The Honor V9 was launched in China earlier this year, but the phone has just landed in Europe under the name the Honor 8 Pro. What matters though is what you’re getting, not what it’s called, and what you’re getting with the Honor 8 Pro is a flagship package at a less-than-flagship price.
The Honor 8 Pro packs more flagships specs than some flagships and looks every bit as good as phones that cost a couple of hundred dollars more. Admittedly, there’s a bit of a resemblance to the iPhone 7 Plus going on, but the Honor 8 Pro very much follows in the design footprints of last year’s Honor V8 and this year’s Huawei P10.
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The Honor 8 Pro has a nice matte metal finish, available in three different colors. I picked up a Navy Blue unit but there’s also a Midnight Black and Platinum Gold option. The fingerprint scanner mounted on the rear is nice and fast and can be used for Huawei’s navigation gestures as well as to lock down sensitive apps or files.
Up front there’s a massive 5.7-inch screen with QHD resolution covered by Gorilla Glass 3. If you’re wondering just how large the Honor 8 Pro is, it’s a handful, but it’s almost exactly the same size as the Nexus 6P. But due to its gently curved edges it doesn’t feel quite as big in the hand.
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On the bottom, there’s a single speaker along with USB Type-C and the now-endangered 3.5 mm headphone port. Up top there’s an IR blaster and on the right hand edge you’ll find a textured power button underneath the volume rocker. All this is encased in a metal chassis that’s less than 7 mm thick.
The Honor 8 Pro feels exactly the same on the software front as the Huawei Mate 9 and P10.
The Honor 8 Pro is running Android Nougat with EMUI 5.1 on top, and feels exactly the same on the software front as the Huawei Mate 9 and P10. There’s not much point going into too much detail on the software if you’ve seen any other recent Huawei or Honor review, but suffice it to say that’s its clean, fluid and very well equipped.
We’ve got a comprehensive rundown of everything new in EMUI 5 if you want more info, but you’ll find the same fully featured settings menu with plenty of customization options, app twin for running multiple instances of Facebook or WhatsApp on your phone, App Lock and File Safe for sensitive stuff, night mode, do not disturb and all the rest. But the main thing to know is that there’s an option for adding the app drawer and you’ll also get Google Assistant.
Part of the Honor 8 Pro’s software fluidity comes down to its specs sheet. It’s powered by the Kirin 960, the chipset found in both the Huawei Mate 9 and P10 series – two of Huawei’s top-tier device lines right now. That’s backed up by 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage with microSD expansion in a hybrid SIM card tray. All that is kept running by a 4,000 mAh battery with support for Quick Charge. Unfortunately, Huawei’s excellent Supercharge battery tech is not included.
The Honor 8 Pro is powered by the Kirin 960, backed up by 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and a 4,000 mAh battery.
Nevertheless, Honor claims it’ll get you through two days of moderate usage and a day and a half of heavy use. Of course, we’ll let you know how those claims stack up in the full review. Another thing we’ll be keeping an eye on is the machine learning algorithm that is designed to learn your usage habits and open your favorite apps a lot faster.
According to Honor this results in a phone that, after 500 days, is 80% as fast as it was on the day you unboxed it, compared to just 50% efficiency after the same time period on other Android phones. Honor claims the CPU performance has increased by 18 percent and GPU performance by an impressive 180 percent. The company even partnered with the developers behind Galaxy on Fire 3 to bump up the frame rate (to 30 fps) and produce an optimized color palette for the game.
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One of the coolest parts of the Honor 8 Pro unboxing experience will be when you realize there’s a cardboard VR viewer included as part of the packaging. Take your Honor 8 Pro out of the box, remove the charging ephemera and paperwork and you’ll find two lenses for the viewer that sits in the bottom part of the box. Assemble it yourself and dive right in to the VR experience with the Jaunt VR app that’s pre-loaded on the phone.
There’s even a cardboard VR viewer included as part of the packaging with the Jaunt VR app pre-loaded.
Speaking of pre-loaded apps, there’s not a lot bloat on the phone either, just Twitter, Instagram, Opera browser, Jaunt VR, booking.com and Trip Advisor along with a few games. All of these can be easily uninstalled if you’re not into them.
Moving onto the camera, you’ll get twin 12 MP shooters, one RGB sensor for color and another monochrome one for detail, just like on the Huawei P10. There’s no Leica branding here but as we’ve found with other non-Leica Huawei cameras recently, the image processing is similar nonetheless. What this means is an excellent camera on a more affordable smartphone.
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There’s a laser auto-focus module discreetly hidden above and below the “Dual Lens” branding on the camera glass. Honor promises a camera app that launches 15.3 percent faster with a 4.3 percent faster shooting time and you can see just how fast it is by quickly pressing the volume down button twice to instantly launch the camera and shoot a photo. Both lenses have an f/2.2 aperture and the monochrome sensor apparently lets in three times more light than its predecessor.
The Honor 8 pro has dual 12 MP cameras – one RGB and one monochrome – with f/2.2 aperture, an 8 MP front-facing camera and 4K video.
There’s also a wide aperture mode that lets you fake that fancy Bokeh background that DSLRs are capable of and while it’s not perfect it can produce some pretty impressive results on occasion. Photos taken in wide aperture mode can also have their focal point changed after the fact. It’s fun if not entirely useful. You’ve also got access to the full suite of preset modes with even more downloadable options. The Honor 8 Pro has a decent 8 MP front-facing camera too.
The Honor 8 Pro shoots video in 4K but you’ll only be able to enjoy the benefit of image stabilization in Full HD video at 30 fps. Bump that up to 60 fps or 4K resolution and you’ll need steady hands. Wide aperture mode also works in video, so you can shoot video with shallow depth of field too. Videos are encoded with the H.265 codec, producing files half the size of H.264: definitely a bonus for anyone wanting to shoot lots of 4K video.
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What all this adds up to is a phone that’s every bit the equal of high end Huawei phones on the specs front. While it’s only a little bit cheaper than the Huawei Mate 9, it’s still a couple hundred dollars less than the likes of the LG G6. The Honor 8 Pro is up for pre-order now with general availability in the UK and Europe on or around April 20 for £475 or €549. It’ll only be available online via VMall.
What all this adds up to is a phone that’s every bit the equal of high end Huawei phones on the specs front.
As those currencies no doubt give away, the Honor 8 Pro most likely won’t be making it to the US. But if history is any indication, the Honor 9 will arrive sometime in the middle of the year and it’ll have essentially the same specs as the Honor 8 Pro, just with a smaller display and the addition of Leica branding on the camera. It’ll likely come in at around the $450-$500 price point.
Meanwhile, Honor has announced a beta program for US customers, so hopefully that’ll tide you over with a little more representation on the software front. If you’re lucky you’ll also get to test new hardware products slated for release in the coming years. Check out the link for further details if you’d like to apply to become a beta tester.
Source: ANDRIOD AUTHORITY