Huawei Honor 5X review: Aiming High

16 February, 2016
Honor made a last minute swipe at CES and blew us away with what its 200 dollar phone could offer: a metal body, a large 3000mAh battery, quick fingerprint unlock, and a 5.5" 1080p screen. Honor is also entering the US market with the launch of the Honor 5X, selling it as an unlocked and dual-SIM smartphone.

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  • P
  • Pat
  • LxZ
  • 18 Feb 2016

Honor 5x looks like a great phone, I'd love to see a review like this for BLU's new Vivo 5. Maybe a head-to-head showdown between $200 front-runners.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • Ibx
    • 17 Feb 2016

    Excellent phone would definitely buy another if needed. After a month of use everything just works well, wifi connection switching to LTE is quick and seem less, battery life is excellent, call reception is excellent, LTE speed with T-Mobile is excellent, software is good enough and doesn't get in the way once you get the hang of it, MMS messaging works with no issues, screen is good enough. Really like this phone and can see Huawei trying to win customers by making a product that just works like Toyota and Honda .

      • D
      • AnonD-501577
      • X0@
      • 17 Feb 2016

      Honor 5x battery life is good
      Though it doesn't come with a fast charger, i used moto's turbo charger n it charged the battery from 0-90% in 2 hours

      Phone is very big, bigger then my moto x style

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        • AnonD-72449
        • q@X
        • 17 Feb 2016

        The design is reminiscent of the old HTC One M7. It looks great to be honest ! And this thing is $200! I wish there were budgets phones like this back in the day. I payed $650 for the HTC One 64GB Developer Edition when it first came out. I still have it by the way, still functions flawlessly. Anyway.. i'm glad Huawei has been stepping it's game up in the western market lately. First the Nexus 6P and now this sub-branded Honor 5X for $200! They're on a roll, hope they keep it up :)

          This is a fantastic device for the price, but make sure you install Novalauncher as soon as you boot the phone for the first time. EMUI is junk.

            • N
            • Nilanka
            • p}Q
            • 17 Feb 2016

            Pity good price and all in one.1080 p display with 5'5.fringe print 3000 mamp battery life enough 13 mp camera duel led

              pu$$y-lick@, 16 Feb 2016No NFC - OK! No 5GHz Wi-Fi - Still ok !!! No Marshmallow ... moreApparently, you can use a 2A charger on the 5X. It's on their official site but the phone only comes with a 1A charger

                Anonymous, 17 Feb 2016You know, I am the man who don`t really like stock android,... moreWhy would I throw a rock? People are different and like different things, it was just my honest opinion that's all. I am not saying phone makers shouldn't modify the interface, but they should also make some phones with stock android, like it did a while ago with the Google Play Edition phones, that pretty nice.

                I have to admit I've never used the Huawei interface, but I don't like the one from Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi.

                But yeah, I guess they should give the stock android lovers a chance too :)

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • JEe
                  • 17 Feb 2016

                  TamPiXeL, 17 Feb 2016I will never understand why phone makers don't stick to Nex... moreYou know, I am the man who don`t really like stock android, throw a rock at me if you wish. Btw, I don`t like LG`s and Samsung`s user interfaces either. But Huawei did a good job on this, just cannot complain.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-222770
                    • 0GR
                    • 17 Feb 2016

                    I prefer lenovo vibe p1..

                      I will never understand why phone makers don't stick to Nexus like phones. I think they would be more successful.

                      I have a Nexus 5 and an Lg G3 dual sim which I received from work. If it would've provided a clean android experience i would have kept the G3. Since it doesn't, I kept the N5 and the G3 is rotting in a drawer back home.

                      It's a pity how phone makers think they are enhancing the whole experience :)

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                        • alexv
                        • ANK
                        • 17 Feb 2016

                        There is no way around the fact that 616 is not enough for a 1080p phone. Not enough graphics processing power and a two cluster cpu means a barely usable phone after one year of use. 617 is a much more sensible choice (higher clocked Adreno 405) and true octa core power,let alone S650 or helio x10.

                          • a
                          • alexv
                          • ANK
                          • 17 Feb 2016

                          Anonymous, 17 Feb 2016"For students, who can`t afford iPhone" ? Oh, come on, you... moreI believe they said it ironically. Gsmarena is probably the.only major smartphone site that reviews iphones objectively.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 9xe
                            • 17 Feb 2016

                            how could you ignore the xiaomi redmi note 3 as a competitor?

                              • M
                              • Muthu
                              • jrf
                              • 17 Feb 2016

                              Anonymous, 17 Feb 2016"For students, who can`t afford iPhone" ? Oh, come on, you... moreWell said. This "can't afford iphone" diatribe is reaching disproportional limits. For god's sake, it costs just $800 (which millions of people in planet earth can afford AND having been bought and been in use close to a billion), not $5000+ like a car (which cannot be afforded by a billion people in planet earth).

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • JEe
                                • 17 Feb 2016

                                "For students, who can`t afford iPhone" ?
                                Oh, come on, you cant just say that, It`s a gsmarena, not applefan dot com
                                There are lots and lots of people who can afford afford iPhone, but wont buy it, cause they don`t like it with its questionable design and apple`s clumsy software, all of that for a less than adequate price.
                                Personally, I use huawei phones because I like the handy software inside them, plus build quality much higher than sony/lenovo/htc.

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                                  • Neb
                                  • mxZ
                                  • 17 Feb 2016

                                  HBJ, 17 Feb 2016Hi,i have readover the review. I must say that this is a qu... moreThanks for your short review of the review.
                                  Now its absolutely safe to take first review seriously.

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                                    • AnonD-259759
                                    • RNA
                                    • 17 Feb 2016

                                    Qm, 17 Feb 2016According to price range performance and camera are great, ... moreI didn't say we need DSLR quality camera in $200 phone, but I know that other brands with same price range did better than Huawei.

                                      • M
                                      • Muthu
                                      • PTi
                                      • 17 Feb 2016

                                      Anonymous, 16 Feb 2016Would never trade performance and/or screen quality for "pr... moreI also belong to the same category. But we have to admit - we are a minority. Majority of the people actually want good looking phones, rather jewels. Performance/ Functionality/ Ease of use/ That much abused phrase by ifans - so called User experience (rather the lack of it in idevices) - all be damned.

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                                        • n
                                        • 8mp
                                        • 17 Feb 2016

                                        This phone according to the above review has gorilla glass but it is not mentioned on the specs here or on huawei website. Does it have gorilla glass 3 or not ?