The HONOR X6a completes the company's X Series lineup as it enters the budget smartphone segment. This smartphone is only priced at Php 6,990, yet it offers competitive specs like the 50MP rear camera which is quite rare in this segment. On top of that, the smartphone is pegged to have a two-day battery life and a roomy storage.
From the looks of it, HONOR is gunning this phone for users seeking an affordable price point while prioritizing essential smartphone features like the camera, storage, and battery life. Let's see if the HONOR X6a could deliver without having to ask a hefty price. Join us in this review.
{getToc} $title={Table of Contents} $count={Boolean} $expanded={true}HONOR X6a Review
Pros
- Long battery life
- Large storage for its price
- Decent camera for an entry-level smartphone
- 90Hz refresh rate
Cons
- Underpowered processor
- Display lacks brightness
Design
The HONOR X6a offers a choice of two colors: the Sky Silver and Midnight Black, which is apparently drawing inspiration from both the daytime and nighttime skies. In our case, we have the Sky Silver variant for our review unit. This colorway produces prism-like reflections when viewed in different angles with its tiny crystals effect that adds more life to the phone's minimalist design. This smartphone has a flat-edge and rounded corners which feels comfortable in the hand.
The rear panel is made of plastic material that has a matte finish. This is quite effective in negating fingerprints. On the other hand, the camera module is a glossy square section, which is in contrast to the matte texture of the back panel. There are four equally-sized enclosures with their shiny blue accents, one of which also frames the LED flash that's positioned beside the main camera. The design removes the traditional protruding camera module to give it a more modern and minimalist appearance.
Ports and Buttons
The HONOR X6s is framed by a plastic railing. You can find the volume rocker and power button (that doubles as a fingerprint scanner) on the right side; SIM tray and secondary mic are on the top side, and the 3.5mm audio jack, primary microphone, USB-C port, and speaker grille are all housed at the bottom. These railings have slightly angled and sharp edges which helps in securing the device's grip.
Front Panel: The aging waterdrop design
On the front panel, the display is framed by thick bezels, and comes with a sizeable chin. It also has the old waterdrop notch design for the front camera sensor.
To be specific, the device measures 163.32 x 75.07 x 8.35mm, which fits comfortably in my pocket. It also weighs 188 grams which nudges this phone on the heavier side. You'll certainly feel the weight when holding it, but it's worth noting that this phone also boasts a larger battery; thus the added weight is a good compromise.
Overall, the design is very practical for a budget phone. The build is solid; and apart from its weight, I have no other complaints about the design.
Display
The HONOR X6a sports a 6.56-inch TFT LCD display. The screen comes with HD+ 1612 x 720p resolution and 269 ppi. With its price, I have a lower expectation when it comes to the display, but I was surprised that the phone features a 90Hz dynamic refresh rate. This intelligently adjusts the refresh rate according to your current consumption, thus providing a balance between smoothness and power consumption.
The panel's brightness needs improvement; I tend to use full brightness even when using the phone indoors. Additionally, using the device outdoors in broad daylight would be quite a challenge. You'll notice that the panel's brightness is not adequate enough even at its highest setting.
There are eye-care display features that you can activate like Eye Comfort to help filter out blue light; Dynamic Dimming which simulates natural light to prevent eye fatigue; and if you're into reading eBooks on your phone, the eBook Mode is a good feature that could offer comfortable reading experience.
Overall, the 90Hz refresh rate is quite rare in this segment, which I love. On top of that, the display is large enough for consuming content; but there is room for improvement in terms of brightness.
Performance
The HONOR X6a is powered by the MediaTek Helio G36 which is fabricated using a 12-nanometer process. It runs on an octa-core CPU with 4x Cortex-A53 clocked at 2.2GHz and 4x Cortex-A53 up to 1.6GHz. This processor is supported by 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Additionally, the HONOR RAM Turbo borrows from the storage to further expand the RAM when needed.
