Honor 90 Review: Stylish Comeback

The Honor 90 marks the company's return to the Indian smartphone market after forgoing its Huawei. In 2020 Huawei sold it to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, a company controlled by the Chinese government. In India, Honor Tech, led by former Realme CEO Madhav Sheth, has partnered with PSAV Global to bring Honor phones, tablets, wearables and more.

After fruitful launches in Europe Honor has decided to return to India which is one of the largest smartphone markets in the world. The Honor 90 boasts a powerful combination of hardware and software with a 200MP primary camera, 1.5K Curved AMOLED display and MagicOS 7.1 based on Android 13. Starting at ₹31,999 it is playing the “value for money” card but has it succeeded? That's what we'll try and find out in this Honor 90 review.

Honor 90 Review: Design and Build 

The Honor 90 is an elegantly designed smartphone with a sleek and stylish design. It has dimensions of 161.9 x 74.1 x 7.8 mm and a weight of 183g. The Honor 90 features a glass back and front, giving it a premium and luxurious feel, while the plastic frame, although not as premium as metal or glass, keeps the device lightweight. The absence of an IP water-resistance rating may concern some users, which is a drawback for a device of this calibre. It is by far the easiest to hold phone in its segment. 

Honor 90 Review: Display 

The Honor 90's 3D curved display is a standout feature that delivers an immersive viewing experience. It sports a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and a claimed peak brightness of 1600 nits. This display offers vibrant colours, excellent contrast, and smooth scrolling, making it ideal for multimedia consumption and gaming. The HDR10+ support provides life-like visuals, and a 90.8% screen-to-body ratio maximizes the display real estate.

Watching videos and playing games look fantastic on the Honor 90's display. Colours pop thanks to the 1 billion colour depth, while blacks are inky deep thanks to AMOLED technology. 

In our brightness test, the Honor 90's display registered 880 nits of brightness in auto mode and 760 nits in manual mode. 

The high refresh rate keeps everything smooth and responsive. The display is also TUV Rheinland certified for a flicker-free experience with 3840Hz PWM Dimming. Overall, it's one of the best displays you'll find in this price range.

Honor 90 Review: Performance 

Under the hood, the Honor 90 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition chipset, fabricated on the 4nm process. It's essentially the same chipset as the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, with a 0.1GHz faster clock speed on the prime Cortex-A710 core. 

This chipset is paired with up to 12GB of RAM and storage options ranging from 256 GB to 512 GB. The octa-core CPU ensures a snappy and responsive user experience backed by the Android 13-based MagicOS 7.1. The Adreno 644 GPU easily handles graphics, providing excellent gaming performance and smooth multitasking. 

This is further supported by the synthetic benchmark performance, where it scored 703509 points on AnTuTu. In the CPU Throttling Test, the Honor 90 ran up to 87% of its full potential, highlighting its robust performance qualities.

The Honor 90 delivers speedy app loading times and reliable everyday performance, though more demanding games like Genshin Impact may push it to its limits. 

MagicOS, based on Android 13, brings a clean, elegant software experience with useful customization options but has its fair share of bloatware. It's also worth noting that the device offers only two years of software updates, which may be a drawback for those looking for long-term software support.

The Honor 90 is well-equipped in terms of connectivity, featuring 5G support, eSIM compatibility, dual SIM card slots, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX HD support, NFC for contactless payments, and a fingerprint reader under the display for easy and secure unlocking. However, it lacks stereo speakers, which is a bummer for those who enjoy high-quality audio output.

Honor 90 Review: Camera 

The Honor 90's camera system is quite powerful, featuring a 200-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.9 aperture, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. 

Camera performance is a mixed bag. In good lighting, the 200-megapixel primary camera captures highly detailed, sharp images with accurate exposure. Its autofocus capabilities ensure that most shots are well-focused. 

The ultrawide and depth sensors also perform well for landscape and portrait shots. However, low light camera performance disappoints with loss of detail, noise, and photo artefacts. In well-lit conditions, the camera performance is commendable, with excellent detail and dynamic range.

The 50-megapixel selfie camera takes social-ready shots but can also struggle in dim conditions. It supports features like HDR for good-looking self-portraits. Both front and back cameras can record in 4K at 30fps but lack OIS.

The Honor 90 offers many video recording options, including AI Video, Filters and more. Its primary camera makes good 4K videos with sharp details and vibrant colours. The post-processing ensures that the colours are slightly boosted but don’t look too far from natural. Otherwise, this phone is capable of getting you some good-looking frames that can instantly be made into Instagram reels and more.

Honor 90 Review: Battery and Charging 

The device houses a 5000mAh battery, which offers long-lasting battery life. The 66W wired charging support is impressive and allows for quick top-ups when needed. Additionally, the device supports 5W reverse wired charging, which can be handy for charging other devices in a pinch.

The 5000mAh battery easily lasts over a day of use, with the 66W wired charging delivering a full charge in around 57 minutes.

Verdict

The Honor 90 offers a premium design, an outstanding display, and a versatile camera system. It caters to users who prioritize aesthetics and display quality. However, it falls short in terms of certain aspects-- software support and audio. It's a solid choice for those who appreciate style. Mind you, this is not a case of style over substance it but may not be the best for those looking for a flagship experience.

The Honor 90 brings dependable performance to the mid-range category and stands out as a competitively priced option for those seeking a well-rounded experience on a budget.