Honor 50 initial review: Guess who's back, back again

(Pocket-lint) - It's been a infinitesimal since we've seen an Honor telephone onshore successful the UK with Google Services sitting pridefulness of place. But that's precisely what the Honor 50 represents: a instrumentality to planetary signifier aft the company's separation from Huawei, with afloat entree to Google Play Store and each your accustomed apps.

It's possibly a small spot odd, then, that the Honor 50 looks a full batch similar Huawei's P50, which was announced mid-2021. Maybe we should telephone it a 'conscious uncoupling' betwixt the two. Then again that's however divorces thin to work: fractional goes 1 way, fractional the other, without full razing of the past.

But backmost to the existent device. The Honor 50 houses a now-unusual waterfall display, with curved edges to some sides, on with a dual circular-shaped rear camera arrangement. Are these the benignant of standout features radical volition beryllium looking for? And, indeed, is the spot successful Honor cemented capable for an effort rekindle to marque sense?

Design & Display

• Finishes: Frost Crystal, Amber Red, Emerald Green, Midnight Black
• 6.57-inch OLED panel, 1080 x 2340 resolution, 120Hz refresh
• Dimensions: 160 x 73.8 x 7.8mm / Weight: 175g
• Under show fingerprint scanner

There was a infinitesimal successful clip wherever curved-edge displays were each the rage. The much curved the much impressive. That's not truthful overmuch the lawsuit anymore: bigger curves thin to mean much accidental touches, much frequently. Therefore much subtle curved borderline to assistance fell bezel without having excessive applicable implications has been the mode to go. Except Honor didn't get that memo.

We tin spot the entreaty successful a ocular sense: the important mode the surface of this telephone slides distant gives it distinction; there's the quality of the broadside bezel being acold little than you'll spot connected immoderate phones. But it's conscionable a ocular happening as, we suspect, determination volition beryllium much irksome unintentional touches, apps being triggered, and whatnot.

From a technological standpoint the Honor 50's surface has immoderate awesome specification: it's precocious solution and has a dynamic refresh complaint enactment wherever the sheet tin refresh up to 120 times per second. But connected the different manus we find the colour equilibrium to conscionable beryllium a spot peculiar - strange, arsenic it's got the afloat DCI-P3 colour gamut astatine its fingertips - but determination are aggregate ways to tweak the equilibrium to your idiosyncratic preference, which has been our mode to undo the cooler default balance.

From a physique position the rear of the instrumentality looks a batch similar glass, but it's really integrative - a 'knock' connected its aboveground reveals a hollow benignant of sound. At slightest it won't ace if you driblet it. It is precise fond of fingerprints though, truthful you'll beryllium wiping it cleanable a batch to support its champion visual.

The positioning of the buttons to the broadside - measurement up/down and powerfulness on/off - are good proportioned, portion an under-display scanner beneath the surface is utilized for accelerated login. All bully connected this front.

In presumption of scale, we similar that the Honor 50 hasn't opted for a monolithic artillery capacity. It means the handset is simply a smidgen slimmer than galore flagships with larger batteries person been of late, which gives it a much svelte consciousness - further enhanced, of course, by that screen's important curvature.

Hardware & Software

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G platform, 6GB/8GB RAM
• Android 11, Magic UI 4.2, Google Play Services
• 4300mAh battery, 66W fast-charging

We've not yet had a agelong clip to play astir with the Honor 50, but astatine slightest we really tin - it volition instal Google Services and, therefore, you tin download apps arsenic accustomed from Google Play. Well, successful theory: we recovered it intolerable to transcript an aged instrumentality implicit to this handset, but were capable to commence manual Play Store downloads aft to get each of our favourites into position.

The bundle is built astir Google's Android 11, but present it's Honor's Magic UI 4.1. In erstwhile versions of Honor's bundle this would bring further benefits, specified arsenic App Twin, to make dual versions of definite apps. However, that diagnostic is nary longer present. As specified the idiosyncratic interface feels mostly similar Google's ain default. There's an app drawer. Swipe-down notifications relation conscionable arsenic Google intends (no left/right divided similar with Xiaomi's latest MIUI software). It's familiar. And acquainted is good.

Beneath the aboveground moving everything is simply a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 platform, paired successful our reappraisal instrumentality with 6GB RAM (8GB variants whitethorn beryllium disposable successful immoderate regions). It runs smooth, it runs nary issues, but the 778 isn't the precise top-tier Snapdragon chipset. Thing is, Qualcomm's hardware has got truthful precocious of precocious that we don't deliberation that's a problem: you tin inactive play games with decent loading times and framework rates; the handset doesn't overheat oregon drain artillery arsenic rapidly arsenic a higher-end setup different might.

That prime of chipset sounds close successful tandem with the 4300mAh battery. We're yet to trial however agelong this lasts successful regular use, but a much powerful, little vigor businesslike chipset would astir apt propulsion excessively overmuch request from specified a cell. As we said further up, the wage disconnected successful having a somewhat little than maximum artillery capableness is simply a much svelte handset - which is amended for some pouch and manus successful our view. Besides, the 66W fast-charger tin execute 70 per cent charging successful conscionable 20 minutes astatine the plug. There's nary wireless charging.

Cameras

• Quad rear camera:
  • Main: 108-megapixel, f/1.9 aperture, 0.7µm pixel size, phase-detection autofocus (PDAF)
  • Ultrawide (120-degrees): 8MP, f/2.2
  • Macro: 2MP, f/2.4
  • Depth: 2MP, f/2.4
• Front-facing camera: 32-megapixel, f/2.2 aperture

With the dual-disc camera setup connected the rear looking truthful antithetic to what other we've seen connected the market, we were expecting it to beryllium a standout setup. But Honor has fallen into that trap of reasoning "more is better" and has included a pointless 2-megapixel macro sensor and 2-megapixel extent senor - some of which you could bash distant with and not adjacent notice.

Fortunately the main camera, astatine 108-megapixels, puts a small much thought into its presence. It uses a nine-in-one processing method to present 11.4-megapixel results (in 4:3 aspect), which is an progressively emblematic mode for smartphone cameras to operate. It often pays off, too, with accrued detail, colour and dynamic range.

The wide-angle camera, astatine 8-megapixels, is simply a small debased successful resolution, but we're gladsome specified a shooting enactment is here. We would, however, person ditched the macro and extent to let this wide-angle to beryllium an improved offering overall.

Writing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 27 October 2021.