Honor 6X review: Amped up

Unboxing

The Honor 6X comes in pretty much the same packaging as the Honor 5X. A teal box with Honor's branding, and an ordinary packaging layout. We really liked the way the Honor 8 was packaged, though, given the price difference, Honor didn't put as much effort into the unboxing experience.

Retail box

Under the box's lid is the phone itself, which comes in either Silver, Gray, or Gold; we were able to get both the Gray and Silver variants, and our personal preferences lean towards the gray one.

Box contents

Putting the phone aside, all that comes included with the phone is a 5V @ 2A charger, and a microUSB cable. Between the phone and the charger is a warranty card and a SIM tool.

Design and Hardware

We'll be taking a look at the silver model since the white bezel lets us see the sensors and branding a little better. Not to mention the "fake" screen bezel has been kept to a minimum, so we are glad to see that. Otherwise, Honor took our advice and put its branding on the bottom bezel, which otherwise looked like wasted space on the 5X. The bottom bezel is still quite large, which is one of the reasons we like the Gray model over the silver one.

Honor 6X compared to Honor 5X: 3/4 view • Bottom • Side • Back

The phone itself feels quite dense when you first pick it up. Honor didn't skimp on the materials or battery size when building the 6X. In fact, the Honor 6X weighs in at 162g, just a little more than the 5X's 158g. Likewise, the dimensions are pretty much spot-on with the 5X at 150.9 x 76.2 x 8.2mm.

Front • Bottom bezel

The only thing about the front of the Honor 6X that might have your friends asking you about it is the "Honor" branding on the bottom bezel, but that's only for the simple fact that many people (particularly in the US) have never heard of this brand. Otherwise, the phone is pretty bland-looking on the front.

You have your standard array of sensors, including a front-facing 8MP camera, ambient light sensor for screen brightness adjustment, proximity sensor, and an RGB-LED notification light is placed behind the glass.

Top bezel

A rear-mounted fingerprint scanner is just below the camera module (which protrudes just a little bit), which is arranged in a stacked configuration next to a single LED Flash. Anyway, the back of the phone has these bumpers where radios and antennas are located behind to let signals pass through. These bumpers appear to hold the body of the phone together with adhesive, a departure from the screws on the bottom that the 5X and Honor 8 had.

Back view • Corner view (gray) • Corner view (silver) • camera view

The backside also lacks a wow factor. Although the smooth, matte metal finish feels nice in hand, it's prone to smudges and fingerprints. In fact, you should probably keep it in a case, we don't recall when this corner of the phone got scuffed, but it did. Also, the plastic coating is pretty thin; we can't imagine a deep scratch on either bumper would look any better.

Gray model's bumper scuffed at the corner

Bumper material aside, the bumpers, bezel, and back plate all meld together nicely, the seams are there, of course, but they don't protrude as to dig into your palm or anything like that. The phone feels pebble-like since corners and edges have been smoothed out.

Bottom • Top

The bottom bumper keeps the game grille layout that's found in a lot of smartphones these days. The grille to the left side of the microUSB port is an in-call mic, while the one on the right side is a loudspeaker. At the top of the phone, there are a 3.5mm headphone jack and a noise-cancelling mic. We'll be putting the phone's noise canceling capabilities to the test.

Left view • SIM trays

The left side of the phone has no physical buttons, only a hybrid SIM tray. A change from the Honor 5X is the removal of the second card tray. The 6X uses a hybrid SIM card tray: a slot for a nanoSIM and a second slot that accommodates only either one microSD card or a second nanoSIM card. Last year's 5X was able to accommodate two SIM cards and a microSD card, so that's a downgrade.

The right side of the phone is home to the phone's only physical buttons which are arranged all on the right side of the body. The buttons themselves click with enough tactile feedback and are quite satisfying to press. Keep in mind that a double-press of the volume-down key will launch the camera and snap a photo, all in a single go.

Right side • Closeup of buttons