2.11.2014

I really like the design of the Huawei (still don't know how to pronounce this name!) Honor 6, which is probably partly due to the design very strongly resembling the Apple iPhone. Of course, once you take a closer look, you can clearly see that it isn't an iPhone, but it does have that same sleek and shiny appearance that we've come to know from that very expensive mobile phone brand.When comparing the dimensions of the Honor 6 to my current phone (a Nokia Lumia 920), it is broadly the same size, with the only difference being that the former is thinner and slightly longer. However, the styling (and possibly the white colour) in my opinion makes it seem significantly bigger when they are set some distance apart.In my opinion, this doesn't really concern me as what ultimately matters is how easy it is to hold and use.The Honor 6 does fit naturally in the hand and despite all the surfaces being highly polished, it doesn't feel insecure, like it is going to suddenly slip out of your hand. The Honor 6 is also much lighter than the Lumia 920 however the latter was always known for being a heavy phone.The accessories that come with the Honor 6 are similar to any other smartphone I've used in recent years, namely, a set of in-ear headphones, a USB cable and a mains plug. However, whilst I don't know if this is because I have been asked to review a pre-release version, the mains plug is only suitable for European sockets i.e. it is a 2 pin affair. Therefore, I will have to resort to either charging my phone via the USB cable connected to my computer, or invest in a UK to EU travel adaptor (technically, a shaving plug would do the trick). Obviously this will be something to watch out for once the phone goes on general sale, but it shouldn't cause too much of an issue in my opinion. A protector for the front and back surfaces of the Honor 6 has also been included in the package.As I've mentioned, I previously been used to my Nokia Lumia 920 and thus the Windows Phone operating system and so it did take me a little while to get used to Android. However, the layout will become more familiar to me with extended use and as this is supposed to be a review of the phone itself, rather than the operating system, I'm not going to dwell on the functionality of Android, other than to say that the very high specification of the processor and available RAM means that it runs very smoothly. Switching between home screens and apps is instantaneous, certainly no perceptible time lag whatsoever.As stated in the product description, the Honor 6 has a full HD display and I can confirm that the resolution and colour rendering is superb. Even in bright light (of which there isn't a lot of at the moment), the glare isn't significant enough to render the screen unreadable. The cameras also take very reasonable pictures, even in low levels of light, however I wouldn't want to rely on it on a very important occasion. Having said that, I haven't come across a mobile phone camera yet that is as good as a high end digital compact camera and of course, this is perfectly understandable.The big let down with many smartphones is battery life, with some being unable to provide enough power to last an entire day. Whilst my tests have not been scientific in nature, my experience with this phone is that the battery life is actually rather good. In my opinion, tasks such as listening to music, installing updates etc would be fairly battery intensive, however the battery counter only lost around 5% in over an hour. My normal usage of a smartphone wouldn't be that intensive and so I can usually get a couple of days out of mine, however even with intensive use, it seems perfectly plausible that the battery in this should at least last a full day.After having trialled the Honor 6, I still can't believe that the price point is only £250. Or maybe I should rephrase that as, with this phone being £250, it just goes to show what a rip-off other smartphone manufacturers are, as in my opinion, this phone does very little less than any of the others on the market. In which case, my conclusion can only be that unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket, why would you not purchase the Honor 6 instead of any other more expensive Android device? I know people can get attached to existing brands and operating systems (I personally prefer the Windows Phone operating system) but the value for money to be hand would definitely make the change worthwhile.

