Honor 70 Series Smartphone Review

The Honor 70 series aims to bring premium design and feel to the competitive $600 and up market segment.

Design

The Honor 70 is built around a thin and light design with glass sides and a "super dual curved screen," meaning the curve is present on both the front and back, making the edges look and feel incredibly thin.

These devices used to be very expensive to produce, so it's nice to see them appearing in the mass market, like this phone. for $650 (Retail price). Not everyone likes curved screens, but I think they look really cool and the body feels great in the hand.

Some people may remember issues with accidentally touching the screen due to a strong grip, but I haven't encountered this on recent phones with curved screens, so I don't think this will be an issue anymore. I'm curious what others think.

Our sample comes in Emerald Green, and it looks great thanks to the matte textured back panel that resists fingerprints. However, Honor also offers other interesting back covers, including Crystal Silver, Icelandic Frost, and Midnight Black.

The body is lightweight ( 178 g ) For phone with a 6.67-inch screen and very thin: 7.91 mm . Many people really like this, especially if they carry their smartphone in (tight) trouser or shirt/vest pockets.

Unfortunately, the certificate water resistance (IP rating) is absent , so be careful when exposed to water. This isn't surprising in this price range, as IP certification is an additional cost. However, it would be very nice to have some unofficial water resistance. It doesn't appear to have one.

Sound quality

The single speaker in the lower right corner delivers clear, undistorted sound. It's quite good, but not as loud or high-quality as phones with dual speakers—that's just physics. At the same time, it's clear that when creating affordable premium phones, resources have to be reallocated.

Display

6.67-inch OLED display with refresh rate of 120 Hz and The FHD+ (2400 x 1080) resolution looks great and offers a lot of customization options. I prefer setting the color mode and color temperature to "Natural" rather than "Vivid" (the default), but the other default settings are fine.

A dynamic refresh rate should provide a good balance between smooth scrolling and battery life. The refresh rate change range is not as precise, like more expensive phones, and doesn't reach 1 Hz or 10 Hz. However, the overall power efficiency of the system compensates for this shortcoming.

As is typical with OLED screens, colors look great, and Honor has included a default background image that matches the device's color (green in our case), which is a nice touch.

We measured the maximum 784 nits brightness with manual adjustment, which is excellent. In direct sunlight, there's no additional brightness boost, so this is practically the ceiling. The most expensive displays can temporarily reach brightness levels over 1500 nits, but this is temporary because the eyes adapt and neutralize the extra brightness if the display is left on for too long.

Finally, there's an under-display fingerprint scanner that uses a bright light to read your fingerprint. In our experience, it worked well and effectively. The most noticeable drawback compared to an ultrasonic scanner is the excessive brightness of the fingerprint scanner's backlight once your eyes have adjusted to the dark.

Honor 70 camera

The new Honor 70 camera has caused quite a stir online as it is the first smartphone to use a rear camera new Sony IMX800 sensor with a focal length of f/1.9 and a 27mm lens.

The IMX800 is a 54-megapixel sensor with 1.0-micron pixels, making it approximately 54 mm². It's similar in size to the Samsung GN5 sensor (50 mm²), used in the Galaxy S22's main camera.

The Honor 70's ultra-wide-angle camera is intriguing and also features a 54-megapixel sensor, though we suspect the pixel size is likely very small, perhaps in the 0.6 to 0.7 micron range (this is our guess based on the photos we took). Ultimately, f/2.2 13mm lens may not transmit enough light to fully utilize the capabilities of this sensor.

The third camera is a depth sensor that helps with background blur in portrait mode.

Our Ubergizmo CAMERA HW indicator For Honor 70 makes up 147 , which puts it on par with the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4, which also features a comparable set of main and ultra-wide cameras.

The main camera takes high-quality, detailed photos with HDR support, even in challenging high-contrast conditions, such as when shooting nature, where there are both very bright areas (sun, sky, clouds) and shaded areas (low vegetation).

