Honor X8b Smartphone Review – Honor released the Honor X8b on December 2023 and the smartphone went on sale later that month. Like other Honor smartphones, the Honor X8b has started releasing globally and will be available for purchase in many countries. The smartphone looks similar to the Honor X8a that launched in early 2023.
This smartphone is released as a premium mid-ranger. So, it comes with some quality components and features that will surely make your new smartphone experience a whole lot better. However, the Honor X8b doesn’t have 5G connectivity, which could be a dealbreaker in many situations. But Honor believes its other features more than make up for it. So, let’s find out with a detailed review of the Honor X8b smartphone and see if this smartphone is worth purchasing.
Table of Contents
Honor X8b Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Honor X8b has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with 90Hz high refresh rate support.
- The Honor X8b has the Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G chipset that is capable of reaching up to 4×2.4GHz clock speeds.
- The smartphone comes with Android 13 OS with a MagicOS 7.2 user interface that has a lot of features.
- The main rear camera of the smartphone has a 108MP triple camera system with a 50MP selfie camera at the front.
- The smartphone is powered by a Li-Po 4500 mAh battery with a 35W wired fast charger support.
Design and Display
The design of the Honor X8b is quite similar to the older Honor X8a, which also had a flat boxy design with a camera island of four lenses on the rear side. Due to the flat shape of the smartphone, the grip of the smartphone is solid and the smartphone tends not to slip out easily. In terms of looks, the smartphone presents a very elegant and professional style that doesn’t scream fancy but looks cool in its way.
The colors on this smartphone are also quite interesting. It is available in Glamorous Green, Titanium Silver, and Midnight Black. At the front, you will find a small pill-shaped notch that not only houses the selfie camera and a flash but is also used to present notifications. It’s an implementation of the iPhone’s Dynamic Island notification system, which indeed looks cool.
As for the display at the front, the Honor X8b features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with 90Hz high refresh rate support. The panel features accurate colors and has an FHD+ resolution, so watching content on the screen will be a delight. The display can also get as bright as 2000 nits under direct sunlight, so using the smartphone outdoors won’t be an issue.
Memory and Internal
The Honor X8b comes equipped with the 6nm Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G chipset. The chipset can deliver a clock speed of up to 4×2.4GHz, which is mighty impressive considering the price point of the smartphone. Honor decided to skip 5G connectivity on this smartphone for cost-cutting measures but the system performance is solid.
The chipset has enough raw power in this chipset to run all your everyday apps and games smoothly. Speaking of gaming, this chipset has the Adreno 610 GPU, which can run high-end games like PUBG mobile, CODm, and even Genshin Impact at relatively smooth framerates. The Honor X8b is running on Android 13 OS with a MagicOS 7.2 user interface that has a lot of features.
The smartphone also comes equipped with up to 6GB/8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB/512GB of internal storage. However, there’s no support for a microSDXC expansion slot to expand your internal storage later and there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack either.
Camera
The Honor X8b comes with a 108MP triple-camera system. The main camera features a 108MP sensor, which is capable of capturing pictures with high detail and high dynamic range. The color range is also quite great and looks quite natural. To take pictures at night, there’s a night mode that significantly boosts the camera capability and you will be able to take pictures with fantastic colors and detail levels.
There’s portrait mode as well and pictures taken with this mode are also decent. The background bokeh looks natural with the near-perfect background blur. There’s also a 5MP ultra-wide camera, which is just average at best and its detail levels are not quite up to the mark. On the front of the Honor X8b, there’s a 50MP selfie camera.
This selfie camera can take some amazing selfies with great detail levels, superior white balance, and a natural skin tone. There’s also a flash at the front to help in darker situations. The details in the selfies look sharp even after zooming in. As for video recording, the Honor X8b can shoot at a maximum of 1080p@30FPS from both the rear and selfie cameras.
Battery and Others
The Honor X8b has a Li-Po 4500 mAh high-capacity battery, which is capable of providing excellent battery backup. It can easily last for 2 days or even more, that is if your usage includes lighter usage like camera, social media, YouTube, and so on. But with heavier photo editing or gaming, then the battery will drain faster.
But that shouldn’t worry you as the smartphone supports 35W wired fast charging and this charger is bundled in the box. This charger can fully charge the battery in about an hour. Apart from that, the phone also has Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, GPS, OTG, and a USB Type-C port. The smartphone is available for purchase at $210 (Rs 17,490 in India) approx.
Honor X8b Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Honor X8b smartphone.
| Specifications | Honor X8b |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Announced | December 2023 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.34 x 2.94 x 0.27 inches |
| Weight | 166 g |
| Size | 6.7 inches |
| Display | AMOLED 90Hz 1200-2000 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~394 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 | No |
| RAM | 6GB, 8GB |
| Internal | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB |
| Camera | 108 MP (wide), PDAF 5 MP (ultrawide) 2 MP (macro) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Selfie | 50 MP (wide) LED flash Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| 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 | No |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Side-mounted, accelerometer, compass Virtual proximity sensing |
| Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh 35W wired |
| Colors | Glamorous Green, Titanium Silver, Midnight Black |
| Expected Price | $210 (Rs 17,490 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Honor X8b possesses a unique set of specs and features that make it stand out among other smartphones in the same price range. The pros of the smartphone include its superior display, attractive design, cameras, and battery. However, there are a few cons as well, such as the lack of 5G connectivity and a good secondary camera. The lack of 5G is also a dealbreaker for many, especially in 2024. Its chipset could have also been better. The Honor X8b’s chipset has more than decent performance for sure, but there are other smartphones in the market that have better chipsets in the same price range.Â
If you want a good-looking smartphone where you can watch a lot of movies or TV series or do some social media activities, then this smartphone is for you. That’s because it has a great display and a fantastic battery backup, which will surely help in those cases. But if you are a gamer, then you need 5G connectivity for lower latency and need better chipset.
In this case, other smartphones could be better in this regard. The Honor 90 Lite is an excellent alternative smartphone that has slightly better specs and 5G as well but at a slightly lower price tag. Its chipset is also better than the Honor X8b, so the gaming performance will also be better on the Honor smartphone. However, the final decision is up to you, so it is better to choose a smartphone based on your requirements and needs.
