Honor X9b Review: A Balanced Blend of Style and Substance

Honor is back with another mid-ranger, the Honor X9b, priced at Rs. 25,999 in India. Honor says this is its most durable phone yet, and the company has gone to great lengths promoting the "ultra-bounce anti-drop design" on the X9b. Honor even ran a campaign suggesting that this phone doesn't require tempered glass protection because the screen is so durable.

Now, I'm not saying that the display won't be able to withstand cracks, but I wouldn’t advise being overconfident. A wise man once tweeted, “Glass is Glass—and glass breaks”. What’s most surprising is that the phone itself comes with a pre-applied screen protector out of the box. What does that say for Honor’s confidence in its own promises?

Aside from this, the Honor X9b looks like an excellent phone for all intents and purposes, judging by its specs on paper. But does it have what it takes to stand out in the fierce mid-range segment? Stick around as I put the Honor X9b through its paces to find out.

Design and Display

The Honor X9b looks really premium with its curved-edge screen and circular camera module on the rear panel, which is inspired by a luxury watch. Golden accents around the module make this phone look like a shining piece of jewellery. The Midnight Black option has a sleek matte finish, while the Sunrise Orange version has a vegan leather back that looks equally appealing.

The X9b is quite thin and light at 8mm and 185 grams, respectively, which makes it easy for one-handed use. It doesn’t feel bulky even with the case attached.

Honor says that the X9b has shock-absorbing cushioning technology and 360-degree anti-drop protection, leading it to receive a 5-star rating in overall drop resistance from Switzerland's SGS.

While the display should remain intact after being dropped, the chassis of this phone is plastic so is susceptible to dents and scratches.

The 6.78-inch curved-edge AMOLED display has a 1.5K resolution and a buttery smooth 120Hz peak refresh rate. Whether binge-watching your favourite shows or playing mobile games, this display delivers crisp, vibrant visuals.

Performance and Battery Life

Under the hood, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip powering this phone keeps things zipping along smoothly for all your tasks and games. Benchmark results are also positive, indicating that this phone offers well-rounded performance in daily use.

Thanks to the generous 8GB of RAM, multitasking is a breeze, while the 256GB storage provides ample room for apps, photos and videos. There are no other variants with different specifications. Gaming was smooth and lag-free, even with demanding titles like Call of Duty: Mobile, BGMI and others.

The Honor X9b runs on Android 13-based MagicOS 7.2, which has a smooth and vibrant interface. It offers customisable themes but  some bloatware apps are also preloaded.

The real star of the show is the massive 5,800mAh battery. It can easily last three days on a single charge with casual usage and almost two days with heavy use.

However, charging this phone is relatively slow. It supports 35W charging and takes over two hours to charge fully.  You do not get a charger in the box, but interestingly Honor announced that it would bundle a separate 30W charger with this phone as an introductory offer, and that still seems to be applicable..

Cameras

The Honor X9b packs a triple camera setup on the back, headlined by a 108-megapixel  primary sensor.

Photos taken with the primary camera are packed with detail, especially in bright light. The portrait mode takes good-looking pictures with a background blur effect.

(Night Mode)

In low light, photos still have good colours but there’s also a lot of noise. Video can be recorded at up to4K at 30fps, and it is clear in well-lit conditions. Video shot using the ultrawide camera lack sharpness.

There’s 3X digital zoom which is practically useless for video unless you keep the phone stable, since the primary camera lacks optical stabilisation. The 5-megapixel ultrawide camera and 2-megapixel macro camera leave a lot to be desired, reminding us that not all cameras are created equal.

Verdict

The Honor X9b is a very competitive option in the mid-range market. It's got the looks, prioritises durability, delivers on battery life, and offers a great viewing experience.

If you're in the market for a budget-friendly smartphone that may not be the best performer or has the most versatile camera setup but offers a great viewing screen and a long battery life, the Honor X9b can be your pick. 

However, if you want something that checks all the right boxes and then some, take a look at the Redmi Note 13 Pro, which costs the same, has Gorilla Glass Victus protection, an IP54 rating, a 10-bit Dolby Vision AMOLED display, offers better performance with Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, stereo speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack, and faster charging. Plus, you get the charging adapter in the box.