Introduction
HONOR’s newest addition to its X Series lineup, the X7b, promises to deliver a good user experience with a focus on photography and longevity. It has a 108MP main camera that can reportedly deliver good quality photos, and a 6,000mAh battery for outstanding endurance, all for an PHP 8,999 price tag.
Design and Build Quality
The HONOR X7b boasts a 3D Backplane Quad-Curved Design, which not only looks sleek but also ensures a comfortable grip. Measuring just 8.24mm thin and weighing only 199g, the device manages to remain light and easy to hold. The rear panel also reacts differently depending on where the light is coming from.
Unlike a lot of other phones today, this one sticks to a flatter design with only just slightly curved sides for added grip.
It also has a headphone jack, and dual stereo speakers for your immersive media consumption. They offer good volume, ample bass, as well as decent vocal clarity, and enough airiness on the treble. Not the best pair by any means, but for the price, there’s really not much to complain about.
The HONOR X7b has a 6.8-inch FullView LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate provides a buttery-smooth scrolling experience. Obviously, you won’t get the same lively colors and deep blacks as an AMOLED display, but it works okay for media consumption.
Yes, there are other devices in the sub-PHP 10K price range with a 120Hz refresh rate, so I’m not sure why they didn’t opt for the same.
Camera
Despite being a budget device, HONOR still managed to put a 108MP Main Camera on the X7b, along with a 5MP ultra-wide unit, and of course, a 2MP macro shooter. Again, I would take a depth camera over macro any day, or actually, even a main and ultra-wide unit would’ve been okay.
Our initial sample show decent amounts of detail as well as good sharpness and color accuracy. We’ll save the full verdict for the full review, but here’s a look at some of the shots.
As expected, video only caps out at 1080p 30fps, which isn’t surprising for a budget device, but I do wish it had at least 60 fps.
Performance
HONOR X7b is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, which is a bit underwhelming if you’re looking at a purely performance standpoint. Seeing this chip in other HONOR devices even back in 2022, it’s getting a bit old. That being said, it’s still a decent chip in terms of efficiency.
Another advantage of having an older chip is that it’s most likely that games have already been optimized for it. Just like in this case, Mobile Legends can run at Super + Ultra with no issues.
Honkai: Star Rail, on the other hand, will only run decently at its lowest settings, but hey, very playable for what is technically a budget device that’s clearly not focused on performance? I think that’s good enough.
Anyway, we’ll save the full suite of games and benchmarks for the full review.
Software
HONOR X7b runs MagicOS 7.2 on top of Android 13, and pretty much remains the same as far as amount of customization and features are concerned.
I do appreciate that there is only a minimal amount of pre-loaded apps here. But somehow, the UI just feels like it needs a major overhaul for the quality-of-life stuff like having to go through the settings menu just to change your resolution or aspect ratio in the camera app, or perhaps having a theme engine that can adopt to your wallpaper’s colors for that bit of visual zing.
Battery
Undoubtedly one of the X7b’s standout features is its 6,000mAh ultra-large battery. Coupled with HONOR’s innovative battery technologies, they say that this battery is able to maintain over 80% of health even after three years of usage, reducing the need for constant recharging. We’ll just have to see for ourselves I guess.
The device also supports 35W HONOR SuperCharge via its USB-C port, which is a decent bonus.
HONOR X7b: Initial Thoughts
I think that the HONOR X7b is a decent overall package and would be a good choice for those who don’t want to spend a ton of money but care most about camera and battery.
On the other hand, the UI could use a bit of “Magic” on some things. Also, the fact that it runs an old chip probably means it’s not going to be for those who prioritize performance above everything else.
Stay tuned for the full review, coming very soon.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
