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Honor 6 Smartphone Review

Honor and valor. Huawei's trendy subsidiary launches its presently most expensive model on the market dubbed Honor 6: A 5-inch smartphone for around 300 Euros (~$319). Read in this report whether the Chinese manufacturer will rock the mid-range with it.
In review: Honor 6

For the original German review, see here.

The second brand of the Chinese smartphone giant Huawei has been represented in Europe since late last year. Honor is to particularly attract young, Internet-savvy customers, and the devices are accordingly distributed primarily online. The brand additionally focuses on devices in the 100 to 300-Euro price range (~$106 to ~$319). Buyers who want a top-of-the-line product will have to look around in the parent company Huawei.

The manufacturer launches its likely, for the time being, most expensive device on the market with the Honor 6. It has a price tag of exactly 300 Euros (~$319). The buyer gets a 5-inch screen, an octa-core processor, and even LTE Cat. 6 that can achieve speeds of up to 300 Mbps in a corresponding net.

There are now many smartphones in the mid-range, such as the brand new Samsung Galaxy A3 with a metal casing, HTC Desire 820Sony Xperia T3 or Nokia Lumia 830.

Case

The casing is plain yet rigid.
The casing is plain yet rigid.

Unlike Samsung's Galaxy A3, the Honor 6 does not feature a metal casing. It, however, has a rigid polycarbonate chassis that barely warps and only passes pressure onto the screen when applied to the front and back center. The casing is available in white and black. It is plain yet attractively designed. However, it lacks that certain something - it simply looks like a smartphone among many.

The Honor 6 is nice to hold owing to its rounded edges. The casing is quite slim with 7.5 millimeters, and solely Samsung's Galaxy A3 has a lower height among the comparison devices. The battery is non-removable. A small flap for a micro-SIM and micro-SD card is on the right. Inserting and removing these cards was no problem because they simply snap into their slot and are ejected when pressed again.

157.7 mm / 6.21 inch 78.74 mm / 3.1 inch 7.74 mm / 0.3047 inch 155 g0.3417 lbs151 mm / 5.94 inch 77 mm / 3.03 inch 7.7 mm / 0.3031 inch 148 g0.3263 lbs139.4 mm / 5.49 inch 70.7 mm / 2.78 inch 8.5 mm / 0.3346 inch 150 g0.3307 lbs139.8 mm / 5.5 inch 68.8 mm / 2.71 inch 7.5 mm / 0.2953 inch 130 g0.2866 lbs130.1 mm / 5.12 inch 65.5 mm / 2.58 inch 6.9 mm / 0.2717 inch 110 g0.2425 lbs148 mm / 5.83 inch 105 mm / 4.13 inch 1 mm / 0.03937 inch 1.5 g0.00331 lbs

Connectivity

3 GB of working memory is a genuine unique selling point for the Honor 6. None of the comparison devices can offer that. However, the user will only benefit from that in extreme multitasking and a real speed advantage in applications should not be expected. 16 GB of storage is standard in most devices of this price range, but not in all: Sony's Xperia T3 only has 8 GB. The Full HD screen and high-speed LTE Cat. 6 reap in additional points in connectivity since none of the other compared devices can offer that. USB On-The-Go is also supported, but the near-field communication technology NFC is not installed.

Left: no interfaces
Left: no interfaces
Right: volume rocker, standby button, micro-SIM slot, micro-SD slot
Right: volume rocker, standby button, micro-SIM slot, micro-SD slot
Upper edge: 3.5 mm combo-audio port
Upper edge: 3.5 mm combo-audio port
Lower edge: micro USB 2.0
Lower edge: micro USB 2.0

Software

Anyone who has ever held a Huawei smartphone in their hands will be familiar with the Emotion UI 2.3 user interface that is based on Android 4.4.2 in the Honor 6. All other Android veterans will not have problems with the modifications, either. They are more found in details. For example, a quick-start bar that enables accessing up to four apps is on the home screen, the user can select a design, and the app logos have been redesigned.

Some useful apps are also preloaded, such as the phone manager that includes options for boosting the performance and cleaning the phone. Kingsoft Office and small tools like a magnifier for the camera round off the software bundle. There are no adware apps on the smartphone apart from a few Free-2-Play games from Gameloft.

