Does Honor 8 support wireless charging? All about wireless chargers for smartphones

A couple of months ago, Huawei introduced the Honor 8 smartphone. Although this model belongs to the middle class, in technical terms it almost completely copies the capabilities of the flagship Huawei P9. The new product has a metal body, durable glass trim, a high-performance processor, 4 GB of RAM, a fingerprint sensor and a dual main camera. At the same time, the price of Honor 8 at the start of sales did not exceed the psychological mark of 30,000 rubles. Let's figure out whether Huawei Honor 8 will be a real “killer” of Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7.

The Honor series of smartphones has always been distinguished by its optimal price-quality-functionality ratio. Huawei Honor 8 is no exception to these rules. We tried to make the device as interesting as possible for all categories of consumers. The new product looks great, has flagship functionality, supports all the most advanced features and at the same time costs adequate money.

In technical terms, Honor 8 is a copy of the flagship smartphone Huawei P9 with rare exceptions. It has a powerful processor with similar characteristics, 4 gigs of RAM, a capacious battery, a Type C USB port, and a dual camera. It is clear that the camera is simpler, but it performs the main functions well: blurs the background and expands the dynamic range.

Let's see how comfortable it will be to use Honor 8 in real life.

Technical characteristics of Huawei Honor 8

Honor 9 Lite price

Delivery package and first impressions

Huawei Honor 8 comes in an extremely stylish box made of hard white cardboard with a textured pattern. The model name is printed on the front side of the package. The accessories included in the kit are placed in separate boxes. In addition to the smartphone itself, the box contains a USB Type C synchronization and charging cable, a power adapter, a clip for opening the SIM card tray, instructions and a warranty card.

Taking the smartphone out of the box, you notice how much it looks like the (iPhone 7) and Samsung Galaxy S7 combined. The device I tested was white, and it was very similar to the flagship gadgets of Apple and Samsung. The device has rounded edges, it is very thin and quite light. Dimensions - 145.5x71x7.5 mm. Weight - 153 grams.

Surprisingly, the device fits in the palm of your hand. This is due to the relatively small width. However, it is difficult to reach the edges of the screen with one hand. You have to use your second hand or intercept. Actually, for this reason, in the settings the user can set a special mode, when by swiping from edge to edge of the display, the picture on the screen will be reduced by 30%. In this case, you can reach the necessary menu items with one hand. At the same time, the device can be carried in the pocket of trousers, jeans, jacket or shirt. You don't feel any discomfort.

Visually, Honor 8 is slightly larger than the iPhone 6 (iPhone 7), comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S7.

Design and appearance

The developers placed special emphasis on the appearance of the new product. The smartphone has a metal body with smooth contours. The front and back surfaces are decorated with 2.5D glass (the glass is rounded on the sides). This technique is used in the Samsung Galaxy S7. The frame is made of brushed aluminum, which has the same color as the main body. You can also see small inserts along the contour - antennas for mobile communications, Wi-Fi, navigation receivers, GPS/GLONASS and NFC are located here.

The device comes in several colors: gold, black, pink, white and blue. I had a white device at my disposal. The assembly of Honor 8 is at the highest level; it does not deform or creak when you try to twist or bend it. In the hands the device is perceived as a very expensive and solid device.

During testing I came across one peculiarity. The smartphone slides off inclined surfaces. This applies to a greater extent to sofas, chairs, and armchairs with textile trim. In any case, if something doesn’t suit you, there is always the opportunity to purchase a case. By the way, the cover will protect you from abrasions and cuts on the back glass surface. Sooner or later they appear. Tested for myself. Experiments have also shown that the glass that protects the screen is much stronger than that used on the back panel.

Despite this, I can safely say that Honor 8 has become the most beautiful device of all the devices that Huawei has released. To be honest, the Huawei P9 looks a bit crummy after this.

On the front part there is a 5.2-inch screen, covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3. The glass is made in the style of 2.5D, that is, it is slightly curved at the edges, as if hanging over the main part. Visually, it seems as if the gadget has no frames at all, however, when you activate the display, everything falls into place: there are 2 mm frames on the right and left, which is very good. There is an oleophobic coating, fingerprints remain, but are erased quickly and easily.

