Honor is similar to a sub-brand by Chinese phonemaker Huawei. Its latest smartphone Honor 5C, priced at Rs.10,999, is competing against some high-profile budget phones such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Rs.9,999 onwards) and the Lenovo Zuk Z1 (Rs.13,499).
Design: Handy and well-built
Bringing metal to the picture can improve a phone’s build quality considerably. Honor 5C is the latest in this breed of metal-clad phones. The brushed finish on the back gives it a slightly different look from phones with plain metallic back. This also improves one’s grip over the phone. For a 5.2-inch device, it weighs 155g. Technically, that doesn’t make it a lightweight phone but we didn’t really find it heavy while using it. The fingerprint sensor sits right under the slightly protruded camera module. It is easy to configure and unlock the phone almost instantly every time.
Display: Sharp and rich-looking
The 5.2-inch display has a screen resolution of 1920x1080p, which is impressive considering the screen size. The display looks bright, text looks sharp which means watching movies, gaming and the usual browsing is going to be good. The visibility under bright light is a bit of a letdown as the display feels reflective and smudges a lot too. It is no second fiddle to Redmi Note 3, which offers a 5.5-inch full HD display too.
Software: A unique flavour of Android
Among other Chinese phones in this price point, the Honor 5c is the only phone which runs Android 6.0 out of the box. Though it runs a custom UI, the user has access to all the goodies of new Android, which will help improve performance as well as battery life. But what really steals the show is the new Emotion UI, which offers some cool features and customisation features. It shows a different wallpaper in the lock screen every time you unlock the phone. There is a hidden search tab which shows up if you drag down on the home screen. You can go to any app almost instantly by using it. The custom themes not just allow you to apply new themes, but you can apply one theme’s icon and other elements on another theme, like the Cyanogen OS.
Performance: Breezes through most tasks
Huawei is one of the few phone makers after Samsung which also makes chipsets. The Honor 5C runs on its HiSilicon Kirin 650 octa-core processor with 2GB RAM. Though we have not seen this processor type before, it doesn’t let down one bit in terms of real-world performance. It felt consistently smooth through most tasks. Mutli-tasking couldn’t take the wind out of it, while graphically intensive games like GT Racing 2 and FIFA 16 ran without any lag or heating up on the back. It comes with dual SIM slots, which support 4G networks.
In terms of storage, the phone offers 16GB of internal storage which is ample but not at par with some of its rivals. You can add another 128GB via micro SD card, though. The Redmi Note 3’s higher variant offers 32GB storage with expandable memory.
The 3,000mAh battery delivers a day’s backup on modest use. Again that is not at par with what the Zuk Z1 or the Redmi Note 3 offer.
Camera: Consistent in most conditions
The Honor 5C packs in a surprisingly consistent 13-megapixel snapper. It was able to capture colours well in close-ups and doesn’t suffer from lighting issues in non-focus areas. The amount of detailing it was able to muster in landscape is not at par with the likes of Redmi Note 3. What impressed us more was its ability to handle detail and keep noise at bay in low-light shots.
Verdict
The Honor 5C is a new top pick among smartphones in the range of Rs.10,000. What makes it a slightly different beast is the smaller screen size, which should appeal to a wide demographic of users. While most rivals offer 5.5-inch screens, this offers the same amount of clarity and comfortable user experience on a smaller canvas. If you are looking for a small screen phone that feels compact, this is by far the best smartphone you can buy at this price point.
