HONOR Philippines kicks off the new year by introducing the all-new HONOR X9b 5G, a device brimming in with advanced features, elegant design, and recognized as one of the toughest phones in the market, poised to make a lasting impression.
The recently launched HONOR X9b 5G is now on the market with a price tag of PHP16,999. Take advantage of a special offer from January 12 to 19, 2024 as customers can enjoy complimentary freebies valued at PHP4,000.
Now, let’s dive into the review to explore every feature of this remarkable device.
Unboxing
The HONOR X9b 5G is packaged in a simple white box constructed from durable thick cardboard material.
On the box you’ll see a few printed elements with an image of the HONOR X9b 5G, model’s name, the HONOR logo, company information, and certification marks.
As you open the box, the phone is prominently displayed, and beneath it lies a separate carton box containing some of the included accessories.
Everything out of the box you get the following contents:
- HONOR X9b 5G Unit
- SIM Ejector Tool
- Clear Protective Case
- Quick Start Guide
- USB-A to USB-C Cable
- Power Adapter
Design and Build Quality
The HONOR X9b 5G comes in three colorways – Emerald Green, Midnight Black, and our review unit in Sunrise Orange.
In comparison to its previous model, the new HONOR X9b 5G gets a slight increase in its dimension and weight. It now measures at 163.6 x 75.5 x 7.98mm and weighs 185 grams with the battery.
Let’s start by focusing on the front of the phone, featuring a nice curved screen with minimal bezels all-around on it. The front camera adopts a centered punch hole design, adding to the device’s sleek aesthetic.
The display stands out as a key selling point for the device, renowned for its robust construction. It is equipped with HONOR’s Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display, it provides the phone a comprehensive 360-degree protection, ensuring increased durability against impacts and resistance to higher drops.
HONOR claims its enhanced durability feature uses a new three-level protection system, reinforcing the screen, frame, and internal compartments. Plus, they’ve incorporated a new HONOR cushioning material capable of absorbing up to 1.2 times the impact of a drop.
Benefiting from the HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display feature this makes the device earned the prestigious SGS Five-star Overall Drop Resistance certification. With the certification it underscores the phone’s exceptional durability, solidifying its reputation as a resilient and reliable companion in the face of accidental drops and impacts.
We were able to test how durable the phone is as it was effortlessly able to smash fruits into pieces like it was nothing and subjecting the phone to a 5-foot drop, which it withstood with ease. We did several drops even with the display dropping face down on a hard floor, the display didn’t shatter.
During “The Toughest Challenge” event last January 9, the HONOR X9b 5G underwent extensive durability tests, including a 50-foot drop, punching the display, paintball gun impacts, being run over by a Hummer, and using it to smash tiles.
In reality, the phone won’t encounter such extreme situations or undergo these rigorous trials. However, these tests highlight its exceptional durability, affirming its resilience in the face of challenging conditions. However, if you happen to be the type of person that’s prone to dropping your phone frequently, then this is the recommended safest and best phone for you!
The HONOR X9b 5G has the power/sleep button and volume rocker on the right edge which are easy to reach while using the phone with one hand.
The left side is clean while the top has a secondary microphone.
At the bottom side holds the SIM card tray, USB-C port, speaker grille, and a microphone. The phone is missing a headphone jack, so using your wireless earbuds may be necessary for audio entertainment and communication.
On the back, our HONOR X9b 5G review unit which comes in the Sunrise Orange color looks strikingly beautiful and elegant appearance.
The curved back cover is made of durable plastic material then crafted with an orange vegan leather to make the phone’s ease of cleaning, comfortable grip, enhanced durability and for a premium look.
Housing the triple cameras and LED flash is a circular camera module design that incorporates a high-end watch design at the center. It has nice gold trimmings, thick black bands, and a gold ring makes it look more stunning.
However, the camera module protrudes, preventing the phone from laying flat on a surface. Despite this, it maintains stability and won’t wobble, thanks to its centered placement on the back. With the included protective case it can make the phone’s back perfectly flat.
With the curved display and curved back cover, it is seamlessly encased in a thin aluminum frame with a smooth gold finish to add more elegance to the phone.
Lastly, the phone is fortified with an IP53 rating ensuring resistance against water and dust.
Display
The HONOR X9b 5G offers a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED panel that is paired with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling experience. It has a screen resolution of 2652 x 12006 pixels, pixel density of 429PPI, 1.07 billion colors, and 100% DCI-P3 for more color space.
The phone remains easily visible even in direct sunlight, thanks to its impressive peak brightness of 1200 nits. With its 1920Hz PWM dimming feature there was no flickering to be felt or seen on the display.
For eye comfort feature, the HONOR X9b 5G is equipped with a Circadian Night Display Technology and obtained TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification.
In general, the phone’s display is bright, sharp, and vibrant, providing excellent viewing angles that’s perfect if you’re using it to watch your favorite multimedia content or play mobile games.
The optical fingerprint scanner, seamlessly integrated into the display, performed flawlessly during our testing.
Performance
Under the hood, the HONOR X9b 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 octa-core processor with maximum clock speeds of up to 2.2GHz. It is paired with an Adreno A710 for its GPU, 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
With the HONOR RAM Turbo, you can expand your memory up to 8GB to enjoy faster speeds when loading apps and content.
