Watch: Honor 8X vs Samsung Galaxy J8 (2018) - Which has better build, screen, battery life, and AI camera?

Recently we compared the Honor 8X with the Vivo V11. This time, we're putting it side-by-side with the Samsung Galaxy J8 (2018).

Team Honor or team Samsung?

Honor 8X vs Samsung Galaxy J8 (2018) - Which has better build, screen, battery life, and AI camera?

Honor 8X vs Samsung Galaxy J8 (2018) Specs

Device	Honor 8X	Samsung Galaxy J8 (2018)
Display	6.5-inch 2.5D curved IPS screen w/ FHD+ 2340 x 1080 resolution at 396 ppi	6-inch 2.5D curved Super AMOLED Infinity Display w/ HD+ 1440 x 720 resolution at 268 ppi
CPU	2.2GHz 64-bit Kirin 710 octa-core processor	1.8GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor
GPU	Mali-G51 MP4	Adreno 506
RAM	4GB	6GB
ROM	64GB/128GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 400GB (dedicated)	32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB (dedicated)
Back Camera	20MP f/1.8 + 2MP w/ PDAF, contrast focus, Master AI, and LED flash	16MP f/1.7 + 5MP f/1.9 w/ AF and LED flash
Selfie Camera	16MP f/2.0 w/ AI face beauty	16MP f/1.9 w/ softlight LED flash
Battery	3,750mAh	3,500mAh
OS	Android 8.1 Oreo w/ EMUI 8.2	Android 8.0 Oreo w/ Samsung Experience 9.0
Connectivity	WiFi 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz), 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE, HWA, aptX, and aptX HD, FM Radio, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, dual SIM	WiFi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, ANT+, FM Radio, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM
Sensors	Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic	Accelerometer, proximity, sound
Others	Fingerprint sensor, face unlock, dual mic, Colors: black, blue, red, purple	Fingerprint sensor, face unlock, Colors: blue, black, gold
Dimensions	160.4 x 76.6 x 7.8 mm	160 x 75.8 x 7.95 mm
Weight	175 g	177 g
Price	PHP 12,990	PHP 15,990 (PHP 14,990 sale price)

Display Quality

Both smartphones have a 2.5D curved display. However, the screen that the Honor 8X is sporting looks better than the Galaxy J8 (2018).

Why? It has the bigger 6.5-inch screen with the sharper FHD+ resolution compared with the smaller 6-inch screen HD+ AMOLED screen of Galaxy J8 (2018)

Moreover, the Honor 8X has 91 percent of screen-to-body ratio with tiny chin bezel. The top and chin bezels of the Galaxy J8 (2018) is thicker.

Battery Life

In terms of battery life, the Honor 8X has a bigger 3,750mAh with 5V/2A charging tech. Meanwhile, the Galaxy J8 (2018) has a smaller 3,500mAh of battery. It also has Samsung’s adaptive charging tech.

In our test, the Honor 8X and Galaxy J8 are about the same in terms of battery performance. The Honor 8X has the slight edge with a little over 13 hours of straight heavy usage.

The Samsung Galaxy J8 lasted for 12 hours and 50 minutes under the same condition.

Charging time is about the same at over 2 hours.

Camera

On the camera part, the Honor 8X has the bigger 20MP f/1.8 primary shooter paired with 2MP depth sensor packed with PDAF, contrast focus, Master AI, and LED flash.

On the other hand, the Galaxy J8 (2018) has 16MP with brighter f/1.7 + 5MP f/1.9 w/ AF and LED flash.

Only the Honor 8X has the power of AI for scene detection though.

Rear Camera Samples

In our test, both performed well. But, we like the colors and details of the Honor 8X in daylight a bit better. It has more details in the sky.

The bokeh on the Honor 8X at f4/.0 is also deeper than the background blur level 4 of Galaxy J8’s live focus.

The edge detection of the Galaxy J8 is just cleaner.

For lowlight, the exposure of Galaxy J8 (2018) is brighter. But the colors of the Honor 8X is livelier.

Details are about the same.

Both are equipped with night modes for better photos in lowlight. However, only the Honor 8X has the AI night mode with up to 6 seconds handheld long exposure.

For selfies, the Honor 8X has the smaller 16MP f/2.0 shooter with AI face beauty.

On the other hand, the Galaxy J8 (2018) has the 16MP f/1.9 lens w/ softlight LED flash. 

Selfie Camera Samples

To my eyes, daylight performance is comparable. Although, the selfies taken with the Honor 8X is a bit sharper with better colors.

The depth effect for bokeh selfies on the Honor 8X is also nicer.

For lowlight selfies, the J8 has the edge to my eyes. Colors are warmer with wider dynamic range and it is not that soft compared with the 8X.

Our thoughts

This time, the clear winner for this comparison is the Honor 8X.

It is the phone with the more premium build, larger screen with sharper details, slightly larger battery capacity, and more capable AI cameras.

The Galaxy J8 is also a decent one, but the Honor 8X is simply better. It even has the newer generation processor and better overall specs.

BUT, both smartphones are good on their own.

Do you agree with us?