Honor Play 8A with Helio P35 is official!

Right on schedule, Honor released its first smartphone of 2018, the Play 8A. It's a budget smartphone that comes with a stylish design and MediaTek's new Helio P35 chip.

Honor Play 8A

Interestingly, it is dubbed as the Honor Play 8A instead of the previously reported Honor 8A.

The highlights

Honor Play 8A sports a glossy 2.5D glass-like polycarbonate back shell in black, gold, red, and blue colors. In front, there's a 6.09-inch IPS screen with HD+ 1560 x 720 resolution at 283 ppi. It has a teardrop notch and 81 percent of screen-to-body ratio.

Under the hood, it loads with the new 12nm 64-bit Helio P35 octa-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz. The chip is paired with IMG GE8320 GPU. It also has 3GB RAM, 32GB or 64GB of expandable storage up to 512GB with dedicated microSD card, and 3,020mAh battery 10W USB-C charging.

On the camera part, the handset comes with a single 13MP f/1.8 shooter with PDAF focus. For selfies, you will find an 8MP f/2.0 camera. Most likely, the cameras are assisted by AI as well.

As expected, the phone doesn't have a fingerprint scanner. You will get a face unlock tech instead.

The phone also goes with 4G LTE, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, and dual SIM slots. The Play 8A runs with Android 9.0 Oreo OS with EMUI 9.0 skin on top.

Honor Play 8A Specs

Display: 6.09-inch 2.5D curved screen w/ HD+ 1560 x 720 resolution at 283 ppi

CPU: 2.3GHz 64-bit Helio P35 octa-core processor w/ CPU Turbo

GPU: PowerVR GE8320

RAM: 3GB

ROM: 32GB/64GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 512GB (dedicated)

Back Camera: 13MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF and LED flash

Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.0

Battery: 3,020mAh

OS: Android 9.0 Pie w/ EMUI 9.0

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, FM Radio, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Face unlock, Colors: black, gold, red, blue colors

Dimensions: 156.28 x 73.5 x 8.0 mm

Weight: 150 g

Price: TBC

Price and availability

The Honor Play 8A is expected to ship from January 8. It is priced at around USD 119 (PHP 6.2K) to USD 129 (PHP 6.7K) in China.

Source: Mobile Crypto Tech