No GPS indoors
No GPS indoors
Outdoors: tracking accuracy of up to 7 meters
Outdoors: tracking accuracy of up to 7 meters

Communication & GPS 

The smartphone connects to mobile networks via four GSM frequencies. It also supports UMTS and LTE Cat. 6, which enables speeds of up to 300 Mbit per second in downstream, providing the net and mobile plan allow that. The reception is good; we always had the full signal or at least 4/5 bars indoors using the rather poorly developed 4G net of the German E-Plus in an urban area.

Wi-Fi networks are accessed in the 802.11 a/b/g/n standards, and thus the 5 GHz band is also supported. The reception is rather middling. We only had half the signal and websites opened slower 10 meters away from the router and through three walls.

The GPS reception is sooner mediocre. Connections were not possible indoors, and it took quite a while before we were tracked with an accuracy of 7 meters outdoors.

 

Telephone & Voice Quality

The phone app still largely corresponds to Google's stock app. Contacts can be added to favorite lists. The call list is displayed right after opening the app. The single number buttons can be mapped with speed-dial numbers. Unwanted contacts can be blocked via a harassment filter.

The voice quality on our side was quite decent. Our contact sounded clear, but perhaps with slightly overemphasized trebles. However, we did not sound as good at the other end. Our voice was quickly covered with static and interference noises in the microphone. The voice quality was only acceptable when we talked very quietly.

Cameras & Multimedia

The Honor 6 is quite well-equipped within the comparison group with a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, auto focus and an LED flash, and especially since a 5-megapixel camera for high-definition selfies is on the front. The primary camera shoots decent pictures even in low light conditions. However, fringed outlines can be seen in the close-ups. Outdoor pictures taken in sunlight also appealed to us, and there is barely a visible image quality difference compared with high-end smartphones like LG's G3. Although the smartphone cannot compete with a reflex camera, the image quality is definitely suitable for the album.

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

Scene 1Scene 2Scene 3
click to load images

Input Devices & Handling

The preloaded keyboard is called "Swype for Huawei" and provides multiple input options. As the name already suggests, words can be entered by swiping over the keyboard. It is naturally also possible to simply tap. Voice and handwritten inputting is also supported. The keyboard itself is a bit overloaded with second and third assignments in our opinion and makes its use a bit confusing. It is not possible to directly access the numbers. However, the stock Android keyboard can be enabled or an alternative can be downloaded from the Play Store when preferred. 

The touchscreen responds instantaneously to inputs, and it has a pleasant surface. It is also sensitive up into its corners and has an optional glove mode. The position sensor also responds accurately and quickly to shifts.

Keyboard portrait mode
Keyboard portrait mode
Keyboard landscape mode
Keyboard landscape mode

Display

Full HD screens are a rare thing in the 300-Euro (~$319) price range. Google's Nexus 5 was one of the more famous devices with this specification. Now the Honor 6 also offers 1920x1080 pixels on its 5-inch screen based on IPS technology. That is accompanied by a decent average brightness of 438.8 cd/m² and a relatively homogeneous illumination of 93%.

434
cd/m²
425
cd/m²
421
cd/m²
447
cd/m²
439
cd/m²
435
cd/m²
448
cd/m²
455
cd/m²
445
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 455 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 438.8 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 439 cd/m²
Contrast: 549:1 (Black: 0.8 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 7.06 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 8.08 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
Gamma: 2.16
Honor 6
Mali-T628 MP4, Kirin 920, 16 GB eMMC Flash
Sony Xperia T3
Adreno 305, 400 MSM8928, 8 GB SSD
Samsung Galaxy A3
Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 16 GB eMMC Flash
HTC Desire 820
Adreno 405, 615 MSM8939, 16 GB eMMC Flash
Nokia Lumia 830
Adreno 305, 400 MSM8926, 16 GB eMMC Flash
Screen
13%
25%
34%
18%
Brightness middle
439
521
19%
434
-1%
541
23%
440
0%
Brightness
439
504
15%
433
-1%
531
21%
421
-4%
Brightness Distribution
93
89
-4%
96
3%
91
-2%
87
-6%
Black Level *
0.8
0.77
4%
0.5
37%
0.77
4%
Contrast
549
677
23%
1082
97%
571
4%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
7.06
5.73
19%
2.98
58%
5.85
17%
2.6
63%
Greyscale dE 2000 *
8.08
6.83
15%
2.68
67%
4.71
42%
2.64
67%
Gamma
2.16 102%
3.46 64%
2.44 90%
2.42 91%
2.32 95%
CCT
8134 80%
8370 78%
6603 98%
7591 86%
6686 97%

* ... smaller is better

However, the high black level interferes with the contrast: areas that should actually be black light up with 0.8 cd/m² and sooner look dark gray. Consequently, the contrast is only 549:1, which is roughly half the rate of HTC's Desire 820, not to mention the theoretically infinite contrast ratio of the Galaxy A3 with its AMOLED screen. Nevertheless, colors look relatively rich on the Honor 6's screen, and the reproduction is very sharp owing to its high resolution.

