First of all, the design of the Honor 8 Lite is similar to that of the Honor 8 smartphone. The smartphone looks attractive, especially the black colour variant. We spent some time with the black colour variant. The phone has 2.5D curved edges on the front and rear with a metal frame around it and it looks similar to Samsung’s Galaxy A-series. The manufacturers have used glass to give the device a premium feel and the Honor 8 does give that feel. The rear of the phone does not get scratched as easily as the front but it does get fingerprints. The metal frame makes the phone feel sturdy overall, the physical buttons seem a bit disappointing.
The volume rocker and power button are placed on the right side of the phone, while the left side has a hybrid dual-SIM tray. Users can choose between two Nano-SIMs or one Nano-SIM and one microSD card. The design of the phone has been slightly changed compared to the Honor 8. For example, the Honor 8 Lite has two speaker grilles at the bottom and a 3.5mm audio socket at the top. The Honor 8 had a single speaker grille and connector at the bottom.
Being a ‘lite variant’ of the Honor 8, the phone has been stripped down to a few features, such as a rear fingerprint sensor that doesn’t work like a physical button when double-tapped. Additionally, the phone has a single camera instead of dual rear cameras.
At 7.6mm thick, the phone feels comfortable in the hand and is easy to hold. However, the glass rear may cause the phone to be slippery for some users. At 147 grams, the Honor 8 Lite is slightly lighter than the Honor 8, and shouldn’t be a problem to use for a full day. We will reserve our judgement on the phone’s comfort and build quality until our detailed review.
When we reviewed the Honor 8, we loved its Full HD display. And the Honor 8 Lite did not disappoint either. The new device features a 5.2-inch Full HD (1080×1920) display, just like the Honor 8, and we liked the colours. The new version of EMUI features an Eye Comfort mode that gives everything a yellow feel. According to the company, this makes the screen feel more comfortable to the eyes.
The Honor 8 Lite runs EMUI 5.0 which is based on Android 7.0 Nougat. The phone is powered by Huawei’s octa-core Kirin 655 processor paired with 4GB of RAM. The phone has 64GB of storage which is expandable up to 128GB via microSD card. In the short time we spent with the handset, we found the UI to be quite smooth. We had no issues while switching apps and all apps ran quickly. However, sometimes the device does not recognise touches such as when increasing or decreasing the brightness. The fingerprint sensor is very fast and there are times when you may find yourself accidentally unlocking the phone.
Huawei has made some useful design changes in EMUI 5.0 that make the phone cleaner and easier to navigate. It features a vibrant blue theme. The biggest change is the app drawer option. This will come in handy for those who don’t want to see all the icons on the home screen in one visit. Apart from this, the phone also gets some performance and security upgrades. Swiping to the left opens Highboard, a Flipboard-like service that lets you see stories from the day, along with app suggestions and a universal search bar.
Apart from this, the phone has an SOS calling feature especially for India, through which one can contact in case of emergency. Apart from this, Hindu and Islamic calendars have also been integrated in the English calendar app.
The Honor 8 Lite sports a 12-megapixel rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and autofocus. The phone also has an 8-megapixel selfie camera with a 77-degree wide-angle lens and f/2.0 aperture. The photos we took in natural light had good detail, but some colours looked too bright while others were washed out. The autofocus was also not as fast as we expected. The front camera also takes good outdoor shots and the wide-angle lens helped. We will reserve our judgement on the quality of photos and camera performance until the detailed review.
Swiping right in the camera app will show you modes and filters. Pro mode lets you change the ISO value and other settings of your choice. Swiping left lets you set settings including resolution, frame grid and timer.
The Honor 8 Lite comes with a 3000mAh battery. We were not able to test the battery life of the phone in the short time we had, so you will have to wait for our detailed review.
Looking at the specifications, the Honor 8 Lite should be priced under Rs 20,000. The phone will compete with the Moto G5 Plus and Vivo V5s. Stay tuned to Gadgets 360 to read our detailed review of the Honor 8 Lite on performance, build quality, camera quality, and battery life.
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