Smartphone Honor 8S - advantages and disadvantages

The line of Honor smartphones was replenished with another model - on April 23, Honor 8S was introduced. Despite the addition of "S", which usually means "speed" (speed), the novelty is not the most powerful, on the contrary, it is weaker than its predecessors - Honor 8A with average performance and Honor 8C with high performance.

In the article you will learn about what the recently appeared model of the budget segment is, its main technical characteristics, functionality, performance. And also the review will orient on the price and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the model.

Brief information about Honor

Huawei, after releasing another smartphone called Honor in 2011, thought about creating a sub-brand of the same name, the customer focus of which would be aimed at young consumers. Already in 2013, Honor began its work under the leadership of Ren Zhengfei.

Focusing on young consumers was a great solution: after all, smartphones did not need large advertising costs, since social networks and other methods of communication via the Internet were the main way to promote the brand, and sales were carried out through online stores. Thanks to significant savings on advertising, Honor was able to offer buyers a decent phone at a reasonable price.

The popularity of Honor models began to grow after the first released smartphone, which had very impressive characteristics at a low cost. The background blur function is no surprise now, and it was Honor who became one of the first to use this innovation in 2014, releasing its second model.

Now smartphones are actively advertised by ambassadors and celebrities, and the company continues to create a very worthy product at a low cost.

Review of the smartphone Honor 8S

How much does Honor 8S cost?

A smartphone in a single modification, with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, can be purchased for 8,490 rubles. Please note that the memory can be expanded up to 512 GB using a microSD card.

Main parameters and their characteristics

Equipment

The buyer will receive a turquoise box containing:

• A smartphone with a pasted protective film, but without a protective case;
• Charging at 1A;
• Metal clip to open the memory card slot and SIM cards;
• Warranty card. Smartphone warranty 1 year;
• USB to micro USB cable, cord length is 100 cm.

Design and ergonomics

Honor 8S can be purchased in three colors: blue, black and gold. The back panel is made of polycarbonate and has a multi-layer surface with double texture. The cover looks very nice and interesting: the right side is made of rough matte plastic, and the left one has a glossy smooth finish, on which the rear camera is located in the upper area. Below the camera is an LED flash, and below the company logo.

On the front surface in the middle there is a drop-shaped cutout where the front camera is installed. Above the camera there is a grille for a speaking microphone, a light and proximity sensor, at the bottom there is a small chin with the Honor logo, and virtual navigation buttons.The headphone jack is on the top, the microphone, microUSB port and speaker are on the bottom. The volume rocker and the power button are located on the right side, on the left is a slot for a memory card and SIM cards.

The device is very comfortable to use: the velvety back panel prevents slipping, and its compact size does not create discomfort.

Despite the declared compactness, the phone looks bulky. Manufacturers got rid of the bangs, making a teardrop-shaped cutout for the camera, but left rather wide frames and a chin with a logo.

Display

Honor 8S is equipped with a 5.71-inch HD+ capacitive LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 1520 pixels. The stretched display has an aspect ratio of 19:9, where the area is 81.4 cm2, and the screen-to-body ratio is 78.1%. The pixel density is 295 per inch.

The screen is protected from cracks, chips and scratches by special 2.5D glass. Also included is TÜV Rheinland-certified eye protection, which reduces eye strain by reducing UV levels.

The budget screen has a good margin of brightness, does not fade at angles and does not show any special "looseness". But the color reproduction is very weak: this screen is not suitable for viewing high-quality content or for enjoying high-quality game graphics.

Camera and its features

The smartphone has two cameras: one front and one rear:

1. The main camera has a resolution of 13 megapixels and f / 1.8 aperture, there is an LED flash and phase detection autofocus. The video resolution is 1920x1080 pixels, recording is possible in Full HD. The image resolution is 4160x3120 pixels.The camera can create a bokeh effect when the portrait mode is enabled.
2. The front camera with a resolution of 5 megapixels has an aperture of f/2.2. Image resolution is 2560x1920 pixels, video - 1920x1080 pixels. The camera, thanks to artificial intelligence, can improve the quality of the photos taken using the beautification function.

How does the device take pictures?

