iPhone XS Max for much less? Honor 8X wants to be your 6.5-inch budget alternative – CNET

Huawei knows that not everyone can afford a $1,000 phone, or would want to spend that much even if they could. So the new Honor 8X gives you all the iPhone XS Max’s ($1,246 at Amazon Marketplace) screen size and extra glitz for a budget price.

The new Honor 8X sports a 6.5-inch, bezel-less, notched display and a shiny metallic look in blue, black or red (I saw it in blue). Even though it sells for 1,399 yuan in China — that converts to about $205, £155 or AU$285 — it doesn’t feel like a budget phone. Its specs and overall look and feel pack a punch.

Phones by Huawei and its Honor sub-brand won’t sell in the US, given the US government’s stance on the Chinese company’s products. But that exclusion hasn’t hurt Huawei so far. On the contrary, the Chinese brand’s sales have surged to make it the world’s second largest phone-maker, behind Samsung, knocking Apple (the most profitable phone-maker) into third. 

If the Honor 8X’s design looks familiar, you may recall the Huawei Nova 3i ($310 at Amazon), which has a similar design, though it has a slightly smaller display at 6.3 inches. 

For those who think a 6.5-inch screen isn’t enough, there’s also a bigger version, the Honor 8X Max, which has a whopping 7.1-inch panel. Inside, there’s a Kirin 710 processor for the 8X, while the 8X Max uses Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 636 processor.

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While I didn’t get a chance to try out the larger Max, the 8X’s Kirin 710 doesn’t feel sluggish at all in the short amount of time I got to try out the phone. I liked how the phone feels in my hand, and while the 6.5-inch screen may seem large, the phone’s about the same size as the iPhone 8 Plus ($764 at Walmart). When placed side by side, the amount of display really stands out.

As with recent Huawei-made phones, the Honor 8X‘s dual cameras are AI-powered. Turn on AI mode and the camera will automatically detect what sort of shots it should take, for example, closeups of objects, or switching automatically to portrait mode if it sees a face.

It also has a night mode, which combines multiple exposure shots into one image. There does seem to be some noise tradeoff, but the images are slightly clearer, with a little more detail compared to the standard photo mode.

The Honor 8X looks like a compelling choice for those wanting a cheap phone without compromising on quality or performance. It’ll be sold in Asia and Europe.

Huawei Honor 8X specs

• Processor: Huawei Kirin 710, 2.2GHz octacore
• Display: 6.5-inch full-HD+ (2,340×1,080 pixels)
• Operating system: Android 8.1 Oreo
• Memory: 64GB/128GB storage, 6GB RAM or 64GB storage, 4GB RAM
• Cameras: 20- and 2-megapixel rear, 16-megapixel front