Review: HONOR X7b (8GB+256GB)

HONOR Philippines is making waves in 2024 following the successful release last month of the HONOR X8b and its flagship foldable phone, the HONOR Magic V2. This March, the brand has launched the new HONOR X7b, and after spending a few weeks with the phone, we’re excited to share our full review.

With an affordable price at PHP8,999, the HONOR X7b is an entry-level phone now available in all HONOR Experience stores and through its e-commerce partners on Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok.

If you’re considering buying a new phone this year, is the HONOR X7b worth buying? Come join us as we explore its new features and evaluate its performance in our hands-on review.

Design and Build Quality

In our first impression article, we shared the design aspects of the HONOR X7b. We will share more of what to expect regarding its aesthetics and build quality.

The phone weighs at 199 grams including the battery as it maintains a lightweight feel even with one hand despite its overall dimensions of 166.7 x 76.5 x 8.42 mm.

The HONOR X7b has three colorways in Flowing Silver, Emerald Green, and Midnight Black for those who prefer a classic look.

The build is pretty solid with the cover panel made of polycarbonate plastic material and the frame constructed in aluminum mettalic finish.

It’s a good thing that HONOR included a screen protector on the display to provide additional protection against dust and scratches. However, for enhanced protection against drops, it’s advisable to invest in a tempered glass screen protector.

The back panel offers that nice glasstic appearance which further attract users that eye-catching prismatic color glow and shimmer when tilted sideways as it is exposed to any direct light sources like sunlight.

While each of the two camera module is slightly raised, this can cause the phone to wobble when laid flat on the table. Cuffing it with the included clear protective case can help improve this issue and provide more stability.

In general, the design and build quality of the HONOR X7b in the Flowing Silver color appears attractive, modern looking, and sturdy. Its careful attention to detail of the phone exemplifies true craftsmanship by HONOR.

Display

The HONOR X7b sports a 6.80-inch HONOR FullView LCD display with maximum refresh rate of 90Hz. The refresh rate can be adjusted into three settings with Dynamic, High and the Standard.

The refresh rate can be adjusted across three settings with Dynamic, High, and Standard that operates a 60Hz refresh rate that helps conserve power and extend the phone’s battery life further.

The HONOR X7b has a 91.3% screen-to-body ratio that maximizes the display area while having thinner bezels on the phone. We had an excellent viewing experience and were able to enjoy watching our favorite videos on the phone, thanks to minimal distractions from the surrounding frame.

It has a resolution of 2412 x 1080 pixels, 16.7 million color reproduction, and 850 nits of peak brightness which is decently enough to be used during outdoors. However, when you view the phone during direct sunlight presents a slight challenge. During Indoors you’ll have no problem at all

The HONOR X7b was awarded with the TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification, ensuring reduced exposure to blue light emissions for users and promoting eye comfort during prolonged usage. With that being said, the phone has an array of eye comfort features including an eBook mode, dark mode, circadian night display, and dynamic dimming.

We appreciate how well the display of the HONOR X7b can produce clear images, good contrast, and vibrant color reproduction while watching videos, scrolling through social media pages, and browsing the internet.

Performance

Going into the internal chipsets, the HONOR X7b is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 octa-core processor with maximum clock speeds of up to 2.4GHz. It has an 8-core chipset manufactured using a 6-nanometer process technology. It has 4 cores Kryo 265 Gold (Cortex-A73) at 2400 MHz and 4 cores Kryo 265 Silver (Cortex-A53) at 1900 MHz.

The processor is paired with an Adreno 610 for its GPU.

The HONOR X7b has a spacious storage capacity of 256GB and 8GB of RAM, which can be expanded to 16GB through the innovative HONOR RAM Turbo technology. This feature automatically allocates up to an additional 8GB RAM when needed, ensuring smooth performance of your apps even during intensive tasks. In case you need more space, the storage can be expanded up to 1TB using a MicroSD card.

Here’s our benchmark scores on the HONOR X7b:

• GeekBench 6 CPU: 415 Single Core / 1474 Multi-Core
• GeekBench 6 GPU: 346 OpenCL Score
• CPDT: 52 MB/s Write, 738.06 MB/s Read
• PCMark: 7987 Work 3.0 Performance
• 3DMark: 443 Wild Life (2.66 fps)

The Snapdragon 680, with its specified features, can comfortably handle most popular Android games at medium to high settings, and even handle some demanding games at lower settings. During our game testing, I experienced smooth gameplay with PUBG, Mobile Legends, and Call of Duty, without encountering any lags. However, Genshin Impact can’t be used with higher settings but still we haven’t experienced some performance issues.

Sound Quality

In terms of audio specifications, the HONOR X7b is now upgraded from its previous model with stereo speakers, the sound predominantly comes out from its bottom-firing grille speaker. However, the audio was able to maintain a well-balanced tone with an additional speaker placed at the top center edge of the display.

While playing YouTube music and videos on the phone, I was amazed by its impressive volume and clear vocals from the speakers. The midtones are well-balanced, and there’s a noticeable presence of bass for a deeper sound effect.

