Hey Explorers!
We all knew that HONOR re-entered the Indian market with the launch of HONOR 90 in September 2023, under the HTech brand Led by Madhav Seth, known for his exceptional leadership with realme. Today, we're taking a close look with an in-depth review of the latest release from HONOR, the HONOR X9b. I have been using the device for the past 30 days (1 month) and I think it's a perfect time to share my experience by reviewing different aspects of the device.
This device caters to the user's eye with impressive on-paper specs like a 1.5K resolution 10-bit Curved AMOLED Display, Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 Soc, a massive 5800 mAh battery, 108 MP camera, etc. Its "Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display" also portrays the Nokia of the 2024 smartphone era. Let's take a deep dive to know more with an in-depth review.
A Quick Pictorial Physical Overview of Smartphone
Roadmap of the Thread
- Design, Build & Form Factor
- Display
- Performance
- Software, User Experience, and Haptics
- Battery
- Camera
- Connectivity
- Security and Privacy
- Other Important features
- Pros and Cons
- My Experience & Verdict
- How does this help me as a daily driver?
- Pricing and Availability
With a circular triple camera module surrounded by two golden rings, HONOR X9b is available in two distinct colors: Midnight Black with Polycarbonate back and Sunrise Orange with Vegan Leather. Vegan Leather has the premiumness of leather aiding a better grip, while Midnight Black shows its elegant aesthetics with a matte finish touch. The black one is my favorite, do let us know about yours below in the comment section.Design, Build & Form Factor
Not only the front, sides are also curved from the back aiding a better grip while holding and enhancing its overall look. Despite packing a massive 5800 mAh battery, the device weighs only 185g and boasts a slim profile of just 7.98 mm. Kudos to the team for managing this form factor with a 5800mAh battery, breaking the myth that a big battery means a bulky phone. The power button and volume rockers placement is on the right side and is easily accessible with a single hand use. The top and Bottom parts of the polycarbonate frame possess a flat surface with a premium finish. The device feels extremely comfortable to hold means a great in-hand feel and is highly durable. Click here to learn more about its Durability.
I gave this device to many of my known ones, and trust me, they are not ready to believe that this lightweight and slim form factor is packed with a massive 5800 mAh battery inside it. Now let's talk about the display.
Display: the USP of HONOR X9b. It has a 6.78" 10-bit Curved AMOLED display with a resolution of 1.5K (1200*2652). It comes with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1920Hz High-frequency PWM Dimming support. Above all this, it's an Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display with 360° Anti-Drop Protection to save this phone from accidental drops; and yes, it perfectly does its work. Click here to learn more about Anti Drop tech and PWM dimming features.Display
I've found the display quality exceptionally impressive in my everyday use. Despite not being certified with any HDR or Dolby Vision certification, surprisingly the display has a super sharp and crisp output, a great dynamic range, and vibrant colors. It gives a superb color output with deeper blacks and stunning whites enhancing our media consumption experience. I am impressed with the color accuracy of this premium AMOLED panel and with a 1200 nits of peak brightness, it feels adequately bright even in direct sunlight. So in terms of display, it is super-amazing and you will surely love it. I thoroughly enjoyed the content consumption from various platforms on this display.
Performance
A better performance output depends upon both hardware and software optimization. This device is equipped with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC based on a 4nm fabrication process which is highly capable of managing both the performance and the power efficiency. The processor has 4 × Cortex A78 performance cores @ 2.2 GHz and 4 × Cortex A55 efficiency cores @ 1.8 GHz; which along with HONOR optimization gives me an amazing output by easily handling the performance-oriented works when needed. In the past 1 month of use, I never felt that it was lacking the performance needs and hadn't experienced any lag or jitter. Soc includes an Adreno 710 GPU and the device performed well during heavy gaming sessions; click here to watch the gaming review. It comes with 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 Storage type to further aid its performance need with a faster response. App opening and closing feel super smooth and have excellent RAM management. Below are the screenshots for AnTuTu, GeekBench, and Storage test scores.
Software, User Experience, and Haptics
I am highly impressed with this ad and bloatware-free super smooth feature-rich software that adds a premiumness to the user experience. After setting up the device, I found only 2-3 bloatware, after uninstalling which I got a completely clean UI. Animation is integrated into the whole UI elements and feels buttery smooth. Out of the box, the device has MagicOS 7.2 based on Android 13. The brand promises you 2 years of Android and 3 years of security updates. Magic OS 7.2 introduces AI integrations including but not limited to AI Suggestions and Magic Text-like features to further enhance the user experience. 120Hz refresh rate is also implemented well in the third-party apps to provide a smooth experience everywhere. Overall HONOR X9b has an impressive UI hence providing a premium experience. This time I am not impressed with the Haptics integration. Haptics are decent but only feel while typing. It's not integrated with the other UI elements. But yeah, the premium UI experience suppresses this lack of haptics.