29.10.2014

I have never used a Huawei phone before, having been wary of stepping away from the better known brands. My most recent phones have been Sony and I've been very pleased with them. However, when given the opportunity to try out a model of phone that's brand new to the UK market, I couldn't pass up the chance.My Huawei Honor 6 arrived in an attractive aqua coloured box and scored well in the packaging presentation stakes. It came with a 2-pin plug which is unfortunately unsuitable for UK plug sockets but also thankfully came with a USB cable that I can use for charging though I imagine that charging via AC would probably be faster than USB. Also in the box was a set of earbuds so all in all not too bad accessory-wise.As there was pretty good charge in the battery upon arrival, I was able to get straight down to setting up the phone and getting to grips with the main features.The phone looks very sleek and quite similar in design to a more upmarket brand (which I am unfortunately not rich enough to own ). It has nicely rounded corners and feels light but sturdy enough in the hand. Buttons are few and far between as there is only the power button and volume buttons on the right hand side. This adds to the uncluttered design though and the buttons are neat, responding well to light touches and presses. Just below these buttons is a very discreet hidden slot for the sim card and memory card which doesn't detract from the smooth lines of the silver band that runs from the left hand side, across the top and down the right hand side of the phone. The headphone socket is sited at the top of the phone and the charger socket at the base.The Honor 6 has a 5" IPS LCD display with a Full HD resolution and a pixel density of 441ppi. To my eyes, it looks super and has great brightness and clarity. The touchscreen responds well and quickly and has multi-touch capability (up to 10 fingers). Not only does it have a lovely screen, it also has a pretty nifty main camera. You get a 13mp camera to the rear which has a dual LED flash. The camera takes decent pictures, with nice colour and clarity and a quick response time. The camera to the front is 5mp and has a wide angle lens so it's a very decent front facing camera spec. Not only do you get good visuals - you get good sound too! The phone has DTS and quality is overall very good. Storage on mine is impressive enough at 16GB but is further expandable by using up to 64GB memory card (a lot of devices offer max support for 32GB cards).Now to get under the `hood' of the phone and look at processor speed. The Honor 6 boasts an impressive octa-core chip. It has four 1.7 A15 cores and four 1.3DHz A7 processors which pack a lot of punch. It is very impressive and offers great speed and efficiency. Combined with 3GB RAM, the Honor 6 is smooth and very responsive to anything I've managed to throw at it so far. Huawei have also thought about battery life and the Honor 6 offers a 3100mAh battery which should keep you running for over 2 days. There is also the option of an Ultra battery saving mode for when your battery is dying and you need to preserve it for basic functions like calls and messaging only. There are other good power saving options available too and the phone will estimate how much time you have left available to you on current charge. The OS is Android Kit Kat so is nice and up-to-date.I have been very impressed so far with the Honor 6 and all it has to offer. It is a lightweight, attractive phone which packs a lot of punch. It is crammed with great features and some surprisingly advanced tech. I am very pleased with the phone and would recommend if you are looking for something powerful, slick, feature-packed and smooth running.

18.5.2015

I was looking to buy a top end Android phone under 300 pounds. After a bit of research I have found the following phones are best value for money.1) Oneplus one-> I feel this is the best phone in the market at this moment but the screen is too big for me. Also this phone doesn't support 4G services offered by O2 and Vodafone (LTE band 20), which is deal-breaker for me (I have got fed up with EE and 3)2) Xiaomi Mi4 -> This is a great phone and almost similar to Honor 6. I don't think this phone supports any of UK LTE brands.3) Honor 6 Plus -> Dual SIM, better camera than Honor 6 but doesn't support band 20 LTE and 5.5 screen is big for me.4) Honor 6 Dual SIM -> This is my favourite,but doesn't support band 20 LTE.5) Honor 6 UK Version -> This is the only phone in my list that supports O2 and Vodafone's 4GAbout Honor 6:This is an incredible phone under 300. I think Huawei trying to mimic IPhone. The user interface feels like using IPhone on Android. Especially I like Spotlight option (Pulling down on the screen to search for apps). There are lot of positives about this phone to discuss. I didn't find anything new other than other reviewers mentioned already. Here are the few plus points any way.Pros: Amazing Screen, 3 GB RAM, Octa-Core processor, 3100mAh battery, Camera, Expandable storage, LTE band 20 support, Design and light weightCons: I have noticed low audio while making calls through head phones. This really frustrating for me as I prefer to use headphones to make most of my phone calls. I have tried with different headsets and also tried increase with at least 10 different kind of third party apps but no luck. The final is option might be tweaking the phone's hardware settings through engineering mode (test mode), but can't really get there without rooting the device and loosing warranty. Huawei customer supports says it's an issue with only my device but seen this issue has been reported many other places. I have heard similar audio issues with other Huawei models as well. I can use Bluetooth headset as alternative but I don't want to use it due to health reasons. The camera is really good on bright and sunny day light conditions but not impressive on low light. My IPhone 5 camera out performs HONOR 6 in all conditions. The camera made by Sony, I think it is the problem could be with the software not hardware. I don't like the old school SIM/Micro SD card slots. The phone doesn't tell you which way the cards needs to inserted. These slots can be easily damaged if we are not carefull enough. I have bought UK version which can support only one SIM card. I really want to get the dual SIM version of this phone but it doesn't support band 20 LTE, which is great disappointment for me. The screen is not protected means not a gorilla glass or similar. We may need consider buying Tempered-GLASS-Screen-Protector and decent case. Well these issues may not bother many. I can't live with this poor audio quality and there is no word from Huawei to fix the issue. I am considering LG G3.

