Honor X9a 5G Review; Who Says Curved Screens Are The Most Fragile?

Honor X9a 5G Review; Who Says Curved Screens Are The Most Fragile?

INTRODUCTION:

If you're a previous owner of a smartphone that has a curved screen, you most probably held it in your hands like it's the most fragile thing in the world. Smartphones with curved displays are commonly more challenging to grip than those with flat screens, as their edges are thinner. Plus, arched screens also cost more repair fees.

Honor X9a 5G Review; Who Says Curved Screens Are The Most Fragile?

So when HONOR released the Honor X9a 5G – a slim and sleek smartphone with a curved screen that the brand claim is highly durable and probably the toughest display they have yet– people turned their heads.

At this season, when a lot of tech consumers are seemingly enticed to hop on the bandwagon of devices that fold and flip, is the Honor X9a 5G, in all of its curved display glory, worthy of a purchase? Here's what we think.


DISPLAY and DESIGN:

Forget about saving the best for last. For this review, we're highlighting first the strongest suit of the Honor X9a 5G – figuratively and literally – its display.

The Honor X9a 5G flaunts an ultra-tough OLED curved display at 6.67 inches with a 1080 x 2400 resolution. Its sexy curve sits at 45 degrees. According to Honor, this smartphone can showcase 1.07 billion colors that stay visible outdoors, as the Honor X9a 5G has an 800 nits full-screen brightness. Moreover, its display supports a 120Hz refresh rate for a smooth and seamless scrolling experience.

Premium OLED Curved Display

In short, the Honor X9a 5G has an immersive, beautiful display – the kind that will definitely let you enjoy binge-watching videos at the highest quality possible. And on top of that, its screen is strong.

Planted on the Honor X9a 5G is a 'super reinforced glass' that's only 0.65mm thin. It survived a series of rigorous durability tests by the brand, including a marble drop test, random roll test, squeeze test, and a steel ball impact test. And all of these aren't baseless claims. We also tried dropping the Honor X9a 5G multiple times – from a dining table, a high chair, a top bunk bed, and a cabinet – and not even a single short scratch was found on the screen or anywhere on the body of the Honor X9a 5G. Its screen-to-body ratio is 93%, giving you that all-screen treat, save from a prominent punch hole on the middle top of the screen for the device's front camera. There's also an in-display fingerprint sensor for fast and secure unlocking of the device.

Power Button and Volume Keys

What's also good about the Honor X9a 5G is that it has a thin profile. It's easy on the hands and also effortless to hold even with one hand. The device looks premium on all its sides and corners – with its buttons placed neatly and strategically. Its volume rocker and power button are on the right cheek of the Honor X9a 5G.

Loudspeaker, USB-C, Microphone, and Card Tray

At the bottom is where you'll find its single-grill speaker, alongside its USB-C port, secondary microphone, and its dual SIM card tray.

Matrix Star Ring Design

On its back panel is an eye-catching and unique round camera module that houses its three sensors and an LED flash, which HONOR proudly calls as Matrix Star Ring Design.

Titanium Silver

The Honor X9a 5G is available in Titanium Silver, Emerald Green, and Midnight Black. The review unit that we got is Titanium Silver, which has a pretty pastel gradient detail. The Honor X9a 5G rear cover comes in a matte finish that blocks unwanted smudges and fingerprints. Its package also comes with a free clear silicone case, which is advisable to be used to add another layer of protection to the device.

Retail Package

Aside from the case and the unit itself, the retail package comes with the 40W charger, USB-C cable, ejector pin, and paper documents.

Also Read: HONOR's Most Affordable Phone - HONOR X6 Unveils in PH for Only Php7,490


PERFORMANCE:

What's the use of a smartphone that's heavy on aesthetics but lacking in internals? Luckily, this is not an issue with the Honor X9a 5G. Underneath this beauty is a Snapdragon 695 SoC that brings benefits like 5G support, 15% more efficient than its predecessor chip, fast battery charging, stutterless gaming, and brighter photos. It is also quite an upgrade compared to last year's Honor X9, which only runs on Qualcomm SD680 4G chipset. And as the name implies, it has 5G connectivity, making mobile internet faster than its predecessor.

This is further improved by a combined 13GB of RAM (8GB native RAM + 5GB more via Honor's RAM Turbo feature) and 256GB storage. With all of these at play, you can expect an overall fluid experience – from multitasking to gaming to binge-watching. As we have experienced playing popular games like Mobile Legend, Genshin Impact, and PUBG, there was little to no stutter along the gameplay. The same is true when opening multiple apps; going back and forth on them is smooth with no delay at all.

Out of the box, the Honor X9a 5G runs on MagicUI 6.1 based on Android 12. MagicUI 6.1 was announced in early 2022, and so far, it's one of the neatest user interfaces we've seen, albeit some of its icons are too similar to that of iOS. You can put useful widgets on the home screen. Plus, this UI also supports dual screens and floating windows for that added multitasking ease.

For reference, here are the Honor X9a 5G benchmark results.

