HONOR 8C Unboxing and First Impressions
HONOR has a new phone designed to slug it out in the highly competitive budget smartphone game, the HONOR 8C.
HONOR 8C is the lower-end sibling of the 10 Lite and 8X. Unlike the two with Kirin 710 chipset, 8C is equipped with the lower-end 14nm Snapdragon 632. Snapdragon 632 is the direct successor of Snapdragon 625 and 626.
HONOR also highlights its big 4,000mAh battery despite having a slim 7.98 mm slim frame and the "Cat's Eye" design body.
Anyway, let's unbox it. Here's our review part 1!
HONOR 8C comes with the usual teal HONOR box. Inside, there's the phone itself, 5V/2A USB charger, micro USB data/charging cable, and SIM ejector tool. There's no earphones with mic and case included in the box.
Like most budget phones, HONOR 8C features a polycarbonate unibody design with 2.5D curved glass on the top. There's no mention if there's any sort of glass protection on the display.
Design-wise, HONOR 8C highlights a 3D curved back with the cat's eye blue matte color paint. It reflects different shades of blue on different angles. The company said that it is inspired by the color of the cat's eye.
It also goes with a slightly protruded vertically-aligned dual-camera setup at the back, LED flash below the cameras, and a fingerprint scanner in the middle behind.
In front, you will find the big 6.26-inch display with 19:9 screen aspect ratio and 86.6 percent screen-to-body ratio.
The phone measures at just 158.72 x 75.94 x 7.98 mm. It is still considered as quite compact for a phone with big screen and slim for phone with big battery capacity.
It goes with a big notch on top to house the selfie camera, selfie LED flash, LED notification, earpiece, and other sensors. The bezels on the side are slim, but the bezels below are thick enough fit the HONOR logo.
On top, there's a single mic and 3.5mm headphone slot. Below, you will see the mic, micro USB, and single speaker grill.
At left, you will find the triple-slot tray (dual nano SIM + microSD) and power button and volume rocker at right.
Overall form factor is quite neat in its class. It is pretty light at 167.2 grams. My only problem is it is a fingerprint smudge magnet even if the paint finish is matte.
1. HONOR 8C is easily one of the most stylish budget phone. The matte paint finish at the back is not that common in its class. However, the notch is quite big. There are other budget phones with smaller halo notch. The screen is average and it can go bright enough. Don't expect its HD+ screen to be that crisp though.
2. It is the second phone that we tested with the Snapdragon 632 octa-core chip with 1.8GHz clockspeed and Adreno 506 GPU. Based on our experience from the ZenFone Max M2, it is a pretty good budget chip. It also comes with ample 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, and 4,000mAH battery with 5V/2A fast charging. This budget phone also goes with 4G LTE connectivity.
The specs of this phone should be more than great enough to run most of the social media apps and some casual games with ease.
3. HONOR 8C loads Android Android 8.1 Oreo OS with EMUI 8.2 skin. It is still clean, feature-rich, and intuitive. However, I wished that it that it boots with Android 9.0 Pie OS with the newer EMUI 9.0 skin.
4. At the back, it has the 13MP f/1.8 main camera paired with a 2MP f/2.4 lens. The 13MP primary sensor feature PDAF focus. The secondary lens is for depth sensing or to produce bokeh shots. The back cameras are assisted by AI.
It is design to automatically recognize and optimize over 500 scenes in 22 different categories.
For selfies, it has an 8MP sensor w/ f/2.0 aperture size and a softlight LED flash. It also has a lift to wake ready type of face unlock with LCD light compensation feature to support face unlock even in low light.
We'll add camera samples here soon.
5. I like that it comes with a fingerprint scanner, LED notification, and OTG. Weirdly, it doesn't have a gyro sensor for VR/AR apps.
 |
| Honor 8C |
HONOR 8C is the lower-end sibling of the 10 Lite and 8X. Unlike the two with Kirin 710 chipset, 8C is equipped with the lower-end 14nm Snapdragon 632. Snapdragon 632 is the direct successor of Snapdragon 625 and 626.
HONOR also highlights its big 4,000mAh battery despite having a slim 7.98 mm slim frame and the "Cat's Eye" design body.
Anyway, let's unbox it. Here's our review part 1!
Unboxing/Accessories
 |
| Everything inside |
HONOR 8C comes with the usual teal HONOR box. Inside, there's the phone itself, 5V/2A USB charger, micro USB data/charging cable, and SIM ejector tool. There's no earphones with mic and case included in the box.
