As their first smartphone with a Snapdragon 632 chipset, Honor has created yet another strong contender in the budget field of smartphones with their Honor 8C. Despite the many budget smartphone titans, the Honor 8C is seemingly capable of going head to head with some of the top affordable options, especially with the competitive Honor 8C phone price. Through this review, we will get into why the Honor 8C is worthy among the best budget phones.
Design
Through the Honor 8C’s unique and pearly polycarbonate back design, the smartphone offers a refreshingly sleek finish that gives off a glimmering effect when exposed to light. Externally, the Honor 8C is one seriously lovely-looking smartphone. However, the elegant finish does not do well against scratches and smudge marks, making it prone to prints and scratches without a proper case.
The smartphone’s camera is somewhat similar to a recent Honor 8 model and comes with noticeably slimmer humps around the camera. The camera bumps along the back give it a slight protrusion, making it ideal to get a decent phone case to protect its backside from possible damage and unwanted markings.
Throughout the Honor 8C is an exceptional ergonomic appeal. The smartphone is constructed into a unibody design that harmoniously blends around the phone with curves so soft that gripping it is comfortably easy. On the phone are the standard Honor 8C button layout, a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack, a MicroSD port, and a micro USB port.
Display
Along the top of the display is the chunky notch housing the notification light and front flash LED. As with all notched Honor smartphones, concealing the notch completely as a black bar is an option.
For the display, Honor never fails to incorporate some great-value display qualities especially since the Honor 8C comes with some excellent color accuracy and viewing angles. The auto-brightness is mostly haphazard since it can either be very handy or highly inaccurate. In most cases, manually adjusting the brightness proves to be the more reliable option. Featuring an IPS HD+ display, the Honor 8C provides some great visual quality and resolution but is slightly lacking especially in comparison with other budget-friendly smartphones with a Full HD+ display panel.
Performance
Operating the Honor 8C is a solid Snapdragon 632 processor along with 32GB of available storage and 3GB of RAM. This processor is essentially an upgrade from the well-known Snapdragon 625 with overall faster performance and clock speeds. This means the Honor 8C is capable of handling most games at medium to low graphics without issue and while retaining consistent power efficiency. As with all smartphones, the Honor 8C’s performance in games will depend greatly on the game and its graphics settings.
Camera
For its price point, the Honor 8C’s camera is reasonably designed and seamlessly functional with an impressively user-friendly interface. The front camera along the top is equipped with several tools including AI mode, flash, and even a QR code scanner. Just under the display is an arsenal of various shooting options depending on the camera in use. The back camera includes features for Video, Photo, Portrait, Aperture, and additional options like the Filter, Panorama, AR lens, HDR, and a Pro mode.
Generally, the 13MP combined with a 2MP camera can produce some fairly detailed visual qualities with decent photos and captures as long as the lighting and environment conditions are optimal.
Battery
The Honor 8C comes with a large 4000mAh battery that is bigger than average for its category. The large battery is at full within about 2 hours of charging and can easily last around 12 hours under normal usage. Of course, the battery can last longer or deplete faster depending on the usage throughout the day. With the large battery alone, the smartphone is capable of lasting through an entire day under medium usage, making it a solidly long-lasting daily driver.
Conclusion
Overall, the Honor 8C is a gorgeously designed smartphone with some great-value specs for decently reliable performance. Despite only having an HD+ display, the screen quality provides some excellent visuals. The camera and visual quality are great for its price, especially with the long-lasting battery that is perfect for those that want enough juice to power through a day.