A closer analysis of the color reproduction using CalMAN software and a photospectrometer shows that colors are not reproduced very accurately. The shifts to the sRGB reference color space are greater than in all other comparison devices. Even the naked eye can see a clear tendency to purple in the grayscale levels, in particular in light colors and in white. However, it is pleasing that the color temperature can be adapted in the settings, making it possible to find the personal, ideal balance of warm and cold color hues.

CalMAN Color Management
CalMAN Color Management
CalMAN ColorChecker
CalMAN ColorChecker
CalMAN Grayscale
CalMAN Grayscale
CalMAN Saturation Sweeps
CalMAN Saturation Sweeps

The glossy surface is a problem for legibility in direct light. However, the user will barely have problems recognizing something on the screen outdoors on cloudy days or in the shade. Although the contrast is not exceptional, the screen's content remains well-visible for a long time owing to the decent brightness.

The IPS technology enables very generous viewing angles from all directions. Content can still be recognized well even from very acute angles.

Outdoors
Outdoors
Viewing angles
Viewing angles

Performance

At first glance, the octa-core processor looks like a very nice feature. After all, the HiSilicon Kirin 920 incorporates four cores with 1.7 GHz and four cores with 1.3 GHz, which is even to help save energy as well. However, it does not help as much as the Energy Management section will prove. Besides that, there are not many apps that utilize eight cores at the moment. The Honor 6 has a clear edge on the competing devices in processor performance, anyway. The Internet performance of the Honor 6 is also very fast in the already swift Google Chrome.

The graphics card is the Mali-T628 MP4 and includes four computing clusters. It also manages to clearly outperform the comparison devices and should suffice for current games in Google's Play Store.

The 16 GB flash memory also proves to be relatively fast. It is not quite enough for the top ranking in the comparison group because the Samsung Galaxy A3 read and write rates are a bit better. Nevertheless, particularly the write speeds of the Honor 6's storage are impressive. Also positive: The Honor 6 allows moving apps to the SD card so that the additional storage can be optimally used.