Likewise, it supports storage expansion of up to 1TB via microSD card to provide more room for your files. Considering its price, the phone has a generous amount of internal storage wherein you can store your multimedia files.
Benchmarks
We also run some benchmarks with this phone. Here are the results:
HONOR X6a Benchmark Results
- AnTuTu: 141035
- Geekbench 6 CPU Benchmark: 179 single-core and 819 multi-core scores
- PCMark Work 3.0 Performance score: 5192
HONOR X6a supports 4G networks for user's internet connectivity needs. Thus, this could be a good companion for students to need to connect to the internet every now and then. You can also answer calls while using LTE, thanks to its VoLTE feature.
Gaming Performance
The HONOR X6a is considered to be an entry-level gaming smartphone as its chipset supports HyperEngine 2.0 Gaming tech.
However, in our real-time testing we find the performance quite patchy. This is very evident when we played Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on this smartphone. You'll have to settle with the minimum settings to have a decent and playable gameplay - Low and Smooth for Frame Rate and Graphics settings, respectively.
Although the game is playable, I experienced occasional frame drops within the game. Navigating through the MLBB app, I noticed that there are a considerable number of taps that were not recognized, or at the very least, have a delayed response. This could be due to the device's low sampling rate.
The mono loudspeaker has a decent amount of loudness. You could definitely stream your favorite shows or watch YouTube videos with this device without using earphones; provided that you manage your expectations with regards to the sound quality. The sound quality lacks bass and treble, with mids overpowering the soundstage.
Camera
The HONOR X6a sports a triple camera system on the rear which is highlighted by the 50MP primary camera (f/1.8). Completing the setup are the depth camera (f/2.4) and macro camera (f/2.4) with 2 megapixels on each sensor.
Main Camera
In optimal lighting condition, the 50MP camera shoots decent photos with good amount of detail, color accuracy, and saturation. The dynamic range needs more improvement, as well as the contrast.
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| Sample Main Camera Photos: Daylight Shots |
In low-light conditions, the phone still manages to produce decent photos. However, the noise build-up becomes more obvious. The phone lacks a dedicated Night Mode but its AI can detect low-light scenarios and optimize the software to capture the best possible photo. However, photos come off with muted colors and details are obscured by noise buildup.
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| Sample Main Camera Photos: Low-light Shots |
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| Sample Main Camera Photos: Low-light Shots |
Secondary Cameras
The depth sensor works with Portrait Mode in the camera app. I could say that portrait photos are passable with decent subject to background separation. The macro camera works with the SuperMacro mode in the More section of the native camera app. This is a fixed-focused sensor so you'll have to position the lens to 4cm distance to get the best possible shot. Photos with this mode produces good amount of detail and color accuracy. However, it's quite slow in capturing photos.
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| Sample Macro Camera Photos |
You can toggle on AI photography within the camera app. Additionally, the HONOR Lens feature proves handy for scanning QR codes. Moreover, there's a selection of filters that you can apply to enhance your photos according to your mood or liking. Likewise, you can apply up to 10 levels of beautification for portrait and selfie photos. The primary modes featured in the app's interface include Aperture, Portrait, Photo, and Video. Meanwhile, the "More" section houses additional modes such as Pro mode, Panorama, HDR Photo, Time-lapse, Stickers, Super Macro, and High-res.
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| Sample Selfie Photos |
Video Recording
Both the rear and front cameras can shoot up to 1080p at 30fps videos. However, there's no EIS or video stabilization feature for both the main and front cameras. If you'll use this for video recording, you should have steady hands to avoid shaky clips, or employ a smartphone gimbal to achieve smoother videos.
Software
The HONOR X6a runs on MagicOS 7.1, based on the Android 13 mobile operating platform. Swiping down from top on the right side, you'll get instant access to the Control Center, while swiping from the opposite side gives you a preview of your notifications.
