Honor 4X Review: A value for money budget Android phablet

With a new budget smartphone launching in a week, it’s quite tough for consumers to settle on one and even tougher for manufacturers to deliver a product that leaves an expression in the market. Having said that Huawei, the Chinese tech giant which has smartphones in various categories recently launched two new devices; Honor 4X and Honor 6 Plus in budget and mid-range category. Today we are reviewing the budget offering- Honor 4X, which is a 5.5 inch phablet with some decent specifications. Let’s check out how this device fares among the myriad of other contenders.

Honor 4X is a 5.5 inch phablet with plastic construction

Big, sturdy but a bit boring design

Honor 4X is a thick (8.9 mm) rectangular bar. The unit we got has the black texture at the back which is better than those glossy back panels of various affordable offerings and also adds a grip to the overall design. The smartphone is made of plastic but actually feels much less plasticky than the Redmi Note 4G.

The volume rockers and power/standby button are placed on the right hand side whereas the left edge is completely clean. The regular 3.5mm audio jack is provided on the top and the micro USB charging port rests at the bottom. The speaker unit placed at the bottom edge delivers satisfactory audio. The removable back panel houses the 3000 mAh battery unit, SIM card slots that supports 4G connectivity and a micro SD card slot.

Overall we found the design sturdy but nothing sort of different. It’s the same usual design that can fade in the crowd of affordable smartphones.

The 5.5 inch HD screen is sharp and display natural colors

Decent 720p 5.5 inch display but without any protection

Honor 4X features a 5.5-inch 1280 x 720 pixel display. This accounts to a pixel density of 267ppi, which we have seen earlier in Redmi Note 4G and Yu’s Yureka. The display is sharp, have good color reproduction which makes pictures, videos look quite colorful and vivid. And unlike Yureka’s display which have a bluish tone to it, the display on Honor 4X outputs more natural colors.

However it is bit reflective in direct sunlight because of average viewing angles and does not integrate any sort of protection layer. Micromax and Xiaomi has managed to provide Gorilla Glass 3 protection in Yureka and Redmi Note 4G even at a lower price point. Honor 4X clearly disappoints in this department.

Hardware and Software performance

Backed by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 CPU and 2 GB RAM, Honor 4X serves the tasks well. There were no delays in application loading and smartphone also performs well during multitasking. We did not encounter any issues with whatsoever applications we tried on the phablet. And with the integrated Adreno 306 graphics, the phablet alsp did well in gaming.

Honor 4X runs on Emotion UI 3.0 over Android 4.4.4 Kitkat which like does not have an app drawer, like Xiaomi MIUI and OPPO’s ColorOS. The UI has flat icons, widgets and a pleasing colour palette which looks quite good. You can also change the look of the UI with the in-built Theme Engine.

The rear camera is better than Moto G second generation and click good pictures

 Acceptable but not the best in class camera performance

Huawei Honor 4X is equipped with a 13MP rear and a 2MP front camera. The interface is minimal and the various modes such as Panorama, HDR, audio note, Best photo, etc. and effects can be accessed with right and left swipes. We found the interface quite similar to the one we have seen on Xiaomi smartphones.

Talking about the image quality, the pictures shot in day-light conditions are not the best we have seen in this price bracket but still does well in detailing and colors. You can enhance them with the help of in-built filters before posting them on our social feeds. The in-door pictures have noise but the LED flash is very powerful and works well in capturing shots in absence of light.

We liked the ultra-snapshot mode which speeds up the process of taking a snapshot. You can take a quick photograph by double clicking the volume up button even if the phone is locked. It comes quite handy if you don’t want to miss a precious moment. Then you have All Focus which lets you focus a subject after taking a shot, HDR, Panorama, etc.

The 3000 mAh battery on Honor 4X delivers good battery life than its competitiors

Solid call quality and Decent Battery life

We did not encounter any issues with the call quality on the smartphone. There were no call drops and the audio unit delivers clear and loud sound.

Honor 4X is backed by a 3000 mAh battery unit, which despite a heavy usage survived for more than a day. We used the device for calling, browsing, social networking and also watched videos and played games for a while but it still managed to last for 26 hours. If you are not a power user, you can easily get a two day’s back-up on this smartphone.

We also ran our standard video playback test (HD video at 50% brightness and sound) and the smartphone lasted for 7 hours. It is better than the Yureka and Redmi Note 4G.

Honor 4X Review