Why no user replaceable battery? I've heard all the reasons why I shouldn't care but I still want one and wonder if planned obsolescence is the only reason for not including it.
Thanks Andrei. I think it is worthwhile pointing out this missing feature in the article just like you did with the non-removable battery. It is important for some!
Well said. Also it's important to point at that this is an Apple-wannabe that no way can match up to some of the really highly rated phones out there. /Marco from http://www.consumertop.com/best-phone-guide/
Yeah bro, you tell em. And Andrea why U no learn Chinese man? I wanna know what that extra stuff does. I'm going to China in like, a minute, like everyone else. What, you don't care about me bro? I love you man.
And does it have haptic feed-back for goodness snakes? I want them good vibes in me fingas.
What about a sit test? Most of us reading here have fat arses, do you know sit (test)? I don't know sit (test) but I wanna hear your experience with sitting, maybe try with a heavy object like a cow, yeah a bull sit test.
Takes up literally no space seeing how Samsung S4 and S5 are both smaller and thinner than HTC One (M7 and M8 respectively) Arguably the back that's able to pop off makes the phone LESS prone to breaking as it allows the force to dissipate somewhat better than in the case of a rigid structure which simply breaks. And lastly I am going to play the world's smallest violin for the POOR POOR manufacturers trying to make a quick buck from planned obsolescence or paid-for battery replacement.
I mean I know anandtech is all about manufacturer interests but I'll care about their concerns and problems the moment they stop earning millions upon millions in profits.
Are you really saying that the S4 and S5 are thinner than the HTC One because of the replaceable battery? And that it takes up "literally no space"? Really?
Thank you sir. That's precisely what I meant. Its thinner and yet it has a replaceable battery. Impossiburu /o\
To me personally all that "the replaceable battery is inefficient" nonsense is just that - nonsense. Some companies are just better at making thinner phones and some try to cut corners (and costs) at every possible stage.
And yes Anandtech has historically supported nothing but the manufacturer interests. They have been walking on these eggshells for a long time and that's precisely why they never directly criticise any dubious or greedy decision made by their sponsors :) In fact they sometimes go a step further and tell consumers (like myself) that we are wrong in wanting things like replaceable batteries and microsd slots because they are so "inefficient"
6 months in case of one of my phones? Damn thing expanded and basically lost about 50% of its capacity (I'm being generous here). The amount of effort it took to get it through warranty process (leaving me without a phone in the meantime)... Because you know "its still working isn't it?"
I would have long since edited it to "literally no -extra- space" (because you know that would have worked as an exaggeration and that is pretty much what I wanted to say) but alas the comment system here is poop :)
But you did have a point to make didn't you? Oh no you're just being an idiot. Fair enough.
So just the planned obsolescence then. Why isn't this considered outrageous? Maybe because marketing has convinced users that points 1 and 2 are actual problems (as Alexey291 has pointed out, that's not the case). Maybe you can't really make a oh la la looking phone with a removable battery like the HTC One but we don't all want or like such devices.
Why can the auto industry cater to such a large number of wants/needs but the phone industry can't? They only make the same looking huge phones with sealed batteries, no Qi, no expandable storage, single SIM only, etc... It feels like there is no choice unless you want something practical and pocket friendly (a proper HTC Sensation successor would be nice)
jesus chris people GET OVER with replacing battery stupidness ! seriously .. you looking only what that phone doesn't what it doesn't have .. it has powerfull 3000 batt jesus christ people grow up
Why is that such a big problem for you? There's plenty of phones for you to choose from if you must have a sealed battery. Why can't the rest of us have a choice?
that's until that cheap but (supposedly) powerful 3kmah battery swells and damages the phone's internal structure. Loses 50% of its original capacity. All in under 6 months.
And before you say "that never happens" it happens very damn often especially in Huawei and Xiaomi phones >.>
And don't expect the likes of Zerolemon and Anker to offer a better/bigger battery as they generally don't support non user replaceable batteries (most users won't bother unless they can just pop the battery in).
My friend Galaxy Note 2 battery have been replaced 2 times. Imagine if his phone battery is a non removable type. Does everyone have a same usage pattern with u? sigh.
No user replaceable battery means no support from the manufacturer which makes it really hard to get a hold of an original battery. After market batteries will most likely will be of a low quality as the market will be small (most people don't like tinkering). The battery if the HTC Sensation was easy to remove.What you linked to does not compare.
