Honor X7b Smartphone Review – Honor launched the Honor X7b on December 2023 with much fanfare. The smartphone will also be available globally. It’s meant to replace Honor’s previous and older mid-range smartphones and become their defacto mid-range smartphone at that budget. So, Honor decided to pack some quality hardware inside to satisfy the newer users.
However, Honor couldn’t bring 5G connectivity to the smartphone. Getting would have meant getting more expensive 5G chipsets and that would have increased the price significantly. Honor wants the price to be competitive while also providing a great experience. So, let’s begin with a detailed review of the Honor X7b smartphone and see if this smartphone is worth purchasing.
Table of Contents
Honor X7b Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Honor X7b has a 6.8-inch IPS display with 90Hz high refresh rate support.
- The SoC inside the smartphone is the 6nm Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G SoC with clock speeds capable of reaching up to 4×2.4GHz.
- The smartphone comes with Android 13 OS with MagicOS 7.2 user interface for better customizability support.
- The Honor X7b has a 108MP triple rear camera system with an 8MP selfie camera at the front.
- The smartphone is powered by a Li-Po 6000 mAh battery with a 35W wired fast charger.
Design and Display
Honor put a lot of thought when designing the Honor X7b. If there are too many design elements, it kind of stops being fun. If the design is too simple, then it becomes boring. So, how do you solve it without adding exquisite materials that would increase the cost of the smartphone? You do it through clever design choices and that’s exactly what Honor did. They have introduced a flat design with a matte finish on top of it. So, the side frame and the rear panel are all flat and the surface texture has a matte finish.
Combine both and you get a solid grip and the smartphone won’t slip out of your hands very easily. The Honor X7b comes in three colors, Flowing Silver, Emerald Green, and Midnight Black. Each color has its elegance. The buttons are on the right while the USB-C connector, speaker, and mic are at the bottom. On the front, you will find a 6.8-inch IPS display with 90Hz high refresh rate support. This is an FHD+ panel, so there’s no compromise there. On top of that, the gets decently bright at 850 nits of peak brightness, so outdoor visibility wouldn’t be an issue.
Memory and Internal
Honor has equipped the Honor X7b with the 6nm Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G SoC. This chipset is capable of reaching up to 4×2.4 GHz clock speed, so it has enough performance to run all your daily apps and other things you do on a smartphone smoothly and efficiently. So, all your apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more, will run flawlessly. For gaming, the Snapdragon chipset comes included with the Adreno 610 GPU.
This GPU has the raw performance needed to run games like PUBG mobile, CODm, and even Genshin Impact at decent framerates. But don’t expect high-end graphics out of this chipset as it is not capable of that. That’s because it is not a gaming chipset but it can run them decently well. Also, you can probably tell from the name of the chipset that this is a 4G-only chipset, so there are no 5G connectivity options. When it comes to the software, the Honor X7b is running on Android 13 OS with a MagicOS 7.2 user interface for better customization support.
For RAM and storage, the smartphone comes with up to 6GB to 8GB of RAM and 128GB to 256GB of internal storage. So, you can put away any of your storage concerns. 256GB is a lot of storage and you will have trouble filling that up. But if you do indeed find yourself in a “full storage” situation, there’s nothing to worry about as the smartphone supports microSDXC storage expansion. The Honor X7b also has a headphone jack and it’s incredibly hard to find these days.
Camera
Honor has equipped the Honor X7b with a 108MP triple-camera system. The main camera can take some great photos that have high details, accurate colors, and a higher dynamic range. Even the highlights in the shadows are captured properly and all the details are preserved accurately. If you have a habit of taking pictures at night, you will be glad to know that the smartphone will also impress you in this regard. The Honor X7b managed to capture some amazing details in the photos taken at night, thanks to the optimizations put in by Honor. The portrait mode pictures are also quite good and the human subject blend in with the background blur accurately.
Then there’s the 5MP ultra-wide camera, which can take pictures with a wider field of view and it is perfect when taking group pictures, but the 5MP sensor leaves a lot to be desired while the 3rd lens is a 2MP depth sensor. A lot of finer details are missing and the picture has an overall softer appearance. At the front of the Honor X7b, there’s an 8MP sensor. It can capture some great selfies with even skin tones and color temperature. As for video recording, the Honor X7b can shoot at a maximum of 1080p@30FPS from both the rear and selfie cameras.
Battery and Others
The Honor X7b has a huge Li-Po 6000 mAh non-removable battery that can provide a record-breaking battery backup with low to medium usage. The smartphone can easily last for 2 – 3 days on a single charge, which is a lot. However, if you play a lot of games, then the battery will drain faster and last less. But that shouldn’t worry you as the smartphone supports 35W wired fast charging. A lot of people have battery anxiety these days and find it difficult to fully charge their smartphones in the morning before work.
But this 35W charger will put those worries away and help you fully charge the smartphone in about an hour. This charger will also come bundled in the box, so you don’t need to purchase it separately. Apart from that, the phone also has Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. The smartphone is available for purchase at $240 (Rs 19,990 in India) approx.
Honor X7b Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Honor X7b smartphone.
| Specifications | Honor X7b |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Announced | December 2023 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.56 x 3.01 x 0.32 inches |
| Weight | 199 g |
| Size | 6.8 inches |
| Display | IPS 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 – Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G |
| CPU | Octa-core 4×2.4 GHz Kryo 265 Gold 4×1.9 GHz Kryo 265 Silver |
| GPU | Adreno 610 |
| Card slot | microSDXC |
| RAM | 6GB, 8GB |
| Internal | 128GB, 256GB |
| Camera | 108 MP (wide), PDAF 5 MP (ultrawide) 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 | 5.0, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| NFC | Yes (CLK-LX1 only) |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer Virtual proximity sensing |
| Battery | Li-Po 6000 mAh 35W wired |
| Colors | Flowing Silver, Emerald Green, Midnight Black |
| Expected Price | $240 (Rs 19,990 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Honor X7b has some of the most balanced internal components we have ever seen in a smartphone. It is also crafted beautifully that complement what’s there internally. However, the smartphone lacks 5G connectivity, which can be a deal breaker for many users. Honor explains that it was an intentional decision to keep the costs down. But the cost of the Honor X7b is not that cheap either. At that cost, there are other smartphones in the market that more or less provide a similar design and specs while also providing 5G.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 is an exceptional example of this. It not only provides 5G but also provides far better specs for around the same price tag or even lower. However, the global availability of Redmi Note 13 can be a bit problematic as the smartphone often goes out of stock, which is not the case with the Honor X7b. However, the final decision is up to you, so it is better to choose a smartphone based on your needs and requirements.
