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Honor 50 evaluation: Honor’s again, and what’s outdated is new once more
MSRP $615.00
“The Honor 50 represents the newly unbiased model’s return to Android telephones with Google Cellular Companies onboard. Whereas that is massive, the remainder of the telephone does not really feel particularly contemporary, regardless of the mad coloration scheme and end.”
Execs
Lovely 120Hz AMOLED display screen
Quick charging
Light-weight and sensibly sized
Enjoyable video modes with simple modifying
Cons
No wi-fi charging
No water resistance
Single speaker
Comebacks are surprisingly frequent in cell tech, with Nokia, BlackBerry, and even Palm all returning after a interval away — to various levels of success. Honor, as soon as owned by Huawei, is the most recent established title to come back again. It technically didn’t go away, although, because it was simply offered off by Huawei for an opportunity to thrive by itself.
Since then, Honor has struck offers with Google, Qualcomm, and several other different firms that at the moment can’t work with Huawei. Because of this not solely is Honor again, it now has Google Cellular Companies. The Honor 50 is its first smartphone to come back with Google Play and all different anticipated apps and providers, so this looks like a brand new begin. Alternatively, Honor might nonetheless be attempting to grasp its personal id after spending so lengthy coupled up.
Design
The model of the Honor 50 you’re in our pictures is the “Code” particular version, and it’s all the things I wish to see from an Honor telephone. The corporate has usually included placing reflective rear panel designs, and that is most likely its brightest and most eye-catching but. The H, O, N, and R letters give the design depth and sparkle in several shades of silver and blue, relying on the angle and the lighting. I believe it appears to be like glorious, but when it’s not for you, the telephone additionally is available in black, inexperienced, or a barely extra refined, sparkly tone referred to as Frost Crystal.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
It’s skinny at slightly below 8mm and really gentle at 175 grams. This, together with the curved display screen and modest 74mm width, makes it very simple to carry and use with one hand. The curve is sort of dramatic and is just a little sharp whenever you grip the telephone tightly. Construct high quality is great, with the glass display screen and rear panel becoming flush with the metallic chassis. The stadium formed, dual-level digital camera housing, which has twin round modules on the again, actually matches in with the Code’s reflective letter O design as properly.
Sure, the Honor 50 comes with Google Cellular Companies onboard
The Honor 50 appears to be like glorious, isn’t heavy, is properly made, and is available in a wide range of uncommon colours for individuals who wish to make a press release with their telephone. Nevertheless, in the event you’ve seen and held the Honor 30 Professional, then you definately’ve additionally seen and held the Honor 50, as the 2 are intently associated in relation to dimension and form.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
One different factor is that, for Honor’s discuss of the telephone representing its “Independence Day” and its particular break up from Huawei, the similarity in design and specification between the Honor 50 and the brand new Huawei Nova 9 is placing. It received’t do a lot to persuade anybody the 2 are firmly and at last divorced.
Digicam
A 108-megapixel predominant digital camera leads the present on the Honor 50, and it’s joined by an 8MP wide-angle digital camera and a pair of 2MP macro and depth cameras. The selfie digital camera has 32 megapixels and a 90-degree viewing angle. Honor is pushing the digital camera system as one for aspiring vloggers and has included a number of completely different video modes that make the most of all of the cameras on the identical time.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
First, let’s discuss stills. The 108MP digital camera may be very light-sensitive. In a wide range of conditions, it’ll below or overexpose pictures, and the wide-angle digital camera is even worse. On a brighter, sunnier day, the pictures are higher, however some will dislike the way in which it oversaturates blue skies. I don’t thoughts; it actually makes the pictures pop, and I want that to the miserable tone of the pictures taken when the solar wasn’t shining.
Look intently, although, and the pictures can lack element — there’s proof of extreme processing, too. On a extra constructive word, I like the alternatives of Portrait and Aperture modes, which add a bokeh impact to both folks or objects. Plus, the sting recognition is stable.
The multi-camera video modes shoot with two cameras on the identical time, so you possibly can create video mixtures with the principle rear digital camera and the selfie digital camera, together with simultaneous recording, a picture-in-picture window, and different mixtures. It’s a gimmick, however it does work. Though, the interface is a bit cumbersome and sluggish, so that you’ll want some persistence to grasp the controls.
It’s not one thing I’d personally use exterior of the evaluation, however it actually can be enjoyable in massive teams whenever you wish to seize all the things that’s occurring round you. There’s additionally a really easy-to-use modifying suite, which makes making a remaining clip fully in your telephone easy. The Honor 50 helps Bluetooth headsets within the video mode, so you need to use these to file sound moderately than the interior microphone — which ought to end in higher audio, particularly when capturing at a distance. Oddly, the Honor 50 solely information video in 16:9 or 21:9, however it does assist 4K at 30 frames per second (fps).
The Honor 50’s nonetheless digital camera hasn’t impressed me a lot
There’s enjoyable available with the Honor 50’s video digital camera, however provided that you’re dabbling on this planet of vlogging. Anybody extra formidable or skilled will shortly need extra, because it solely information in 1080p at 30fps in multi-cam mode. I’m unsure it’ll get used fairly often by the typical particular person capturing video, although. The Honor 50’s nonetheless digital camera hasn’t impressed me a lot, however software program refinement could enhance its capacity over time.
Software program
Sure, the Honor 50 comes with Google Cellular Companies onboard. This implies it has the Google Play Retailer, Gmail, Google Maps, Messages, and all the opposite anticipated apps. Plus, you signal into your Google account throughout setup so you need to use Google’s cloud providers. Utilizing the Honor telephone is precisely the identical as utilizing every other Android smartphone in relation to Google integration.
