Honor’s first smartphone in Malaysia since its separation from Huawei, though the design and build is not too far off from each other. The Honor 50 is almost identical to the Huawei nova 9, with just two key differences. The Honor 50’s main camera comes at a staggering 108 MP, and of course, it comes equipped with Google’s Mobile Services.
You can take Honor out of Huawei, but it is hard to take Huawei out of Honor. The phones not only share similar hardware, but equally similar software as well. Though there are some minor differences from the original EMUI formula.
The phone comes in a standard retail package with 66W wall charger and a USB-C to USB-A for charging and data transfer. This time, Honor threw in a little surprise: a transparent silicone case as well as wired earphones with USB-C, since the smartphone does not have a 3.5mm audio jack.
The Honor 50 looks and feels similar, or rather, identical to the Huawei nova 9. They both share the same curves, back design and a circular camera module that stands out. They might have used the same materials to build the device – plastic frame, glass back and front. We got the Frost Crystal version for our test this time. Unlike the Midnight Black variant, with Frost Crystal, fingerprints and smudges are not that all visible because the back is not as glossy and slippery as the Midnight Black variant. So we would highly recommend choosing either the Frost Crystal or Emerald colours should you prefer a cleaner phone and better grip.
The camera does make its presence known, as its camera bump is protruding quite a bit. The main 108MP camera is accented with a ring around it, whereas the other three sensors are housed within a secondary ring with no accents. The side frame is made of plastic, and the sides are super thin, leaving not much room for fingerprints. The power button and the volume rocker are placed on the right, and some users might find the placement a bit high. On the other hand, the power button is quite easy to reach, unlike the volume buttons, which may require some stretching. The bottom end houses the USB-C connector, the speaker grille and the SIM card tray. There is no room for microSD.
The Honor 50 is built around a 6.57-inch, 1080 x 2340px OLED display that can go up to 120 Hz refresh rate and has a touch sampling rate of 300 Hz for more responsive operations during game play. With a display that supports that high of a resolution, watching TV shows or films have never been more satisfying.
Honor 50 battery life is truly something to marvel at. With a 4,300 mAh battery, the phone lasted a whole day even with constant or heavy usage. It can stand a total of 34:23 hours talk time, 15:56 hours web browsing, and 18:55 hours of video playback. Of course, the Honor 50 comes with a fast charging ability. The 66W charger can charge to 61 percent from zero battery in just 30 minutes and reaches 100 percent in under one hour. The Honor’s current Magic UI4.2 looks and feels like Huawei’s EMUI 12, but there are some obvious differences when you properly look at it. The Honor 50 runs on Android 11 and it has all the features from Google’s OS.
Now to the fun part, the 108MP camera. The main camera comes with a 108MP camera, and the sensor is 1/1.52” big and has 0.7µm pixels. The lens features an f/1.9 aperture. The ultrawide is on par with plenty of other mid-range phones – 8MP with f/2.2 aperture providing 120-degree field of view. There are two more cameras – 2MP for macro shots and 2MP depth sensor used for portraits. The default camera app is nothing out of the ordinary – the main modes are arranged in a carousel, and users are free to switch between them by swiping. The “More” sub-menu holds the rest of the modes. The Pro mode gives you access to the autofocus, ISO, shutter speed, exposure and white balance. However, the ultrawide is not available in the Pro mode. The main camera provides plenty of details and the pictures are consistently sharper. The dynamic range is also okay.
The selling point of the Honor 50 would probably be the dual recording screen, which is great for vlogging. If you are aspiring, or are already a veteran vlogger, the simultaneous use of its various combinations of its three cameras – one on the front and two on the rear – allows you to enjoy greater flexibility when shooting your scenes. You can choose between front – and rear camera recording; dual-view recording (front/rear); dual – view recording (rear/rear); picture in picture; fast – motion and slow – motion recording; and single – to dual – view recording. Its image stabilisation is to die for.
For many aspiring vloggers or those who are looking to find mid-range smartphones with superb features, we would recommend the Honor 50. Honor 50 is easily one of the most manageable phones as it is easy on the hand and it does not cost you a fortune to replace.