In addition, the volume controls can now reach up to 200% from the default sound level, it’s more convenient if you’re in noisy environments or when you want to boost the sound of your calls. However, at the 200% maximum volume, the sound has a few significant distortion aside from being excessively loud.

When pairing any wired headphones or Bluetooth earbuds with the HONOR X7b, users can gain access to the HONOR Histen sound effects feature. This proprietary sound technology from HONOR enhances the sound quality to deliver a vibrant and crisp audio for an immersive listening experience.

You can choose from four HONOR Histen sound effects options: Auto that adjust sound effects based on content automatically; 3D Audio for more 3D depth sound listening, Natural providing authentic sound reproduction, and Standard to save power for longer playback time. The 3D Audio is a must as you get a wider sound reproduction perfect for watching your Netflix movies.

It uses a Hybrid SIM slot tray that allows you to use two nano SIM cards in both trays or 1 nano SIM card and a MicroSD card for the 2nd tray for storage expansion. It can provide cellular network provisions for 2G, 3G, and 4G but not 5G.

Aside from the side mounted fingerprint scanner, the phone also supports an additional biometrics with facial recognition. Both biometrics are easy to setup and unlocks the phone quickly.

Camera 

On the camera department, the HONOR x7b is built with a triple rear camera setup comprising of a 108MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.75, a 5MP ultra-wide lens with an aperture of f/2.2, and a 2MP depth camera with an aperture of f/2.4 for making those professional-style blur effects.

You still get an LED Flash to provide constant light in case you need to illuminate during low light conditions.

Selfies on the other hand are captured using an 8MP camera with aperture of f/2.0.

Going through the camera app of the phone, the functions were properly laid out for easy access and seamless operation as you take your photos. You get a set of five shooting modes ready to use – aperture, night, portrait, photo, and video. Clicking the more options will offer additional shooting modes with pro, panorama, HDR photo, time-lapse, slow-mo, watermarks, super macro, dual-view, story, scan document, and high-res.

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

Just above the shooting modes, the zoom switch slider offers a convenient 0.6x, 1x and 2x zoom options right at your fingertips, and it can extend up to a maximum of 8x zoom only.

2x photo mode, outdoor, sunny weather

After using the phone’s camera for almost a week, I found that the main camera using the 1x and 2x zoom consistently produced images of good quality with fine details, nice contrast, and accurate color reproduction, especially in well-lit environments or outdoors under direct sunlight. Shooting on low light with the main camera can still produce decent images with the noise relatively constrained.

Meanwhile, the 0.6x ultra-wide lens can capture decent photos in bright conditions, although the quality may appear slightly soft with decent color reproduction. Under low light conditions the noise becomes more noticeable and you get a more softer image quality.

0.6x Ultra-wide, outdoor, sunny weather

1x photo mode, outdoor, sunny weather

2x photo mode, outdoor, sunny weather

8x photo mode, outdoor, sunny weather

2x photo mode plus Blue color filter, outdoor, sunny weather

2x photo mode, outdoor, sunny weather

In low light conditions, the night mode on the main camera performs decently for the photos to capture the right tones, colors, and details, while minimizing the presence of noise.

1x Night mode, outdoor, Low Lighting

1x Night mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting

The portrait mode with the help of the depth camera lens, captures good photos with enough details of the subject, good separaton from the pleasing background blur.

1x photo mode, outdoor, sunny weather

The sensors integrated into the 8MP selfie camera of the HONOR X7b can capture good facial details and natural skin tones provided that it’s taken under bright lighting conditions. However, under low-light settings, the quality tends to be softer with fewer details. Still, the front camera will work just fine for online classes and virtual meetings.

Front camera (no filters), outdoor, sunny weather

Portrait mode (Beauty Fillter On), outdoor, sunny weather

Portrait mode (Beauty and Bokeh Filter On), outdoor, sunny weather

Front camera, outdoor, Low Lighting

Videos can be recorded in resolutions of 1080p and 720p at 30fps only. At the top of the viewfinder, you have access to the dual-view mode, enabling you to film both yourself and your surroundings simultaneously. There’s a beauty mode available to adjust the smoothness of your skin’s texture.

Software

The HONOR X7b runs on the latest Android 13 based from its very own interface the Magic UI 7.2 version. The Magic UI 7.2 interface is refreshingly clean, with the homepage pre-loaded with essential apps that’s readily available for use or just a tap whenever needed.

It has some few pre-installed apps like Booking.com, Facebook, Netflix, TikTok, Trip.com, and HONOR’s very own proprietary apps. In addition to these apps, I liked that the software included the essential Google apps I always needed such as Maps, Chrome, Gmail, Play Store, YouTube and more. Another useful app is the WPS Office, a free Office suite app to seamlessly work on your word documents, presentations, or even spreadsheets.

For productivity and multitasking, the Magic UI 7.2 supports a multi-window feature that enables the simultaneous opening of two apps on the same screen. You can freely adjust floating windows, resizing and repositioning them according to personal preference.

Same as we’ve experienced on the HONOR X8b, the device has knuckle gesture support on the phone. You can knock twice with a single knuckle to take a full screenshot or use a single knuckle to knock and draw a closed circle area to capture a partial screenshot. Lastly, if you knock on a single knuckle and draw an “S” it can take a scrolling screenshot.