Photo from the main camera

There's no telephoto lens, but the 2x zoom likely uses a cropping technique on the 54MP sensor, which we believe is similar to a 1.7x optical zoom. It's more useful for portrait shots (~50mm) than for true telephoto zoom (5-10x).

Zoom in on the image using the main camera.

The ultra-wide camera takes sharper and clearer photos than the iPhone 13 Pro's ultra-wide camera. However, the quality isn't always consistent. Photos taken with the Honor ultra-wide camera, both day and night, often come out a bit blurry unless you hold the camera steady (more than usual). The ultra-wide camera can also be used as a macro camera, as it focuses on an object just 2.5 cm away!

Ultra wide-angle shot

Honor has added a cool software feature called "Single Shot Mode," which allows you to create additional vertical videos for TikTok, Instagram, and similar platforms. It's a brilliant idea: while shooting a video in landscape mode, you can select one person to follow. The phone will generate a separate vertical video for that person, which you can immediately post as a Story, no editing required!

Performance

The Honor 70 smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus (5G) processor, a computing platform originally designed for more expensive smartphones. For its price, it offers good processor performance, and most users will be completely satisfied with everyday use and basic gaming.

Unsurprisingly, this phone delivers exactly the same performance as other devices powered by the same Snapdragon 778G Plus platform, including the Honor 60. The Honor 50 and Samsung Galaxy A73, both equipped with the 778G processor (without the Plus suffix), offer comparable performance.

Since this chip was released back in October 2021, it's not surprising that some phones, like the Oppo Reno8, feature a faster processor, such as the MediaTek Dimensity 1300. However, the Oppo Reno8 makes very different tradeoffs in terms of design and use of high-quality materials.

Power users and gamers might be better served by other performance-focused phones. However, they will likely have to sacrifice some of the Honor 70's design or camera features (including the front-facing camera). Again, it's a balancing act in this price range.

For users who really need ultra-high performance, a phone like the OnePlus 10T is a serious contender in roughly the same price range, though its main camera isn't as powerful as the Honor 70's.

Software

It goes without saying that Honor has full access to Google services, just like other Android smartphones. Some people ask about this because Honor was formerly a subsidiary of Huawei, but Honor is now an independent organization. .

This phone runs Android 12 with Honor's proprietary Magic UI 6.1 skin. For those familiar with Honor, there aren't many changes, so you'll feel right at home. The same applies to Huawei HarmonyOS, as both apps share many similarities.

Those switching from another Android skin need not worry, as Magic UI is similar enough and intuitive for any Android user.

Battery

Battery capacity 4800 mAh slightly more than the previous Honor 60 model, but overall battery life remains very similar thanks to the higher display refresh rate. Objective battery tests, such as PCMark Work 3.0 (200 nits), show 10 hours 20 minutes of battery life under continuous load and screen use.

In real-world use, this means comfortable smartphone use, and you can easily get through the day, returning home with plenty of battery life. Incidentally, the amount of power packed into such a thin body is simply astounding (mAh per cubic inch).

When you need to charge your device, the included 66W AC adapter (which costs around $45 from major manufacturers) will charge the battery from 0 to 80% in about 30 minutes, which is much faster than the iPhone 13 Pro, though not the fastest on the market.

Conclusion

The Honor 70 is a smartphone aimed at users who value high build quality, premium looks and excellent main camera . And Honor truly meets their needs. It's worth remembering that there are two other phones in this line: the Honor 70 Pro and the Honor 70 Pro+, so this is the base model.

Honor focuses on resource utilization, paying particular attention to specific materials and components. Therefore, this isn't a gaming phone, nor does it claim to be the best camera phone. Honor has other options for that, such as the Honor Magic4 series.

With a retail price of around $650, we think this phone represents an interesting value for money for users who value his strengths . Of course it is one of the most competitive market segments , but Honor is more likely to attract buyers with design, brand trust, and usability than with just specs and benchmark results.

High performance

• Elegant, thin and lightweight design
• Very good display
• Good camera

Low performance

• The variable rate could be more detailed.
• Lack of water protection
• There is no separate camera with zoom.

Rating + Price

• Rating : 8,9/10
• Price : ~ $650.