Honor 90 review

The competition

The Honor 90 is available now in Europe in two memory options - 8/256 GB for €550 and 12/512 GB costing €600. Color options are Green, Black, and Silver. At the time of writing this review, we found one on Amazon DE for as low as €460, and that's for the 12/512 GB version. In the US, the Honor 90 seems to currently be going for just under $500 on Amazon. A launch in India is scheduled for September 14.

Prices are sort of in flux, but we can get an idea of the price range we are working with. There are plenty of viable alternatives to consider.

Let's kick things off with Samsung and the popular Galaxy A54, which fits the same budget. A 128GB/8GB model will run you just around €350, while a 256GB/8GB variant costs about €399, making it notably cheaper than the Honor 90. The Samsung phone has expandable storage and offers IP67 ingress protection and Gorilla Glass 5 protection for its display. The Galaxy A54 also has a 120Hz AMOLED panel with HDR10+ support. Battery life is notably better on the Galaxy, although the Samsung mid-ranger is limited to 25W charging. The Galaxy A54 also has a potent 50MP OIS-enabled main and 12MP ultrawide cameras but lacks a telephoto shooter, just like the Honor 90.

Another Samsung phone worth mentioning is the much cheaper Galaxy A34, which brings a similar overall experience on a much tighter budget.

Unsurprisingly, there are a couple of viable options over camp Xiaomi. For less than the Honor 90, you can get a Poco F5 with Gorilla Glass 5, stereo speakers, a large 5,000 mAh battery with 67W charging, a 12-bit 120Hz HDR-capable AMOLED display, a potent Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset and a pretty versatile camera setup with a 64MP OIS-enabled main shooter.

Alternatively, you could lower the budget quite significantly and go for something like the ever-popular Redmi Note 12 Pro. Despite its lower price, it still offers much of the same Xiaomi experience, including stereo speakers, 5000mAh battery with 67W charging and a 10-bit 120Hz HDR AMOLED display. The Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro is another option quite similar to the Redmi with a Snapdragon chipset and better battery life, but also some concessions, like no OIS.

Samsung Galaxy A54 • Xiaomi Poco F5 • Realme 11 Pro+ • Google Pixel 7a

It is hard to ignore the Realme 11 Pro+ in that category. Its starting MSRP is less than €300. All the while, it offers stereo speakers, a large 5,000 mAh battery with a whopping 100W charging and pretty good battery endurance. It also has a large 6.7-inch HDR10+ 120Hz OLED display. The Realme 11 Pro+ has a very interesting camera setup in its own right, with a 200 MP f/1.7 main snapper with OIS.

Last but not least, why not consider a Google Pixel? As long as a large display isn't high up on your wish list. The new Pixel 7a would naturally be our first choice with its 90Hz OLED display, 64MP main camera and nicer 13MP selfie.

If that happens to be a bit too pricy for you, then there is the older Pixel 6a, which is far from outdated. Sure, you'll have to live with a 60Hz refresh rate and a much smaller display, but one that is still HDR-capable. The Pixel 6a also offers IP67 ingress protection stereo speakers and decent battery endurance. Its camera system is still world-class, mostly thanks to Google's prowess in computational photography. And all of this, plus pure Android and very long software support, can be had for just around €330 at current pricing.

Our verdict

The Honor 90 is unquestionably an eye-catching device. Honor clearly paid a lot of attention to design, and the results speak for themselves. Few phones look as flashy as the Honor 90 in some color options.

There is plenty to like about the phone besides design as well. Its display is definitely a highlight. It's very bright and offers great color accuracy and HDR10+ support. It is also fast, with a 120Hz refresh rate. Automatic refresh rate management on the Honor 90 can still use some work but generally does the job well enough.

The Honor 90 has a pretty versatile camera setup. We particularly like the inclusion of autofocus on the ultrawide and the fact that the main cam, ultrawide and selfie can all capture 4K video.

On the flip side, the battery life on the Honor 90 is nothing to phone home about, and neither is the single bottom-firing speaker. We would have also appreciated some ingress protection, ideally a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. The virtual proximity sensor is also pretty disappointing. It's a small detail for sure, but one that can get very annoying in daily use.

All things considered, we would say that the Honor 90 appeals with its design first and foremost and less so with its feature set. It's not a bad value proposition by any means, but better hardware can definitely be had in the same price range.

Pros

• Luxurious exterior and eye-catching design.
• Very bright and color-accurate OLED display with HDR10+ support.
• Versatile camera setup with autofocus on the ultrawide and mostly dependable quality all around.

Cons

• No splash protection rating.
• A single, not particularly good speaker.