The local smartphone market is getting an early boost as honor Malaysia is planning to “unleash” two of its much anticipated smartphones, the honor 7 Enhanced and honor 5X in Malaysia next week.
The honor 7 Enhanced isn’t all that different than the already good vanilla version which we found to be good but could use some improvement. The only improvement we know of thus far is the fact that this device will now come with 32 GB of internal storage and run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
While the bump in storage from 16 GB might seem like an afterthought to some, many felt that one of the biggest problems with the honor 7 was the lack of storage space. Now with double the internal memory, this device just got a whole lot better.
Besides that, this will be the first non-nexus smartphone in Malaysia to be officially sold with Android M running right out of the box. So, you now get to have all those awesome Marshmallow features to yourself.
The device features a 5.2″ full HD display on the front with an Kirin 935 octa-core processor clocked at 2.2 GHz paired with 3 GB of RAM. As for its photography credentials, it has a 20 MP Sony IMX230 camera sensor with PDAF and a dual-LED flash. The front snapper is an 8 MP unit with its own front-facing flash to help deal with those pesky low-light selfies.
Of the two devices to be launched, the honor 5X is definitely the more interesting one. The 5X is honor’s reply to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, with its full metal build as well as a rear mounted fingerprint scanner. The 5.5″ device sports a Full HD screen plus a Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor, a surprising departure from their in-house Kirin processors. Nevertheless, the Snapdragon 616 will be paired with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of onboard memory.
One advantage the 5X has over the Redmi Note 3 is a dedicated MicroSD card slot which allows you to expand that small internal memory. Due to honor ditching the hybrid SIM set up, users can use two SIM cards and the MicroSD storage simultaneously. It will come running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box with EMUI 3.1 skin running over it.
For its camera optics, the device will sport a 13 MP f/2.0 primary shooter with dual-LED flash to help out in low-light conditions, as well as a 5 MP f/2.4 front camera. The phone will draw power from a fairly substantial 3,000 mAh battery that comes with Quick Charge 3.0 functionality.
In China, the honor 7 Enhanced retails for RMB 1,999 (around RM 1,330) — the same price as the original honor 7, with the original getting a price reduction to RMB 1,799 (around RM 1,200). In Malaysia, the honor 7 is priced at RM 1,399 so we expect the new Enhanced version to match the price of the original.
Meanwhile, the honor 5X is going for RMB 1,099 in China (around RM 730) which is only a hair higher than the Redmi Note 3’s 16 GB version and the same price as the 32 GB version. In Malaysia you can get an imported Redmi Note 3 (via DirectD) for under RM 1,000. So, the question is: How low is honor willing to go?
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