TECHWEEK
HONOR X7a is the lightweight in the HONOR X family. But it seems that the times when you had to be ready to suffer and endure when buying cheaper models have nevertheless passed. If you do not demand from the X7a what it is not designed for, you may well like the gadget and not ask for a replacement for a few more years.
Design
The audience of low-cost smartphones is unusually wide: these are children, students, and adults who are not ready to spend large sums on a smartphone. Try to please everyone with design!
HONOR X7a Design
HONOR decided to follow the classic path and make the X7a as versatile as possible. Therefore, the back panel received a pleasant matte finish without bright contrasts. It is slightly rounded at the edges, although the screen is, of course, flat. Visually, the surface resembles frosted glass, while fingerprints remain on it, but in a small amount. When used without a case, the model does not look dirty and looks quite presentable.
The smartphone is comfortable to hold in the hand, it does not slip out of the hands. The thickness of 8 mm does not give out a representative of the budget class in it. The screen bezels can be called thin by the standards of the class. The selfie camera is hidden in the “drop” in the center.
On the side faces there are only buttons (a fingerprint sensor is built into the power button). Pleasant for many, the difference between a smartphone and models of the middle and top classes is the presence of a 3.5 mm audio output for headphones. The SIM card slot unexpectedly hit the top end.
HONOR X7a
Screen
HONOR X7a received a large 6.74-inch IPS-matrix screen with a resolution of 1600×720 and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. Why do you need an increased refresh rate for a gadget that is not designed for serious games? At least for smoother operation of the interface. If you compare HONOR X7a with older models on 60Hz screens, you can notice the difference when scrolling menus, minimizing applications, flipping through desktops. After a modern smartphone, old displays already cause a feeling of “lag”, although a couple of years ago everyone was happy with their work.
Traditionally, we also thought about eye protection: its effectiveness is confirmed by the TÜV Rheinland certificate. The corresponding mode can be turned on manually with a button in the curtain (however, initially it is not there, you need to display it through the edit mode) or set the schedule in the menu.
The blue filtering level is adjusted by the slider. It is also possible to change the color shades of the screen in the direction of cold or warm, use a dark theme.
Despite the average resolution of the matrix, the image on the screen does not “scatter” into pixels. Another pleasant surprise – the brightness is enough even for the street.
Cameras
Four cameras are hidden in two large circles on the back. The main one is 50 MP, which shoots at 12.5 MP by default, but you can switch to full resolution. Pictures from it in good light are quite sharp, there is enough detail when viewed from a smartphone screen.
HONOR X7a camera
Night shooting for budget devices is a difficult genre. You have to take a photo in the main mode, there is no special one here. The problem can also arise with contrasting scenes, but the HONOR X7a is surprisingly all right with this: post-processing copes, even the lamps in the photo below did not become a uniform bright spot.
A wide-angle camera with a resolution of 5 megapixels is the most common, it saves in situations where you need to fit a wide scene into the frame and there is no way to move away. Another one is for macro photography, but with a 2 MP sensor you should not count on highly artistic shots. Finally, the last of the four takes part only in shooting with background blur.
Hardware and performance
Here again, remember the purpose, and, most importantly, the price of a smartphone. Processor Mediatek Helio G37, designed just for low-cost mobile devices. The interface with it works without slowdowns, the speed of opening applications does not make you nervous. So simple, but you can live with it. The amount of memory is also typical for this class: 4 GB of operational and 128 permanent (can be expanded with a memory card). In short, there are no surprises here. In Geekbench 6, the smartphone scored a modest 191 points in the single-core test and 826 in the multi-core test.
For those who are behind the times, we note that Google services are in place here, including the PlayMarket store.
Battery
The battery capacity here is even higher than you might expect – 5330 mAh. This will definitely appeal to those who do not want to charge their smartphone every day. Considering not the highest screen resolution and the processor, which does not require loading resource-intensive applications, the battery should last for a long time. Even with us, taking into account the test and active study of the available functions, the HONOR x7a made it to the next evening without any problems.
HONOR X7a Battery
Included is a 22.5W adapter. It takes about 2 hours to fully charge. By the way, the manufacturer promises that even after three years of operation of the smartphone, its capacity will be at least 80% of the original.
Conclusion
Budget models are not created to surprise. Their task is to cope with basic functions and not make the owner want to switch to another model. HONOR X7a turned out to be pretty, and this makes it stand out from the background of many smartphones released two or three years ago (and still being sold). The asset also has a capacious battery, a 90-Hz screen and a good 50-megapixel camera. Yes, the screen resolution is not FullHD, but for this price category, this cannot be called a disadvantage.
The smartphone is available in three colors: Shimmer Silver, Ocean Blue (our choice), and Midnight Black.
