HONOR X9a 5G Review

HONOR Philippines has just launched the HONOR X9a 5G in the country. The smartphone is one of the interesting ones out there in its segment not because of the design but because of how tough the glass is.

Design and hardware

One of the things that you would definitely love about the HONOR X9a 5G is the design. It definitely comes with a design DNA similar to Huawei as the HONOR X9a 5G provides great curves at the back that makes it really ergonomic to the hand.

As for the design at the back of the smartphone, there’s the matte feel at the back that feels premium but my favorite part about it is that the smartphone is ergonomic thanks to its curved sides. The frame might not be metal but it’s pretty solid as well and with my drops of the smartphone, I didn’t had a single problem with the back panel of the smartphone and it didn’t had any damage at all.

It might not be the highlight if the smartphone but the colors of the smartphone were pretty as well. For my review unit, I got the titanium silver and I like how the colors and the reflections on the back of the smartphone. Of course, there’s the circular camera module as well that houses the triple camera setup.

Below the smartphone is where you can find the USB-C port, card tray, and also speaker grill. There’s no headphone jack on the smartphone which isn’t surprising considering its price range. The USB-C port of the smartphone does support 40W of charging and it can charge the smartphone pretty fast.

Battery

Inside the smartphone is a 5100mAh inside along with 40W of charging. In our PC Mark Work 2.0 battery test, we got a score of 14 hours and 52 minutes on the smartphone. That’s a good score and in my real-life usage of the smartphone, I was able to use the smartphone for a full day and a half of use most of the time. The charging speeds were also fast enough for my needs.

Display

For the display of the smartphone, there’s the 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display. It’s big enough for most people and whether you’re planning on playing games, using it for media, or just plain ‘ol social media then the screen size and the resolution isn’t a problem at all.

It’s a curved display which is why the smartphone does look fine and almost edge-to-edge. But despite having curved glass on the smartphone, the HONOR X9a 5G is still tough and the glass of the smartphone is just so tough and strong.

Using the display outside isn’t a problem at all and the colors were fine. So despite having strong and tough glass, there were no consequences or effects on the display quality of the smartphone.

Software and performance

Running on this device is MagicUI 6.1 which is based on Android 12. The UI of the smartphone is really similar to the HarmonyOS of Huawei which is not surprising at all. But make no mistake because the HONOR X9a 5G is still user-friendly and yes, it does come with Google Play Store.

The smartphone is also powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor, a popular processor but it does have its limitations and it’s not as powerful as some midrange smartphones out there but it does the job and it can run most games. For the RAM, there’s 8GB RAM along with 5GB extended RAM and for the storage, it’s spacious enough at 256GB.

The HONOR X9a 5G’s processor isn’t the most ideal one even at its range. Yes, it can play games including Call of Duty and Genshin Impact but it’s lacking the performance that we need on the smartphone compared to other mid-tier processors out there. For heavier games like Genshin Impact, we have to set it at low settings to enjoy but we can still see frame drops on the smartphone. 

Camera

For the camera of the smartphone, the HONOR X9a 5G comes with 64MP main camera along with 5MP ultra-wide camera and also a 2MP macro camera at the circular-designed camera module at the back of the smartphone. Thankfully, it’s not that thick since this one already covered a big part of the back of the smartphone.

For the selfie camera of the HONOR X9a 5G comes with 16MP front-facing camera and there’s only support for up to 1080p@30fps recording on the smartphone which is a bummer and unsurprising as well as this is one of the limitations of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor.

For the camera quality of the smartphone, I was getting a decent shots most of the time but there are also times that the smartphone’s rear camera can be a little bit overexposed. The AI post-processing of the smartphone does help in producing better colors. And for the selfie, the smartphone can handle the dynamic range a little bit even when shooting outside. Check out some of my shots that we took using the smartphone.

Verdict

The HONOR X9a 5G is one of the most interesting mid-range smartphones out there. If you’re the type of person who wants a stylish smartphone and you want something that is tough or you always drop and break your smartphone then get the HONOR X9a 5G.

And boy, the glass of the smartphone is really really tough and as for the other aspects, the camera will do just fine on social media but it’s definitely not the best one especially if you’re really into the details and colors and the processor will do fine as well as long as you’re not a hardcore gamer. Basically, apps and casual games will do just fine. 

The HONOR X9a 5G is now available for Php16,990.