The HONOR X9b 5G excels in performance, demonstrating swift app openings and a lag-free experience.
Here’s our benchmark scores on the HONOR X9b 5G.
- GeekBench 6 CPU: 809 Single Core / 2507 Multi-Core
- GeekBench 6 GPU: 1316 OpenCL Score
- CPDT: 506.60 MB/s Write, 632.39 MB/s Read
- PCMark: 12251 Work 3.0 Performance
- 3DMark: 2389 Wild Life (14.31 fps)
Camera
The HONOR X9b 5G sports a triple rear camera setup with a cutting-edge 108MP f/1.75 main shooter, 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera and 2MP f/2.4 macro cameras. These are supplemented by a flash module for dimly-lit conditions. For the front facing camera you get a 16MP selfie shooter.
On the camera app, you have four shooting modes ready to use – aperture, night, portrait, photo, multi-video, and video. Clicking the more options will offer additional shooting modes with pro, panorama, HDR photo, time-lapse, slow-mo, watermarks, supermacro, story, scan document, and high-res.
The top of the camera viewfinder allows users to access the barcode scanner, AI, flash, color filter and settings.
The zoom switch slider offers convenient 0.6x, 1x and 3x zoom options right at your fingertips, and it can extend up to a maximum of 8x zoom only.
Here are some sample photos we took with the HONOR X9b 5G.
1x Photo Mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
0.6x Photo Mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
3x Photo Mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
1x Photo Mode, Indoor, Ambient Lighting
1x Photo Mode, Outdoor, Low Light
Night Mode, Outdoor, Low Light
Selfie, Outdoor, Cloudy Weather
Selfie, Outdoor, Cloudy Weather
The HONOR X9b 5G can record videos supporting resolutions of up to 4K, 1080p, and 720p, along with selectable frame rates of 30fps and 60fps. Notably, when opting for the 4K resolution, the available frame rate is restricted to 30fps for optimal video quality.
Software
The HONOR X9b 5G runs on MagicOS 7.2 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.
With the latest HONOR MagicOS 7.2 it 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.
Battery
A notable feature of the HONOR X9b 5G is its enhanced battery, now boasting an impressive 5800mAh capacity, a substantial increase from its predecessor.
Even with the included 35W HONOR wall charger out of the box, juicing up this massive battery doesn’t take too long. A 15-minute charge will have the battery at 17% then after 30 minutes it will go up to 51%. It took us almost 1 hours and 41 minutes to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100%.
With that big amount of battery on the HONOR X9b 5G, it promises a remarkable 3 days of long-lasting battery life.
Conclusion
The all-new HONOR X9b 5G proudly showcases an array of upgraded features from its previous model.
I like our review unit on its stunning Sunrise Orange color crafted with vegan leather for a touch of sophistication. Overall, the aesthetics of this phone looks so premium and offer a comfortable grip..
The HONOR X9b 5G’s curved display stands out very well, we like its vibrancy, clarity, and excellent viewing angles, making it ideal for enjoying any multimedia content.
The inclusion of the HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display feature enhances and further improves the phone’s durability, safeguarding it from accidental drops or impacts.
The camera can capture good photo and video quality especially during good lighting conditions. Plus, it offers a variety of shooting modes for those who want to explore creative possibilities on your photos. However, the ultra-wide camera is a bit soft
Aside from being captivated by its elegant aesthetics and its robust durability features, it does offer a set of high-performance chipsets and hardware. You get an 8GB RAM with HONOR RAM Turbo, a large 256GB storage, and an upgraded 5800mAh battery.
Whether you currently own an HONOR X9a 5G or looking for a new phone this year, now is the perfect time to upgrade to the latest HONOR X9b 5G.
HONOR X9b 5G – Full Specifications
- Price: PHP16,999
- Colors: Emerald Green, Midnight Black, and Sunrise Orange
- Size: 6.78-inch AMOLED Curved Display
- Colors: 1.07 Billion Colors, 100% DCI-P3
- HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display with SGS Five-star Overall Drop Resistance certification
- Peak Brightness: 1200 nits
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Resolution: 2652 x 12006 pixels
- PPI: 429
- PWM Dimming: 1920Hz
- Comfort Features: TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification, Circadian Night Display Technology
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 (4nm)
- GPU: Qualcomm Adreno
- Memory: 12GB+256GB
- Rear Camera: 108MP (f/1.75) Ultra-Clear Main Camera, 5MP (f/2.2) Ultra-Wide Camera, 2MP (f/2.4) Macro Camera
- Front Camera: 16MP
- Battery: 5800mAh + 35W SuperCharge
- OS: MagicOS 7.2, based on Android 13
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G/5G
- Bluetooth: BT5.1 (Supporting BLE, SBC, AAC and LDAC)
- Network: Nano-SIM, Dual Sstand-by, NR/ LTE TDD/LTE FDD/WCDMA/ HSPA+/DC-HSDPA/EDGE/GPRS
- Dimensions: 163.6 x 75.5 x 7.98mm
- Weight: 185g (including the battery)
- IP Rating: IP53 Water and Dust
