Honor 4X Comprehensive Review of Specs Pricing Pros & Cons

Overview of Honor 4X

The Honor 4X, released in October 2014, was a part of Honor's strategy to capture the affordable smartphone market by providing impressive specifications at a competitive price point. Although now discontinued, it stood out in its time with a combination of performance, connectivity, and other features that appealed to many users.

Design and Build

The Honor 4X features a simplistic yet functional design, with dimensions of 152.9 x 77.2 x 8.7 mm and a weight of 165 g, making it relatively comfortable to hold and use. The device is equipped with dual SIM slots, which was particularly appealing to users in markets where such functionality is common. Available in black and white colors, the phone's design is clean, providing a practical look suitable for various consumer preferences.

Display

The device sports a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display, offering a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels at a 16:9 aspect ratio, equating to around 267 ppi pixel density. The display size and quality are decent for its price range, providing satisfactory color reproduction and viewing angles, accommodating basic multimedia consumption needs.

Performance and Hardware

Under the hood, the Honor 4X is powered by either the Kirin 620 or Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 chipset, both manufactured on the 28 nm process technology. The CPU options include an octa-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 or a quad-core configuration, paired with a Mali-450MP4 or Adreno 306 GPU, respectively. This combination delivers moderate performance suitable for everyday tasks and light gaming.

The phone is equipped with 2GB of RAM, which was a common configuration for mid-range devices at the time of its release. This RAM allows the device to manage multiple applications running simultaneously with relative smoothness. However, it may show limitations with more demanding applications or with newer updates.

Storage

The internal storage of the Honor 4X is limited to 8GB; however, it provides a dedicated microSD slot that supports microSDHC cards, allowing for expanded storage to accommodate more apps, photos, and media.

Camera Capabilities

The Honor 4X features a 13 MP rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture, autofocus, and a variety of features like LED flash, panorama, and HDR, allowing for relatively decent photography in diverse lighting conditions. The rear camera can record 1080p video at 30fps, providing satisfactory video recording capabilities for its category.

The front camera is a 5 MP shooter capable of recording 720p video, suitable for video calls and selfies, although it may lack the fine details compared to more recent front camera advancements.

Battery Life

The device houses a non-removable Li-Po 3000 mAh battery, which was sufficient to power the device through a day of moderate usage at its release. Official estimates suggest standby times up to 200 hours on 3G, and up to 15 hours of talk time on 3G. Real-world usage would vary but overall, the battery life was considered adequate for typical day-to-day activities like browsing and media playback.

Software

Initially shipping with Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the Honor 4X could be upgraded to Android 6 Marshmallow, with the EMUI 3 on top. EMUI provides additional features, customization options, and a unique user interface experience compared to stock Android.

Connectivity

The Honor 4X includes a good array of connectivity options for its time: it supports GSM, HSPA, and LTE networks, and offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with GLONASS, and FM radio. Despite lacking NFC support, the device covers most connectivity needs for the average user.

Audio and Sound

The device is equipped with a loudspeaker and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, typical in mid-range smartphones released at the time. These allow for reasonably decent audio output for media playback and calls, but with limited enhancements for audiophiles.

Additional Features

For sensor support, the Honor 4X includes an accelerometer, proximity sensor, and compass, allowing basic motion detection and orientation features useful in various applications and devices.

Overall Value and Market Position

At its launch, the Honor 4X was priced around 200 EUR, placing it in the budget to mid-range segment of the market. This price point combined with its specs offered good value for consumers seeking affordability without sacrificing essential smartphone functionalities and performance.

Legacy and Impact

While the Honor 4X is considered outdated by today's standards, its existence during its prime showcased Honor's strategy to penetrate budget-conscious markets with a focus on balanced specs and pricing. The phone contributed to the growing diversity and competitiveness in the smartphone market's budget segment, paving the way for subsequent models with improved functionalities.