Huawei Honor 6 Review

I bought the Huawei honor 6 on flipkart and received a prompt delivery of the phone today.

btw, Huawei is to be pronounced WAH-WAY, just so you know, just in case, if you didnt know.

Over the years Huawei has been manufacturing wide variety of  network products and started introducing mobile phones and tables in recent years. 

It is not (yet) seen as a niche player in the smart phone market, but huawei is starting to make waves with its Ascend product ranges and other new models. It is becoming a threat for Samsung and starting to eat its market share. While Huawei gained from 4% market share to 7%, Samsung has gone down from 32% to 25%, in the second quarter this year.

I  have used Android before and was a happy Apple iphone customer in the recent years and really got comfortable with the whole idea o iPhone and IOS. When i was contemplating to upgrade to the iphone6, i noticed the new Honor 6 that got introduced by Huawei. 

The Octa Core processor (Faster than the Fastest :) ), 3GB RAM, 13 MP x 5 MP cameras the sleek and slim design and the low price range (rs.19,999 in India, $327) convinced me. After skimming through some comparisons and reviews, it did come out as a compelling model.

My only concern was the size. i am used to smaller sized phones that fits comfortably in the hand and which allows a single thumb typing. i prefer to text and email using one hand. The idea of a wider phone was therefore a deterrent. 

Honor 6 is 2MM wider than the iphone6 ( iphone 6 vs huawei honor 6 comparison)

Honor 6 is 16MM wider than the iphone5s ( iphone 5s vs huawei honor 6 comparison)

I decided to take the plunge as the other positive features outweigh the size issue. 

The phone arrived in a neatly packed nice looking blue colored box.

It had the phone, charger, scratch guards, and a mini USB charging cable - all nicely packed. i was hoping to find a earphone, but it doesn't come with one.

I powered up the phone. Interestingly, there was no indication asking me to charge for 8 hours first. The phone had almost 50% charge, so it booted up instantly with the honor logo. 

There was no clear indication anywhere whether the body was metal or plastic. Every website had a different detailing. The sides has a aluminium railing which feels nice. The back and front is certainly plastic. but, it doesn't have the 'cheap' plastic'y feel. It felt very light to hold and looks elegant.

During the initial setup, i could feel the width was a bit annoying to deal with, especially for my one-thumb typing preference. its hard to reach the left most characters on the keyboard. icons on the top 25% of the screen is certainly beyond reach.  

As you can see below, the phone next to an iphone4, definitely seems big and is big. Its wider and taller.

  

Other than the size issue, the only other frustration is the placement of the speaker. Its in the back. So, when you play your music or take a call on the speaker, and lay it down on the table, the volume does go down noticeably. Workaround is to keep it face down. Will have to do that after the phone gets atleast a week or two old.

Played with the camera a bit. It has the necessary mode features (night shots, HDR, panorama, etc..). The night pics on the front camera isn't that great. 

The 13MP camera does a decent job.

Pics below taken using 13MP main cam.

In summary, its a great phone. Very responsive and fast. 

Browsing, facebook, email, texting and other regular activities had no issues.

It feels great and is light weight.

Phone sound quality is good. Speaker phone is loud.

The Android skin given by huawei is simple and nice.

What i didn't like is the width and the placement of the speaker on the back side. 

Does Android have a keyboard which can let me customize the width and make it right justified? 

If i can get a thinner keyboard and right justify it, my typing issue will get resolved. searching for it.....

If you feel the iphone6 is too pricey and phones should not make you spend more than 20,000 rs, and you wouldn't mind Android, this is the right phone for you.

It's exclusively sold by flipkart. next-day shipping available in most cities for an additional 100rupees. if you pick the regular shipping, it usually takes 3 to 4 days max, if you live in a metro. 

do let me know if you have questions or need clarifications.