Does this phone suffer from the same battery bulging issue that the P6 has? In the 2 months I worked for a company that handles "loanphones" (phones people get when their own phone is out for repair) I noticed that about 1 in 5 Huawei P6's had their back come loose as a result of a bulging, damaged battery.
Blimey. Hisilicon have managed to pop out A15 big.little with integrated LTE modem (shame you were unable to test it in the field; presumably its okay if its cleared carrier certification).
That's impressive, despite the rough edges. Remember this is a feat which has so far eluded the might of Intel, Broadcom, Renesas, NVIDIA, Mediatek and (I'm sure) a bunch of other industry luminaires.
As someone who doesn't game, this SoC is pretty interesting. Being interested in mainly web performance, this phone looks fairly attractive for the price. This obsession with phone/tablet GPU performance is a bit puzzling, and there should be options with strong CPU performance and middling GPU performance for those of us who only do casual or once-in-a-blue-moon phone/tablet gaming. What percentage of tablet users are utilizing the full power of their Tegra K1 GPU, or phone users utilizing the full power or their Snapdragon 801 (Adreno 330) GPU? My bet is few.
Whoops, I forgot there's only one K1 tablet out right now, and it's a gaming one! So probably 100% of K1 users ARE utilizing that fullness of that GPU!
I just want to note something that is not brought up nearly as much or at all, the lighting that affects the screens... over many years I've seen screen look better then other in certain light and in other light other screens come out ahead. Long story short, my Nexus 5 looks much better in the sun then my friends iPhone 5c.. the colors seam to be almost *enhanced* if you will while the iPhone although very clear in the sun still looked washed out. Also if you have polorized glassed on the iPhone screen gets wired (kind cool lol) and the Nexus 5 is perfectly visible both vertically and horizontally (the Nexus 4's screen would go totally black if it was held sideways with polarized glasses on).
So despite not being as bright outright, it handles sunlight hitting the screen much much better then a iPhone 5//5s/5c, especially with glasses on.
I have a Huawei Ascend Mate2, and it has a non removable battery. Considering it is a 4000mAH battery, it doesn't matter. Even with a 6.1" screen, it lasts 2-3 days on average. Some have questioned when they released it with a Snapdragon 400 SOC along with a 720p screen. I even had doubts until I started seeing reviews & actual users that have it. Some also questioned the lack of kit kat, sticking it with JB 4.3, but, I bet the majority of users won't care. It's fast, the screen is crystal clear, unless you are a pixel peeper that holds the device 2 inches from your nose! If more and more "mid spec" devices start showing promise, perhaps the days of over priced super spec devices will start to dissipate. Do you "really" need an 8 core 1080p screen? The apps can't really take advantage of all that speed anyway.
that is not a typo. The phone is having good thermal dissipation as it is cooler than similar spec phones when a performance test was done! Youtube for more proof...
Great review of what really matters. I especially liked the in-depth analysis of the SoC and its platform power in comparison to others. Looking forward to future reviews.
"Ideally, it would be interesting to see a 720p mode on 1440p screens as it would offer perfect scaling, with one logical pixel being mapped to exactly four physical ones, without the need for interpolation and upscaling artifacts"
If Samsung ever decides to put a 1440p panel on the GS6, I seriously hope they allow a 720p mode in their power saving options. Even if pentile, It would be MUCH sharper than any other 720p AMOLED panel since it's up-scaled. Actually, I seriously interested to see how it would look like. Plus, the added performance and battery life would be legendary on a phone faster and more efficient than the current GS5. Totally intriguing.
Oh, this is just a suggestion. If you must use browser benchmarks to measure platform performance (sighs...), wouldn't it be better to use the stock browser since it's what most people use? You know, since the stock browser is usually more optimized for that specific device and generally performs better than Chrome. Using Chrome to see the difference of Android devices in comparison is OK since they'd be using the same browser running on the same OS, but definitely NOT OK in comparison with other platforms.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm positive that I'm not.
Thanks for the great review, this was the first time that any publication has exposed the inner workings of a Hisilicon SoC, and you've done a great job of that. However I wanted to mention here that I strongly disagree with your analysis of the software.
