What's good
- Price
- Bright, clear display
- Multi-function fingerprint scanner
- Fast camera with loads of options
What's bad
- So-so performance
- EMUI is a personal preference
- No NFC
- Easily blocked bottom-firing speaker
As a spin-off of Huawei focused on affordable yet upscale phones, the Honor series of phones have had decent success. The Honor 7 is billed as a flagship contender at a fraction of the price. While the specifications are impressive, how does it work in real world usage?
Let’s see what reviewers across the Internet are saying!
The phone looks like a mash-up of the Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S series. Rounded corners, beveled edges and a seamless front glass create an upscale appearance while the aluminum shell on the rear adds further refinement and comfort.
PC Advisor UK spend time with the phone and said, “The metal body looks like phones which cost twice the price.” More worried about comfort than looks? Digital Trends noted, “It has proper feel to it, and sits perfectly in your hand, where you cradle a smooth and cool-to-the-touch aluminum back panel.”
Flipping around to the front, you’ll find a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display. Reviews on the screen were positive--though some noted issues with the phone’s automatic brightness control. PC Advisor UK said, “The IPS screen looks nice and crisp with popping colours and decent brightness available should you need it.”
To help you make the most of the screen, the phone is powered by an eight-core Kirin 935 Processor and 3GB of RAM. Reviews on phone performance are hit or miss. For daily tasks, reviewers had no problem. PC Advisor UK described the phone as “delightfully smooth.” However, when pushing the phone with complex games or heavy multi-tasking, things weren’t so good. Digital Trends noted, “Delving into some games revealed the Honor 7 struggles for raw power. Using the phone for everyday situations, this lack of guts was never an issue.”
While the Kirin chipset might have issues with high performance use, reviews found that it was great on battery life. Reviewers applauded the life from the 3,100mAh battery in the Honor 7. Coolsmartphone used it as their daily driver for a week and found, “[it] lasted the entire day with change to spare.”
The phone is available with either 16 or 64GB of internal storage. Regardless of your choice, you’ll find a microSD card slot with support for capacities up to 128GB to let you download apps, movies and music without worrying about space.
The phone ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop and Huawei is rolling out over-the-air updates to Marshmallow 6.0 in select regions. Huawei’s iOS-esque EMUI always divides reviewers. While this new version--EMUI 3.1--was no different, Digital Trends noted, “Huawei’s EMUI has come a long way from the disasters of old, and is getting closer to Samsung and LG’s approach to an Android skin: more Android, less nonsense.”
If you’re looking for a competent camera phone, reviews indicate that the 20MP rear camera and 8MP front-facing lens are up to the task. You’ll find a few goodies, including phase detection autofocus on the rear lens and a front-facing flash to help you capture images. Digital trends tested the camera and said, “It takes pictures you’ll want to keep and look at again.” TechRadar was similarly impressed, saying, “During the process of taking photos with the Honor 7, and when viewing the results, I was very pleasantly surprised.”
Lastly, there’s the fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone. Reviews indicate that is offers snappy, accurate performance. The scanner also doubles as a multi-feature button and reviewers loved the added control.
Overall, if you’re not looking for a powerhouse, reviews were great. Android Pit declared, “With a spectacularly low price, this phone delivers in all the key areas: looks, camera, battery and performance.” Digital Trends was more conservative, saying, “While it’s actually damn good in some areas, it’s not the perfect budget phone but we were hoping for in others.”
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Shu On Kwok, AndroidPITThe Honor 7 could have been the star of the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In many excellent ways it's a smaller Ascend Mate 7. It's also a great upgrade from the Honor 6, thanks to the addition of the finger scanner, metal chassis and Quick Start button, not to mention its all-new specs sheet.
- Chris Martin, Tech AdvisorHonor has once again impressed us with a flagship smartphone at an outrageous price. For under £250 you get a lot of phone for your money. Performance is good with the main camera and fingerprint sensors being the highlights on the hardware side. Emotion UI isn't our favourite Android skin but...
- Andy Boxall, Digital TrendsThe Honor 7 is affordable, but too weak to play many mobile games.
- Debashis Sarkar, The Indian ExpressFor starters, the Honor 7 comes with a brilliant display. It has the exact combination of brightness, contrast and colours to make things look original. Also, the viewing angles are good and adaptive brightness works well. Visibility is also not a problem in sunlight. Honor 7’s 20MP rear camer...
- Ali Pardiwala, NDTVHuawei has used its Honor range to successfully market quality products at competitive prices for a while now, and the online-exclusive strategy has resulted in some success. The Honor 7 is a beautiful device that embodies everything that a flagship smartphone should be. It has the right specificati...
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Common Questions
We've got you covered! Download a free PDF copy of the Huawei Honor 7 user manual here.
Huawei backs up the Honor 7 with a 1 Year parts & labour warranty.
If your Honor 7 has problems and is still within its warranty period, you could contact Huawei support or the retailer you purchased the phone from. You'll find Huawei's contact information here. If your phone is off warranty and needs repair for a physical problem such as a broken screen or bad battery, you should visit an authorized service centre or a local phone repair shop. You can also connect with others in The Informr Community Forum to find and share answers to questions.
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