There is a speaker above the screen for phone calls. Its volume is enough to communicate in a noisy room or on the road. There is an LED indicator built into the speaker grille. It blinks when there are incoming messages, phone calls, or low battery. It can be disabled or reconfigured in the corresponding menu item.

To the left of the speaker are proximity sensors, lighting sensors and a front camera.

There are no buttons or other elements under the screen. Function keys are fully integrated into the screen shell. Below you can see the logo of the sub-brand - Honor.

On the bottom right side there are speaker holes for external calls and music, as well as a microphone, on the left there is a hole for connecting a wired headset. In the center you can see a USB Type C connector for connecting to a computer and charging.

I would rate the performance of the main speaker as a four or a four with a minus. Firstly, the sound is not powerful and loud enough. Secondly, volume and detail are not felt. Not enough power. It feels like the speaker is not playing at full capacity. Thirdly, if you cover the speaker grill with your hand or finger, the volume drops by 80%.

On the top edge you can see a second microphone for noise reduction, as well as a small window for the infrared port. With its help and an application installed from Google Play, you can control home appliances and electronics. On the right side there are volume buttons and a power/lock screen key. The latter is embossed so that it can be quickly felt blindly.

On the left is a compartment for two nanoSIM-sized SIM cards. One of them can be used to expand memory. MicroSD memory cards are used here. This configuration does not allow you to use two SIM cards and a memory card at once.

On the back side you can see the lenses of two cameras at once. Both cameras use a 12 megapixel sensor with laser focusing, autofocus and dual LED flash. The first camera does everything that other smartphone cameras do - it just takes pictures. The additional camera has a black-and-white sensor; it collects all the light, thereby increasing the dynamic range and sensitivity.

The area with cameras and LED flashes does not protrude relative to the plane of the back of the smartphone. This is a big plus.

A little lower in the center is a fingerprint scanner, which has a round shape. With it, you can not only unlock the device, but also answer calls, turn off the alarm, view the list of open applications (to do this, you need to swipe up on the sensor), open the notification panel (swipe down) and erase notifications (double tap on the sensor). Moreover, the user can create a secure area to store confidential information and classified applications, which can be accessed using a fingerprint.

The fingerprint sensor works quite quickly and, most importantly, accurately. The official Huawei website talks about 0.5 seconds for recognition, and this seems to be true. During testing, it accurately recognized my fingerprints and did not react to strangers. In total, you can save up to five prints in the device memory.

Screen. Graphics capabilities

Honor 8 uses a screen with a diagonal of 5.2 inches. The display is made using IPS technology with anti-glare coating and without an air gap. Resolution - 1080x1920, pixel density - 423 ppi. This is a fairly high value - the picture on the display looks sharp. Viewing angles are maximum. In direct sunlight, the image remains readable and the screen does not glare. The maximum brightness of white color is 400 cd/m2, the maximum brightness of black color is 0.47 cd/m2, contrast is 850:1.

The device has an eye protection mode that reduces the level of ultraviolet radiation and prevents eye fatigue when using the smartphone for a long time.

The picture on the display looks good, clean and believable. The frame around the screen is quite narrow: approximately 2 mm on the sides and 14 mm on the top and bottom. In addition, a clever visual effect is used here when a very thin strip of the front panel on the sides is painted over, while the rest remains black. In this case, the darkened screen looks almost “frameless”, but this is just a trick of the designers.

The gadget is equipped with a light sensor, thanks to which it can independently adjust the brightness level that is comfortable for working in given conditions. The sensor works quite correctly.

If we talk about the sensitivity of the screen, it responds quickly to touches and recognizes gestures without problems. In total, the device supports up to ten simultaneous touches. The gadget also easily understands touches with loose gloves.

Honor 8 has a proximity sensor that blocks the display when you bring the smartphone to your ear. You cannot activate the screen by double-tapping the glass, but the display is activated by touching the fingerprint scanner pad. True, it is located on the back side and is inaccessible when the smartphone is lying on the table with the screen facing up.