Designing software that's going to be used by mass users is a constant balancing act between exposing enough power to satisfy different user requirements and power users, and yet keeping the UI simple enough so that the vast majority of users are not overwhelmed by the array of features. The Permission Management feature here, similar to those baked into many custom ROMs goes well over the line and is a huge user experience disaster. To ship an OEM ROM with this, is begging for a deluge of support calls from clueless customers who have disabled things and then wonder why their phone doesn't work as intended.
I'm not saying that the current permission management scenario in Android is perfect, far from it. I don't think anyone has figured out the perfect balance of how to inform users about third party apps without scaring them, turning the notices meaningless, or overwhelming users.
One of Anand's greatest assets was his ability to articulate his vision of good UI in various products. Him and Brian could explain why certain choices were made (for example in terms of treatment of external storage on Android, or the design tradeoffs about non-replaceable batteries) and the guiding principles behind them. File managers are archaic and confusing to 90% of users. I know the tech-savvy AT readership will disagree, but the whole concept of files and directories are broken for average users, especially on a device like a phone, and they are better off being abstracted away from them. Your comments on file managers in KitKat, or your praise of Huawei's software "enhancements" shows a lack of understanding of where the line is when it comes to UX design.
I hope that now that Anand is gone, AT doesn't become a place where the writers are blind to the needs of average customers. We do not need Android to regress to the wild days of Gingerbread, or worse, Windows Mobile.
Well, you complaining about huawei logo or writing missing and main thing is that you NEVER complained on iphones that they NEVER put writing on their phones but that is alright ? h ? people are so pathetic .. if apple wud make soome plastic dick sticking out from phone you guys would say that is fine bcos it is iphone and we will forgive that we will get used to it .. oohh jeezz naive people
the writings are a part of the mandatory regulations to denote the compliance with the telecom regulations. and it does not eat up too much space on the back.
I was hoping that the Kirin processor would have a comparison with the MediaTek MT6592. But I guess there are some obvious differences in the Big Little implementation that will prevent it from being a good comparison.
The mediocre camera and obvious cutrate shoddiness (wtf the stabilization is just the 1080p field cut down to 720p with none of the rest of the sensor used, so ghetto) is unacceptable and this goes for the mate 7 as well. So bye bye huawei. I am still interested in the lenovo vibe z2 pro aka k920 and would love a review of that phone, but the chances of lenovo sending one to anandtech are slim, considering they arent gunning for the global market like huawei is.
I wonder if the "Rog" mode is a reference to ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) hardware line-i.e. a gaming mode. Given the weak GPU maybe the mode is there for people who want to play 3D games to be able to run everything at 720P and thus get acceptable framerates instead of everything having to be rendered at 1080P. It's actually a pretty great idea, especially with the newer 1440P screens on high end phones even the beefiest GPUs will struggle for framerates in graphics intense games.
I don't care for a user replaceable battery in my Ascend Mate2...it's 400mAH and lasts days at a time, plus, I'm tech savvy enough (40 years in electronics) that I can get one and replace it myself. Huawei is starting to make some noise in the market, which "should" benefit consumers by causing the competition to either step up to the plate, or get left behind. Right now, I'm a big fan of Huawei, even though the Mate2 isn't "flagship" in the spec department, it runs perfectly, fast, bright screen and the 2-3 day battery life? LOVE IT!
Do you know if scheduler and governor used in Huawei Honor 6 are custom made by Huawei or are default from Linux Kernel? So if I install other rom will I get those core/task/scheduler/governor settings??
