Greetings to the Honor X7b, the company’s recently unveiled smartphone that costs $249 but offers exceptional performance and, arguably, the best battery life around.
First, let’s take a look inside the box. The X7b comes with an Honor SuperCharge adapter that maxes out at 35W, a case, and a USB cable. This is a pretty solid set and much better than what some much more expensive phones offer.
Unboxing the Honor X7b
We have the Midnight Black model, despite the promising Liquid Silver pictured on the retail box.
At the front, the Honor X7b features a 6.8-inch 2412x1080px IPS LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate. It’s a bright panel with good contrast and solid viewing angles. It’s also very sharp at this size and resolution.
The back is plastic and has a fine finish with a textured paint job that shines under light. There are two camera islands and the 108MP and Honor badge.
The plastic panel also encloses the sides. There’s a SIM tray on the left, as well as the volume rocker and power button on the opposite side. The power button also doubles as a fingerprint scanner.
Honor X7b
There are three cameras on the back of the Honor X7b and one on the front. The main camera is a 108MP f/1.8 unit that takes 12MP shots by default, but you can shoot the full 108MP with the High-Res mode. Next is a 5MP f/2.2 fixed-focus ultrawide.
The third sensor is a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera that you can only access via the Super macro mode (it won’t start automatically when you’re too close to a subject with another camera). Finally, on the front, there is an 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera.
We took some shots with the Honor X7b. The main camera offers a good amount of detail in the default 12MP output. Looking at fine textures like the tree branches or the objects in the indoor scenes reveals good definition. Contrast is strong with bright highlights and well-developed shadows. There is no noise to speak of. Color rendering is vivid even on gloomy winter days like today.
The 2x mode from the main camera increases the sharpness to excessive levels, but that’s to be expected when you’re digitally zooming into a scene. We’d say the trade-off is worth it because you can get closer without a dedicated camera on board.
Main camera, 2x from main camera
The ultrawide is pretty rough – its output is grainy and blurry in broad daylight, which doesn’t bode well for the low-light prospect.
Main camera
Ultrawide
Selfies are very good. There is a beautiful amount of detail in faces and the background is nicely developed. The 8MP front camera is also wide for those group shots.
Selfies
One of the Honor X7b’s biggest selling points is the battery. It’s a 6,000 mAh unit that should provide plenty of time. And when you need to charge the Honor, the 35W adapter is very powerful.
Finally, the X7b packs a 6nm Snapdragon 680 chipset paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage. Overall, it’s a capable package that should serve those who need a phone with a long-lasting battery and don’t insist on 5G connectivity.