There are many budget smartphones in the market right now. Therefore, it is quite a task for consumers to find out which is the best device. And Huawei Honor Holly line-up in that same range as the device is priced for INR 7,000. Is this finally a budget range winner or Redmi 1S is still the uncrowned king? Let’s find out in our review of the Honor Holly.
DESIGN
First talking about the design of Honor Holly. This is company’s attempt to create a buzz in the budget smartphone market and with the looks of it; they might succeed. Even with the plastic body and dual-tone design, the device doesn’t feel cheap at all. While left edge is empty, you can find Volume rocker keys and power button on the right edge. At the bottom, there is primary microphone, as well as the microUSB for data syncing and charging port.
First talking about the design of Honor Holly. This is company’s attempt to create a buzz in the budget smartphone market and with the looks of it; they might succeed. Even with the plastic body and dual-tone design, the device doesn’t feel cheap at all. While left edge is empty, you can find Volume rocker keys and power button on the right edge. At the bottom, there is primary microphone, as well as the microUSB for data syncing and charging port.
Moving to the back, you have very glossy back cover, at the top there is an 8MP camera with flash and the Noise-cancelling microphone. And just right at the bottom, there is a loudspeaker. I can see that it is a very compact device for a 5-inch smartphone. Bezels are kept quite small, making easy to reach ends of the display with thumb. Now let’s remove the battery cover. For that, you need to pry hard on microUSB port and then just remove the cover. It is quite solid, though; it bends a little bit. Inside, there are two micro SIM card slots, as well as a microSD card slot. And a 2000mAh battery is also there. At front, there is a LED notification light, sensors, and 2MP camera.
DISPLAY
Coming to the display on the Honor Holly. It has wide-viewing angles; though, a distortion in brightness is easily noticeable when you tilt the device. The color reproduction for this 720p display is quite good. Although it is not the most vibrant display, but it gets the job done and the touch response is pretty smooth. We had no conclusive issue about the display so far.
HARDWARE/PERFORMANCE
Handling the performance on Honor Holly is the Quad-core Mediatek MT6582 processor, clocking 1.3GHz. It is complimented by Mali-400MP2 graphics and 1GB of RAM. The device comes with a 16GB of internal storage out of which around 12GB storage space is available to use. Though, the device does feature an expansion slot with the support of up to 32GB. But it doesn’t support USB OTG functionality. It is not the most powerful processor in this range, but the device does hold up good when playing large games.
With 12GB storage space, you don’t have to compromise on installing big games like Asphalt, Dead Trigger 2, and more. Though, the issue we faced while playing these games were that there were noticeable lags at almost every frame, especially in Asphalt. The battery life is pretty decent for a phone with 2000mAh battery. It will give at least a day’s usage, but only when you are not busy playing heavy games on it.
DISPLAY
Coming to the display on the Honor Holly. It has wide-viewing angles; though, a distortion in brightness is easily noticeable when you tilt the device. The color reproduction for this 720p display is quite good. Although it is not the most vibrant display, but it gets the job done and the touch response is pretty smooth. We had no conclusive issue about the display so far.
HARDWARE/PERFORMANCE
Handling the performance on Honor Holly is the Quad-core Mediatek MT6582 processor, clocking 1.3GHz. It is complimented by Mali-400MP2 graphics and 1GB of RAM. The device comes with a 16GB of internal storage out of which around 12GB storage space is available to use. Though, the device does feature an expansion slot with the support of up to 32GB. But it doesn’t support USB OTG functionality. It is not the most powerful processor in this range, but the device does hold up good when playing large games.
With 12GB storage space, you don’t have to compromise on installing big games like Asphalt, Dead Trigger 2, and more. Though, the issue we faced while playing these games were that there were noticeable lags at almost every frame, especially in Asphalt. The battery life is pretty decent for a phone with 2000mAh battery. It will give at least a day’s usage, but only when you are not busy playing heavy games on it.
SOFTWARE
As for the software, the Huawei has included a completely new launcher here. It’s Emotion UI 2.3 running on top of Android 4.4.2 Kitkat OS. You do have folders, and all the stock apps are present on the device. But there is no app drawer on the launcher, as all the apps and folders are present on the home screen itself. And you will notice that there is a slight hint of lag here.
There are several options in the launcher; you can add more home screens, or switch to a different one. Just long pressing on any menus brings up the menu. That gives options for widgets, transitions, wallpapers and more. And you also have something called Simple Home, which transforms everything into large tiles, so they are easily accessible. It would be useful for your grandparents or even parents if they want to use smartphone with no clutter interface. Coming to the notification panel, you won’t see any customization option, rather than the stock Android panel.
As for the software, the Huawei has included a completely new launcher here. It’s Emotion UI 2.3 running on top of Android 4.4.2 Kitkat OS. You do have folders, and all the stock apps are present on the device. But there is no app drawer on the launcher, as all the apps and folders are present on the home screen itself. And you will notice that there is a slight hint of lag here.
There are several options in the launcher; you can add more home screens, or switch to a different one. Just long pressing on any menus brings up the menu. That gives options for widgets, transitions, wallpapers and more. And you also have something called Simple Home, which transforms everything into large tiles, so they are easily accessible. It would be useful for your grandparents or even parents if they want to use smartphone with no clutter interface. Coming to the notification panel, you won’t see any customization option, rather than the stock Android panel.
CAMERA
Coming to the camera you have an 8MP primary camera with Samsung BSI sensor. It was able to take photos quickly; however focusing was a bit slow. It can capture photos at 8MP, and videos can be recorded at 1080p with Electronic Image Stabilization ON. (Camera Samples Shown) I can see that the color reproduction is quite good. Bright, vibrant colors are captured, but there is a lot of noises when you focus on the images. Auto-focusing becomes slow with low-light. And during our test, the video, and audio quality was not that good. The front-facing Camera had an average quality for a 2MP cam.
Coming to the camera you have an 8MP primary camera with Samsung BSI sensor. It was able to take photos quickly; however focusing was a bit slow. It can capture photos at 8MP, and videos can be recorded at 1080p with Electronic Image Stabilization ON. (Camera Samples Shown) I can see that the color reproduction is quite good. Bright, vibrant colors are captured, but there is a lot of noises when you focus on the images. Auto-focusing becomes slow with low-light. And during our test, the video, and audio quality was not that good. The front-facing Camera had an average quality for a 2MP cam.
CONS
The major issue with this device is a camera, while it was decent, the one that is found on Redmi 1S proved to be much better than Holly’s primary camera. Another thing that I didn’t like about this device was its interface. It was lagging most of the times.
VERDICT
With pretty decent hardware specs and build quality, the Honor Holly is a catch for those who want to get a good smartphone in a limited budget. The 5-inch 720p display is good enough to cater all your media content needs including watching Full HD videos and playing large games. And within this price range you cannot argue about the specs sheet of Honor Holly.
The major issue with this device is a camera, while it was decent, the one that is found on Redmi 1S proved to be much better than Holly’s primary camera. Another thing that I didn’t like about this device was its interface. It was lagging most of the times.
VERDICT
With pretty decent hardware specs and build quality, the Honor Holly is a catch for those who want to get a good smartphone in a limited budget. The 5-inch 720p display is good enough to cater all your media content needs including watching Full HD videos and playing large games. And within this price range you cannot argue about the specs sheet of Honor Holly.