BaseMark OS II
Overall (sort by value)
Honor 6
897 Points
HTC Desire 820
717 Points -20%
Nokia Lumia 830
493 Points -45%
System (sort by value)
Honor 6
2079 Points
HTC Desire 820
1125 Points -46%
Nokia Lumia 830
600 Points -71%
Memory (sort by value)
Honor 6
508 Points
HTC Desire 820
416 Points -18%
Nokia Lumia 830
938 Points +85%
Graphics (sort by value)
Honor 6
775 Points
HTC Desire 820
803 Points +4%
Nokia Lumia 830
256 Points -67%
Web (sort by value)
Honor 6
790 Points
HTC Desire 820
705 Points -11%
Nokia Lumia 830
411 Points -48%
Geekbench 3
32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value)
Honor 6
858 Points
Sony Xperia T3
401 Points -53%
Samsung Galaxy A3
474 Points -45%
HTC Desire 820
605 Points -29%
32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value)
Honor 6
3102 Points
Sony Xperia T3
1345 Points -57%
Samsung Galaxy A3
1409 Points -55%
HTC Desire 820
2249 Points -27%
3DMark
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value)
Honor 6
14104 Points
Sony Xperia T3
4778 Points -66%
Samsung Galaxy A3
4505 Points -68%
HTC Desire 820
9152 Points -35%
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value)
Honor 6
14522 Points
Sony Xperia T3
4216 Points -71%
Samsung Galaxy A3
3939 Points -73%
HTC Desire 820
9204 Points -37%
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value)
Honor 6
12813 Points
Sony Xperia T3
8960 Points -30%
Samsung Galaxy A3
9071 Points -29%
HTC Desire 820
8973 Points -30%
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7
T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value)
Honor 6
17 fps
Samsung Galaxy A3
13 fps -24%
HTC Desire 820
25.9 fps +52%
Nokia Lumia 830
7.2 fps -58%
1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor 6
17 fps
Samsung Galaxy A3
5.3 fps -69%
HTC Desire 820
14.9 fps -12%
Nokia Lumia 830
4.2 fps -75%
GFXBench 3.0
on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value)
Honor 6
8.7 fps
Sony Xperia T3
4.2 fps -52%
Samsung Galaxy A3
6.4 fps -26%
HTC Desire 820
11.7 fps +34%
1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor 6
8.1 fps
Sony Xperia T3
1.2 fps -85%
Samsung Galaxy A3
1.8 fps -78%
HTC Desire 820
5.6 fps -31%
WebXPRT 2013
Overall (sort by value)
Honor 6
353 Points
Samsung Galaxy A3
195 Points -45%
HTC Desire 820
280 Points -21%
Nokia Lumia 830
137 Points -61%
Photo Effects (sort by value)
Honor 6
1129 ms *
Samsung Galaxy A3
1533 ms * -36%
HTC Desire 820
871 ms * +23%
Nokia Lumia 830
2043 ms * -81%
Face Detection (sort by value)
Honor 6
1606 ms *
Samsung Galaxy A3
3068 ms * -91%
HTC Desire 820
1905 ms * -19%
Nokia Lumia 830
5915 ms * -268%
Stocks Dashboard (sort by value)
Honor 6
986 ms *
Samsung Galaxy A3
2138 ms * -117%
HTC Desire 820
1692 ms * -72%
Nokia Lumia 830
2477 ms * -151%
Offline Notes (sort by value)
Honor 6
1079 ms *
Samsung Galaxy A3
2027 ms * -88%
HTC Desire 820
1736 ms * -61%
Nokia Lumia 830
2796 ms * -159%
Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value)
Honor 6
725 ms *
Sony Xperia T3
1333 ms * -84%
Samsung Galaxy A3
1330 ms * -83%
HTC Desire 820
1128 ms * -56%
Nokia Lumia 830
1238 ms * -71%
Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value)
Honor 6
6363 Points
Sony Xperia T3
2242 Points -65%
Samsung Galaxy A3
2782 Points -56%
HTC Desire 820
3417 Points -46%
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value)
Honor 6
5450 ms *
Sony Xperia T3
14507 ms * -166%
Samsung Galaxy A3
13998 ms * -157%
HTC Desire 820
11610 ms * -113%
Nokia Lumia 830
27129 ms * -398%
AndroBench 3-5
Sequential Read 256KB (sort by value)
Honor 6
80 MB/s
Sony Xperia T3
123.7 MB/s +55%
Samsung Galaxy A3
132 MB/s +65%
HTC Desire 820
82.8 MB/s +4%
Sequential Write 256KB (sort by value)
Honor 6
29.6 MB/s
Sony Xperia T3
11.26 MB/s -62%
Samsung Galaxy A3
71 MB/s +140%
HTC Desire 820
13.76 MB/s -54%
Random Read 4KB (sort by value)
Honor 6
17 MB/s
Sony Xperia T3
14.18 MB/s -17%
Samsung Galaxy A3
11 MB/s -35%
HTC Desire 820
10.89 MB/s -36%
Random Write 4KB (sort by value)
Honor 6
5.3 MB/s
Sony Xperia T3
0.62 MB/s -88%
Samsung Galaxy A3
6 MB/s +13%
HTC Desire 820
0.75 MB/s -86%

Legend

 
Honor 6 HiSilicon Kirin 920, ARM Mali-T628 MP4, 16 GB eMMC Flash
 
Sony Xperia T3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8928, Qualcomm Adreno 305, 8 GB SSD
 
Samsung Galaxy A3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 MSM8916, Qualcomm Adreno 306, 16 GB eMMC Flash
 
HTC Desire 820 Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939, Qualcomm Adreno 405, 16 GB eMMC Flash
 
Nokia Lumia 830 Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8926, Qualcomm Adreno 305, 16 GB eMMC Flash

* ... smaller is better

Games

The installed ARM Mali-T628 graphics solution incorporates four cores and can render current high-end games from Google's Play Store quite smoothly in the screen's native resolution. Minor stutters were noticed occasionally, but we were overall satisfied with the performance in Asphalt 8: Airborne. The graphics card easily copes with less demanding casual games, such as Angry Birds. Control via touchscreen and position sensor is very accurate.

Asphalt 8: Airborne: Satisfactory frame rate, very rare lags.
Asphalt 8: Airborne: Satisfactory frame rate, very rare lags.