Yes.. There is definitely some issue with the Bus Bandwidth config for Honor 6 . Honor 6 has real problem with using Bluetooth and Internet simultaneously. Whenever I connected my Bluetooth (Stereo Headset), the internet bandwidth drops drastically
Use case: If I'm on Viber through (Wifi @ 16Mbps or H+) , the bandwidth drops and it works fine without the Bluetooth. In order to confirm this I did multiple speed test while streaming offline Music ( Note: Music on SD card) - The internet connection speed dropped drastically from 16Mbps to the range of 1- 1.2 Mbps. I paused the music and it again jumped back to 14- 16Mbps. This happens even if I'm on 3G. I'm suspecting this is some type of implementation issue either with the architecture / bus configuration? Just wish this gets resolved with future ROM updates for an otherwise great device
Yes.. There is definitely some issue with the Bus Bandwidth config for Honor 6 . Honor 6 has real problem with using Bluetooth and Internet simultaneously. Whenever I connected my Bluetooth (Stereo Headset), the internet bandwidth drops drastically
Use case: If I'm on Viber through (Wifi @ 16Mbps or H+) , the bandwidth drops and it works fine without the Bluetooth. In order to confirm this I did multiple speed test while streaming offline Music ( Note: Music on SD card) - The internet connection speed dropped drastically from 16Mbps to the range of 1- 1.2 Mbps. I paused the music and it again jumped back to 14- 16Mbps. This happens even if I'm on 3G. I'm suspecting this is some type of implementation issue either with the architecture / bus configuration? Just wish this gets resolved with future ROM updates for an otherwise great device
"The 5" 1080p display is manufacutred by JDI. The display is a non-IPS display and the viewing angles are visibly suffering from this, however it's not terrible"
Seriously??? Of course the display is IPS, what on earth are you talking about? IPS is the standard display type for all modern smartphones except extremely cheap budget phones or those with Amoled.
Well, I have been using Honor 6 for almost a year and I would say this is the best budget phone that I ever had! Kirin outperforms Snapdragon in most segments and the phone performs like a butter! I'm a hardcore gamer and I enjoyed playing MC4, Mortal Kombat X, Immortals and what not and I never witnessed any lag at any point of time. Camera is decent and yes, u can't expect a DSLR for 20k. But trust me, for this price, there's no better camera in the market. Battery backup is excellent! I use 4G and I get 30% charge left after using it for 5 hours continuous. Wi-Fi is a real boon! The connectivity is continuous and it is through Wi-Fi that I download movies from yify! Believe me, I wasn't disappointed with the speed and downloading of torrents, not even once. And yes, Huawei did an excellent job providing a Lollipop update for Honor 6. Now I'm able to record games in 720p and upload it to YouTube! Come on guys, Huawei is new to smart phones and we can't expect miracles in their initial attempts. EMUI offers a smooth interface with a lot of cool new themes from Huawei market. And I forgot to tell you, this is a mini-HDD! With all apps installed, I still have around 8 GB of internal storage and a mammoth 64 GB external, memory card option. The phone offers an inbuilt phone manager that scans apps, informs you about junk files, apps that take space and stuff like that! So no need for an external anti virus app. Video calling works so well and flawless in 4G.In addition, Huawei offers special features like backup, touch functions for calls, gestures for apps and what not! Honor 6 is nothing short of a marvel and I'm proud to say this is the best budget phone that I've ever had!
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semo - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Why no user replaceable battery? I've heard all the reasons why I shouldn't care but I still want one and wonder if planned obsolescence is the only reason for not including it.Also, is Qi an option for this phone?
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
There is no Qi charging option.semo - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Thanks Andrei. I think it is worthwhile pointing out this missing feature in the article just like you did with the non-removable battery. It is important for some!marcokatz - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Well said. Also it's important to point at that this is an Apple-wannabe that no way can match up to some of the really highly rated phones out there. /Marco from http://www.consumertop.com/best-phone-guide/Excerpt - Wednesday, October 8, 2014 - link
Yeah bro, you tell em. And Andrea why U no learn Chinese man? I wanna know what that extra stuff does. I'm going to China in like, a minute, like everyone else. What, you don't care about me bro? I love you man.And does it have haptic feed-back for goodness snakes? I want them good vibes in me fingas.
What about a sit test? Most of us reading here have fat arses, do you know sit (test)? I don't know sit (test) but I wanna hear your experience with sitting, maybe try with a heavy object like a cow, yeah a bull sit test.
That'd be great keep up the good work. <3
Murloc - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
1. takes up space2. makes the phone structurally weaker
2. planned obsolence/forced service you have to pay a lot for are good ways to make money
Alexey291 - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Takes up literally no space seeing how Samsung S4 and S5 are both smaller and thinner than HTC One (M7 and M8 respectively)Arguably the back that's able to pop off makes the phone LESS prone to breaking as it allows the force to dissipate somewhat better than in the case of a rigid structure which simply breaks.
And lastly I am going to play the world's smallest violin for the POOR POOR manufacturers trying to make a quick buck from planned obsolescence or paid-for battery replacement.
I mean I know anandtech is all about manufacturer interests but I'll care about their concerns and problems the moment they stop earning millions upon millions in profits.