Hardware platform: processor, memory, performance

Honor 8 is equipped with a self-produced HiSilicon Kirin 950 chip with an eight-core processor: 4 ARM Cortex-A72 cores at 2.3 GHz and 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores at 1.8 GHz. Graphics subsystem (GPU) - Mali-T880 MP4. When under load, the smartphone body practically does not heat up.

The RAM is 4 GB LPDDR4, and the internal memory can be 32 GB or 64 GB. Memory cards up to 128 GB are supported, although the connector for them is combined with a slot for a SIM card. This means that you will have to use either a card or a nanoSIM.

If we talk about the operation of the interface, during the test I did not notice any glitches or slowdowns at all.

All games from the standard test suite launched without problems. FullHD video is played without stuttering, and the browser is also stable. To sum up the performance, I note that it is very, very sufficient.

Communication capabilities

Huawei Honor 8 has two slots for nano SIM cards. It is noteworthy that the smartphone has two separate radio modules. They work according to the Dual SIM Dual Active scheme, that is, when any activity occurs on one of the cards, for example, an incoming call, the second one does not go offline. Working with SIM cards is implemented in the simplest way: after installing both SIM cards in the device, the smartphone will offer to assign which one to call, send messages and access the Internet with.

A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G/4G networks, but only one of them can function in this mode at a time. To change the assignment of slots, cards do not need to be swapped - this can be done directly from the phone menu.

The smartphone supports all modern communication networks: 2G/3G and 4G cat. 6 on Russian frequencies (4G TDD LTE: Band 38/40 and 4G FDD LTE: Band 1/3/7/8/20), confidently receives the signal and does not lose it for no apparent reason. It is noteworthy that Honor 8 has a software option that allows you to improve the quality of signal reception, it is called “Signal+”. Huawei says that in their next smartphone they have used not a double, but a “triple virtual antenna Signal+ 2.0.”

Talking on the phone is comfortable. The speaker has a good volume reserve, and the interlocutors did not complain about poor audibility during testing.

The device can work with all modern wireless networks. Among them are Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.5 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth version 4.2. All modules work quickly and without failures.

The smartphone supports Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. Smart Wi-Fi+ lets you automatically switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data networks. The USB 2.0 Type C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode. There is also NFC and an infrared port.

Among the additional communication tools, it is worth noting GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou (standard Google Maps cartography is built into the smartphone). The navigation error radius during testing was about 3 meters, which is very little. The gadget copes well with the role of a navigator.

Duration of work

The smartphone has a 3000 mAh lithium-ion battery. Under testing conditions, with a number of calls of 35-40 minutes per day, browsing the Internet for about 2 hours via 4G, listening to an mp3 player through a headset for about 2 hours a day, the device worked for 20 hours. When watching a video, the gadget worked for 7 hours, in navigator mode - 3 hours 35 minutes. As a result, the device has to be charged every day. If you use the smartphone in a less intensive mode, it will work for 2-2.5 days.

In terms of autonomy, the device is no different from the vast majority of other Android smartphones. However, Huawei has provided three battery usage profiles with quite self-explanatory names: productive, “smart” (auto-adjusting processor power depending on the task being performed) and energy-saving.

The battery charges in about two hours. The device does not support wireless charging, but there is a “fast charging” mode. Fast charging technology provides a 45% charge level within 30 minutes. And if you charge Honor 8 for just 10 minutes, the charge will last for 2 hours of talking or 6 hours of listening to music.

User Interface and Operating System

Honor 8 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and Emotion UI 4.1 user interface.

For those who are familiar with this shell, it will not be difficult to figure it out. Work with gestures is supported, there is an additional virtual control button that folds out on the screen into a radial menu. The navigation panel has been modified, divided into several tabs, the first of which has a convenient timeline of events, the next you can find a quick access menu to the main settings, and by swiping up from the bottom you can call up another menu where you can find a flashlight, a voice recorder and some other useful functions and settings.