• Antutu - 402,422
• Geekbench Single-Core - 667
• Geekbench Multi-Core - 1,896
• Geekbench Compute - 1,179
• PC Mark Work Performance 3.0 - 10,103
• PC Mark Work Storage 2.0 - 16,087
• 3D Mark Wild Life - 1,201
• 3D Mark Wild Life Stress Test - 1,200
• 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme - 360
• 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test - 361
• 3D Mark Sling Shot - 4,128
• 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme - 2,924

CAMERA:

As mentioned earlier, the Honor X9a 5G sensors are arranged in a big circular module – veering away from the conventional positioning of cameras found on most smartphones today. Its triple rear camera setup consists of a 64MP Ultra-clear Camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 5MP Wide Angle Camera with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 2MP Macro Camera with an f/2.4 aperture. For selfies, there's a 16-megapixel front camera with an f/2.45 aperture. For some reason, the wide-angle resolution is only 5MP, slightly lower than the 8MP found in the X9. Moreover, the fourth module, the 2MP depth, in the X9 is nowhere to be found in the X9a 5G.

64MP Triple Camera

By default, the Honor X9a 5G shoots images at 24-megapixel, but there's an option to level it up at a hi-res 64-megapixel image resolution. Its camera modes are pretty standard – there's Pro Mode, Portrait, Night, HDR, Super macro, Panorama, and Time-Lapse, to name a few. For videos, it can record up to 1080 x 1920 pixels.

The Honor X9a 5G shines in the imaging department in places with ideal lighting. Photos carry just the right amount of detail sharpness and color vividness, albeit in a less saturated way. At night, you can definitely see how its Snapdragon 695 chip works as night photography appears with lesser noise and brighter subjects, just don't forget to turn AI on or, better yet, use night mode. Nonetheless, you can trust the Honor X9a 5G to give you post-worthy pictures that no longer need further edits.

Taking selfies is also quite enjoyable, especially in portrait mode, wherein the background is appropriately blurred without affecting the subject. Beauty mode is fun, too, and allows users to adjust from level 1 to 10, depending on your liking.

In terms of video capability, we can say that quality is indeed great, and stability is pretty nice, thanks to its Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS). Sadly, it can only capture at FHD, not 2K or 4K option. But that's too much to ask. By the way, it is also capable of shooting "multi-video," wherein it can record with both the front and back cameras or two back cameras. Not only that but there are also templates you can use to easily edit the output before sharing it with friends and family.

Camera Samples:

Playground

Playground, Wide

Playground, 2x Zoom

Night, Playground

Night, Playground, 2x Zoom

Playground, Night Mode

Playground, Night Mode, 2x Zoom

Buildings

Buildings, Wide

Buildings, 2x Zoom

Night, Buildings

Night, Buildings, 2x Zoom

Buildings, Night Mode

Buildings, Night Mode, 2x Zoom

Selfie

Selfie Portrait

Selfie Portrait with Bokeh

Night, Selfie

Night, Selfie Portrait

Night, Selfie Portrait with Bokeh

Flower, Normal

Flower, Macro

See Also: HONOR's First Tablet - HONOR Pad 8 Arrives in PH for Only Php17,990


BATTERY LIFE:

Speaking of multitasking, this is something you can do all day on the Honor X9a 5G with its massive 5100mAh battery. With moderate use, the smartphone was able to last us two days with a little bit of juice left – true to what Honor had advertised. Based on our test, recharging the battery back to 100% from totally drained (0%) only needs an hour and 24 minutes with the 40W Honor SuperCharge support. Meanwhile, charging the phone for 1 hour filled up about 77% of its power. In comparison, it is slightly faster than phones with 33W charging capability, albeit it is slower when compared to HONOR X9, which has 66W support.


FINAL WORDS:

Honor X9a 5G

Strength and beauty are always a deadly combination – and the Honor X9a 5G is solid proof of this. Honor is off to a good start for 2023 with this smartphone's launch in the local market.

The Honor X9a 5G sells for P18,990, available in stores and online channels starting January 20.

How much is the Honor X9a 5G price in the Philippines?

• The Honor X9a 5G price in the Philippines is Php16,990.
• Get yours soon via Lazada at https://bit.ly/honorphstore or Shopee at https://bit.ly/honorstoreph.

When will be the Honor X9a 5G available in the Philippines?

• The Honor X9a 5G will be available in the Philippines this coming January 19.

Honor X9a 5G Specs Philippines:

• Dual SIM, dual standby, supports 5G connectivity
• 6.67-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) AMOLED Curved Display, 120Hz refresh rate
• Dimensions: 161.6mm x 73.9mm x 7.9mm
• Weight: 175 grams
• Magic UI 6.1 based on Android 12
• Octa-core (2x2.2GHz Cortex-A78 + 6x1.8GHz Cortex-A55) CPU, Adreno 619 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chipset
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB storage, non-expandable
• 64MP f/1.8 PDAF main + 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide + 2MP f/2.4 macro triple rear cameras, 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 16MP f/2.5 front camera, 1080p video recording at 30fps
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
• Bluetooth v5.1
• NFC
• IR
• USB 2.0 Type-C with OTG function
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo
• Multimedia Player
• Sensors: fingerprint (optical, under display), light, proximity, accelerometer, gyroscope
• Battery: 5,100mAh non-removable lithium-ion polymer, supports 40W fast wired charging
• Colors: Emerald Green, Titanium Silver
• Price: Php16,990