Huawei Honor U8860 – My first Android smart phone.

I have done some research before buying Huawei Honor mobile in the below 20K category. I’ll focus on how Huawei Honor stands apart from the crowd and after effects of buying Huawei Honor.

Factors which impacted my decision to buy Huawei Honor are as follows :

Single Core vs Dual Core. Huawei Honor is a single core processor. Why I choose HONOR over dual core processors mobile ?

• Android flavors Gingerbread and Froyo don’t properly support Multi-core processors. As I understood, proper multi-core support was only added in Honeycomb.
• There is no mention of support for Dual core or multicore processors in the official Android Gingerbread developer site [ Source : Android Gingerbread 2.3.x Developer Website ].
• As per the official Android Honeycomb developer site, Android OS started supporting dual core or multicore processors starting from Android 3.0 (HoneyComb). Android 3.0 is the first version of the platform designed to run on either single or multicore processor architectures [ Source: Android Developer Website ]
• Also see Wikipedia Honeycomb section which says “Support for multi-core processors feature added in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)”.
• Intel is now claiming that it has tested Android with dual-core processors using Android 4.0 ICS and determined that having dual-cores is of little benefit most of the time. Intel also claims that its testing showed the dual cores could be detrimental to performance. The conclusion according to Intel’s Mike Bell is that the Android thread scheduler isn’t ready for multi-core processors. [ Source: http://www.slashgear.com/intel-claims-having-a-second-core-with-android-is-a-bad-thing-11233096/ ].
• Most analysts or android experts say Dual core or multicore consumes more battery compared to single core processor. Dual-core chips, while fairly efficient, are still going to use more power under many circumstances. So poor battery life will be a major concern in Dual core or multicore android devices over single core android devices. Theoretically, dual-core architectures should allow you to squeeze more juice from your battery as the second core could be employed for a variety of tasks. Finally it all comes down to your final say on the matter, what’s your experience with dual-core Androids and battery life?

Based on these factors, I ignored Dual Core or Multicore options mainly due to average or poor battery life OR lack of dual core support added by Android Gingerbread OS. Finally, settled with Huawei Honor powered by fastest 1.4 Ghz single core processor.

Why I choose Honor over other single core processor mobiles ?

Huawei Honor is powered by 1.4 GHZ Scorpion single core processor (CPU), Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon S2 chipset, Adreno 205 GPU. Runs on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread OS. Most android smart phones below 20K price range uses 1 GHz single core processor. Few smart phones which uses 1.4 to 1.6 GHz single core processor costs more than 20K price tag. Based on my analysis, Huawei Honor is 40% faster than most android smart phones that uses 1 GHZ below 20K price range and the price is cheaper than its competitors w.r.t processing speed. Honor 1.4GHz phone is pretty fast for a price range below 20K. 

CAMERA : 8MP HD auto-focus camera with HDR and built-in LED-flash Plus 0.3 MP Front-facing VGA camera.

Most 8MP HD camera andorid phones cost above 20K price.

• Main or Rear camera : 8MP HD auto-focus camera with HDR and built-in LED flash
• Resolution : 1280×720 (720p HD) (30 fps)
• Front facing camera : 0.3 MP VGA secondary camera for video calling.
• You can switch effortlessly between the 8MP rear camera and the front-facing VGA camera.
• HDR can be turned ON or OFF.
• Store Location (GPS) can be turned ON or OFF
• Built-in LED flash can be set to AUTO, ON or OFF
• You can zoom upto 4X
• Exposure is generally set to Default mode. It has a range from -2 to +2.
• Also you can switch effortlessly between Photo and Video mode.

       Video specific features are as follows :

• Color Effect has 6 modes : None (Default), Mono, Sepia, Negative, Solarize, Posterize.
• White balance has 5 modes : Auto (Default), Incandescant, Daylight, Flurescent, Cloudy
• Video quality has 4 modes : High (30m) [Default], Low(30m), MMS, Youtube
• Built-in LED flash can be set to ON or OFF (Default)
• You can switch effortlessly between the 8MP rear camera and the front-facing VGA camera.

Sample Video : Captured using Huawei Honor

[jwplayer config=”myplayer” mediaid=”91″]   There are 2 models from Sony Ericsson (Experia Pro & Experia Ray ST18i) that has 8.1 MP HD camera costs below 20K with few additional camera features (like Smile detection, Self timer, etc) compared to Huawei Honor. I’m a great fan of SONY company and I own Sony Bravia LED TV and Hi-Fi Music system. But when it comes to mobile, the above Sony Ericsson models can’t match Honor’s processing speed and battery life for below 20K price tag.   DLNA enabled.I don’t know exactly which models are supporting DLNA in the below 20K price range. With DLNA, I connect wirelessly and effortlessly with a Sony LED Bravia TV (supports DLNA) to play photo slideshows and videos from Huawei Honor. Sharing memorable moments with my family is easier than ever.

Huawei Honor claims to be the smartphone with the longest battery life. 