Among other things, the user can select the effect when unlocking or moving between desktops, select the style of icons, fonts, and answer an incoming call when raising the phone to the ear. There is a function here to switch to silent mode when turning the screen down, as well as tilt the phone to organize widgets. In general, there are a lot of little things that especially impressionable people should like.

There are also several built-in themes with the ability to download new ones for free and for a fee, as well as very nice pictures for the lock screen. This is one of the rare cases when, when purchasing a new smartphone, you do not have to change the built-in backgrounds and themes to new ones. There is a mode for automatically changing wallpaper, when the pictures are displayed in a chaotic order; To do this, you just need to shake your smartphone.

Among the preinstalled applications there are standard applications for the manufacturer: free Yandex and Mail.ru programs, Opera browser, WPS Office for working with office documents, Dropbox, Shazam, Facebook, Clean Master, EyeEm, booking service Booking.com, Health application, which allows you to set goals for weight loss, and with the help of GPS navigation, track the distances and type of movement mastered by the user (walking, running, cycling) and count the calories burned and thus control the degree of task completion.

Camera. Photo and video capabilities

Huawei Honor 8 uses a dual camera. Image resolution - 12 megapixels. One camera captures the colors of the image being captured, and the second one reads monochrome information. The resulting data is then programmatically combined and written to the resulting files. The main camera lenses have an equivalent focal length of 27 mm and a maximum aperture of f/2.2. Paired with the main camera is a dual LED flash, capable of illuminating the subject in both pulsed and continuous light modes. The front camera uses an 8-megapixel sensor and a fixed-focus lens (26 mm equivalent focal length and f/2.4 aperture).

The camera control menu is generally familiar from previous models. A gesture on the left brings up a menu with various modes, on the right - a menu for camera settings (image resolution, button controls, etc.), and at the bottom a menu for manual shooting settings is called up. In it, as usual, you can independently control focus, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance. There are practically no dark, undetailed areas in the photograph, or light areas without information. The colors and white balance are excellent. Focusing accuracy and speed are high.

The resulting photos look good. There are practically no dark, undetailed areas on them, or light areas without information. Colors and white balance are extremely accurate. Focusing speed is high. In poor lighting, blurriness appears. But overall the picture is of adequate quality.

The Honor 8 camera can shoot video with a maximum resolution of up to 1920×1080 at 30 or 60 fps with stereo sound. There is also the possibility of slow-motion slo-mo recording in 720p resolution at 120 frames per second. For video shooting, you can turn on the stabilization function, but its operation is barely noticeable when shooting on the go. The camera's overall performance in recording video is average: the image is loose and not always sharp, although it is bright and without noticeable artifacts. But you still expect a lot more from shooting FullHD 60 frames per second. The sound during video recording is recorded quite well, and the noise reduction system copes well with wind noise.

I will also mention the front camera for selfies. It is 8 megapixels with an f/2.4 aperture. There is no autofocus. You can record videos in resolutions up to 720p. The camera performs its function well.

Results

Three weeks of communication with Huawei Honor 8 flew by very quickly. I'm really used to this smartphone. I liked him. Appearance occupies not the least place in perception. The device combines the design of iPhone 6/7 and Samsung Galaxy S7. It looks and feels great in the hand. It feels like a flagship device.

The aluminum body and protective glass with 2.5D effect are perceived very well. The device has productive hardware, sufficient RAM and takes very high-quality photographs.

Among the advantages I can include support for LTE of all Russian bands, the presence of two radio modules for SIM cards. The battery life here is lower than that of the Galaxy S7 and comparable to the iPhone 6s.

Honor 8 has few disadvantages. First of all, this is the low quality of videos received from the main camera. The second point is the relatively weak external speaker in volume. I will also note the tendency for scratches to appear on the glass of the back surface of the device. Now is the time to immediately buy a protective case.

The features of this model include the use of a USB Type C port for charging. This standard is still very rare. Therefore, you will have to carry the cable with you. This is worth remembering.

