backup for media consumption but dang you lost me at micro usb. W t g, huawei?patel21 - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Me too! If they can fit a6.5" screen in an old 5.5" body, I really wonder how awesome it would be to have just 5.5 inch phone in 5" body. Specially with powerful internals.piroroadkill - Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - link
Yeah, for some reason nobody's making normal sized phones any more. It's nostalgic and quaint to look back at how people thought a 4" smartphone was unusably large, but now every smartphone is larger.edwpang - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Lower end phones from China seems likely to have microUSB. I'd rather take the slightly more expensive one for this alone for the benefit of using laptop USB-C charger which is faster and much longer.PeachNCream - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
USB-C is good stuff, but literally everything I currently own is microUSB so I see no problems with the interface choice on the 8X. I think I represent the majority rather than minority when it comes to existing chargers and cables out there in the wild.shadarlo - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
Once you start getting any USB-C devices you'll quickly change your tune. And you WILL get usb-C devices as soon as you upgrade anything.Death666Angel - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
TÜV Rheinland, it has an umlaut. :) Alt 0220 is the way to get it on other keyboard layouts. :)As for the phone, it looks pretty good. My HTC U Ultra (S821, 4/64GB, 5.7" 1440p, 12MP) is still in the good enough range, especially for the 200€ I bought it at new some time ago. Only the battery has been bad since the Android 8 upgrade. Gets me through a day when it was 2 before. Oh well. I'll definitely keep this one in mind though.
euskalzabe - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
If only Honor phones supported bands 2/4/12 for Tmo, I could consider them.MrCommunistGen - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
I'll second that. I'd pretty happily try this out if I could get LTE. The price is certainly low enough for a device that doesn't have *only* LITTLE cores.euskalzabe - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
It's the main reason why I've been using Moto Es and Gs. I broke my last one a couple months ago - I always break them, thus why I buy at the $200 range - and I decided to try a Nokia 3.1. Positively surprised - amazing build and good performance for the $160 I paid. I'm much more likely now to go up to a Nokia 5.2 or whatever mid-range model they release next year, than to a Moto G7.realbabilu - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Does it have NFC?serendip - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Huawei also sells a monstrous 8X Max with a 7.1" screen, 5000 mAh battery and SD636 chip. I would rather go for this one for the long battery life and better GPU compared to the Kirin 710.davidk01 - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Inside the phone is the Kirin 710, Huawei's latest mid-performer SoC with four Arm Cortex A73 cores and four Arm Cortex A53 cores, combined with Mali G51MP4 graphics. The CPU portion of this chip is plenty fast, although that graphics is not going win any awards on the latest 3D smartphone titles.duploxxx - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
honor device are nice from specs perspective.... but horrible EMUI.GreenReaper - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
You're living in a bubble, man - everything we have is microUSB, and those cables are in high demand since one of them broke. We have one Lightning iPad, too (along with a 30-pin iPad 2). Really, if it's still USB 2.0, there's little point in USB-C - you might as well retain compatibility.We also have microSD, so it's nice that they have it there. Actually, looking at the table, I was a little confused at which one was meant to be the flagship. Not quite as fast a CPU/GPU, but eh.
PeachNCream - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Agreed. Ian's world of tech journalism puts him into constant contact with new hardware and detaches him from the technological realities of the rest of us. It's only been in the past 1.5 years that I've gotten my hands on computing hardware with USB 3.0 Type A ports. Everything up to 2016 was using USB 2.0 and I've yet to even physically touch any computing hardware with USB-C yet I work for a major TELCO and have a small mountain of computers and consumer electronics laying around in my home. There is indeed a big disconnect between him and us.GreenReaper - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Just to put it in perspective, USB 1.1 (the first version widely used) was released in August 1998. We've had USB-A for over 20 years, mini B since 2001, and micro B since 2007. In that time people have collected a bunch of stuff that fulfils their needs.Here's the systems I personally maintain at home:
* Sony laptop (2003)
* Dell E1510/6400 laptop (2006)
* Sony all-in-one PC (2008)
* Lenovo ThinkPad (2011)
* Original Surface Pro (2013)
* HP Microsever Gen8 (2014)
All of these are still being updated and usable (although I wouldn't want to use the 2003 laptop all the time), thanks in part to Microsoft's patches for POSReady 2009 (works on XP) and Windows Server 2008 (Vista). In fact, thanks to Microsoft's drive to get us onto it, most can run Windows 10.
*None* have USB-C - the only ones with USB 3.0 ports are the Surface Pro and the MicroServer. My brother's XPS 15 (2017) *does* have a USB-C port. but I don't think he uses it yet. So if I bought a USB-C phone, I'd instantly need some kind of adaptor to plug it in to any of them.