Honor’s personal MagicUI 4.2 is put in over Android 11. Concerning design and structure, it hasn’t modified a lot in comparison with MagicUI 3.1, which was put in on the Honor 30 — this simply has added Google-ness. There are different hints to Honor’s previous, with the always-on display screen sharing the identical customization because the characteristic on Huawei telephones, proper right down to a few of the identical icons and animations. That stated, the always-on display screen is considered one of my favourite elements of MagicUI, because it’s simple to personalize it, and knowledge is clearly proven on the lock display screen.
I haven’t skilled any reliability or app issues with the Honor 50, and notifications have come via with out a difficulty. It has been a gradual associate throughout my time with the telephone.
Display screen and efficiency
The Honor 50’s display screen is precisely what we would like from a mid-range telephone as we speak: it’s an AMOLED panel with a switchable 60Hz or 120Hz refresh price; has a 2340 x 1080-pixel decision and 300Hz contact sampling; and it’s colourful, dynamic, and responsive.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
It even manages to check very favorably with the most recent Google Pixel 6 Professional, exhibiting the identical eye-popping colours with a barely hotter tone — at the least with the Vivid setting lively. It’s additionally doable to tweak the display screen’s temperature or choose a mode with sRGB or DC-P3 coloration maps if it’s to not your liking. Jo Yuri’s Glassy video jumps off the display screen, however the telephone loses factors for its single speaker on the underside of the telephone.
Honor has fitted the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor with a 5G modem, and my evaluation mannequin has 6GB of RAM. It’s a quick performer, however the working system by no means feels snappy, and I’ve discovered it could possibly stumble when closing video games and different power-intensive apps. That is presumably a software program optimization problem moderately than a scarcity of processing guts. Honor’s personal GPU Turbo X tweaks make it nice for gaming, and I’ve loved Asphalt 9: Legends so much, significantly as a result of the telephone is gentle to carry and the display screen is gorgeous. It’s a disgrace it doesn’t have stereo audio system to essentially shut out its media capacity.
Battery and charging
I used to be just a little apprehensive the 4,300mAh battery wouldn’t be highly effective sufficient to last more than a day, however the Snapdragon 778G and MagicUI have to be pretty conservative with power. With regular use, I might swap the telephone off in a single day and it’d have sufficient juice to final the subsequent day. This was particularly spectacular, as I exploit the telephone with the 120Hz refresh price lively on a regular basis.
Andy Boxall/Digital Traits
The 66W SuperCharge quick charging is established Honor expertise and really welcome. It zapped the battery to 70% in 22 minutes, which is greater than sufficient for a single day’s use. Sadly, there’s no wi-fi charging — a characteristic I’d take into account commonplace on most mid-to-upper vary telephones as we speak.
Value and availability
The Honor 50 prices 529 euros or about $615 for the 6GB/128GB mannequin, or 599 euros/$695 for the 8GB/256GB mannequin. It will likely be able to order from Honor on November 4. Honor’s plans for a large launch aren’t clear but, so don’t count on it to come back to the U.S. anytime quickly. It may be imported from the U.Okay. or Europe in the event you’re eager.
Our take
The Honor 50 embodies the phrase “all the things outdated is new once more,” as regardless of Honor’s new starting as an unbiased model, the Honor 50 feels very acquainted. The telephone’s form is mainly the identical because the Honor 30 Professional, simply with a distinct digital camera mannequin design. MagicUI 4.2 is similar as older variations of the software program, besides with Google added. Even the 66W SuperCharge characteristic is a carry-over from its Huawei days.
Don’t take these as a unfavorable; the quick charging is great, the software program is dependable, and the design is fashionable and enjoyable. However it does really feel just a little like enterprise as regular for Honor, and I wished to see one thing completely brand-new from the corporate. Possibly this may come later, and in that case, the Honor 50 serves an excellent re-introduction to how the model delivers competent, fairly, however not all the time excellent smartphones.
This lack of true newness presents one drawback, although: in the course of the time Honor has been away, the cell market has modified, and there are much more telephones across the identical value because the Honor 50 that present higher worth and talent. Sure, Google is again onboard, however that simply places the Honor 50 on the identical degree as many different telephones once more. Whereas it’s excellent news for Honor as a model, it doesn’t set the telephone aside from the remaining.
Is there a greater various?
Sure; check out both the OnePlus Nord 2 5G or the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G. Each are barely cheaper than the Honor 50, however you don’t sacrifice something when it comes to performance or efficiency. In case you’re exterior the U.S., the Realme GT or GT Neo2 must also be thought-about. The $449 Google Pixel 5a is price investigating in order for you an excellent digital camera, and at $599, the brand new Google Pixel 6 additionally challenges the Honor 50.
In case you’re not set on an Android telephone, check out the $699 Apple iPhone 13 Mini. As an Android various in the identical value vary, the OnePlus 9 combines an excellent display screen, quick charging, an improved digital camera, and nice software program into a reasonably design.
How lengthy will it final?
We’re checking in with Honor about its software program replace dedication. To be aggressive, it must ship at the least two years of main model updates and three years of safety updates. The Honor 50 doesn’t have water resistance and isn’t a rugged telephone, so there’s a danger of damaging it in the event you’re unfortunate.
There’s something else to contemplate, and that’s the discuss of Honor discovering its approach on to the U.S.’s Entity Listing, which might prohibit Google, Qualcomm, and others from working with it. That is the affliction Huawei sought to beat by promoting Honor, and whereas it’s solely a obscure menace for the time being and will not have an effect on the Honor 50 straight, it’s an unknown which will damage the model’s plan for broad international reintroduction.
Must you purchase it?
No. Whereas the Honor 50 is completely acceptable, it doesn’t set itself aside from the competitors with a noteworthy characteristic and is lacking some necessities that may be discovered on different telephones for the same value.
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