4.12.2014

Huawei have been around a while now, and are un upper-mid range brand from China. My initial thoughts of this phone were that with would be a cheap feeling and average performing handset, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The design of the phone is like a bigger iPhone 4s, while it’s a large footprint the phone is very slim and quite lightweight. I won’t pretend it feels in the same build quality league as top tier handsets from HTC, Apple and Samsung but it feels far from cheap. The size of the phone will be a personal preference but I find it on the upper limit of ‘one handed’ use.The display is one of the phones highlights. Lovely and bright, with great contrast and saturation.The full HD 1080p display gives a 440PPI (pixels per inch) which is better than the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5! Everything looks amazingly sharp and detailed on the screen. Text and websites look especially impressive along with full HD video and detailed photos all look amazingly good and lifelike.The 3GB of RAM and Octacore processor mean the phone is fast, very fast. It never lags or stutters, just zips through everything you through at it will real smoothness and speed. Boot times are quick too. The gaming performance, even with the more demanding games from the Google Play store all play well with lovely graphics on the 1080p screen and not stuttering or struggling of any sort. The battery seems quite strong for a full hd phone, getting a full day with medium use was not a problem, obviously everyones ‘screen on’ time is different, but it doesn’t seem to be a weak battery at all.The camera is 13 megapixel and works really well. It even seems pretty good in low light which a lot of phone cameras seem to struggle with. Photos are sharp and quite accurate looking. The screen helps making even some of your average shots look ok and full of detail.No so far it sound like the perfect phone, especially for £250 sim free, that’s less than half the price of some of the flagship phones from the big manufacturers. But there are a couple of downsides, whether they are enough to put you off purchasing will be up to you. Firstly the loudspeaker, or not so loudspeaker. It’s placed on the back of the phone, so if it’s sat on it’s back the sounds is compromised. Also it’s quite quiet and tinny sounding, I’m not sure if it’s a hardware thing or something they can improve via software updates. The other ‘downside’ is the operating system. While it’s running android KitKat 4.4.2 it is heavily skinned with Huawei’s own ‘version’ of android. If you’re used to vanilla Android then this looks and works quite differently. I’m not saying its bad, just different.So in summary, I think the Honor 6 is a great phone at a great price. You get a market leading display, a great camera and very fast performance all for £250 sim-free and unlocked. I don’t think the poor speaker and skinned operating system would put me off given all the benefits of the phone.

