Honor has made a truly underwhelming return to the smartphone market in recent months, offering even more than one series in the low-medium price range. Among these devices there is also Honor X7which we tested for this review. A device that costs even less than the ‘brother’ Honor X8 released a few weeks ago. But it offers one great autonomy and a large screen: a really interesting product for those who want spend just over 200 euros. But which has some necessary limitations given the price: in this review we will help you understand if Honor X7 is for you.
Our Honor X7 review
Opening the package of the new Honor smartphone you will find a 22.5W charger with its USB-A / USB-C cable and a transparent silicone cover. A complete package to immediately start using your smartphone without the need for additional purchases.
But also a way to protect your device without covering Honor X7’s iridescent smooth and very bright finish. There colorazione Titanium Silver of the device in our equipment is very pleasing to the eye with its colorful accents. It also prevents any fingerprints left on the shiny surface from being seen.
I two large circles for cameras they come in a bump of the same color, giving the overall appearance of a more elegant smartphone than the price might suggest. Build quality looks very good to us: it looks like one solid and well crafted construction.
The screen (which comes already with the protection on the glass) has a psmall clipping ‘a drop‘for the front camera and fairly thin bezels, even if the lower one is a little more pronounced.
On the right frame you will find both the volume buttons and the power and unlock key, which also acts as a fingerprint reader. Unlocking the screen is no doubt more convenient, but this solution proved reliable every time during our review: the Honor X7 reader is responsive and sensitive.
At the top you will find the SIM slot and a micro SD card, while at the bottom you will find the speakers, an input USB-C and the always welcome jack 3.5mm.
A screen that does not disappoint
Honor has equipped its smartphone with a display 6.74-inch FullView, big and good quality. The weight from 198 grams it suffers a little, but it is average for this size (indeed it is lower than that of the iPhone 13 Pro Max) and you get used to it immediately.
The resolution from 1600×720 is what is needed for most content and the refresh rate from 90Hz it is pleasant in transitions. The color rendition seems natural to us even at maximum brightness. Which to tell the truth did not seem very high. But the screen seems to us one of the strengths of this smartphone, excellent for playing video content and for admiring some shots on social media.
Honor X7 automatically enables the adaptive refresh rate, which performs pretty well. Also excellent is the reduction of blue lights to avoid eye discomfort. There is also the eBook mode, which turns all screens into black and white. It may not be the most useful feature but it is something more to try and could be useful if you have to read on your smartphone for long periods.
Sufficient but not exciting performance
The engine of this of this smartphone is the chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, accompanied by 4 GB in RAM (more two of Honor RAM Turbo) e 128GB of total memory. We have to admit that the Honor RAM Turbo has its advantages. Opening several applications to try to reactivate them with multitasking, it seems to us that the system actually manages them at the same time.
However, launching apps itself isn’t exactly lightning-fast. We did not experience any crashes or problems of this type during our review: Honor X7 does its job discreetly. But that’s not quite a splinter in doing so. Casual games (we tried Clash Royale) work well enough. If you want to try Genshin Impact or other games with a lot of 3D graphics, expect it times longer waiting times.
We have tried some benchmarks and it seems to us that they are in line with what we have seen with this processor. Which isn’t the most powerful around, by far. But it has a huge advantage: autonomy.
Honor X7 review, really good autonomy
The combination of the efficient core of the Snapdragon 680 chip and the large 5,000 mAh battery ensure that the Honor device has a really good autonomy. The whole day is not only guaranteed, but even with a rather intensive use you should easily arrive at the two days.
The recharge Honor SuperCharge da 22,5W pit allows you to give charging “taps” for just ten minutes and then be able to use the smartphone for a couple of hours. If, on the other hand, you want the full recharge, expect times over an hour and a half (even something more if you start from scratch). However, a really good highlight, considering the price and especially the size of the battery.
Four cameras, but you’ll only use one
Honor has supplied its Honor X7 with four rear cameras: one 48MP main, an ultrawide from 5MP and then a macro sensor and a depth sensor from 2MP. The difference between the main one and the others is rather abysmal. So much so that the 48MP camera takes up the space of one of the two circles in the bump, while the other three sensors and the flash are all piled together with the flash in the other.
During the shots you will mainly use the former, even if in some software modes it will automatically exploit the information collected by the other three. The wide-angle shots turn out though too overexposed in the sunlight, i visibly reduced details. And we had a hard time getting even acceptable results with the macro.
The 48MP main camera does its job quite well though. But there are gods limits. Color management is a little too gloomy, although we have noticed that it tends to exaggerate bright colors like red. The images are not very sharp and the autofocus is not flawless.
The camera software results rather intuitive and complete, but perhaps also due to the subdued performance of the sensors it does not produce quality effects. The portrait mode struggles to give the sense of three-dimensionality, sometimes it fails in the blur. By playing around with the advanced settings, you can get more, but not much. I’m shots that can work for social media, especially by finding the right filters. But we would avoid printing them.
The videos are quite good, while struggling to handle more complex lighting situations. There 8MP selfie camera needs a lot of light and a particularly steady hand for post-worthy shots, but great for video calls.
Software and daily use
Honor has decided to equip this smartphone with the version 4.2 of Magic UIwhich he then uses Android 11. Since Google will present the preview of Android 13 in a few days, we expected to see version 12 of the operating system. Also because we fear it means a year less of updates, potentially.
However, Magic UI 4.2 does its job more than brilliantly. The full screen gesture of Android are super handy and Honor adds some extra variants, such as those for quickly sharing screenshots. The varying background and lock screen images are a welcome addition.
We would have preferred some cheaper extra app pre-installed (there are Netflix, Booking, TikTok, a couple of games and a few other apps like WPS Office and TrainPal). However, it is quite snappy and reliable in use. Even if sometimes the apps are a little slower to open, we had no problems with sudden crashes.
Honor X7 review: is it worth buying?
Honor X7 comes in pre-order from today 5 May on hihonor, to then officially debut from 12 maggio at the price of 209,90 euro. For this figure, you will find a smartphone with a large screen, great autonomy and excellent usability.
But there are trade-offs. The processor does not allow record performance, the camera does not excel and still comes with Android 11. If these for you they are not insurmountable problems, is a solid device in an increasingly competitive market segment. Who does not use the smartphone as a console or as a camera, doesn’t really have to spend more.
PRO
- Excellent autonomy
- Big screen
- Solid and reliable
AGAINST
- Subdued cameras
- Slow performance
- It still has Android 11
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