Advantages

Metal body

Great appearance and high quality build

Fingerprint scanner

High performance

Good screen

Two separate radio modules for two SIM cards

Decent main camera

Support LTE cat. 6

Flaws

Average video quality from the main camera

The camera settings interface is displayed in a horizontal layout

The memory card slot is combined with a second SIM card (nanoSIM type)

Over time, scratches appear on the glass back surface

Low external speaker power

With the latest commercialized smartphones, Huawei has managed to gain a good market share in recent years.

The success has been achieved thanks to the division of the company's research and development, as well as the promotion of its smartphones internationally, especially here in Italy, overtaking Apple and positioning below Samsung in second place.

Huawei is working on Huawei Honor 8 with wireless charging

Last time Huawei sold two new smartphones with both of them dual rear camera: Huawei P9 And Huawei Honor V8(which is also offered in a second variant with a 2K display).

It looks like it's not over here because the Chinese company should be working on releasing Honor 8 which is due to take place later in 2016. New details about the upcoming device have been revealed by a famous Chinese analyst Pan Jiutang.

He claims it's new Honor 8 it should be available with wireless charging feature. This information comes at a time when recent reports indicate that i iPhone 7 Apple will feature similar technology.

Indeed, it seems that Cupertino colossus has hired specialists in this field to integrate this feature into future models iPhone. Jiutang he also noted that Huawei seems to be ahead of Apple in terms of implementation characteristics.

An example would be the release of the first smartphone, touch 3D, that is Huawei Mate S, Then we saw iPhone 6s come with this technology. This year, the company introduced two new flagships with two cameras, which we expect to see on the iPhone 7.

Now even the wireless charging function could be seen on Huawei Honor 8 what's on future iPhone 2017. Of course, all this is not officially confirmed by the Chinese company, and Honor 8 should be presented very soon, so we expect more information soon.

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Nowadays, a person without a smartphone is a person cut off from life. It's hard to imagine that a few years ago a mobile phone was used only for communication. Now this little assistant gives us both access to the Internet and many applications, and wakes us up in the morning. The list of benefits provided by a smartphone can be continued endlessly. It is not surprising that a large number of gadgets have been invented for modern phones. One of them is a wireless charger, which we would like to talk about in more detail.

How can I tell if my phone supports wireless charging?

From the name it is clear that this is a gadget that allows you to charge your smartphone without using wires. It is a small stand connected to the network. There is an induction coil inside, which creates a small magnetic field around itself. If there is a smartphone within the radius of this field, it will receive electricity literally through the air. But there is one caveat - the smartphone must also have a built-in induction coil. It will serve as a kind of energy receiver from the charger.

The purpose of creating this device was to rid modern smartphones of charger connectors, and also to allow all devices in the house to be charged from one platform. The idea was a success, but why then don’t we see this technology in every home and don’t use it ourselves? The answer is simple - despite all the advantages, this miracle device also has disadvantages.

Pros and cons of a wireless charger

Wireless charging has a lot of advantages, but they all have their own cornerstone.

No wires

Without a doubt, this is a big plus. Wires have always been a weak point in chargers. With frequent kinks, the wire was easily damaged and tangled. Frequent recharging loosened the USB port on the phone, and sooner or later the phone needed repairs. But there is also another side to the coin. Refusal of wires reduced efficiency (efficiency) from 90% to 60–75%. Simply put, when using wireless charging, your smartphone will charge approximately 2-3 times longer.

Range of use

It would seem that there are no wires - there are no restrictions, and you can charge your phone simply while in the apartment. But no - the radius of use of the wireless charger is very modest (3–5 cm) and the phone will have to be placed on a stand. Another significant drawback will be the inability to use the smartphone while charging.

Price

The cost of a charger is quite variable, but it will always be more expensive than the usual charger.

Standards

I would like to talk about the standards that made the use of technology for transmitting electricity through the air possible.

Qi (“Qi”, after a term in Eastern philosophy) was developed by the WPC (Wireless Power Consortium). It is the most widespread and is supported by such giants of the mobile industry as Asus, Motorola, HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, Sony and others. You can find out more about the standard and the list of supported devices on their official website.

