This is just a initial thoughts review, I've only had it for the day!
I had a Samsung S7 but wasn't getting on with it so I sold it and had £350 to buy a new phone (around $400). I knew I'd lose some features like water resistance, camera and maybe performance but was happy to make the change for a phone which worked properly.
I spend ages deciding on what phone I should get, more than is necessary really. It finally came down to the Oneplus 3 and Honor 8.
In the end I dismissed the op3 due to reports of poor signal reception and no expandable storage. I work in the countryside which weak signal, so decent signal reception abilities and expandable storage are a must (I've got 40+ gb of audio!). Also oneplus have a reputation of all but abandoning their older phones (though the op3 maybe different). I've seen what Huawei have done with emui 5 and while they're not necessarily the fastest they do seem to support a lot of their devices quite well!
So we took the plunge and bought one yesterday. After the initial buyers remorse (I always get this, it's a phone for goodness sake!) I'm very impressed with what you get for the money. The screen is bright enough for me, has punchy colours (which I like), blacks are quite inky for a lcd and full HD is plenty sharp for me. I prefer amoled but this has its advantages (not worried about dark themes or the chance of burn in now, even if that isn't likely in this day and age). The s7 is a better display, but to massively to my eyes. I'm very happy with this.
Performance has been great, I can't see the need to spend top dollar to get silky smooth performance anymore. It feels just as quick as the s7 (exynos version) in day to day use. I was worried about the graphics (kirin processors' weak spot historically) but I realised I don't play hugely demanding games and so far it's not skipped a beat.
Battery is so far is great. Obviously it's to early to tell, with setting the phone up and downloading and updating everything but the battery percentage seems to take longer to go down.
Im actually fine with emui on the whole. The only two things I don't is no app draw and the icon appearance for some apps. So I've loaded nova launcher for now but applied for the emui 5 beta as that seems to sort the issues!
Build quality is really nice. I would prefer a metal design but I use a case so doesn't make too much difference. I do think a case is essential though. The phone is slippery, in hand I don't have too much problem, but this phone slides of everything. I've put it on what I considered pretty flat surfaces and watched as it slowly tried to escape. I swear gravity has a stronger pull on it! I love the fingerprint scanner but keep pressing it (so used to the s7) and turning the torch on, but I'll learn!
I'm enjoying the ir blaster, not had the opportunity to use the camera much so can't judge that yet.
All in all, I got far more than I would for the money. I'm converted, no more 'flagships' for me I think. What you can get at this price point ticks most of my boxes and I'm looking forward to seeing how they improve on this in the years to come.
I had a Samsung S7 but wasn't getting on with it so I sold it and had £350 to buy a new phone (around $400). I knew I'd lose some features like water resistance, camera and maybe performance but was happy to make the change for a phone which worked properly.
I spend ages deciding on what phone I should get, more than is necessary really. It finally came down to the Oneplus 3 and Honor 8.
In the end I dismissed the op3 due to reports of poor signal reception and no expandable storage. I work in the countryside which weak signal, so decent signal reception abilities and expandable storage are a must (I've got 40+ gb of audio!). Also oneplus have a reputation of all but abandoning their older phones (though the op3 maybe different). I've seen what Huawei have done with emui 5 and while they're not necessarily the fastest they do seem to support a lot of their devices quite well!
So we took the plunge and bought one yesterday. After the initial buyers remorse (I always get this, it's a phone for goodness sake!) I'm very impressed with what you get for the money. The screen is bright enough for me, has punchy colours (which I like), blacks are quite inky for a lcd and full HD is plenty sharp for me. I prefer amoled but this has its advantages (not worried about dark themes or the chance of burn in now, even if that isn't likely in this day and age). The s7 is a better display, but to massively to my eyes. I'm very happy with this.
Performance has been great, I can't see the need to spend top dollar to get silky smooth performance anymore. It feels just as quick as the s7 (exynos version) in day to day use. I was worried about the graphics (kirin processors' weak spot historically) but I realised I don't play hugely demanding games and so far it's not skipped a beat.
Battery is so far is great. Obviously it's to early to tell, with setting the phone up and downloading and updating everything but the battery percentage seems to take longer to go down.
Im actually fine with emui on the whole. The only two things I don't is no app draw and the icon appearance for some apps. So I've loaded nova launcher for now but applied for the emui 5 beta as that seems to sort the issues!
Build quality is really nice. I would prefer a metal design but I use a case so doesn't make too much difference. I do think a case is essential though. The phone is slippery, in hand I don't have too much problem, but this phone slides of everything. I've put it on what I considered pretty flat surfaces and watched as it slowly tried to escape. I swear gravity has a stronger pull on it! I love the fingerprint scanner but keep pressing it (so used to the s7) and turning the torch on, but I'll learn!
I'm enjoying the ir blaster, not had the opportunity to use the camera much so can't judge that yet.
All in all, I got far more than I would for the money. I'm converted, no more 'flagships' for me I think. What you can get at this price point ticks most of my boxes and I'm looking forward to seeing how they improve on this in the years to come.
What color is your Honor 8?
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