100 MP Camera
Honor 90 Lite Review: Performance within Budget
The Shenzhen based consumer electronics company Honor was founded in 2013 as a sub-brand of Huawei. The brand was sold to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd in November 2020. Honor phones are popular for good features with reasonable pricings. In this wave, Honor has released 90 Lite. Let’s take a look tinto the key specs, pros, cons and price of Honor 90 Lite phone.
Key Features of Honor 90 Lite
Design
The Honor 90 Lite boasts a sleek design, measuring 162.9 mm by 74.5 mm by 7.5 mm and weighing a mere 179g. Its flat sides and large, low-bezel screen provide a generic yet practical front, while the distinctive shimmer of its Black, Silver, or Cyan back panel, coupled with cropped-circle camera bumps, adds a unique touch.
The device features a plastic back with a subtle shine, resembling a fusion of glass and metal. The phone's matte frame houses a USB-C port at the base, a power button/fingerprint scanner combo, and a volume rocker on the right side. On the left, the SIM card tray accommodates dual Nano-SIM cards but lacks SD card support.
Read more: Honor X6a Review: A minimalist budget-friendly phone with standard features
The mono speaker, located next to the USB-C port, can be easily covered during gaming, affecting audio quality. Regrettably, the absence of a headphone jack further diminishes audio options, marking sound as one of the 90 Lite's weaker aspects.
Despite a relatively slender 7.48mm profile, the phone's flat frame, without curved edges, provides a sturdy grip. Notably, Honor has streamlined the packaging, omitting a charger and case but including a pre-fitted screen protector and charging cable.
Display
The Honor 90 Lite features a 6.7-inch IPS LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate, showcasing slim bezels on three sides and a noticeable chin below the screen. The Wide Full HD resolution and 19.9:9 aspect ratio deliver sharp visuals at 1080 by 2388 pixels, providing an immersive viewing experience.
Read more: realme GT5 Review: A gaming phone with high capability
While lacking the deep blacks of OLED panels, the LCD technology offers respectable viewing angles. The smooth 90Hz refresh rate enhances overall display performance. However, the phone's brightness may be insufficient in extremely sunny conditions.
Cameras
The Honor 90 Lite comes equipped with a triple camera setup featuring a 100 MP main lens with an f/1.9 aperture, a 5 MP (f/2.2) ultrawide lens, and a 2 MP (f/2.4) macro lens, accompanied by a depth-sensing lens.
The main lens performs well in optimal lighting conditions, capturing vibrant and sharp photos. However, night mode tends to introduce excessive blurring, and the camera struggles in less-than-ideal lighting.
Read more: Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Is this the best Android phone of 2023?
Notably, the 2 MP macro lens surprisingly produces good quality photos, showcasing detail in close-up shots. The zoom capability, though, falls short, resulting in blurred and less sharp images. Portrait mode works effectively, creating a pleasing separation between the subject and background.
The selfie camera, at 16 MP (f/2.5), delivers satisfactory results for its price, but lacks the sharpness of higher-end models. While the main lens stands out, there's room for improvement in the overall quality across all lenses.
Performance and Hardware
The Honor 90 Lite delivers solid performance with its 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and the MediaTek Dimensity 6020 5G chip 7nm. The phone operates smoothly without freezing or stuttering, meeting expectations for its price range. The mid-range Dimensity processor performs well for everyday tasks, but users may experience limitations with more graphically demanding applications like heavy gaming.
Read more: itel A70 Review: A standard entry-level phone
However, in its price range, Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro offers better performance with Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 (4 nm) chipset.
The phone's unique feature, Honor RAM Turbo, allows for the expansion of RAM by allocating GB from the ROM memory, enhancing multitasking capabilities. Benchmark tests reveal performance similar to the Samsung Galaxy A14, although charging speed is slightly slower. When compared to its higher-end counterpart, the Honor 90, the pricier model excels in graphics tests but has a shorter battery life.
Software
The Honor 90 Lite operates on Android 13, overlaid with the Magic UI 7.1 layer, which bears a striking resemblance to Huawei's OS, given their historical association. Notably, Honor maintains full compatibility with Google services, a crucial aspect for users.
Read more: Most Hyped Smartphones Releasing in December 2023
The device comes with a set of pre-installed apps, including some peculiar games and Honor's own applications in the MyHonor section. The interface is visually pleasing, characterized by vibrant colors and simplicity. Users have the flexibility to uninstall any unwanted apps. Google's applications replace those pre-installed, though users can choose to install them manually.
The device features "Honor Share," reliable file sharing with compatible devices. The launcher is straightforward, with all installed apps appearing on a single home screen. Honor commits to three years of security updates and confirms two years of Android updates, ensuring reasonable software support for the Honor 90 Lite.