Despite the f/1.8 aperture of the rear camera, a cheap sensor and a plastic lens do not allow the device to show good results:

• Weak detail, to get sharpness, the smartphone needs help in focusing.
• Color rendition also leaves much to be desired. If the image is satisfactory when shooting outdoors, then the quality of the photo is very poor indoors.
• This camera is not suitable for photography at night. The image is blurry and fuzzy.
• Support for the Full HD format also does not give good results: the video has low detail, there is no stabilization.
• Beautification mode in the front camera helps to smooth out facial imperfections, but the picture is still fuzzy and a little blurry.

Sample photo taken on Honor 8S

Here you can see how the device takes pictures at night and in the sun.

Unlock

The screen can be unlocked using the power button, which is located on the right side. You can also turn on the face detection mode, which recognizes 1024 points in a second and a half, even in low light.

CPU

The Honor 8S is powered by a budget Mediatek MT6761 Helio A22 quad-core single-chip processor, with a 12 nanometer process technology. Four Cortex-A53 cores run at 2000 MHz.

The processor supports NeuroPilot technology and has special sensors that consume a minimum amount of energy. In Geekbench, the Mediatek MT6761 scores 830 in single-threaded mode and 2400 in multi-threaded mode.

To perform everyday work tasks, performance will be enough: applications open quickly enough. But when switching between applications, the smartphone starts to slow down. Also, the device is not fast enough for active games with high demands. But still they can be run at the lowest settings, thanks to an optimization algorithm that has increased the performance level.

There is no overheating protection. Therefore, after prolonged use, the phone heats up.

Responsible for graphics graphics video chipset PowerVR GE8320, operating at a frequency of 650 MHz.

Operating system and memory

The smartphone has an operating system Android 9.0 Pie with a proprietary shell EMUI 9.0 lite. Among the many advantages of this firmware, the following can be distinguished:

• Simple control and minimalistic design;
• High speed application launch and system response;
• Increased overall performance;
• GPU Turbo 2.0 technology, which optimally distributes application resources to improve game quality, control temperature and reduce delay during touch;
• The ability to recognize faces and create a hotel video with the right people in the frame;
• Smart shopping mode and personal assistant;
• Ability to print without additional devices;
• In system navigation, you can choose to control three virtual navigation buttons or gestures.

Sound

The Honor 8S has one multimedia speaker that produces loud but not enough sound quality.This is not a disadvantage, since the quality is quite expected for a model in this price segment. And the built-in conversational speaker, which provides active noise reduction, perfectly conveys the voice of the interlocutor. There is a dedicated 3.5mm jack for connecting headphones.

autonomy

The 8S has a 3020 mAh non-removable lithium-ion battery. Despite the low capacity, the device is able to maintain offline mode for quite a long time. Thanks to good optimization, with standard use of the phone, the charge will last for a day and a half. You can also increase the duration of the work using the ultra saving mode, which turns the phone into a regular “dialer”, but at the same time saves battery. This model does not have a quick charge function, the charge time will be 2 hours.

Communication and connections

Honor 8S supports 3G, 2G and 4G bands and technologies:

• HSPAN;
• LTE;
• GSM;
• HSDPA;
• GPRS;
• EDGE.

There is also support for:

• Bluetooth 5.0 with LE and A2DP codecs;
• GPS navigation with GLONASS and A-GPS;
• Single-band Wi-Fi 802.11 with b, g and n operating standards;
• Wi-Fi Direct and hotspot;
• FM radio and microUSB 2.0 connector.

Advantages and disadvantages of a smartphone

• glued protective film;
• beautiful appearance;
• cover material prevents slipping of hands;
• protective glass 2.5D;
• eye protection;
• good viewing angles and a sufficient supply of brightness;
• budget processor that provides optimal daily operation of the smartphone;
• good firmware for low-cost devices with additional features;
• the ability to unlock the screen using the face recognition function;
• gesture control.

• there is no protective case included;
• wide frames and the presence of a "chin";
• poor color rendition;
• poor quality of photos and videos;
• lack of NFC.

Conclusion

Honor 8S will be a good friend for those who do not pursue high-quality pictures, high performance, the presence of various additional functions and high-quality sound reproduction. In general, it would be strange to expect such high performance from the budget model. And for its price, the Honor 8S is a great option.

If NFC, a more powerful processor, a larger screen size and a fingerprint scanner are important to you, then you should pay attention to the Honor 8A, which costs 9990 rubles.