Introduction to Honor X9b 5G
Honor, a Chinese smartphone brand, has returned to India with three new products in the second month of 2024. The Honor X9b 5G, Honor Choice X5 Earbuds, and Honor Choice Watch were unveiled during a launch event. The Honor X9b 5G is a mid-range smartphone with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset, a 5800mAh battery, a 108MP camera, and Magic OS 7.2.
The device is touted as the most durable and reliable smartphone across segments, featuring an ultra-bounce 360-degree anti-drop resistance and cutting-edge cushioning technology. The Honor X9b is the first device to receive a Five-Star Overall Drop Resistance certificate, making it a promising addition to the Indian smartphone market. The brand’s commitment to innovation and durability is evident in its latest offerings.
Design and Build
The Honor X9b is a sleek and durable smartphone with a unique round camera module, reminiscent of the Vivo X Series, featuring three sensors and an LED flash. The rear camera module is adorned with a gold-rigged ring called the Matrix Star Ring. The Honor branding is located at the bottom of the rear panel. The phone’s top and left sides remain unadorned.
The Honor X9b 5G is a great choice for both clumsy individuals and parents dealing with mischievous kids.The curved screen and plastic frame make it a sleek and lightweight device, weighing just 185 grams and measuring 7.98mm in thickness. The device is protected against minor splashes thanks to the IP53 rating, making it comfortable to hold for prolonged usage. The phone’s sleek design makes it a great choice for both clumsy individuals and parents dealing with mischievous kids.
Display
Honor has crafted a premium-grade display for the Honor X9b model, featuring a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a pixel resolution of 1200×2652, providing rich, vivid, and detailed visuals for content consumption, gaming, and other tasks. The Honor X9b has a dynamic 19:9:9 aspect ratio and a 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring smooth scrolling and a maximum brightness of 1200 nits. The device is also durable, equipped with All-angle Ultra Tough 360-degree Anti-Drop Protection 8 and a 365-day Front and Back replacement.
The Always-On-Display settings allow users to choose from various images, graffiti, and other options, while features like eBook mode, eye comfort, and sleep mode ensure eye safety. However, the Honor X9b’s single down-firing speaker at the bottom has average performance, with a lack of depth and character as volume levels increase beyond 50%. Despite its impressive display, the Honor X9b falls short of its competitors in terms of performance.
Camera
The Honor X9b is a smartphone with a triple camera setup on the back, including a primary 108MP sensor with 3x optical zoom, a 5MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro sensor. The camera’s user interface is simple and user-friendly, but there is slight oversaturation in the details. The primary camera is capable of clicking portraits with good edge detection, but it smoothens out facial detailing and presents skin tones with high contrast.
The 5MP ultra-wide camera struggles with low resolution, faded colors, and a narrower field-of-view (FoV). The 2MP macro sensor also struggles to avoid blocking light, resulting in hazy results. The Honor X9b can record up to 4k videos at 30fps, with various modes available through the camera app.
The selfie camera, a 16MP sensor, excels in subject detection and accurate skin color reproduction. Its 16MP sensor ensures natural faces and depth in selfies, even in daylight. The selfie shooter is decent, but it could be improved in dynamic range and depth. Overall, the Honor X9b is a decent device for those looking for a high-quality smartphone.
Performance
Honor’s X9b smartphone is equipped with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC, providing smooth performance for daily tasks like making calls, sending messages, browsing social media, editing, listening to music, and gaming. The device has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, which can be expanded With Virtual RAM by an additional 8GB. Multitasking is made easier with this generous amount of RAM, allowing for simultaneous application running without lag.
The X9b achieves 4,84,172 points on AnTuTu and 2,828 on Geekbench, with 83 percent of its peak performance in CPU Throttle tests. Although slightly lower than the Realme 12 Pro, the smartphone performs satisfactorily in real-world usage. Although not marketed as a performance-focused smartphone, the X9b can handle most activities, including streaming, browsing, navigation, and gaming. The phone runs well with the popular battle royale game BGMI, but requires moderate graphics and frame rate settings to maintain smooth performance.
Software and User Interface
The Honor X9b is a sleek and tidy smartphone that operates on Android 13 with Honor’s MagicOS 7.2 operating system. The UI is sleek and tidy, offering a wide range of customization options and seamless integration with Google Services. The Honor X9b is slightly different from other smartphones due to its lack of a traditional app drawer and its Control Center, which allows access to settings, music player, and more. The device is also a 5G device, ensuring a decent calling experience.
The Honor X9b runs on Android 13-based MagicOS 7.2, with a slightly dated software but is expected to receive two years of major software upgrades and three years of security updates. The software is heavily customized and comes with proprietary apps like Honor App Market, Game Center, and Honor’s Email app, along with the usual suite of Google apps. There are also third-party apps that can be uninstalled if not useful after the initial device setup.
The software is intuitive and easy to navigate, with a top-down swipe from the right bringing the control center and a similar swipe from the left bringing the notifications panel. An AI suggestions widget on the home screen suggests apps based on user activity for quick actions.
Battery and Charging
The Honor X9b, a smartphone with a 5,800mAh battery, is rated to last up to three days between charges. However, the device’s screen-on-time is impressive, but the PCMark battery test results are less impressive. The Honor X9b scored 13 hours and 34 minutes, lower than some 5,000mAh smartphones in the same segment. The smartphone supports 35W fast charging, but there is no bundled charger. The company will ship a 30W charger separately for a limited time. Despite this, the Honor X9b takes two and a half hours to achieve a full charge from 0-100 percent, which would have been appreciated.
Price & Availability
The Honor X9b is a premium smartphone with a luxury watch, jewellery-inspired circular camera module, and vegan leather back. It is available in Sunrise Orange and Midnight Black colors, with the Sunrise Orange variant featuring a vegan leather back and the Midnight Black variant with a polycarbonate back. The 8GB RAM+256GB storage model is priced at Rs. 25,999, with bank discounts and other offers bringing the effective price to Rs. 22,999. The first sale will take place tomorrow via Amazon
Pros &Cons
The smartphone features a lightweight design, a voluminous battery, a clean and neat UI, a 108MP sensor, and fast performance. It offers an enjoyable experience regardless of activity. However, it takes over two hours to charge,long charging time, and underwhelming 5MP and 2MP sensors. The speaker could be improved. It still runs on Android 13.
Should you buy Honor X9b 5G ?
The Honor X9b is a stylish and durable smartphone with a powerful 5,800mAh battery, 120Hz AMOLED display, and a 108MP primary camera. Its camera setup is particularly impressive in daylight. However, if you’re looking for top-notch performance, faster charging speeds, and a versatile camera setup, the POCO X6 Pro, Motorola Edge 40, and Realme 12 Pro+ are worth considering.
The Realme 12 Pro+ is a camera-focused device, while the Motorola Edge 40 offers clean software, IP68 rating, and wireless charging capabilities. The POCO X6 Pro is a powerful and feature-packed smartphone, but the Honor X9b is a suitable choice for those prioritizing durability, battery life, and a commendable viewing experience
