Honor 8 Pro Review

Huawei has steadily been releasing devices in India under its sub-brand Honor. With this strategy, the brand has managed to place one of its devices in every price segment below Rs. 30,000. The Honor 8 (Review) has been its top-of-the-line device so far, and now it looks like the Honor 8 Pro will take over that position. The Honor 8 Pro sports dual rear cameras and is priced to go up against the new kid on the block, the OnePlus 5 (Review). So does this phone have what it takes to dethrone one of the most popular models around? Let’s find out in our Honor 8 Pro review.

Honor 8 Pro design

The design of the Honor 8 Pro is slightly different when compared to its sibling, the Honor 8. The older model has a glossy glass back, whereas the Honor 8 Pro gets a metal unibody. It's available in two colors, Midnight Black and Navy Blue, and you’ll be happy with either one. The smartphone is quite sleek, measuring just 6.97mm in thickness, and has curved sides. What is surprising is that Honor has managed to cram a 4000mAh battery into this body.

At the front, there's a 5.7-inch LTPS panel, with super-slim side borders. The top and bottom are thicker, and there's an Honor logo below the screen. Above it, you'll find the 8-megapixel selfie shooter along with the earpiece and a couple of sensors. The power and volume buttons are on the right side. The power button is well within reach but you might have to stretch a little to reach the volume controls. The left side of the Honor 8 Pro only has the SIM slot. Honor has placed the USB Type-C port and the 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom, along with the loudspeaker and the primary microphone. At the top, there's a secondary microphone and an IR emitter which lets you control household appliances.

The highlight of the Honor 8 Pro, the dual rear cameras, are placed at the back in the upper left corner, along with a dual-tone LED flash. Unlike many other phones, both cameras are fitted flush with the body of the smartphone, under a glass window which should keep the lenses from picking up scratches. The fingerprint scanner is also at the back, and we found its placement to be a little higher than what would have been comfortable. You’ll have to stretch your finger a little or shuffle the device in your palm to reach the fingerprint scanner.

Honor ships this phone with only an 18W charger and USB cable, but the party trick is that the box itself can be converted into a cardboard-style VR headset. You get all the required materials, including the lenses, in the box.

Honor 8 Pro Specifications

The Honor 8 Pro has some impressive specifications.

 To start with, 

 The 5.7-inch display has a Quad HD resolution, which translates to a dense 515 pixels per inch. 

The front panel is made of Corning Gorilla Glass for protection, with 2.5D curved edges. 

The display has punchy contrast and is quite vivid. Some users might not like the aggressive colour reproduction, and sadly, there is no way to tone it down. 

You can only tweak the color temperature to suit your liking. 

You also get a night mode that claims to reduce strain on the eyes in low light. We liked watching videos on this display. The single speaker was loud enough, but we did feel that front-firing stereo speakers would have done better justice.

Verdict

Honor has built the Honor 8 Pro with the best technology it has to offer, which is at par with some of the best in the industry. The Kirin 960 processor is the most powerful silicon that Huawei currently makes, even though it falls behind the Snapdragon 835. The Honor 8 Pro also runs the latest version of EMUI. Compared to the OnePlus 5, you get twice the storage and a higher resolution screen at an even lower price.

The camera performance is quite good and so is the implementation of the dual-camera functionality. The monochrome sensor does help and we were impressed with the level of detail in every picture. Overall, we were happy with the photos we took with the Honor 8 Pro.

It does seem as though the Honor 8 Pro is a good all-rounder. It might not be the leader of the pack but it isn’t far behind, and definitely looks like a much better deal than the slightly less expensive Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro (Review) and Moto Z2 Play (Review). For Rs 29,999, it is considerably more affordable than the OnePlus 5, potentially making it just as much of a flagship killer.