Intervenator - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Are you really saying that the S4 and S5 are thinner than the HTC One because of the replaceable battery? And that it takes up "literally no space"? Really?arsjum - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Not because of, in spite of.Alexey291 - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Thank you sir. That's precisely what I meant. Its thinner and yet it has a replaceable battery. Impossiburu /o\To me personally all that "the replaceable battery is inefficient" nonsense is just that - nonsense. Some companies are just better at making thinner phones and some try to cut corners (and costs) at every possible stage.
And yes Anandtech has historically supported nothing but the manufacturer interests. They have been walking on these eggshells for a long time and that's precisely why they never directly criticise any dubious or greedy decision made by their sponsors :) In fact they sometimes go a step further and tell consumers (like myself) that we are wrong in wanting things like replaceable batteries and microsd slots because they are so "inefficient"
/sigh
imaheadcase - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
By the time you need to replace the battery you will be getting a new phone anyways..so its a moot point.Alexey291 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
6 months in case of one of my phones? Damn thing expanded and basically lost about 50% of its capacity (I'm being generous here). The amount of effort it took to get it through warranty process (leaving me without a phone in the meantime)... Because you know "its still working isn't it?"Never again tyvm.
Stuka87 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
"Takes up literally no space"Seriously? Do you understand what the meaning of "literally" is?
Alexey291 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
I would have long since edited it to "literally no -extra- space" (because you know that would have worked as an exaggeration and that is pretty much what I wanted to say) but alas the comment system here is poop :)But you did have a point to make didn't you? Oh no you're just being an idiot. Fair enough.
semo - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
So just the planned obsolescence then. Why isn't this considered outrageous? Maybe because marketing has convinced users that points 1 and 2 are actual problems (as Alexey291 has pointed out, that's not the case). Maybe you can't really make a oh la la looking phone with a removable battery like the HTC One but we don't all want or like such devices.Why can the auto industry cater to such a large number of wants/needs but the phone industry can't? They only make the same looking huge phones with sealed batteries, no Qi, no expandable storage, single SIM only, etc... It feels like there is no choice unless you want something practical and pocket friendly (a proper HTC Sensation successor would be nice)
Alexey291 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
Hear hear!Ethos Evoss - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
jesus chris people GET OVER with replacing battery stupidness ! seriously .. you looking only what that phone doesn't what it doesn't have .. it has powerfull 3000 batt jesus christ people grow upsemo - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
Why is that such a big problem for you? There's plenty of phones for you to choose from if you must have a sealed battery. Why can't the rest of us have a choice?Alexey291 - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
that's until that cheap but (supposedly) powerful 3kmah battery swells and damages the phone's internal structure. Loses 50% of its original capacity. All in under 6 months.And before you say "that never happens" it happens very damn often especially in Huawei and Xiaomi phones >.>
semo - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
And don't expect the likes of Zerolemon and Anker to offer a better/bigger battery as they generally don't support non user replaceable batteries (most users won't bother unless they can just pop the battery in).t.s. - Monday, September 22, 2014 - link
My friend Galaxy Note 2 battery have been replaced 2 times. Imagine if his phone battery is a non removable type. Does everyone have a same usage pattern with u? sigh.Ethos Evoss - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
http://mobile.zol.com.cn/468/4687718.htmlvery easy open phone .. same like on xperia z2 !
semo - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
No user replaceable battery means no support from the manufacturer which makes it really hard to get a hold of an original battery. After market batteries will most likely will be of a low quality as the market will be small (most people don't like tinkering). The battery if the HTC Sensation was easy to remove.What you linked to does not compare.Ethos Evoss - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Yeah like in exploding samsung mobiles :D JUST because is possible to repace battery !! DANGEROUS!squirrelboy - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Does this phone suffer from the same battery bulging issue that the P6 has?In the 2 months I worked for a company that handles "loanphones" (phones people get when their own phone is out for repair) I noticed that about 1 in 5 Huawei P6's had their back come loose as a result of a bulging, damaged battery.
Jon Tseng - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Blimey. Hisilicon have managed to pop out A15 big.little with integrated LTE modem (shame you were unable to test it in the field; presumably its okay if its cleared carrier certification).That's impressive, despite the rough edges. Remember this is a feat which has so far eluded the might of Intel, Broadcom, Renesas, NVIDIA, Mediatek and (I'm sure) a bunch of other industry luminaires.