Battery and Charger
The Honor 90 Lite offers a 4,500 mAh battery coupled with a 35W fast-charging capability, though it doesn't include a charging brick in the box. To maximize the fast charging feature, users need to purchase a separate 35W-rated charger.
Read more: vivo X100 Review: The Flagship Killer of 2023
Testing the charging speed, the phone reached 29% in 15 minutes and 57% in 30 minutes, aligning well with average expectations for its price range. Despite the lack of an included charger, the Honor 90 Lite's charging times are deemed acceptable, providing a substantial battery boost in just 30 minutes.
Pros and Cons of Honor 90 Lite
Pros
- Main camera captures standard quality photos- Decent display - Good storage capacity.
Cons
- Limited zoom functionality with subpar results- Lack of 4K video recording capability- Secondary cameras exhibit room for improvement- Absence of a charger in the packaging.
Read more: Walton NexG N8 Review: Budget-friendly phone with essential features
Price of Honor Lite 90
The Honor 90 Lite is not officially sold in Bangladesh. However, in Malaysia, the cost for the 8GB+256GB version is RM 1,099.00, which is equivalent to BDT 25,899. To put it simply, the exchange rate is RM 1 = BDT 23.57.
Verdict
The Honor 90 Lite emerges as a well-priced handset catering to budget-conscious users seeking competent performance. Despite some shortcomings, such as the lack of OLED and audio limitations, the phone excels with its versatile UI, capable processor, and impressive 100MP main camera.
On the whole, Honor 90 Lite is a standard budget-friendly phone for regular tasks.
Read more: Xiaomi Redmi K70 Review: Mid-range phone with flagship features
11 months ago
Honor X8a Review: Is it a value for money smartphone?
Ever since its inception in 2013, Honor maintained a track record of producing affordable, value-for-money smartphones that disrupted the entry-level to mid-range smartphone market. While it was initially a subsidiary of Huawei, Honor is now owned by a state-owned enterprise under the control of the Shenzhen municipal government. Earlier this year, Honor released the X8a on 11th February 2023 in the global market. Let’s find out the key specs, pros, cons and price of Honor X8a.
Key Features of Honor X8a
Design and Build Quality
There isn’t much going on with the design of the Honor X8a given that it's a budget-friendly smartphone. Users will be getting a plastic device with a glass front. The frame and the back of the device have a matte finish which gives it a stealthy look. The rounded square camera housing and the punch-hole display with a minimal bottom bezel render an overall minimal look to the device.
Dimension-wise, the device comes in at 162.9 mm by 74.5 mm by 7.48 mm with 179 g weight. The relatively compact form factor coupled with the plastic build helps to keep the weight under 200 g.
Read more: Tecno Phantom V Flip 5G: What does it offer?
There is also a small Honor branding on the back bottom of the device. The narrow chin at the bottom allows for an 89.6% screen-to-body ratio.
The fingerprint scanner and the power button are positioned in their usual place. The power button also doubles as the fingerprint scanner on the X8a. This device doesn’t have a micro SDXC slot. It also lacks the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Overall, the design and the build quality of the X8a are nothing out of the ordinary.
The Display
The display on the Honor X8a is a 6.7-inch LTPS LCD panel with a 90 Hz refresh rate. LCDs have their limitations and the X8a isn’t free from them. The panel can capture 16.7 million colors.
Read more: Xiaomi 14 Pro Review: What’s special about it?
The unusual 19.9:9 aspect ratio has 2388 by 1080 pixels with 391 ppi density. The content on the display looks relatively sharp with standard color balance. Its outdoor visibility feature lacks dedicated HBM.
The Camera
The main selling point of the Honor X8a is its 100 MP main camera with f/1.9 aperture. To be fair, the 100 MP resolution brings increased sharpness and overall great contrast to the images. The subject in focus had great details with the right amount of background separation. However, it somewhat lacked in terms of dynamic range. It asserts the fact that only megapixel count isn’t enough, the quality of the sensor also matters. Regardless, the pictures taken with the main camera in daylight came out pretty well.
The sensor struggled a bit in low light conditions There were noticeable exposure issues here and there at times. The main camera is accompanied by a 5 MP f/2.2 ultrawide shooter and a 2 MP f/2.4 macro shooter. The ultrawide sensor can take some decent shots during the daytime but its performance significantly drops in low-light conditions. Videography on the Honor X8a is limited to 1080p at 30 fps. This is mostly due to the low processing power of the device.
Read more: Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 Review: Flagship Phone with Slim Foldable Design
There is a 16 MP f/2.5 selfie camera on board the Honor X8a. This generic selfie shooter is good enough for casual selfies.
1 year ago