Build Quality/Design
 |
| Cat's eye design back |
Like most budget phones, HONOR 8C features a polycarbonate unibody design with 2.5D curved glass on the top. There's no mention if there's any sort of glass protection on the display.
 |
| Top |
 |
| Below |
 |
| Left |
 |
| Right |
Design-wise, HONOR 8C highlights a 3D curved back with the cat's eye blue matte color paint. It reflects different shades of blue on different angles. The company said that it is inspired by the color of the cat's eye.
It also goes with a slightly protruded vertically-aligned dual-camera setup at the back, LED flash below the cameras, and a fingerprint scanner in the middle behind.
In front, you will find the big 6.26-inch display with 19:9 screen aspect ratio and 86.6 percent screen-to-body ratio.
The phone measures at just 158.72 x 75.94 x 7.98 mm. It is still considered as quite compact for a phone with big screen and slim for phone with big battery capacity.
It goes with a big notch on top to house the selfie camera, selfie LED flash, LED notification, earpiece, and other sensors. The bezels on the side are slim, but the bezels below are thick enough fit the HONOR logo.
On top, there's a single mic and 3.5mm headphone slot. Below, you will see the mic, micro USB, and single speaker grill.
At left, you will find the triple-slot tray (dual nano SIM + microSD) and power button and volume rocker at right.
Overall form factor is quite neat in its class. It is pretty light at 167.2 grams. My only problem is it is a fingerprint smudge magnet even if the paint finish is matte.
Initial findings
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| Speedy scores |
1. HONOR 8C is easily one of the most stylish budget phone. The matte paint finish at the back is not that common in its class. However, the notch is quite big. There are other budget phones with smaller halo notch. The screen is average and it can go bright enough. Don't expect its HD+ screen to be that crisp though.
2. It is the second phone that we tested with the Snapdragon 632 octa-core chip with 1.8GHz clockspeed and Adreno 506 GPU. Based on our experience from the ZenFone Max M2, it is a pretty good budget chip. It also comes with ample 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, and 4,000mAH battery with 5V/2A fast charging. This budget phone also goes with 4G LTE connectivity.
The specs of this phone should be more than great enough to run most of the social media apps and some casual games with ease.
3. HONOR 8C loads Android Android 8.1 Oreo OS with EMUI 8.2 skin. It is still clean, feature-rich, and intuitive. However, I wished that it that it boots with Android 9.0 Pie OS with the newer EMUI 9.0 skin.
4. At the back, it has the 13MP f/1.8 main camera paired with a 2MP f/2.4 lens. The 13MP primary sensor feature PDAF focus. The secondary lens is for depth sensing or to produce bokeh shots. The back cameras are assisted by AI.
It is design to automatically recognize and optimize over 500 scenes in 22 different categories.
For selfies, it has an 8MP sensor w/ f/2.0 aperture size and a softlight LED flash. It also has a lift to wake ready type of face unlock with LCD light compensation feature to support face unlock even in low light.
We'll add camera samples here soon.
5. I like that it comes with a fingerprint scanner, LED notification, and OTG. Weirdly, it doesn't have a gyro sensor for VR/AR apps.
HONOR 8C Specs
Display: 6.26-inch 2.5D curved IPS screen w/ HD+ 1520 x 720 resolution at 269 ppi
CPU: 1.8GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 632 octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 506
RAM: 3GB
ROM: 32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB
Back Camera: 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 w/ PDAF, Master AI, and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.0 w/ LED flash
Battery: 4,000mAh
OS: Android 8.1 Oreo w/ EMUI 8.2
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, sound, magnetic
Others: Fingerprint sensor, face unlock, Colors: cat's eye blue, midnight black
Dimensions: 158.72 x 75.94 x 7.98 mm
Weight: 167.2 g
Price: PHP 7,999
We'll take it to a spin in the next few days. We'll reserve our final judgement in our full review.
CPU: 1.8GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 632 octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 506
RAM: 3GB
ROM: 32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB
Back Camera: 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 w/ PDAF, Master AI, and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.0 w/ LED flash
Battery: 4,000mAh
OS: Android 8.1 Oreo w/ EMUI 8.2
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, sound, magnetic
Others: Fingerprint sensor, face unlock, Colors: cat's eye blue, midnight black
Dimensions: 158.72 x 75.94 x 7.98 mm
Weight: 167.2 g
Price: PHP 7,999
As of the moment
HONOR 8C has the potential to be a competitive phone if the price is right. I personally like its stylish paint finish at the back, big screen, speedy Snapdragon 632 chip, and 4,000mAh battery.We'll take it to a spin in the next few days. We'll reserve our final judgement in our full review.
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