2.11.2014

This is a great phone from Huawei, which can really compete with the other main smartphones in the market – most of which are considerably more expensive.Let me give a quick run through of what are the good and bad points about this phone:THE GOOD:- Performance: The phone performs very well, is very responsive and I have not had any problems as would be expected from the 3gb ram and the CPU that are inside.- Design/Size: The phone looks very sleek and like one of the older generation iPhones. It looks and feels like a premium product. It has a 5 inch screen which may be too large for some peoples likings however I have a feeling that this is the kind of size that all phones are going.- Android:Those of you who have already used android in the past will have no problem adapting to this phone and the customisation from Huawei is actually quite nice (I usually don’t like it when other companies have done the same).- Battery: The battery life on this phone is great – with medium to heavy use I easily get a full day out of it (being at around 30% after using it from 7am-11pm). There is a built in power saving app which clearly shows which apps are using the battery and it helpfully asks you if you want to close an app that’s in the background and using lots of battery. There is also an ‘ultra-battery’ mode which leaves only call and messaging functions and promises 40-50 hours of battery.- Camera: The camera works well with pictures looking great.- Storage/MicroSD: The phone has internal storage of 16gb and a micro SD slot that allows cards up to 64gb. This is perfect as many of the other main smartphones on the market don’t offer microSD slots any more and this gives the potential for up to 80gb.- Speaker: Music sounds great.- Other stuff: There are a few quirky things about the phone that I like but I’m going to mention just one – it has a ‘Gloves Mode’ which does just as it says and I’ve tried and works great – will come in very handy during the winter when the weather becomes cold and the gloves come out!THE BAD:- No NFC and No dual SIM – please note that versions of this phone exist with these things but this one here does not! These are not things I need/miss so are not a major drawback for me.- Speaker-phone: In general the call quality is good but I have noticed that the speakerphone does not work great and is comparatively quiet.- Other stuff: In the box I did not receive a UK plug but only a 2 pin plug. I not sure if this was a mistake although it was not a major issue for me anyway as it is a standard USB connection and I had plenty of other plugs in the house.To sum things up this is a great phone that I have no problem recommending. My previous phone was a HTC One M7 and the Honor 6 completely trumps it. For £250 it is a bargain!

16.11.2014

I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace and, as I am coming to the end of my contract, have been looking around to decide what phone to get next so I was very pleased to get the chance to try out the Honor 6. I've now been using it for a few weeks to see how it measures up.My first thoughts were about the size of the phone, it does seem very large after my Samsung and initially I thought it was too big but it is actually very useful if you want to play games and is a great size for browsing the internet - I was able to use it for looking up lyrics at a choir event and was able to see them clearly enough to sing from them easily.The screen display is very clear and the colours appear very sharp - there are a number of themes for the displays and you are also able to download some extra ones.The two cameras are of a good standard - the front one is able to give a decent selfie and the rear one takes some great photos. I have tried both indoor and outdoor shots which I have been pleased with and I have played around with some of the settings - I really like the panorama setting. I was able to use the phone as a camera to take some pictures of Pudsey at a Children in Need event and email them quickly and easily, enabling them to be put up on our work intranet.It is great to use a phone with a decent sized memory, my Samsung could only manage a couple of apps before running out of space! I have downloaded a few games and some music apps and they all seem to run smoothly. The Gmail app is a great way to keep an eye on my emails and I have even downloaded an app to buy my bus tickets! Despite now having a load of apps on the phone I haven't had any problems with performance. I have also been pleased with the battery life, despite using the phone a lot it hasn't ran out as quickly as some of my friends phones.With the phone you get a pair of headphones which seem to be good quality, a power cable which unfortunately only has a 2 pin plug (luckily I have a few adaptors), a usb cable and a quick start guide. The guide really is only to get you started and after that you have to figure most things out for yourself but if you have had an android phone before this isn't too difficult.The one issue I have found with the phone is that it takes a micro sim card so I haven't been able to use the sim from my Samsung but I got hold of a pay as you go sim card to try out the phone. I have found that it works well both for calls and texts - the big screen makes typing texts so much easier! I am so pleased with this phone I am now looking to get my original sim card changed for a micro sim so I can use my contract on my Huawei. Really pleased with this phone.

3.12.2014

If you're simply looking for the biggest Android bang for your buck, this smartphone could be right for you. Chinese manufacturer Huawei has managed to squeeze an awful lot of hardware into the compact Honor 6 for the relatively low asking price, blowing most of the other competition out of the water. The question for me is what (if anything) are the downsides compared to my Samsung Galaxy S5, which is a much more expensive market leader?What I Like===========- The handset is very compact and lightweight, with a thin aspect ratio (a shallow body relative to the large screen size) so it's still easy to slip into your jeans or coat pocket.- Great battery life!

13.2.2015

Delivery took about a week from placing my order, this phone was purchased from an "Alternate Seller" as Amazon were sold out. As a result I received a Chinese version of the phone, however the phone had already been updated to run in English & works fine on my O2 4G contract.First impressions were good, the phone is very light, has a very iphoney look about it & doesnt feel cheapy or plasticy as some of the other online reviews have suggested. Once booted up whilst the phone had been updated to run in English there were still a number of menus and widgets in Chinese making setup slightly laboured, e.g. the theme lock screens, the keyboard etc...

