Two new budget smartphones, this time from HONOR, enter the fray. The company recently announced its latest offerings in the X-series – the HONOR X5 Plus and the HONOR X6a.
In the Philippines, the HONOR X5 Plus was announced with a PhP 5,490 price tag while the HONOR X6a is tagged slightly higher at PhP 6,990. As of writing, the units are available for pre-order and come with bonuses and freebies. More info on the deals here.
HONOR X5 Plus
Coming in as the most affordable of HONOR’s latest unveiling, the HONOR X5 Plus does come with features that make it appealing as a budget device.
To start, it has a slightly above-average 5200 mAh battery. In our time with it, even if we weren’t too conservative in using the features of the X5 Plus, it was able to last a little more than a whole day.
You’ll have to carve out some time to charge, though, as this phone only supports 10W charging and it’s got a pretty big battery to fill up.
One of the reasons the battery is able to last long is because of the use of LCD instead of AMOLED. It is a budget device so an LCD is reasonable but I’m pleasantly surprised at finding a higher 90Hz refresh rate on this device.
For other display specs, we have 6.56 inches for its size and 720×1612 for its display resolution. There’s also an in-display fingerprint sensor as well as face unlock for security options.
For cameras, the HONOR X5 Plus is equipped with a 50-megapixel main shooter with a 2-megapixel depth camera. You’ll be relying on that 50-megapixel camera alone but thankfully, the X5 Plus does output pretty detailed and well-saturated photos. But because you only have the option of that main camera, there is no wide angle on this device.
For selfies, you have a 5-megapixel front-facing camera which performs as expected. You won’t get too much from this camera but it works well enough in bright light.
Diving inside the HONOR X5 Plus, we’ll find a MediaTek Helio G36 at its core supported by 4GB of RAM. In our time with it, we’ve experienced stable daily performance with a few issues here and there. Overall, a good daily driver for your most essential tasks.
Gaming is still possible though don’t be surprised to experience lag every so often. Unexpected, though, given the segment but performance is at par with price.
Out of the box, the HONOR X5 Plus comes with just 64GB of storage but this can be expanded up to 1TB which does give you extra breathing room.
Other need-to-know things about the HONOR X5: it runs MagicOS 7.1 based on Android 13 out of the box, it’s dual SIM-ready, and it comes in two colors – Midnight Black and Cyan Lake – similar to the HONOR 90 Lite 5G that was also recently released
HONOR X6a
The HONOR X6a and HONOR X5 Plus share a few similarities.
The HONOR X6a is also equipped with a 6.56-inch LCD display with a fast 90Hz refresh rate and 720×1612 resolution. We also have mono speakers, a 5.5mm headphone port, a side-mounted fingerprint reader, and facial recognition. It’s also running MagicOS7.1 out of the box
The camera setup is almost similar as well with the X6a also having a 50-megapixel main and 2-megapixel depth. But in addition to that, ti also has a 2-megapixel macro camera. Photos produced are quite similar to the HONOR X5 Plus – clean, well-detailed, and with good saturation.
With a 5-megapixel selfie camera as well, you’re also getting results similar to the X5 Plus.
The addition of the macro lens didn’t add significant improvement to the overall camera experience but it’s there should you ever need it, I suppose.
At its heart, we also have a MediaTek Helio G36 with 4GB of RAM. Unlike the X5 Plus, however, the HONOR X6a has a more generous 128GB of internal storage which is also expandable via microSD card.
With similar internals, we’ve found performance to be similar. Its pros of being battery efficient and well-rounded for light to medium tasks remain. It also harbors the same weaknesses including screen freezing every so often.
On the X6a, it’s less frequent, however, both in gaming and everyday operation. It’s possible that the larger built-in storage may play some part in making the phone run a little smoother.
Battery-wise, we have the same above-average 5200mAh capacity. The HONOR X6a is also able to last a little over a day which is good news for power users. But charging times are faster with the X6a thanks to support for 22.5W HONOR SuperCharge.
Final thoughts
The budget smartphone space is always interesting because of the different mix of features available. HONOR continues to make its phones stand out and more importantly, of good value thanks to adding features like large storage, fast refresh rates, and high-quality cameras while keeping the price tags within reach.
The HONOR X5 Plus is now available for PhP 5,490. It’s available in two colorways, Midnight Black and Cyan Lake, and in a single 4GB+64GB configuration. The HONOR X6a on the other hand comes in Sky Silver and Midnight Black with a single configuration of 4GB+128GB. It’s currently priced at PhP 6,990.
Both devices are now available in-store and through HONOR’s official e-commerce stores on Shopee and Lazada.