The Chinese are coming... :-x
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
We'll be revisiting the LTE modem in the Ascend Mate 7 as it has the proper RF backend to work with FDD networks.jjj - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Was curious how their LTE does , guess that's for another time.JoshuaLastname - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO A REVIEW FOR THE MEIZU MX4 ? I'm dying to see a proper benchmarking suite of the gpu.Achtung_BG - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Meizu MX4 in GFXbench 3.0 1080p off-screen results 398 framesHuwaei honor 6 results 495 frames
Achtung_BG - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Kirin920/925 is very intrasting SoC compared with MediaTek 6595( 4 cortex A17, 4 cortex A17 GPU PowerVR6200) in mid phone class 200-300$johnny_boy - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
As someone who doesn't game, this SoC is pretty interesting. Being interested in mainly web performance, this phone looks fairly attractive for the price. This obsession with phone/tablet GPU performance is a bit puzzling, and there should be options with strong CPU performance and middling GPU performance for those of us who only do casual or once-in-a-blue-moon phone/tablet gaming. What percentage of tablet users are utilizing the full power of their Tegra K1 GPU, or phone users utilizing the full power or their Snapdragon 801 (Adreno 330) GPU? My bet is few.johnny_boy - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Whoops, I forgot there's only one K1 tablet out right now, and it's a gaming one! So probably 100% of K1 users ARE utilizing that fullness of that GPU!hendry07 - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
if im not mistaken, there are 2 K1 Tablets that are out right now. MiPad , and Shield.soccerballtux - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
how do you burn through 3100mAh in 1.6483 hours that is beyond metuxRoller - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
By having it use about 6W/hr;)masimilianzo - Friday, September 12, 2014 - link
Great having reviews for chinese only phones! They are great! Nubias, Meizu, Xiaomi, Huawei. Please keep going reviewing this stuffNeatOman - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
I just want to note something that is not brought up nearly as much or at all, the lighting that affects the screens... over many years I've seen screen look better then other in certain light and in other light other screens come out ahead. Long story short, my Nexus 5 looks much better in the sun then my friends iPhone 5c.. the colors seam to be almost *enhanced* if you will while the iPhone although very clear in the sun still looked washed out. Also if you have polorized glassed on the iPhone screen gets wired (kind cool lol) and the Nexus 5 is perfectly visible both vertically and horizontally (the Nexus 4's screen would go totally black if it was held sideways with polarized glasses on).So despite not being as bright outright, it handles sunlight hitting the screen much much better then a iPhone 5//5s/5c, especially with glasses on.
johnny_boy - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Nice looking phone. Too bad about the crappy wifi and flash performance, because that should be a dealbreaker for almost anyone.p51d007 - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
I have a Huawei Ascend Mate2, and it has a non removable battery. Considering it is a 4000mAH battery, it doesn't matter. Even with a 6.1" screen, it lasts 2-3 days on average. Some have questioned when they released it with a Snapdragon 400 SOC along with a 720p screen. I even had doubts until I started seeing reviews & actual users that have it. Some also questioned the lack of kit kat, sticking it with JB 4.3, but, I bet the majority of users won't care. It's fast, the screen is crystal clear, unless you are a pixel peeper that holds the device 2 inches from your nose! If more and more "mid spec" devices start showing promise, perhaps the days of over priced super spec devices will start to dissipate. Do you "really" need an 8 core 1080p screen? The apps can't really take advantage of all that speed anyway.DIYEyal - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
I found a typo in the battery life page: "I think this is due the phone having quite good thermal dissipation charateristics ."akshayprbhu - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
that is not a typo. The phone is having good thermal dissipation as it is cooler than similar spec phones when a performance test was done! Youtube for more proof...lilmoe - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Great review of what really matters. I especially liked the in-depth analysis of the SoC and its platform power in comparison to others. Looking forward to future reviews."Ideally, it would be interesting to see a 720p mode on 1440p screens as it would offer perfect scaling, with one logical pixel being mapped to exactly four physical ones, without the need for interpolation and upscaling artifacts"
If Samsung ever decides to put a 1440p panel on the GS6, I seriously hope they allow a 720p mode in their power saving options. Even if pentile, It would be MUCH sharper than any other 720p AMOLED panel since it's up-scaled. Actually, I seriously interested to see how it would look like. Plus, the added performance and battery life would be legendary on a phone faster and more efficient than the current GS5. Totally intriguing.
