The new Huawei Honor 5x is a well-rounded smartphone with a lot to offer for those on a budget. Huawei has managed to generate enough buzz and attention to make the Honor line up a substantial performer in the budget and mid-range smartphone segments in the UAE.

The Design

The metallic case of the honor 5X is crafted from diamond-polished aluminium alloy. The phone case has a sand blasting surface treatment using a metallic brushing technique creating a smooth premium texture. The brushed metal build allows for a premium look and feel that you will be hard-pressed to find with other budget-friendly smartphones. The top and bottom back has plastic ends so it still gets good signal or service as all metal can hurt performance.Around the sides is the same lightweight aluminum design and the left side has two eject-able trays. One for the SIM slot and another for a micro-SD slot to expand storage something most buyers want. The right side has nice tactile aluminum volume up/down keys and below that is the power button. It's easy to find and tap although most will use the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for most activities.

Display

It was a peasant surprise was just how great the 5.5-inch 1080p HD display is on this phone. Colors are bright and vivid. Text is crisp and blacks are inky black. Looking at the competition in this price range most will be more than satisfied. Viewing angles are also pretty great. The colors don't get completely washed out or blown away while looking at the phone from an angle. The Honor 5x has a 1080p screen powerful internals a metal design and a fingerprint scanner which is really impressive.

Fingerprint Scanner
The fingerprint sensor is the same color as the body and blends in rather well. The rear placement of the fingerprint reader definitely grows on you and makes unlocking the device very easy. The scanner does more than just unlock the device as well and offers some additional functionality in the form of gesture controls. Swiping up launches the Recent Apps screen a tap takes you back to any previous screen and a tap and hold functions as a home button. Swiping down opens the notification drop down and you can even use he scanner to answer calls silence alarms and take photos. Honestly to see a fingerprint scanner on a budget-friendly device is an impressive fact by itself and even more so when considering its high quality.

The software
The honor 5X is running Huawei's EMUI 3.1 out of the box based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. The software will include timely security updates. The notification drop down is very well organized and split into two parts with one housing all the notifications and a swipe left required to bring up the quick toggles. Not only does this allow for a lot more notifications to be shown at once but there is a lot more information here as well including the exact time for received notifications. There are a few helpful tools like an FM radio a mirror app magnifying glass flashlight app auto-backup to save important texts files photos and more all pre-installed which works wonders for buyers who are looking at value for money.
Battery Life & Camera
The honor 5X comes with a 3000 mAh non-removable battery and allows for surprisingly impressive battery life. The battery is not removable but should get you through 24 hours even with heavy use. Otherwise 1.5-2 days is a likely possibility bringing the Honor 5X in line with the current standard. Honor's EMUI software interface offers numerous energy saving features that take care of power-hungry background apps. The honor 5X comes with a 13 MP rear shooter with a f/2.0 aperture and a dual tone LED flash along with a 5 MP front-facing unit. There is no optical image stabilization to be had however and overall the quality is actually more of the same when compared to other smartphones that fall in this price range. Overall it exceeded expectations!
Final Thoughts
The Honor 5X is a sensible mid-range smartphone that checks all the right boxes. It's built well looks acceptable has all the right connectivity options and has a decent camera too. Additionally it's got an excellent screen and useful fingerprint sensor that does a lot more than most competitors' offerings. The Honor 5X is also reliable and smooth in operation. With a lot of positive features surrounding it. The Honor 5x could be a very exciting smartphone in its price category.