Emissions

Temperature

The absolute maximum load temperature is 37.1 °C. The higher surface temperature was noticed, but it was never unpleasantly extreme. The device's idle temperature of 31.5 °C was barely palpable.

Max. Load
 33.9 °C
93 F
37.1 °C
99 F
36 °C
97 F
 
 33.3 °C
92 F
33.8 °C
93 F
36 °C
97 F
 
 31.4 °C
89 F
32.3 °C
90 F
34.4 °C
94 F
 
Maximum: 37.1 °C = 99 F
Average: 34.2 °C = 94 F
32.2 °C
90 F
33.8 °C
93 F
34.3 °C
94 F
31 °C
88 F
31 °C
88 F
30.8 °C
87 F
30.4 °C
87 F
30.7 °C
87 F
30.1 °C
86 F
Maximum: 34.3 °C = 94 F
Average: 31.6 °C = 89 F
Power Supply (max.)  34.9 °C = 95 F | Room Temperature 22 °C = 72 F | Voltcraft IR-260
(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 34.2 °C / 94 F, compared to the average of 32.7 °C / 91 F for the devices in the class Smartphone.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 37.1 °C / 99 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 56 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 34.3 °C / 94 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.5 °C / 83 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.

Speakers

The speaker is installed on the rear, and thus the sound is clearly subdued as soon as the smartphone is placed on a table. Low pitches are non-existent; the sound is overall very mid-heavy and only moderately loud. The speaker is generally okay for occasional use, but those with an audiophile nature will sooner connect external headphones or speakers - the audio output via the 3.5 combo audio port is clear and good.

Energy Management

Power Consumption

We have only rarely seen such a high minimum idle consumption: The Honor 6 consumes a whopping 1.7 watts despite rather mediocre performance rates. The standby consumption of 0.8 watts is also quite high, and the smartphone still consumes 0.2 watts when it is completely turned off. That is definitely too much. The Honor 6 is also in last place in energy efficiency with its absolute maximum consumption of 6.8 watts. However, there is a power-saving feature that switches the screen to black and white and only makes basic functions available. Additionally, multiple energy settings can be selected, and the user is provided with tips for ideal power-saving settings.

Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0.2 / 0.8 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 1.7 / 2.4 / 2.8 Watt
Load midlight 5.3 / 6.8 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        Voltcraft VC 870
Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.

Battery Runtime

The generously sized, 11.8-watt-hour battery cannot really save the situation in view of such high consumption rates. The Honor 6 takes the last place in battery runtime. Honor promises "more than two days" with normal use. However, we would not rely on that considering our experiences. The user should sooner count with having to recharge the phone after just one day. At least Wi-Fi browsing is possible for 7:34 hours, which is less than the comparison devices achieve, but still a practice-suitable time.

Battery Runtime
WiFi Surfing
7h 34min
Load (maximum brightness)
2h 14min
Honor 6
Mali-T628 MP4, Kirin 920, 16 GB eMMC Flash
Sony Xperia T3
Adreno 305, 400 MSM8928, 8 GB SSD
Samsung Galaxy A3
Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 16 GB eMMC Flash
HTC Desire 820
Adreno 405, 615 MSM8939, 16 GB eMMC Flash
Nokia Lumia 830
Adreno 305, 400 MSM8926, 16 GB eMMC Flash
Battery Runtime
14%
58%
18%
45%
WiFi
454
634
40%
568
25%
490
8%
721
59%
Load
134
118
-12%
256
91%
171
28%
174
30%

Verdict

In review: Honor 6. Review sample courtesy of Honor Germany
In review: Honor 6. Review sample courtesy of Honor Germany

"For the brave" is the caption above the Honor 6 on the website. But why? The user does not have to be overly brave to bring a very solid mid-range phone home, which also stands out with a first-rate configuration. Not every member of this category can offer a Full HD screen and high-speed LTE Cat.6. 3 GB of working memory is a unique selling point, although the user should not expect too much from it. We think the same of the octa-core processor that does it job quickly but consumes a great deal of power, which leads to an only middling battery life despite the high-capacity battery.

The speaker and microphone also reveal where cutbacks were made. The screen's color reproduction is also too inaccurate for enthusiastic hobby photographers. Too bad actually because the cameras shoot quite decent pictures. Besides that, the software and the plain yet rigid casing are compelling.

Therefore, we can certainly give the Honor 6 a general purchase recommendation: If battery life and a metal casing are secondary, taking Honor's "honorable" offer is worth consideration.