lilmoe - Saturday, September 13, 2014 - link
Oh, this is just a suggestion. If you must use browser benchmarks to measure platform performance (sighs...), wouldn't it be better to use the stock browser since it's what most people use? You know, since the stock browser is usually more optimized for that specific device and generally performs better than Chrome. Using Chrome to see the difference of Android devices in comparison is OK since they'd be using the same browser running on the same OS, but definitely NOT OK in comparison with other platforms.Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm positive that I'm not.
aryonoco - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
Thanks for the great review, this was the first time that any publication has exposed the inner workings of a Hisilicon SoC, and you've done a great job of that. However I wanted to mention here that I strongly disagree with your analysis of the software.Designing software that's going to be used by mass users is a constant balancing act between exposing enough power to satisfy different user requirements and power users, and yet keeping the UI simple enough so that the vast majority of users are not overwhelmed by the array of features. The Permission Management feature here, similar to those baked into many custom ROMs goes well over the line and is a huge user experience disaster. To ship an OEM ROM with this, is begging for a deluge of support calls from clueless customers who have disabled things and then wonder why their phone doesn't work as intended.
I'm not saying that the current permission management scenario in Android is perfect, far from it. I don't think anyone has figured out the perfect balance of how to inform users about third party apps without scaring them, turning the notices meaningless, or overwhelming users.
One of Anand's greatest assets was his ability to articulate his vision of good UI in various products. Him and Brian could explain why certain choices were made (for example in terms of treatment of external storage on Android, or the design tradeoffs about non-replaceable batteries) and the guiding principles behind them. File managers are archaic and confusing to 90% of users. I know the tech-savvy AT readership will disagree, but the whole concept of files and directories are broken for average users, especially on a device like a phone, and they are better off being abstracted away from them. Your comments on file managers in KitKat, or your praise of Huawei's software "enhancements" shows a lack of understanding of where the line is when it comes to UX design.
I hope that now that Anand is gone, AT doesn't become a place where the writers are blind to the needs of average customers. We do not need Android to regress to the wild days of Gingerbread, or worse, Windows Mobile.
Ethos Evoss - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
Well, you complaining about huawei logo or writing missing and main thing is that you NEVER complained on iphones that they NEVER put writing on their phones but that is alright ? h ? people are so pathetic .. if apple wud make soome plastic dick sticking out from phone you guys would say that is fine bcos it is iphone and we will forgive that we will get used to it .. oohh jeezz naive peopleakshayprbhu - Friday, October 10, 2014 - link
the writings are a part of the mandatory regulations to denote the compliance with the telecom regulations. and it does not eat up too much space on the back.darkich - Sunday, September 14, 2014 - link
Absolutely great analysis. Andrei and Joshua, keep these top notch write ups coming!SeleniumGlow - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
I was hoping that the Kirin processor would have a comparison with the MediaTek MT6592. But I guess there are some obvious differences in the Big Little implementation that will prevent it from being a good comparison.siberstorm - Monday, September 15, 2014 - link
The mediocre camera and obvious cutrate shoddiness (wtf the stabilization is just the 1080p field cut down to 720p with none of the rest of the sensor used, so ghetto) is unacceptable and this goes for the mate 7 as well. So bye bye huawei. I am still interested in the lenovo vibe z2 pro aka k920 and would love a review of that phone, but the chances of lenovo sending one to anandtech are slim, considering they arent gunning for the global market like huawei is.TekDemon - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
I wonder if the "Rog" mode is a reference to ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) hardware line-i.e. a gaming mode. Given the weak GPU maybe the mode is there for people who want to play 3D games to be able to run everything at 720P and thus get acceptable framerates instead of everything having to be rendered at 1080P. It's actually a pretty great idea, especially with the newer 1440P screens on high end phones even the beefiest GPUs will struggle for framerates in graphics intense games.p51d007 - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
I don't care for a user replaceable battery in my Ascend Mate2...it's 400mAH and lasts days at a time, plus, I'm tech savvy enough (40 years in electronics) that I can get one and replace it myself.Huawei is starting to make some noise in the market, which "should" benefit consumers by causing the competition to either step up to the plate, or get left behind.
