Honor 8A Lite Review: Stylish companion, but what’s more?

March 8, 2020

Honor 8A Lite is the latest offering from the Huawei sub-brand in Nepal. As the name suggests, it is a cheaper alternative to Honor 8A which arrived in Nepal way back in 2019. Honor 8A Lite is an option for you if you are looking for a budget smartphone but considering the stiff competition in this particular market segment will it be wise to place your bet on this device? Let’s find out in our review.

Honor 8A Lite Specifications

Body: 6.15 x 2.89 x 0.31 inches; 150 gm
Display: 6.09-inches IPS LCD panel
Resolution: 720 x 1560 pixels; 19:5:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: MediaTek MT6765 Helio P35; 12nm Mobile Platform
CPU: Octa-core (4 x 2.3 GHz Cortex-A53 + 4 x 1.8Ghz Cortex-A53)
GPU: PowerVR GE8320
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32/64GB (expandable up to 512 via a microSD card)
Software & UI: Android 9 (Pie) with EMUI 9 on top
Rear Camera:
– 13 MP, f/1.8 primary shooter
– Single LED flash
Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.0 aperture
Security: Face-unlock
Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, Wireless FM Radio
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), MicroSD card, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/Beidou, MicroUSB 2.0
Battery: 3020 mAh
Colors: Black, Blue, Gold, Red

Design and Build

Design is one of the strongest points of the Honor 8A Lite. The first few glimpses can trick you into believing it is more premium than it actually is. The device is completely made up of plastic but it is sturdy and given its price we can’t really argue about it. Honor has managed to make the device light even though it accommodates a heavy battery. Thanks to its curved side, the phone provides a decent grip and is easy to handle. The volume rocker and the power button are placed on the right also gives you a premium feel when you press them.

What really catches the eye is the rear panel of the device. The device comes with a dual-textured surface on the back. Honor has tried to make it look like glass finish by throwing in a reflective coating on an already glossy panel. Though the device is available in four different colors, the design really shines in the Blue variant which is the one I used. From the back, it might just be the best-looking device in its price range; however, it is quite prone to smudges and fingerprint and you would want to buy a clear case to keep it shining.

Display

Honor 8A Lite comes with a 6.09-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels. It features a dew-drop notch on the top to house the front camera. The bezel on the chin is relatively bigger than on the other three sides. I guess they had to do so to house the dual grill speaker on the bottom. Instead of leaving it as it is, Honor has added a letter branding on the bottom bezel which in my opinion is better than leaving a plain broad bezel.

The display may not look good in paper but it does the work just fine. The visual contents seem a little warm when viewed in this device. You might also face problems using the phone outdoors and you will have to wait sometime getting used to automatic brightness as it is definitely not the fastest. And a screen protector is a must-have because in my time with my device, I found the screen more scratch-prone than I had anticipated.

Camera

Most of the phones these days come with a dual-camera setup even in the budget segment, however, Honor has decided to go with a single 13MP camera setup on Honor 8A Lite. The decision sounds weird as the Honor 7A had a dual-camera setup. But Honor has bumped the camera from 8MP to 13MP and the camera in Honor 8A comes with a larger aperture of f/1.8.

Let’s start with the native camera app. The camera app in the 8A Lite is basic at best. There is not much to toggle with. The modes are limited; you get three of them – HDR, Panorama and Pro. And you cant control much with the setting as well.

Rear Camera

I have mixed feelings with the performance of a single camera. It is not the case that it can’t perform but most of the time it doesn’t. So you might say the camera in the 8A Lite is a little inconsistent. Under proper lighting, the photos come out decent. Processing time is also not uniform. Sometimes you will be prompted to wait for the app to finish sharpening the image and if you aren’t steady you will end up messing up the photo. The focus is quite good and I enjoyed taking macro shots using the device.

Rear Camera sample

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Under poorly lit conditions, images tend to have a bluish tint to them and you don’t need the night to start to notice it. At night, it gets even worse – the photos come out grainy and blurry. At such conditions, you would wish the phone had a dedicated night mode. Turning on HDR mode will help a little but it isn’t going to heroically save your photos.

Low Light Sample

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Selfie Camera

There is an 8MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture on the front for selfies. The image from the front camera looks grainy and washed out.

Here are some sample images from the selfie camera.

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Performance and Software

Honor 8A Lite comes with MediaTek’s Helio P35 processor. The chipset comes with four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.3Ghz and four Cortex A-53 cores clocked at 1.8Ghz. PowerVR GE8320 takes care of the graphics. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. On the software side, you get EMUI 9.1.0 on top of Android 9. In my time with the device, it performed well. It was my first experience with EMUI and I’m glad I didn’t feel out of place. The UI is quite snappy and it comes with all the features which I look in a UI. I didn’t notice any lag during normal usage. Multi-tasking is fine as well.

Gaming isn’t that fun in the Honor 8A and 8A Lite. Games like Clash Royale and Injustice 2 run well without any lag. You can play PUBG under the low setting. It is playable even with the occasional lags. The dual grill speaker does add to the gaming experience, however, I won’t recommend it to you if you are into gaming.

Battery

Honor 8A Lite comes with a 3,020mAh battery which provides a decent backup. On normal usage, the phone lasts well over a day. The standby is also great. However, if you plan to play games for longer sessions, you will need to recharge the device before the end of the day. The phone also charges quite fast. It went from 0 to 100% in around two hours and the notification light acts as a battery indicator during the charging process which is quite helpful.

Others

Honor 8A doesn’t come with a fingerprint sensor but with the face unlock feature I don’t think you will miss it that much. For the price, the face unlock performs phenomenally fast. Using the slide to unlock feature alongside the face unlock, I actually tricked my friends into believing that I had no secure lock in the device. And the best part is you can use it to lock your apps too. But I must admit – the accuracy decreases once it starts getting dark. The phone actually comes with an LED light which is always a good thing. To use it you need to activate pulse notification under the setting. At the bottom of the device, there is a dual grill speaker which is pretty loud. The sound is so good that I actually rested my earphones more often than I usually do.

Verdict

Honor 8A is not the best performer in its price range but it is sufficient for normal usage. The battery backup is great too – if you don’t plan to game for hours using the phone, the juice will get you through the day. The camera isn’t that great but other than that it is a decent multimedia option.