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In review: Honor 6. Review sample courtesy of Honor Germany
In review: Honor 6. Review sample courtesy of Honor Germany
good (84%) Honor 6 HiSilicon Kirin 920ARM Mali-T628 MP4 Smartphone - 02/25/2015 - v4
Test device courtesy of Honor Deutschland
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Specifications

Honor 6
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 920 8 x 1.7 GHz, Cortex-A15 / Cortex-A7
Graphics adapter
Memory
3 GB 
Display
5.00 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel, capacitive touchscreen, IPS, Gorilla Glass 3, glossy: yes
Storage
16 GB eMMC Flash, 16 GB 
, 11.4 GB free
Connections
1 USB 2.0, Audio Connections: 3.5 mm combo audio jack, Card Reader: microSDXC (max. 64GB), Sensors: motion sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor, compass, A-GPS, Glonass, MHL
Networking
802.11a/b/g/n (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/), Bluetooth 4.0, GSM quad-band (850/900/1800/1900), UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, SAR-rate (W/kg): head: 0.378, body 0.781
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 7.5 x 139.8 x 68.8 ( = 0.3 x 5.5 x 2.71 in)
Battery
12 Wh Lithium-Polymer, 3100 mAh, 3.8 Volt, Battery runtime (according to manufacturer): 11 h
Operating System
Android 4.4 KitKat
Camera
Webcam: 5.0MP, videos @1080p (front); 13.0MP, AF, dual LED flash, videos @1080p (rear)
Additional features
Speakers: rear-sided speaker, Keyboard: virtual keyboard, headset, 24 Months Warranty
Weight
130 g ( = 4.59 oz / 0.29 pounds), Power Supply: 67 g ( = 2.36 oz / 0.15 pounds)
Price
300 Euro

 

Huawei's subsidiary launches a superbly equipped mid-range smartphone dubbed Honor 6 on the market.
Huawei's subsidiary launches a superbly equipped mid-range smartphone dubbed Honor 6 on the market.
The casing's design is plain, but it is relatively rigid.
The casing's design is plain, but it is relatively rigid.
The camera equipment is also convincing.
The camera equipment is also convincing.
The Full HD screen is bright, but it exhibits a purplish cast.
The Full HD screen is bright, but it exhibits a purplish cast.
The smartphone is available in two colors exclusively on the Internet.
The smartphone is available in two colors exclusively on the Internet.
Gorilla Glass covers the rear.
Gorilla Glass covers the rear.
The software is also good and offers multiple settings.
The software is also good and offers multiple settings.
At the same time, it does not confuse the user.
At the same time, it does not confuse the user.
The silhouette is quite slim.
The silhouette is quite slim.
The battery life, speaker, and microphone are not as convincing.
The battery life, speaker, and microphone are not as convincing.
Quick-access menu on the lock screen.
Quick-access menu on the lock screen.
Huawei redesigned the app icons.
Huawei redesigned the app icons.
The keyboard is a bit confusing in our opinion.
The keyboard is a bit confusing in our opinion.

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Pros

+Full HD screen
+Rigid casing
+High performance
+Extensive software
+High working memory capacity
+LTE Cat. 6
+High-resolution cameras
+Good performance for money ratio
 

Cons

-Very high power consumption
-Middling speaker and mic quality
-Unsatisfactory GPS reception
-Short battery life

Shortcut

What we like

The high-quality configuration with a Full HD screen, high-resolution cameras and LTE Cat.6 - and all that for less than 300 Euros (~$319)...

What we'd like to see

Actually not much in general. The microphone and speaker could have a better sound, though.

What surprises us

How easily Honor outmaneuvers established manufacturers in terms of configuration.

The competition

Samsung Galaxy A3, HTC Desire 820, Sony Xperia T3, Nokia Lumia 830.

Rating

Honor 6 - 02/25/2015 v4(old)
Florian Wimmer

Chassis
76%
Keyboard
67 / 75 → 89%
Pointing Device
89%
Connectivity
49 / 60 → 82%
Weight
94%
Battery
86%
Display
84%
Games Performance
62 / 63 → 98%
Application Performance
44 / 70 → 63%
Temperature
91%
Noise
100%
Audio
43 / 91 → 47%
Camera
77%
Average
74%
84%
Smartphone - Weighted Average
Florian Wimmer, 2015-03- 2 (Update: 2018-05-15)