Right now, I'm a big fan of Huawei, even though the Mate2 isn't "flagship" in the spec department, it runs perfectly, fast, bright screen and the 2-3 day battery life? LOVE IT!
cnanews - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
I experienced a few surveys and purchaser remarks in a Chinese shopping sites where individuals have complained about wifi gathering issueshttp://cnanews.in/huawei-honor-6-with-octa-core-so...
ritwik - Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - link
Isn't it an amazing device? It's just awesome, 3GB RAM with 1.7Ghz Octa core processor it's just superfast http://goo.gl/4wojuWsiteOwner - Saturday, October 18, 2014 - link
Hi,Do you know if scheduler and governor used in Huawei Honor 6 are custom made by Huawei or are default from Linux Kernel? So if I install other rom will I get those core/task/scheduler/governor settings??
Best Regards
equanim1ty - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
Yes.. There is definitely some issue with the Bus Bandwidth config for Honor 6 .Honor 6 has real problem with using Bluetooth and Internet simultaneously. Whenever I connected my Bluetooth (Stereo Headset), the internet bandwidth drops drastically
Use case: If I'm on Viber through (Wifi @ 16Mbps or H+) , the bandwidth drops and it works fine without the Bluetooth. In order to confirm this I did multiple speed test while streaming offline Music ( Note: Music on SD card) - The internet connection speed dropped drastically from 16Mbps to the range of 1- 1.2 Mbps. I paused the music and it again jumped back to 14- 16Mbps. This happens even if I'm on 3G. I'm suspecting this is some type of implementation issue either with the architecture / bus configuration? Just wish this gets resolved with future ROM updates for an otherwise great device
equanim1ty - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
Yes.. There is definitely some issue with the Bus Bandwidth config for Honor 6 .Honor 6 has real problem with using Bluetooth and Internet simultaneously. Whenever I connected my Bluetooth (Stereo Headset), the internet bandwidth drops drastically
Use case: If I'm on Viber through (Wifi @ 16Mbps or H+) , the bandwidth drops and it works fine without the Bluetooth. In order to confirm this I did multiple speed test while streaming offline Music ( Note: Music on SD card) - The internet connection speed dropped drastically from 16Mbps to the range of 1- 1.2 Mbps. I paused the music and it again jumped back to 14- 16Mbps. This happens even if I'm on 3G. I'm suspecting this is some type of implementation issue either with the architecture / bus configuration? Just wish this gets resolved with future ROM updates for an otherwise great device
spixel - Saturday, October 25, 2014 - link
"The 5" 1080p display is manufacutred by JDI. The display is a non-IPS display and the viewing angles are visibly suffering from this, however it's not terrible"Seriously??? Of course the display is IPS, what on earth are you talking about? IPS is the standard display type for all modern smartphones except extremely cheap budget phones or those with Amoled.
Bala63 - Friday, October 2, 2015 - link
Well, I have been using Honor 6 for almost a year and I would say this is the best budget phone that I ever had! Kirin outperforms Snapdragon in most segments and the phone performs like a butter! I'm a hardcore gamer and I enjoyed playing MC4, Mortal Kombat X, Immortals and what not and I never witnessed any lag at any point of time. Camera is decent and yes, u can't expect a DSLR for 20k. But trust me, for this price, there's no better camera in the market. Battery backup is excellent! I use 4G and I get 30% charge left after using it for 5 hours continuous. Wi-Fi is a real boon! The connectivity is continuous and it is through Wi-Fi that I download movies from yify! Believe me, I wasn't disappointed with the speed and downloading of torrents, not even once. And yes, Huawei did an excellent job providing a Lollipop update for Honor 6. Now I'm able to record games in 720p and upload it to YouTube! Come on guys, Huawei is new to smart phones and we can't expect miracles in their initial attempts. EMUI offers a smooth interface with a lot of cool new themes from Huawei market. And I forgot to tell you, this is a mini-HDD! With all apps installed, I still have around 8 GB of internal storage and a mammoth 64 GB external, memory card option. The phone offers an inbuilt phone manager that scans apps, informs you about junk files, apps that take space and stuff like that! So no need for an external anti virus app. Video calling works so well and flawless in 4G.In addition, Huawei offers special features like backup, touch functions for calls, gestures for apps and what not! Honor 6 is nothing short of a marvel and I'm proud to say this is the best budget phone that I've ever had!