Honor 5X: Unoriginal

Nevertheless, Honor 5X is a clear attempt by Huawei to garner mass appeal, and by the looks of it they will achieve it as well since the Honor 5X is indeed a very good package deal, says Himanshu Juneja

Huawei got a huge boost to its image when it got to manufacture the premium version of Google Nexus. While Google gained from Huawei's expertise of playing with low margin costs, Huawei was able to take the next step in building its image.

So, it is imperative that whatever steps Huawei takes from now on, is in line with its growing image perception. And seems like the Honor 5X will leave a good lasting impression.

A budget segment offering with metal build, crisp display, large battery and an effective camera, the phone seems to have all the bases well covered. Let's see how the phone fares out when tested properly.

Construction

One look at the Honor 5X, and it is obvious that Huawei has tried to impress but without being original. The inspirations from established handset manufacturers are quite apparent. This is not to say that Huawei has done a bad job at blending the strong points together. 

The brushed aluminium back and the sleek profile combine together to give a nod in HTC's direction, and understandably, the overall quality is not in the same league. The phone still exudes a premium feel though. The chamfered edges, and the drilled holes and screws at the bottom are clearly from Apple's way of doing things. The earpiece grille is a reminder of a company which goes by the name of Samsung.

With the phone weighing 158 grams, the overall light feel even after metal construction was a bit odd, and this worked against providing a solid feel when held.

The top side of the phone sports the 3.5 mm audio jack, and the bottom edge plays host to the MicroUSB port and the two speaker grills (only one works as a loudspeaker though). The right edge has the power and volume keys, whereas the left edge has the dual trays for the micro SIM cards and microSD card.

It was a massive bonus to find the finger print scanner at the back of a budget phone. The rear camera protrudes slightly and this may be annoying for some.

Display

The 5.5-inch display impresses right from the beginning. It is not a class leading display, but is capable to hold its ground against the best. The IPS category display ensures good viewing angles, and the 1080 x 1920p resolution makes the display all the more joy to operate.

An impressive pixel density of 401 ppi means crisp text on the bright display.

Huawei thoughtfully included the option to alter the colour temperature via settings, but the installed screen protector makes life less easier as it is a fingerprint magnet. Apart from that, the display is one of the big plus with the handset.

Specifications

The handset is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC. The Octacore set up involves a Quad core Cortex A53 (clocked at 1.5 GHz) and another Quad core Cortex A53 (clocked at 1.2 GHz).

There is 2 GB of RAM and Adreno 405 for GPU. The onboard storage is a decent 16 GB, and users can further expand this by another 128 GB via microSD card.

Connectivity

Huawei did well to keep both SIMs 4G enabled. There is the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n option, and the dual band WiFi is a clear omission. The rest are the expected connectivity features like Bluetooth (ver 4.1), GPS with AGPS and GLONASS, and FM radio.

While it was great to see the FM option, the missing NFC clearly spells cost cutting. The regular microUSB instead of USB Type C port also is a reminder of the budget offering, but very much understandable.

Operating system

The Honor 5X comes running on the Android Lollipop (5.1.1) OS, with its own custom skin EMUI (ver 3.1) on top. To compliment the handset, the company has supplied the best EMUI version yet, but there are some quirks which have slipped in as well.

The notification area has been designed neatly with time stamps and a sideways flick takes to quick toggle section. The app drawer is missing, and is now an expected thing from Chinese manufacturers. But what really annoys is the way the apps bombard the users with notifications.

EMUI probably tried a bit too hard to present the users with detailed power consumption analysis, but ended up providing a nightmarish experience as the notifications keep coming up unabated for every app. Thankfully, they have allowed the user to turn notifications off, but the alerts thrown to notify about apps being run annoys again.

The botch up goes a step ahead with the 'Phone Accelerator' test, which prompts turning off of apps which are consuming power. This really is bizarre since Android is already intelligent enough to get this optimisation done. Trying to fix something which is already fixed is never a good idea.