The phone is equipped with a massive 5800 mAh battery. I have rigorously tested the battery and can say it has excellent optimization and I didn't notice any unusual drain in this 1 month of use. I am a moderate user and the battery easily lasts for 1.5 to 2 days with more than 9 hours of SOT in my regular use. Must Click Here for a Detailed In-depth review of the Battery published by me. You will get a complete idea about the battery with that.Battery
Camera
The phone has a triple matrix AI vision camera setup. The device has a 108MP Main Camera (F1.75) with a 1/1.67 '' sensor size + 5MP Ultra Wide & Depth Camera(F2.2) + 2MP Macro Camera (f2.4) and a single LED Flash. Also, have a 16MP (f/2.45) center punch-hole front camera. With the rear cam, you can record video at a maximum of 4K 30fps, and with the front FHD (1080p) 30fps. In addition to hardware technical specs, optimization plays an equal role. In my usage, the camera appears to be well-optimized for both day and night photography. The dynamic range, sharpness, details, skin tones, and color accuracy look good. I did notice occasional struggles with exposure control in highlight areas and an inability to balance dynamic range, particularly in Portrait mode. But the overall camera experience is impressive and you will surely love the picture quality. Edge detection with portrait shots is perfect. I took this phone to a wedding function, and for our night-time photography, my friends chose this device over their other phones available at that time near the same budget range. Click here to evaluate with more pictures.
- 108 MP and Cropped
- 1X and 3X Lossless Zoom
- Human Subject
- 1X, 3X Loosless, and Ultrawide
- HONOR X9b Camera Review | Assessing the Camera Capabilities - Refer to this thread for more images and a Google Drive link for a better evaluation.
Connectivity
Call Quality and Network Reception: Faced no issues with Call Quality and Network Reception. I tested this device with both Jio and Airtel for calling and experienced crystal-clear calling quality. Additionally, the mic quality is excellent as no one complained about my audio quality issues during the call and the earpiece speaker quality is also crisp and clear. The only thing that bothers me a bit is the unavailability of the proximity sensor, which results in occasional screen wake-ups during the calls. 4G+ Carrier Aggregation is working fine and received a stable 5G network. It has 11 5G bands support including all the important ones. Other Connectivity Features: The device provides stable Wi-Fi connectivity with frequency support of up to 5GHz and has Wi-Fi+ functionality. It has Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC support for seamless Tap & Pay payments. It also supports operator video calling and VoWiFi.
The device is equipped with both the In-Display Fingerprint sensor and Facial recognition which is fast and reliable. It also has an app lock and password vault (to store passwords) support. Google Play Protect integration is there to protect you from malicious apps and has a separate privacy dashboard to keep easy control over things.Security and Privacy
Other Important features
- The phone has Camera 2 API and Widevine L1 security-level certification.
- AI suggestions, Magic Text Integration, and a Safe to securely store your data are also available.
- It comes with HONOR Connect for a seamless ecosystem between HONOR devices.
- Have a Circadian Night Display for better sleep.
- IP53 Rating
- Have the option of dedicated display color customization with color correction according to your preference and eyesight for a better visual.
- Video enhancer is also available to make it more vivid and vibrant.
- Have some important customization in battery settings to protect its health as attached below, and many more things to explore.
Have a pre-bundled HONOR Protect Plan providing features like 6 months of free screen replacement, 6 months extended warranty, etc.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Slim and Lightweight Form Factor
- Impressive Display Quality and Durability
- Outstanding Battery Backup
- Ad-free User Interface with a premium experience
- Impressive Performance
- A Good Camera
Cons
- Single Speaker that also lacks depth in the audio
- No Proximity Sensor
- Decent Haptics
- Lac of Good Video Stabilization
In my experience, HONOR with X9b tried to give a package prioritizing the premium user experience. The software optimization for smooth and user-friendly operation, coupled with the absence of ads, is highly impressive. In case you are looking for a device with a premium software experience, a long-lasting battery without compromising design and form factor, a brilliant quality & highly durable display, and overall a good camera to capture your moments; then this HONOR X9b is a perfect choice for you within its price segment. If you're someone, who frequently drops their phone, then HONOR X9b is the only option for you in any budget, and I am not joking. If you ask me about the major strengths of the phone in its budget, that will be Battery, UI, Display, Durability, and Form Factor.My Experience & Verdict
I've been using this device for more than 30 days and haven't faced any major issues; it is reliable as my daily driver for all my regular tasks and needs. Without any hesitation, I recommend this device if you are planning to purchase it.
I need an optimized premium UI on my phone that should be buttery smooth and ad-free with customization support, long-lasting battery life to become worry-free about refueling it again and again without making my phone bulky, amazing display quality to enjoy content from different platforms, good camera to occasionally capture my memories and document scan on the go when needed, and reliable performance to ensure the smooth handling of all my regular tasks like emails, calls, social media, browsing and sometimes casual gaming. And this device is effectively helping me with all my needs as a daily driver.How does this help me as a daily driver?
Available in single 8GB + 256GB Variant and priced at 25,999. You can easily grab this at 22,999 with a card offer. You can grab this on Amazon and Explore HONOR website.Pricing and Availability
That's all for today from my side. I hope you liked this in-depth review and hope is going to help you with your purchasing decision. Don't forget to share your feedback or anything you want in the comment section. Also, if you have any queries/questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the comment section below, the comment section is all yours. We will meet again in the next thread soon, till then take care of yourself and you're loved ones.
Thanks for taking your precious time to engage on this thread.
Signing off
