Honor 8 Pro First Impressions: A Worthy Competitor for OnePlus 5
The first look at the upcoming Honor 8 Pro. dual-camera, 6GB RAM and a 4000mAh battery. OnePlus 5 killer?
The Honor 8 Pro has been launched in India for a price tag of Rs 29,999 for the 6GB RAM 128GB ROM variant. Although, before its official launch I got to spend a couple of hours with the new Honor 8 Pro – and honestly, I wasn’t disappointed.
Design & Display
The Honor 8 Pro sports a full metal design design that’s ergonomically very comfortable to hold in the hands. The 2.5D curved glass on the front makes the phone look premium. The rounded edges do make the phone look like the iPhone 7 but the fingerprint scanner at the back makes it easier the ‘spot the difference’. The display stands at 5.7-inch which comes with 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution. I did struggle with the display under direct sunlight as it was really tough viewing text on the screen.
Processor & Storage
The Honor 8 Pro is running on Huawei’s latest Kirin 960 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM. It’s snappy and quite responsive. Clutter free and minimum bloatware; Honor have kept the phone clean. The phone is running on the latest Android Nougat 7.0 on top of Emotion UI. There is 128GB of on-board storage which you can expand via a microSD card. Honor have collaborated with Gameloft and gaming on the new Honor 8 is very responsive. I played an HD game for about 10 minutes non-stop and the phone didn’t lag at all.
Camera & Battery
The dual camera setup on the Honor 8 Pro is very impressive. It sports a 12+12-megapixel rear camera that shoots videos in 4k as well. The results from the rear camera are very impressive. The front sports an 8-megapixel snapper, which is also good. You have a lot of additional camera modes to play around with on the honor 8 Pro. Battery back-up on the Honor 8 Pro is great. It packs a 4000mAh battery which supports fast charging as well.
Who’s the Competition?
It certainly lands in that segment where it is directly competing with phones like the OnePlus 5. Honor have priced the 8 Pro aggressively at Rs 29,999 which I feel is appropriate pricing for a phone like this. Now, Honor really need to push this smartphone aggressively in the market as I feel it has the potential to become a success in this price category.
(This article is being republished from The Quint’s archive after the launch of Honor 8 Pro in India. It was first published on 23 June 2017.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)