The PMA standard also uses the principle of electromagnetic induction, but does not boast as large a list of manufacturers supporting their technology as Qi. It was developed by Powermat, which is currently trying to fight unhealthy competition from Qi.

This standard uses Rezence technology, which is fundamentally different from PMA and Qi. The strange thing is that the most unpopular standard has many advantages in comparison with its competitors. The advantages include:

• the ability to charge through interference (if you put a book between the smartphone and the charger, nothing will change);
• one platform can provide energy to several devices;
• work in close proximity to metal objects, etc.

You can view the full list of smartphones that can use wireless charging right out of the box on the official website https://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com. I would like to note that most manufacturers have made sure that their product supports the use of this technology.

What if your smartphone is not on the list of supported devices, but you need to use wireless charging? If you have this question, then most likely you are a happy user of Apple products. The iPhone does not yet have the ability to receive electromagnetic signals. However, there is an alternative - purchasing an auxiliary accessory that will do this for your phone. It fits under a standard case and does not cause any discomfort.

Is wireless charging harmful to health?

Like any new technology, wireless chargers raise many questions. One of the most pressing is whether it harms health. Let’s immediately dispel this far-fetched myth. It will do you no more harm than an electronic razor using the same technology. The developers of the WPC standard themselves claim this.

We hope our article was useful and helped you understand the compatibility of your smartphone and wireless charger.

Honor 8 Pro – bright and blue

Huawei's display strategy isn't always clear, but Honor sends a clear message: a top-tier device should have a display that's as capable as its main competitors.

Therefore, on the Honor 8 Pro display we get a high resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels on an IPS panel with a diagonal of 5.7". The panel has a classic 16:9 format, its area is 89.57 cm². Interestingly, the display area was even higher than 5. 8" panels of the Galaxy S8, because due to the Samsung format the area is only 85.38 cm².

Of course, we can debate for a long time about the advantages and disadvantages of large display diagonals, as well as how important high resolution is for everyday scenarios. But other characteristics are perceived more clearly. The maximum brightness of Honor 8 Pro is an excellent level of 570 cd/m², which is enough to use a smartphone outdoors on a sunny day. It's best to avoid direct sunlight. I would especially like to emphasize this brightness value taking into account the high resolution, since with a significant pixel density, it becomes more difficult to highlight them, and power consumption increases. It is for this reason that many WQHD displays operate at a lower brightness level, or raise the brightness for a short time in Boost mode. Contrast can be called good. Black brightness was 0.36 cd/m², resulting in a contrast ratio of 1.583:1.

Color rendering is not as good as we would like. The 90% NTSC color gamut seems decent, but the tones are too cool. We tried to correct the situation in the settings, but still had to be content with almost 7.100 K.

Decent battery capacity

The battery capacity of Honor 8 Pro is quite high. The 4,000 mAh level corresponds to the Mate 9, but the latter has a body that is almost 15% larger. All this was made possible by optimizing the layout of the components, just to make sure it didn’t turn out the way it did with the Galaxy Note 7.

Unfortunately, Honor did not inherit the Super Charge fast charging system. Buyers will have to make do with its predecessor Fast Charge, of course paired with the included 18W charging. However, there is an advantage: Super Charge requires a special cable to work, while Fast Charge works with any cable - as long as it has the necessary plugs. The battery is non-removable and wireless charging technologies are not supported.

The flat body of the Honor 8 Pro has a fairly capacious battery

Despite the capacious battery and 16nm SoC, Honor claims relatively short battery life. In everyday scenarios, the smartphone should last two days. In the case of enthusiasts, charging will have to be connected after almost a day and a half of operation. And when watching movies, the smartphone will last for ten hours. In two of our tests (PCMark and video), the results of the Honor 8 Pro smartphone can be called above average. In the PCMark scenario, the smartphone showed almost eight hours, 20% less than the same Mate 9. In the looping video playback test, the result was almost 12 hours, the Mate 9 lasted 3% longer.

In everyday scenarios, the smartphone lasted two and a half days, even longer than Honor promised. On the other hand, under intense loads, battery life is significantly reduced. For example, in games - here you will have to connect the charger in less than six hours.