HONOR X7b Review | Geek Lifestyle

After the launch of a successful smartphone trifecta, HONOR has come back to deliver yet another promising device. The HONOR X7b is their newest entry to their popular X series which guns for a more affordable price range while keeping the premium features the brand’s known for.

While sporting a rather luxurious exterior, the HONOR X7b offers a slew of reliable quirks for anyone in search of a daily driver. From an overall comfy size, to an immersive display, to a capable camera, all that’s missing is a large capacity battery. You’ll be relieved to know that it has that covered, too.

We had our fun with the smartphone while putting it through the usual hurdles of everyday life. As a potential daily driver, it’s only proper to see how it handles the tall task of the being a working class citizen–while looking stylish and stunning in the process. Does it have what it takes to go head-to-head against its budget contemporaries? Can it keep up with the busiest of us? Read on to find out.

Geek-sthetic

Unboxing the HONOR X7b was simple enough, but that Flowing Silver Colorway had more intricacies than we expected. Taking a page from the HONOR 90, it sports quite the premium look and feel. The backside’s semi-holographic design shifts colors depending on the lighting. A nice touch. Up top, you have the two circular punch-holes that house its camera setup. More on that later.

You get the usual set of ports and buttons along with a very welcome 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s also worth noting that the HONOR X7b has stereo speakers, which is a great addition to a phone in this price range. Up front, we have a 6.8-inch large screen which provides quite a large amount of viewing real estate. So far, things are looking pretty good–in terms of the looks.

In terms of its aesthetics, one wouldn’t assume that the HONOR X7b was a budget smartphone. It not only looks but also feels a cut above its weight class, if not a smidge.

Binge-Watching Factor

The X7b’s 6.8-inch HONOR FullView Display boasts a very nice 91.3% screen-to-body ratio. Yes, that chin ain’t so big anymore. It also supports FHD+
resolution with a depth of 16.7 million colors. This means your animation and TV shows will most definitely pop. 

As for that large, immersive display, you can enjoy a snappy 90Hz refresh rate and a Global High Brightness level of 850 nits. Whether you’re indoors or under direct sunlight, you’ll get some great visibility. Of course, it’s better to enjoy your shows with the light out. What’s more, is you don’t have to worry about eye strain as the X7b has TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification coupled with Dynamic Dimming and a Circadian Night Display. As with the best HONOR smartphones, you get some built-in eye care with this particular display.

We didn’t mention movies earlier, and there’s a reason for that. With the HONOR X7b, you can expect a pretty good cinematic experience thanks to the hi-res sound quality courtesy of some nice dual stereo speakers. While they don’t have much bass and lean more towards the treble side, you can make use of 200% Extra Volume Mode to crank up the audio if need be.

Gaming Prowess

Now, gaming isn’t the HONOR X7b’s highlight, but it isn’t exactly its Achilles Heel. It carries a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G with 8GB of RAM (with 8GB of HONOR RAM Turbo) and 256GB of storage. This isn’t exactly a powerful chipset. That being said, one should curb their expectations and take time to tweak their settings–like every good gamer.

Playing Mobile Legends, Wild Rift, and Asphalt 9 on higher settings was manageable. No errant frame drops or stutters unless there was too much activity on-screen. For anyone who’s into these particular esports or casual gaming, you have nothing to worry about.

As for good ol’ Genshin Impact, you’ll definitely need to make some adjustments. Rather, you’ll need to keep things at default and probably work backwards from there. At low settings, 30fps and motion blur turned off, you can get a degree of smoothness in your gameplay. Go any higher, and you’ll slow down substantially. This is understandable, though. The HONOR X7b isn’t a gaming phone by design. That being said, it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it. As mentioned earlier, all you need is a bit of tweaking.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

Now, this one’s a highlight. The HONOR X7b’s setup comes equipped with a 108MP Main Camera. This, in turn, has a 1/1.67-inch sensor that does what it can to boosts light intake. To make up for any loss in quality, the shooter supports 9-in-1 pixel binning. This results in brighter and more vivid shots even under supposedly low-lit conditions.

You also get a 5MP ultrawide and 2MP depth lens that also do a bit of heavy lifting in the photography department. There’s a bit of a difference in color between ultrawide and normal shots, but nothing too egregious. As expected, you do get some rather decent shots in lower lighting.

The camera’s Portrait Mode can also take some nice shots. Whether you’re going for that up-close bokeh effect, or simply want to focus on a certain subject from a distance. Having 2X zoom also helps in this area.

As for selfies, they came out rather nicely. For an 8MP front camera, it delivers some clear photos even on portrait mode. As for videos, you’re limited to 1080p at 30 fps for both front and rear cameras. 

While it has its setbacks, the HONOR X7b’s camera setup held up surprisingly well.

Everyday Reliability

Now, let’s talk about the HONOR X7b’s daily driver potential. In terms of software, you’re already covered. MagicOS 7.2 and Android 13 work seamlessly when it comes to everyday tasks and any potential hiccups in your workflow. As for the aforementioned Snapdragon 680 chipset that struggles a bit with gaming, you’ll see that it shines when it comes to documents and spreadsheets. The maximum 16GB of RAM is a nice addition, too.

As for lasting power, the HONOR X7b has large surprise for you. With a 6000 mAh battery, you’re getting up to 3 days worth of very minor usage. If you want to break things down, we’re talking 18 hours of video streaming, 24 hours of social media browsing, and a very nice 69 hours of music streaming. If you do happen to drain all 6000 of those mAhs, then some 35W HONOR SuperCharging can get you back in the game in just about an hour or so, according to our own testing. It was hard to drain this bad boy.

So, if the question was whether or not the HONOR X7b could keep up with your busy schedule, you can be relieved to know that it can at least, outlast you.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

The HONOR X7b’s 108MP Main Camera, immersive 6.8-inch display, 6000 mAh battery and very sweet, luxurious design make it quite the compelling choice for anyone who simply needs a daily driver. It might not be your first choice when it comes to gaming, but for everything else, it can most definitely handle anything life attempts to throws at you

Also you’re going to look really good while it happens.

This smartphone is currently priced at PHP 8.999 and you can snag one for yourself at any physical store, or online via Lazada, Shopee, or TikTok Shop.

HONOR X7b Specs:

• Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G (6 nm)
• Adreno 610 GPU
• 8GB RAM (+8 GB VRAM)
• 6.8-inch FHD display, 90Hz refresh rate
• 256 GB storage
• 108 MP, f/1.8 main + 5 MP, f/2.2 ultrawide + 2 MP, f/2.4 macro triple rear camera setup
• 8 MP, f/2.0 front camera
• 3G, LTE, Dual SIM
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, side-mounted fingerprint, USB Type-C,
• 6000mAh battery with 35W fast charge support
• Android 13 with MagicOS 7.2
• Flowing Silver, Emerald Green, Midnight Black
• Price: PHP 8,999