If you have important documents that need to be scanned, the phone offers the convenience of automatically scanning any documents directly through the camera app. It helps users effortlessly digitize physical documents for them to save it or share them to others.

The HONOR X7b also can synchronized recording while take notes simultaneously for precise playback, it’s useful if you have meetings to document important discussions for reference later.

Battery Life

Another standout feature we liked on the HONOR X7b is its impressive battery capacity, boasting a massive 6000mAh battery.

HONOR is considerate to include a fast-charging 35W HONOR SuperCharge power adapter with this phone, ensuring users won’t have to wait too long to charge its large battery.

During our charging test, we observed that a 15-minute charge generated a 16 percent initial charge, which increased to 32 percent after an additional 15-minute charge. It took us around 1 hour 49 minutes to fully charge the large battery capacity of the HONOR X7b from 0 to 100 percent.

The phone’s standby time is impressive with after 10 hours of minimal use, the battery only declined by 7 percent, dropping from 100 percent to 93 percent.

We manage to conduct a PCMark Battery test on the HONOR X7b, the app subjected the phone to a continuous test of various everyday tasks (photo editing, web browsing, writing, etc.) until the battery level reached 20 percent. With its built-in 6000mAh battery, the HONOR X7b is projected to provide users with approximately 15 hours and 17 minutes of battery life.

In the battery settings, you have options to extend the phone’s battery life with a power saving mode, smart charge, or smart battery capacity. You can also enhance the device performance by activating performance mode, however, this may result in increased battery consumption.

What We Like

• Eye-catching Color
• Comfortable To Hold
• Large Display
• Expandable Storage Up To 1TB
• HONOR RAM Turbo
• Decent Cameras
• Longer Battery Life
• 35W Fast Charging Technology
• Clean User Interface
• Good Sound Quality
• HONOR Histen Sound Technology
• Eye Care Protection

What We Want

• 1080p at 60fps
• Improve Performance
• Image Stabilization
• More Bass Sound

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Conclusion

The HONOR X7b boasts an appealing design for the Flowing Silver color and its use of high-quality materials ensures a good build quality making it more durable. There are two more colorways if you prefer a more subtle look.

In terms of performance, the HONOR X7b manages to run well with tasks such as continuous web browsing, updating your social media, multimedia consumption, and even mobile gaming. The expandable storage and the option to automatically boost its RAM up to 16GB when needed are also a notable feature. While I would have preferred a more updated chipset for its processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 Octa-core still efficiently handles tasks done on the phone.

The cameras on the HONOR X7b, particularly the main camera, are commendable, it can produce good image quality, even with just enough good ambient lighting. For low-light situations, we recommend using the night mode for better image capture.

The HONOR X7b continues to impress us with its large vibrant display, latest software, and long-lasting 6,000mAh battery. With all these features combined, the phone proves to be a capable device for everyday needs, whether it’s for work or play.

Overall, the HONOR X7b offers a decent package of features. We highly recommend visiting your nearest HONOR Experience store to personally try the unit before making a decision. In case you’ve already decided to buy the new HONOR X7b, it is conveniently accessible for online purchase through its official e-commerce partners (Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok) at an affordable price of PHP8,999.

HONOR X7b – Full Specifications

• Price: PHP 8,999
• Colors: Flowing Silver, Emerald Green, Midnight Black
• Weight: 199 grams (including the battery)
• Dimensions: 166.7 x 76.5 x 8.42 mm
• Display Size: 6.80-inches
• Display Panel: TFT LCD
• Resolution: 2412 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh Rate: 90 Hz
• Color: 16.7 million Colours
• Aspect Ratio: 20:09
• Screen-To-Body Ratio: 91.3%
• Display Brightness: 850 nits
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdrsgon 680 Octa-core
• CPU Dominant Frequency: 4*A73 2.4GHz + 4*A53 1.9GHz
• Storage: 256GB (Expandable Up To 1TB via MicroSD Card)
• RAM: 8GB
• GPU: Adreno 610
• Rear Camera: Triple Camera (108 MP camera (f/1.75) + 5MP Wide Angle Camera (F2.2) + 2MP Depth Camera (F2.4)
• Front Camera: 8MP (f/2.0)
• OS: MagicOS 7.2 based on Android 13
• Battery: 6000mAh
• Charging Support: 35W HONOR SuperCharge
• Cellular Network: CLK-LX1, 4G (LTE FDD), 3G (WCDMA), 2G (GSM), CLK-LX2/CLK-LX3, 4G (LTE TDD/LTE FDD), 3G (WCDMA), 2G (GSM)
• SIM: Dual Nano-SIM
• Network Technology: GPS, AGPS, Beidou, Galileo, Glonass
• Bluetooth: BT5
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G/5G, support Wi-Fi direct
• Headset: 3.5mm
• In The Box: HONOR X7b Unit, Clear Protective Case, SIM Ejector Tool, USB-A to USB-C Cable, Power Adaptor, Quick Start Guide, and Screen Protector (Pre-Applied)