Review: HONOR X5 Plus (4GB+64GB)

HONOR Philippines brings in another budget-friendly phone adding to its iconic X series model with the HONOR X5 Plus.

The new HONOR X5 Plus manages to carve out its niche by offering a compelling combination of innovation and reliability catering to a wider spectrum of users, delivering a noteworthy smartphone experience.

We’ve had the HONOR X5 Plus in our possession for nearly a week, and here’s our firsthand experience with the phone.

Design

The HONOR X5 Plus comes in two colorways a classic Midnight Black and our review unit in Cyan Lake.

The phone has a slim form factor with a thickness of 8.35mm and weighs 188 grams with the battery.

Looking closely at the rear cover panel it is made of durable polycarbonate plastic material. One prominent design feature of the X5 Plus that you’ll immediately notice is the nice metallic finish of the Cyan Lake color. Meanwhile, others would view it as a frosted glass effect.

It has a shimmery effect when you tilt it sideways and hides any fingerprint marks or smudges.

Located at the top right corner are two mid-size circular camera lenses housed in a flat square-type camera module with a glossy finish that emits pleasing radial light ray effects when you move it sideways.

There’s a HONOR logo placed at the bottom right and certification marks on the opposite side.

All around the edges of the phone, you have the power/sleep button and volume rockers on the right side edge that also doubles as a fingerprint sensor.

The left side edge is completely clean.

The SIM card tray and a microphone are located on the top side edge.

The bottom side holds the USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, and speaker grille.

Going over to the front of the phone, you have slim bezels all around the screen except for the bottom chin which is slightly raised. The front-facing camera has a waterdrop notch design.

Display

The HONOR X5 Plus has a large 6.56-inch LFT LCD display, a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz for a smooth scrolling experience, and resolutions of 720 x 1612 pixels.

Another aspect where the X5 Plus shines is the dynamic dimming feature. This great feature replicates natural light to mitigate eye fatigue resulting from prolonged screen exposure and helps users have a comfortable viewing experience even at night.

For the visual well-being of its users, the device has eye care features with eye comfort and eBook mode to prevent eye fatigue filtering and reduce the blue light emitting from the display.

When we use the phone outdoors under direct sunlight it presents a bit of a challenge, but indoors, there is no issue as the screen is sufficiently bright.

Performance

The HONOR X5 Plus is powered with a MediaTek Helio G36 octa-core processor with maximum clock speeds of 2.2GHz and paired with a PowerVR GE8320 for its graphics.

The phone offers 4GB of RAM with support for HONOR RAM Turbo and 64GB internal storage that’s expandable up to 1TB via a MicroSD.

Here are the benchmark scores we got on the HONOR X5 Plus.

GeekBench 6 CPU: 183 Single-core Score / 804 Multi-core Score
PCMark: 5392 Work 3.0 Performance Score
3DMark Sling Shot Extreme: 453
CPDT: 102.26 MB/s Sequential Write (4MB) / 214.26 MB/s Sequential Read (4MB)

The HONOR X5 Plus incorporates some biometric security features such as fingerprint ID and facial recognition. They are responsive and unlock the device faster.

The phone has a hybrid slot that can accommodate two nano SIM cards or 1 nano SIM card and a microSD card for storage expansion.

The sound quality on the HONOR X5 Plus is pretty decent mostly coming out from its bottom-firing speakers. It does lack a little bass but it can still deliver good audio experience whether you’re listening to music, watching videos, or engaging in gaming.

Camera

The dual camera on the HONOR X5 Plus is composed of a 50MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.8 and a 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots with an aperture of f/2.4.

The front facing camera gets a 5MP lens with aperture at f/2.2 and face recognition for sharp facial details.

On the camera app, you have four shooting modes ready to use – aperture, portrait, photo, and video. Clicking the more options will offer additional shooting modes with pro, panorama, HDR photo, time-lapse, stickers, and high-res.

The top of the camera viewfinder allows users to access the barcode scanner, AI, flash, color filter and settings.

Here are some sample photographs captured with the HONOR X5 Plus.

1x Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather

1x Photo mode, Outdoor, Cloudy Weather

1x Photo mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting

Selfie, Outdoor, Sunny Weather

Portrait mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather

1x Photo mode, Indoor, Low Lighting

When it comes to video recordings, the device offers available resolutions of 1080p and 720p, with a fixed frame rate of 30fps.

Software

The HONOR X5 Plus runs on MagicOS 7.1 based on the latest Android 13.

It comes with a lot of pre-installed apps like Booking.com, Facebook, Netflix, TikTok, Trip.com and WPS Office. Additionally, there are a few games on the phone, including titles like Game of Sultans and Lord’s Mobile. Moreover, there is a dedicated Game Center where you can discover and download more games to play.

HONOR MagicOS typically features a customized user interface designed to provide a distinct and user-friendly experience. You can change the themes, icons, wallpaper, and other visual elements just to be unique.

It comes with Google services and applications pre-installed with the users having access to the extensive suite of Google tools without the need for additional configuration or limitations.

HONOR Philippines promises users regular updates and support to keep the software secure and up-to-date.

Battery

For the X5 Plus, you get a more extensive amount of battery capacity at 5200mAh compared to other phones at 5000mAh. The 5200mAh battery provides extended usage time, improved standby time, and enhanced the overall battery life of the phone.

HONOR claims that the battery of the phone can provide users with 17.8 hours of online video playback or 35 hours of audio calls on a full charge. But in our test, the phone at full charge was able to last with moderate use till at the end of the afternoon. The tasks we did on the phone included watching YouTube videos, browsing our social media apps, answering emails, playing games, and capturing photos or videos for our camera test.

Even with the included 10W HONOR wall charger out of the box, juicing up this massive battery may take a bit longer than we expected. A 15-minute charge will have the battery at 9% then after 45 minutes it will go up to 42%. It took us almost 2 hours and 27 minutes to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100%.

Under the battery settings, you have other useful options with a power saving mode, performance mode, smart charge, and smart battery capacity to either extend your battery’s life or preserve the battery’s health.

What We Like

Design
Large Display
90Hz Refresh Rate
Dynamic Dimming
50MP Main Camera
5200mAh Battery
Expandable Storage
HONOR RAM Turbo
Headphone Jack
Google Services and App Installed
Price

What We Want

Higher Wattage Charger
Ultra-Wide Camera
Night Mode

Conclusion

The HONOR X5 Plus is a worthy addition to the realm of smartphones in the market to date with users looking for a capable budget-friendly device.

With its blend of design style, vibrant display, powerful flagship chipsets, and good camera performance, it caters to users who seek a reliable and feature-rich device.

The display of the X5 Plus can put out clear details, and vibrant color reproduction for any multimedia content whether you’re binge-watching your favorite streaming apps or scrolling through photos.

It can perform any task you can throw out on this phone. We experienced seamless multitasking, smooth app navigation, and a responsive touch interface that adds to an efficient and enjoyable user experience. You can play your favorite mobile games on the phone like Mobile Legends Bang Bang, Call of Duty, etc. However, some heavy-graphic games will have low graphic settings or experience a bit of lag during gameplay.

Equipped with a capable camera system, the HONOR X5 Plus still captures good moments with clarity and color. The camera’s performance does a great job in good lighting conditions.

The battery on the X5 Plus ensures that you stay connected throughout the day with its large battery endurance at 5200mAh. Charging the phone is a bit too slow but if you have a much higher-wattage charger you can juice it up quickly.

In general, the HONOR X5 Plus offers a well-rounded and satisfying smartphone experience.