Of course, there is a number of bloatware that comes pre-installed; some of these you can't uninstall. However, the overall interface is user-friendly. I like the minimalist appeal of the MagicOS which employs flat icons and nifty system toggles. The software is also supported by Google Mobile Services and comes with Google PlayStore for downloading official apps.
Just like other more powerful HONOR smartphones, the device supports HONOR Share wherein you can share files wirelessly to computers within your network. You can also opt to use the Gesture Navigation for easier interface management.
Additionally, the software supports gestures like swipe down with three fingers to save web pages whenever you're browsing on the internet and you happen to find a good online content that you want to save for later. There's also the one-handed gesture mode which can be activated by swiping and holding at the bottom of the screen. All in all, the MagicOS 7.1 is easy to use and loaded with features that elevates user experience.
Battery
The HONOR X6a is equipped by a large 5,200mAh battery (typical) and is marketed to have a two-day battery life. In our real-time usage, the battery could definitely last for two days with fair to moderate usage. Moreover, HONOR said that this battery offers users up to 17.8 hours of online video playing or 35 hours of audio calls; 13.5 hours of TikTok browsing or 15.5 hours of music streaming on a single charge.
PCMark Battery Life Test
In our PCMark Battery Life test (with dynamic refresh rate, mid-level settings for volume and brightness), the smartphone scored a total runtime of 15 hours and 23 minutes, which surpasses many other devices in this benchmark test.
Battery Charging
When it's time for you to recharge the battery, the smartphone supports 22.5W wired charging, which can recharge this smartphone to 31% in 20 minutes, as advertised.
We run a complete charging test of the HONOR X6a from 04:34 PM to 6:09 PM. The chart above shows the battery charging found in the battery settings along with the power consumption details. At 5:00 PM or 26 minutes from start of charging, the device is able to recover more than 25% of the battery. Then, it recovered at least 98% of the battery at 6:00 PM, and finally hits 100% at 6:09 PM, for a total charging period of 95 minutes or 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Verdict: Should You Buy The HONOR X6a?
If you're someone who's in the market for a budget-friendly smartphone that ticks some of the most important features of a good smartphone - longer battery life, ample storage, and decent camera performance, the HONOR X6a is worth considering. While it may not be the top performer in its category, I think HONOR chose the acceptable compromises to push the price below Php 7,000.
If you have an extra thousand peso to spare, I would suggest getting the HONOR X7a, or if you need to cut your budget below Php 6,000, you might want to consider the HONOR X5 Plus as an alternative.
HONOR X6a Price, Availability
Available in two variants Sky Silver and Midnight Black, you can now buy the HONOR X6a for the suggested retail price of Php 6,990 at HONOR Experience and Partner Stores, or you can order it online through Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop.
To check out HONOR’s complete list of retail stores, go to bit.ly/HONORPhysicalStores.
What's in the Box?
The package comprises the HONOR X6a unit, a transparent case, a pre-installed screen protector, USB-C cable, 22.5W adapter, and documentation.
HONOR X6a Specs
- 6.56-inch HD+ 720 x 1612p TFT LCD display, 90Hz, 269 ppi
- MediaTek Helio G36 (12nm) SoC
- 2.2GHz Octa-core CPU
- PowerVR GE8320 GPU
- 4GB RAM + 128GB Storage
- microSDXC support
- Triple rear cameras: 50MP (f/1.8) main camera + 2MP (f/2.4) depth camera + 2MP (f/2.4) macro camera
- 5MP (f/2.2) front camera
- Loudspeaker
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Dual SIM (nano)
- 4G LTE
- Wi-Fi 802.11ac, 2.4G/5G
- Bluetooth v5.1
- GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
- USB Type-C 2.0, OTG
- Fingerprint (side-mounted)
- MagicOS 7.1, based on Android 13
- 163.32 x 75.07 x 8.35mm, 188 grams
- 5200mAh battery with 22.5W charging
- Midnight Black, Sky Silver