There is ample RAM and processing power with the handset to even entertain such acts. To even ask users to 'optimise' because WiFi has been detected as a threat and a power consuming app, clearly EMUI has a huge issue here. To make matters worse, the third party apps are not allowed to run in the background with the screen turned off. Users can change this via settings, but default option is plain cringe worthy.

Things are made interesting with features like theming options, and shake to align icons, but the resizing of all the icons proves to be a source for discontentment again and leaves less scope to engage with the operating system with a relaxed mind.

Clearly, Huawei tried to do too much, and has allowed a half baked product to hasten a product's release. Next update has to be worthwhile.

Finger print scanner

This may just be one of the major USP of the Honor 5X. The back panel carries a Finger print scanner, and even though there is no NFC onboard, it still can come in pretty handy.

The scanner is usually good, but the performance of the scanner is a hit or a miss at times. Maybe the relatively small size of the scanner has something to do with it, and EMUI has another little chink to erase when it refreshes itself via the next update.

One thing that Honor 5X does neatly is, allow the user to execute some actions via the scanner itself. User can swipe upwards to launch the recently used apps screen, while swiping downward opens up the notification centre. A tap will lead straight to previous screen, and a tap+hold will mimic home button functions. All this apart from usual actions like using it to answer calls, take photos, or to put the phone on silent mode.

This may just be the way other manufactures enhance the fingerprint scanner's utilities. Huawei just needs to fine tune the scanner's performance rate.

Performance

The Honor 5X is choc-a-bloc with features, but the performance is not really as smooth as one would have expected. While it is not horrible to use, there is still much work to be done for EMUI's next update.

The phone works smoothly, but the users should be ready to run into the odd stuttering of transition effects or slight delays with the refreshes while switching with the apps. The animations not being as smooth as intended clearly point towards the custom skin trying to do a bit too much behind the scene. Huawei is sure to get better performance if they can lighten up their user interface, and remove the unnecessary apps to 'optimise' Android.

Thankfully, the OS is very much workable, and doesn't allow the phone to heat up. The finger print scanner gives the resume a huge boost. The speaker is just about OK, getting tinny at high volumes.

Camera

The Honor 5X has reasonably impressed us so far, and the camera is something similar. It is not claiming class leading features, but will get the job done. The pictures are clear enough without packing in too many details and do not disappoint under most circumstances.

The rear camera is 13 MP with LED flash, while the wide angled front camera is a 5 MP affair.

The camera app is quick to launch, and attains autofocus readily. The post processing may take a while, but the results come out looking good with a warm tone attached to them. The exposure maybe off on some of the areas, and while using HDR may offset the issue to some extent, the results do not challenge the best in the business.

The front camera takes just about decent selfies, and the presence of noise is much more apparent. Rear camera is also capable of 1080p video capturing, but the results are less impressive than still photography. Missing Optical Image Stabilisation makes one realise its importance, and the exposure issues again crops up. Overall, the videos are just about decent.

While the camera app has lots of options, it clearly been yanked off from Apple iPhones, coming complete with a filter button at the bottom right corner and the swipes to access the various shooting modes. This 'inspiration' may just work in favour of Honor 5X.

Battery

The non removable 3000 mAh battery provides enough juice to power up the phone for more than a day, as users will find the need to charge the phones for the next day's outing. There are three power saving modes provided, and these further enhance the battery pack's stamina. Users can choose from basic optimisations to extremely cutting down on functionalities to gain further back up.

Given the expectations from a budget solution, the presence of a large capacity battery pack was a pleasant surprise. It certainly enabled the phone to keep chugging for a day easily.

Verdict

Honor 5X is a clear attempt by Huawei to garner mass appeal, and by the looks of it they will achieve it as well since the Honor 5X is indeed a very good package deal.

It remains to be seen how polished will be the EMUI's next update. Apart from smoother UI, one can also expect better battery backup and Marshmallow's Doze mode will do its bit as well. Right now, it is definitely a weak point.

For Rs 12,999, the handset covers the important bases while providing a premium looking phone. It provides the users a bit of everything from the essentials list, but the OS is a disappointment. Those who are seeking better OS performance will do well to opt for something like Motorola Moto G3 or even the Moto G Turbo edition.