The actual need for USB-C on a mobile is limited. It's not like they need the increased bandwidth - heck, they're all running USB 2.0 over it. It's size, possibly power delivery, and sheer newness. So micro B ports might well be a selling point - if nothing else, the battery boat plugs straight in with existing cables.
[And as for the wider issue of USB-A ports on laptops: think of all the accessories! We have USB 2.0 scanners/printers (2007), digital cameras, phones (various years from 2001 onwards), mobile battery boat and a SoundCore speaker (both bought in 2018), DisplayLink DL-165-based USB video dongle (2009 tech, bought new in 2017, because I knew the USB 2.0-only one worked in Linux, and the Thinkpad only had USB 2.0 - it was also the cheapest), ColorMunki Display colorimiter (2011, bought in 2018), Xbox One and Steam controllers (2017), U2F security dongle (2017), mice, keyboards, webcams (2001, 2002), numerous USB flash keys and wall chargers...]
timecop1818 - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
USB-C to A cables do exist and (in case of Huawei) are included in the box. The connector itself is far superior to micro b in reliability/strength/insertion count/usability. Discarding it just because you hoard a bunch of ancient hardware is honestly pretty silly.Not to mention with properly implemented USB-C you can use phone to charge other devices, output Displayport to monitors/etc, use cheap C to A/HDMI/etc hubs, the list of benefits goes on and on. And if you're a luddite, just use the included C to A cable and forget the type of port you got there.
GreenReaper - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I'm doubt you'll to be able to do most of those things in this case because the USB-C is just being used as a path for USB 2.0 and power. It *might* charge a bit faster, but that isn't stated here.I'm not at all opposed to USB-C being used where it's useful. I'd look for it in a new PC with Type-A. In this case, Honor has correctly determined that it'd be a bit of a pain for the target audience.
bogda - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Only mechanically superiority is good enough reason to demand USB-C in a new phone, let alone all other benefits. It is much more reliable and convenient to use. Once you try it you never want to go back to mushy old micro USB. And it is much more important in a phone than in a laptop since USB-A i still good, fast and reliable connector despite its age.KAlmquist - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
I don't have any USB-C equipment either. I suppose even at USB 2.0 speed, a USB-C port would be slightly more convenient than micro USB because the connector is reversible, but it was strange to see the lack of USB-C highlighted as a major deficiency.SyukriLajin - Sunday, October 14, 2018 - link
I bought my first usb c phone 2 years ago, been using the same cable that came with the phone ever since, and another cable for the car. Cannot say the same about my microusb phones i have had before this, had to buy a new cable every 5-6 months because the old one get so loose would simply fall off, or the pins on the cable would get bent. Never going back to microusb ever again.brakdoo - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
regarding prices:it's already available in europe for €249.90 and €279.90
MarcSP - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Hello. Nice article. Thanks!By the way, the Honor View 10 is powered by a 3,750 mAh battery, not 2750. :-)
SanX - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Subtract roughly this phone price from Apple or any other so called "high end" phone one (and OK, subtract also 10-20 bucks for more pricey SoC and same for the screen -- naive people think that all these new processors and screens cost hundreds) and you will get the figure how much mobile hardware manufacturers overcharge you.willis936 - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Did you check for any spy chips?shadarlo - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
This was ticking EVERY box I needed.... until the micro-usb thing. I literally will not get another micro-usb phone as everything else I'm buying is USB-C now. That's a deal-breaker for me. Same for the new Microsoft devices not having USB-C, was hoping to buy a new laptop/tablet and the surface was gonna be high on my list, instead it isn't even going to be considered.eastcoast_pete - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
@Ian, thanks for the hands-on overview. One question, one request: How does the Honor 8x compare to the Xiaomi Mi Max 3, also on square inch per Dollar/Euro/Pound? The Mi Max 3 is (roughly) in the same price class, has a larger screen, larger battery, and a similar processor (A73 "custom core" 4 each A 73/53, but Adreno 509 as GPU).@Ian and @ Andrei: Please add the LTE bands that are supported by a phone's modem to the summary table. That information is crucial to check if the phone can use a provider's LTE network (or not). Even an otherwise outstanding phone doesn't do much good if it cannot access one's carrier's high speed mobile networks. Thanks!
evilpaul666 - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
This time next year it'll be on the July Google Security Update. Huawei: Nice phones, terrible software support.epdm2be - Sunday, October 28, 2018 - link
the battery o/t View 10 is also 3750mAh