Huawei claims that Honor comes with a large capacity battery which lasts longer :

• The next generation Android Smartphone that comes with a mammoth 1900mAh battery which lasts longer than any other Smartphone’s.
• Single charge lasts up to 3 days with a 3 weeks standby time
• Up to 10hours of Continuous video playback & 6 hours of continuous gaming
• Huawei patented technology helps boost the battery backup and gives you additional work hours

My experience : Battery life is pretty goodso far. Eventhough I can’t really judge it accurately, I can tell you that with a single charge it definitely lasts more than 2 days that includes playing games like Angry bird & youtube videos for few hours.  With only talk time + browsing few sites will lasts up to 3 days. Tips to effectively utilize your battery : Turn OFF Wifi, GPS, GPRS, Auto Rotate & Bluetooth when NOT in use. Use Play Store only when needed. Many configurable options that you can use to effectively make use of battery and reduce wastage of battery power.

Price : Value for money ?

With great features and a budget price-tag, the Huawei Honor is great value for money. Highlights of Honor are :

• 8MP HD Camera
• 1.4 Ghz processor (single core)
• Large capacity battery 1900mAH
• 4″ screen (480 x 854p) touch screen
• DLNA support

Following prices as on Sep 06, 2012:

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Best deal at Homeshop18 : Rs.17299/- includes back panel worth Rs.500/- [ price after applying coupon code worth Rs.1000/-] http://www.homeshop18.com/huawei-honor-u8860-mobile-phone/mobiles-accessories/mobiles/product:28689417/cid:3027/

Flipkart price tag : Rs.18500/- includes back panel worth Rs.500/- http://www.flipkart.com/huawei-honor-u8860-mobile-phone/p/itmd85zfzuq5yr9w?pid=MOBD85ZARXZPJNZG&ref=beb301bd-45d0-40c8-bfea-06154e26eb11

Authorized Huawei Stores : Average Rs.17500/- [ You need to bargain for back panel worth Rs.500/- plus Scratch guard worth Rs.300/-] http://www.huaweidevice.co.in/Stores/

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What I don’t like about Huawei Honor ?

• Huawei claims Honor is Android 4.0 Ready but in reality it is NOT 🙁 Officially it is NOT supported by Huawei and talking to customer care revealed that they start supporting Android 4.0 upgradation after the official announcement from Huawei Devices, India. But they don’t have the exact time frame when it will happen 🙁
• No scratch guard available in the Indian market. Solution : Go to the local mobile shop, Ask them to put 5″ screen guard, nearest that can fit this device with little customizations, but not an exact match.
• Carry pouch is NOT available for Honor anywhere in India. Solution : Samsung Galazy S III leather pouch is the nearest and seems to be the BEST for this device.
• Additional case or back cover that comes along with Huawei (most online vendors offer free back cover) is NOT good. Feels really bad.
• You can feel the heat on back side after continuous use of Honor for more than 30-45 mins. I think it is mainly due to the plastic body or plastic back cover. But the default back cover is better than the additional or free back cover. I expect a better back cover from Huawei.
• Some of the Huawei Cloud+ Features in India don’t work as they promise. www.hicloud.com is not available or accessible. However workaround is to use www3.hicloud.com, So far Phone finder, sending alert message feature (useful when phone is lost) didn’t work for me. If it works for any one, please let me know. Can’t upload videos taken from mobile. No issues with uploading pics to my Cloud+ account. hicloud for PC users is NOT user-friendly and many of them are NOT working properly.
• Runs on Android 2.3.6 which bundles Google Talk. No option to uninstall Google Talk.
• If you’re using special characters & 2-step authentication in your google account, Default google apps like GTalk, GMail, etc. They doesn’t let you in. However from mobile browser, you can login eventhough you’ve enabled 2-step authentication for your account and works fine as expected.

However, these are minor things and alternate solutions exists. Not a major concern it seems.

Last, but not the least . . .  After effects of buying Huawei Honor 

Most friends, colleagues & relatives started laughing and questioning me as follows :

• Which is this chinese company (referring to Huawei) ?
• How come you waited so long to buy a china mobile ?
• How to pronounce Huawei ?  WAH-WAY 🙂 See this funny Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGAqvpYLiGw
• I never heard of Huawei 😛 So what I can do…. 😉
• Oh! They are the Data Card manufacturers. From when, they started selling android phones or entered mobile market ?
• How is the service ? I need to wait and watch 😀 Think +ve 😉

Simple answer to all these questions is “Huawei Device is already ahead of HTC, Sony, Motorola, RIM and occupies 6th place w.r.t. Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q12 (Thousands of Units)” says Gartner (May 2012). Source [ Gartner May 2012 ] : http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2017015

This shows the commitment from Huawei Device.  Huawei seeks to break into the top three of the global smartphone market by 2015. For those who don’t know anything about Huawei, Here you go :

• They are the  world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker.
• Bharti Airtel has selected Huawei to plan, design, supply and deploy its 4G TD-LTE network in Karnataka. The 4G LTE subscribers can experience high speed wireless internet access that can support bandwidth intensive applications, support video streaming and high-definition video conferencing.
• No.1 datacard brand – Huawei leads the world in the datacard market.
• Over the last 10 years, Huawei has reinforced its leadership position in India by providing end-to-end network solutions to all the India based top-10 telecom operators.

More about Huawei Device : http://www.huaweidevice.co.in/AboutUs/about-milestone.php

Finally, It is my (Huawei) HONOR and privilege to have you 🙂