Huawei’s e-brand Honor has launched its second lot of devices – Honor 4C, Honor Bee and a powerbank. Here we take a close look at its mobile handset Honor 4C priced at Rs 8,999:

Design and colour: The Honor 4C feels more compact than any of its predecessors but is chunky. The back panel features the same texture finish that the Honor 4X comes with. The back panel has the camera with flash and the speaker mesh. The buttons on the front indicate that the handset is of Chinese origin. The device, which weighs about 162 gms, is 8.8mm thick (143.3×71.9×8.8mm) and comes in black, blue, gold, pink, and white colour options.

Hardware and performance: The handset features a Huawei 64-bit Kirin 620 octa-core processor which has been developed to compete with the Qualcomm 610 and most other mid-range processors in the market with the combination of a 2GB RAM. Hence users can expect a smooth performance during multi-tasking. The device comes with an 8GB internal memory and can be expanded to 32GB via a microSD storage unit.

Display, Camera & Sound: The device ships with a 5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) IPS display with a pixel density of 294 ppi that ensures a bright display for users to enjoy movies and games. The camera unit is where the phone wins over the competition. A 13-MP rear camera using Sony’s engine accompanied with a flashlight and auto-focus makes it a premium shooter. The rear camera has an aperture of 2.0 which makes the quality of pictures better. It also supports panorama, HDR, acoustic photographs and watermarking features. The front camera is 5-MP and is decent for video-calling.

Connectivity: The device supports two SIM cards and operates on the dual standby mode which means that the second SIM goes on standby while the user is using the first one and vice versa. It also supports 3G, Wi-fI, Bluetooth, GPS, gravity sensor, light sensor, distance sensor and an acceleration sensor.

Operating System and User Interface: The Honor 4C ships with EMUI 3.0, Honor’s own user interface, over the stock Android OS version 4.4.2 KitKat (upgradable to Android 5.0 Lollipop). It comes with a feature called ‘magazine unlock’ which lets the user enjoy a different screen each time he or she activates the screen. There is also an option of switching to Simple UI mode – which is significantly simplified and feature-cut. This Simple UI has an alternative layout to organise the phone to make it easier for the user.

Battery & Sound: The sound levels continue to remain much lower than competition in Honor phones. Although the phone packs a 2,550 mAH battery, the duration after a single charge cycle could have been better.

Verdict: The Honor 4C definitely is worth a shot as it poses serious competition in its range although the price could be a problem for the company or the user. Where the 4C wins is its 2GB RAM and unique, out of the ordinary camera features.