Today we shall review a mid-range smartphone from the Chinese Huawei. Let's see if the Honor is really worthy of its name.

Huawei U8860 Honor key specifications:

• Scorpion 1.4 GHz CPU, Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon chipset with the Adreno 205 graphics core;
• Android 2.3.6, upgradable to 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich);
• 4-inch, 854x480, multitouch-enabled TFT capacitive touchscreen;
• 512MB RAM, 1GB storage (880MB free), 4GB ROM (2GB free);
• GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS/EDGE;
• 3G UMTS 900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps;
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR;
• WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi access point;
• GPS, AGPS;
• microSDHC slot, up to 32GB;
• FM radio, RDS;
• Accelerometer, gyro, compass, proximity meter;
• 8-megapixel autofocusing camera, 720p recording;
• 1930 mAh Li-Ion battery;
• 122x61x11 mm, 140 g.

Design

Huawei Honor is a typical Android bar smartphone with a standard layout of controls. The manufacturer's choice of materials adds certain originality, though. For example, the back cover has a second layer of transparent plastic on top of the regular white plastic. This adds a kind of 3D effect to the company logo that casts shadows into the cover. If you don't like the smooth, glossy white surface, there are variants with coarse dark back covers.

The smartphone is mostly made of thick black plastic, with an additional silvery plastic reinforcing rib protecting the display from damage. The entire front is covered in glass that resembles the popular Gorilla Glass. Our sample had a few scratches, though. Besides, the glass surface is perfect for leaving smudges (as is the glossy back cover for that matter). For the sake of justice, this is the problem of any such device.

The smartphone's dimensions and weight are optimal for such devices. The manufacturer didn't aim for breaking thinness and lightness records. As a result, the Honor is really convenient to hold in hand and use. There are no sharp edges or corners, and controls are where you expect them to be. On the downside, the hardware controls are too few. The power and volume buttons are not enough. Camera and return-to-homescreen buttons would've been nice.

As we mentioned above, the design is typical. On the front are: the display, four touch-sensitive OS controls, phone speaker, secondary camera, status LED, and proximity and light sensors. On the back are: the primary camera, LED flash, loudspeaker, auxillary mic. The back cover removes easily, providing access to the battery. You can change the SIM and microSD cards only with the battery out.

On the left side are the volume controls, the right is empty. On the bottom side, Huawei Honor has the phone mic and microUSB socket. On the top are: the power button and 3.5-mm jack.

Subjectively, we like the design of the Honor, however typical it might be. The build quality of our sample is nice enough as well.

Write a comment below. No registration needed!