Honor Play 8T Smartphone Review – The Honor Play 8T was launched in October 2023. This is a new budget smartphone from Honor that will be released globally. But don’t let the word budget fool you as it brought features such as 5G connectivity, a bigger battery, and higher RAM and Storage, among other things. Honor designed this smartphone to bring tough competition in the budget smartphone industry. Apart from this, the smartphone arrives in multiple color options to attract potential buyers.
Honor even designed the smartphone in a way that outpaces every other smartphone in the budget segment. But the specs alone don’t determine the value of the smartphone. That’s exactly what we plan to find out with a detailed review of the Honor Play 8T smartphone and see if this smartphone is worth purchasing.
Table of Contents
Honor Play 8T Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Honor Play 8T features a 6.8-inch TFT LCD display panel that can get as bright as 850 nits of peak brightness under direct sunlight.
- It is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 6080 chipset that can reach up to a 2×2.4GHz clocking speed.
- The Honor Play 8T runs on the latest Android 13 OS with a MagicOS 7.2 user interface for better customizability.
- The Honor Play 8T features a 50MP dual-camera system on the back and an 8MP selfie camera at the front.
- The Honor Play 8T also features a Li-Po 6000 mAh with 35W fast wired charging support.
Design and Display
The design of the Honor Play 8T smartphone is truly elegant. It’s something you rarely find at this price segment. Most smartphones at this price segment either feature a glossy rear panel or a cheap polycarbonate finish. Honor decided to go with a frosted finish that provides a matte texture and this elegance is further augmented by Honor’s choice of colors, which are Green, Silver, and Black.
The smartphone is well-built and sturdy with no creaking from any sides. It features a solid construction but there’s no water resistance, so don’t take the phone in the pool. On the front, you will find a 6.8-inch TFT LCD display panel. This is a display with FHD+ resolution and has a 90Hz high refresh rate that allows for a smoother user experience.
The display can also get as bright as 850 nits of peak brightness under direct sunlight, which will further enhance the user experience. Besides this, the device has an 8.2mm slim body and weighs around 199 grams to comfortably hold the device for a long time. All in all, the display section feels decent as per the pricing of the smartphone. Furthermore, the front has thin bezels that make the first impression of the smartphone quite elegant.
Memory and Internal
Honor Play 8T is equipped with the newly released 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6080 chipset. This is a decently performing chipset considering it can reach up to a 2×2.4GHz clock speed. This chipset is well-optimized, thanks to a 6nm manufacturing process, and has a ton of performance to offer, which Gen-Z enthusiasts will love.
Also, thanks to the efficient 6nm manufacturing process, the chipset doesn’t overheat when gaming. Speaking of gaming, the chipset comes equipped with the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU in the chipset that can play games such as CODm and PUBG mobile. However, don’t expect high framerates or higher graphics. This is not a gaming smartphone, so as long as you keep expectations below that, you should get a decent gaming performance.
Apart from the chipset, the Honor Play 8T has support for 8GB to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The Honor Play 8T also comes with the latest Android 13 OS with MagicOS 7.2 user interface running on top of it. With this duo, you will receive a lot of customization options, while you may face bloatware apps on the device. The Honor Play 8T also supports 5G connectivity for gigabit-level download speeds. However, an SD card slot is missing on the device so choose the variant that suits your storage needs.
Camera
The Honor Play 8T features a dual-camera system on the back with a 50MP sensor as the main camera and a 2MP sensor as the depth lens. The main 50MP camera manages to take some decent shots with a good level of detail with accurate color tone. The camera performance is more than decent but we were expecting an even better performance considering the price point.
The absence of an ultra-wide camera lens worsens the situation too. The 2MP depth sensor is practically useless and the smartphone essentially only has one good sensor. That is not the case with other smartphones in the same price range. Well, in terms of night photography, Honor’s night post-processing algorithm is optimized for the 50MP sensor, which allows the sensor to capture higher amounts of details in the pictures taken at night.
Honor’s camera app interface is quite clean with all the features and effects provided at the top and easy to manage, while the bottom area of the app is dedicated to the shutter button and other camera modes such as portrait, video, and more. Speaking of video, the Honor Play 8T can shoot up to 1080p videos@30FPS from both the rear and selfie camera systems. For selfies, you get a selfie camera with an 8MP sensor, which manages to capture a good amount of detail with natural color and skin tones. Overall, the camera section is average and it is better to not have high expectations.
Battery and Others
The Honor Play 8T has a Li-Po 6000 mAh high-capacity battery, which is quite large for a smartphone in this price range. It’s a plus point for the Honor Play 8T and easily beats other smartphones when it comes to how long the battery can last. This battery can provide about 1 – 3 days of battery backup depending on the user’s smartphone usage.
If your daily usage includes taking some photos, watching movies on the go, texting, and Instagram, among other things, then expect 2 days of battery or more. But if your daily usage includes a lot of video recording, and/or gaming, then your smartphone will not last that long and may provide a maximum of a full day’s worth of battery. Heavy gaming will decrease the battery backup further.
When it comes to charging, the Honor Play 8T will have support for up to 35W of wired fast charging, which should fully charge the smartphone in under 2 hours. Apart from that, the smartphone comes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, stereo speakers, and GPS. The price of the Honor Play 8T starts at $150 (Rs 12,500 in India) approx.
Honor Play 8T Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Honor Play 8T smartphone.
| Specifications | Honor Play 8T |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | October 2023 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.56 x 3.01 x 0.32 inches |
| Weight | 199 g |
| Size | 6.8 inches |
| Display | TFT LCD 90Hz 850 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~389 PPI density |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2412 pixels |
| OS | Android 13, MagicOS 7.2 |
| Chipset | 6nm – Mediatek Dimensity 6080 |
| CPU | Octa-core 2×2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MC2 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
| Internal | 256GB |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF 2 MP (depth) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Selfie | 8 MP (wide) Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.1, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, BDS |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 6000 mAh 35W wired |
| Colors | Green, Silver, Black |
| Expected Price | $150 (Rs 12,500 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Honor Play 8T comes equipped with some great specs, including the display, chipset, design, and battery. For the price it has launched, the smartphone delivers what it promises and then some more. Considering all that it provides, the pricing is indeed justified. The features and performance it provides are simply unprecedented at this price point. While the phone is great, it’s not perfect. The camera system of the smartphone leaves a lot to be desired.
As we mentioned already, the cameras are not bad but there are smartphones with better cameras at the same price point. So, if you are a camera enthusiast, then you are better off with other smartphones such as the Realme Narzo 60x that arrive with a better set of camera specs.
However, if you prioritize design, display, performance, and battery more, then you can go with the Honor Play 8T. However, the final decision is up to you, so it is better to choose a smartphone based on your requirements and needs.
