Huawei’s subsidiary brand, the Honor has launched their premium mid-tier flagship smartphones in India, the Huawei Honor 9i, AKA, Huawei Mate 10 Lite and the Huawei Honor 7X. Here is a brief differentiating factor between these devices. So, here we have the Batman vs Superman (Here DC is equal to Huawei Honor).
Pricing: To Huawei Honor 9i AKA, the Huawei Honor 10 Lite retails in India for ₹19,999 (currently ₹17,999) due to an ongoing sale. Though, we don’t have the clear idea on the Huawei 7X’s priced tag, considering the Chinese price tag, CYN 1290, which roughly translates for ₹12,999 is a great buy for the mid-tier Android smartphone seekers with a hand-picked set of features. Though these smartphones are priced at a different price point, they have a lot in common and lets us see through those specifications in a detailed fashion.
Design and build quality: Huawei Honor has emphasised on this aspect. To tell frankly, these two smartphones are almost in line with the other premium flagship smartphone, in fact, they have their own signature gestures, which gives them a unique standpoint in the crowd. The all-metal unibody design with the subtle antenna bands is something new at this price point and it does impress the audience. In terms of camera placement, the Honor 7X offers a vertical dual camera setup (our favourite) and the Honor 9i offers a vertical camera setup. So, whichever the smartphone you choose with, you will appreciate the details on the design and saviour the same.
Display: This is the aspect that we are most impressed with these smartphones. Both variants offer a new 18:9 aspect ratio FHD+ 1080 x 2160 pixels resolution display, incarnated with a 2.5D curved tempered glass on the top. The Huawei Honor 7X offers a 5.93-inch edge to edge display with narrow bezels with 407 pixels per inch. The Huawei Honor 9i offers a 5.9-inch edge-to-edge display with narrow bezels with 409 pixels per inch. Though these devices have a nearly 6.0-inch screen, the actual in-hand feel will be like a smartphone with a 5.5-inch screen (thanks to the newer resolution). However, in the current market, there are few disadvantages as well. Looking at the multimedia content, on most of the streaming websites like YouTube, Netflix, and other 3rd party sites, most of the content is created in 16:9 aspect ratio, so, though your devices offer newer screen resolution, you might have black coloured bars on the top and the bottom. So, both these devices offer a vivid display of the futuristic features. So, as per the display is considered, both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Processor and RAM: As these are Huawei branded smartphones, they feature a Kirin branded in-house processor. As a matter of fact, both models are powered by the same Octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 659 Octa-core SoC with up to 2.36 GHz CPU clock speed. This power efficient processor is paired with 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM and 64 GB onboard flash storage on the Huawei Honor 9i. The Huawei Honor 7X comes with the same amount of RAM with a wide variety of storage option to choose from (32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB). Both models do support external SD card slot up to 128 GB if you are ready to sacrifice the secondary SIM card slot. So, storage will not be a problem on these smartphones, unless, you use that secondary SIM slot.
Connectivity: As Honor 7X and the Honor 9i are powered by the same processor, the device does offer similar connectivity features as well. Both the SIM slots support 4G LTE and VoLte with WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, and Bluetooth 4.2 for the wireless connectivity. The Honor 7X does feature analogue FM radio support, however, the Honor 9i is missing on the same. So, when it comes to wireless connectivity, both smartphones are in line with the other mid-range players. Though we feel these devices are missing on the latest Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC, which would have given an added value for these smartphones. So, whichever the one you choose, you will be happy, when it comes to cellular reception and data transfer rates, given that you have a good internet provider.
Camera: Camera is something that has been that one factor, which tries to impress the users but fails to do so. Finally, Huawei Honor has come up with something, that we all can appreciate. To start with the Huawei Honor 9i, which offers a dual camera on the front and dual camera on the back is one of our favourite camera setup in this budget. The phone offers a 13 RGB fixed focus shooter and a 2 MP depth sensing sensor and on the back, the device offers a 16 MP RGB autofocus shooter with PDAF and a 2 MP depth sensing shooter on the back. Both camera modules do offer 1080p video recording capability with portrait mode and other beauty modes. On the other hand, the Honor 7X has a similar rear camera setup with 16 MP RGB PDAF sensor and a 2 MP depth sensing sensor. For the selfie camera, the smartphone uses a single 8 MP fixed focus shooter with 1080p video recording capability. So, for the main photography, both devices do offer similar camera capabilities, but, the extra few rupees you spend on the Honor 9i will also get you a nice pair of selfie cameras as well.
Software: Huawei Honor 9i and the Honor 7x runs on a forked version of Android Nougat 7.0 with custom UI EMUI 5.1 on the top. The overall UI is something similar to MIUI with no app tray and comes with a lot of third-party apps (some of them are un-installable). Even if the company provides an Oreo update, you won’t be able to enjoy the same due to the heavy skin on the top. Though one can install a third party skin, you cannot change the overall notification area. Frankly, this is the only irritating feature of the Huawei Honor branded smartphones. Huawei, please give us the stock Android user experience.
Conclusion: Looking at the mere price difference of ₹5,000, the Huawei Honor 9i and the Honor 7x has a lot to offer. Even the 3340 mAh battery also remains the between these devices. If you are not bothered about the outdated EMUI, then these are the best smartphones in the market, especially the Honor 7x, which is expected to be priced around ₹15,000 or lesser.