2.11.2014

Having reviewed several Amazon Vine products recently that arrived without instructions, I cannot tell you how relieved I was to receive this in an attractive blue box with what looked like an instruction booklet inside. It turned out, however, that about the only thing this told me was how to insert my SIM card. My what? I was soon in the new land of phone shops signing a direct debit agreement while the assistant tried to get the card in. It turned out the instructions for insertion were already on the back of the phone but this did not stop him from putting it in the wrong way round...so much for experts. Then he said, 'You'll have to set up a Google account to get it going'

6.12.2014

I managed to get an ex display honor 6 from ebay for £195. I brought it to replace my old Xperia Z1. First impressions are good, the phone is lighter than the z1. It has a lovely crisp screen, plays video well and gets a good reception in my area, I haven't tried 4g reception just yet as I live outside of an area that receives this service.It picks up a gps lock fast, which hasn't always been my experience with Chinese manufactured phones. I wasn't overly keen on the Emui skin (version 2.3) it came installed with, but this was quickly remedied by changing some settings and installing a different launcher. However, I have been able to update to Emui version 3.0 (courtesy of XDA)

6.1.2015

This is an awesome phone for the price. I've already had a play and once I chopped out the cloud guff and installed my normal bits and pieces on it, it was great! Jumping from a dual core like my Huawei Ascend G330 to an octo-core like this one, especially with the capacious memory provision on top as well as a fantastic 5 inch 400+ppi screen was a thrill. OK, the single layer Emotion UI is a bit too much like Apple for my total liking but apart from that and the absence of a removable battery, this is certainly a big pleaser. It especially works out well when compared with the top end phones from the bigger players.Of course the big test will be how the phone handles throughout its life.

29.10.2014

It's stunning. That is simply the feeling I had when I opened the box and switched it on. The phone feels sleek, the display is gorgeous, it reacts smoothly and quickly. The front and back are gorilla glass, the sides (I think) alloy. It's thin and the build quality is high. It even comes with stick on screen protectors in the packaging. Mini sim goes in the side under a flap and there's a space for a micro SD card there as well. Up and running in about 10 mins as it wanted to download a ROM upgrade as soon as I switched it on.Comes with a Huawei interface on top of android 4.4.2. The interface adds amongst other things very smartly designed icons.

29.10.2014

I'm not terribly tech-savvy - although I did own a BlackBerry a million years ago when they first came out, I didn't use that many of the features on it so when it bit the dust I downgraded to a £5 Tesco phone, which has served me well ever since. I have been intrigued by smart phones (it would be SO much easier to be able to access my email at all times!), but put off by the price, with iPhones going for about £400, and contracts being £35 a month, which I just couldn't justify when my computer can access the internet just fine.I, personally, would not have bought a smart phone from an unknown brand, and especially one so cheap, as I would have been worried about it's functionality,

25.4.2015

This really is an excellent phone. I originally wanted to get the honor 4x but after a bit of reading I came across this. I have always been a fan of Android, owning a few Samsungs. Coming from a galaxy s4 (which has never faulted me) I was very nervous without seeing /feeling /playing with this phone. I was particularly interested in the one plus one, but after hearing it had issues with our 4g here in the UK decided to see what other options I had. The phone arrived from Amazon very swiftly. It reminded me of an iPhone, but under the white case was android. It's kind of best of both. Personally I don't like the way the ui looked so I use a launcher.

15.11.2014

The Huawei brand is new to me so I didn't know what to expect from this 4G capable phone. I thought it might be a cheap and nasty iPhone wannabe but was pleasantly surprised.In terms of design and appearance it is iPhone-esque in that it is white, slim and sleek with a nice large 5" screen. It is lightweight, and I found it to be well balanced when held on an open palm.The screen resolution is excellent and the screen touch function is responsive and fast.The battery - life is good even with relatively heavy use over the course of a day. Listening to music for example doesn't place too much strain on the battery's charge resource.The front camera is 5 megapix and the rear is 13 -so photo resolution is very good and the colour reproduction is excellent.

Honor 6 - Reviews

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