Honor 90 Review: A Sleek Phone with a Superb Screen, Plenty of Pixels, and a Touch of Magic

Since Honor stepped out from Huawei’s shadow, the brand has steadily gained recognition as a formidable competitor against industry giants like Samsung and Google. Their smartphones have consistently impressed users with their high-quality mid-range and budget offerings, delivering performance that exceeds expectations.

The Honor 90 is the latest addition to their lineup, and it doesn’t disappoint. With substantial upgrades from its predecessor, the Honor 70, this mid-ranger showcases an elegant design, sleek build, and premium appearance that rivals flagship devices. Measuring 161.9mm tall, 74.1mm wide, and a mere 7.8mm thick, the Honor 90 feels incredibly comfortable to hold and carry.

The phone comes in three attractive colors: Midnight Black, Emerald Green, and Diamond Silver. Honor has opted for a textured brushed metal-colored back, a welcome change from the smooth glossy finish found on previous models. This new design not only enhances grip but also keeps fingerprints at bay, ensuring the device maintains its pristine appearance.

The Honor 90’s display is a true standout feature, boasting a stunning 6.7-inch AMOLED curved screen. With a screen-to-body ratio of 93.3% and minimal bezels, it offers an immersive visual experience typically reserved for flagship devices at a fraction of the cost. The dynamic refresh rate of 60 to 120Hz ensures smooth on-screen action, making it perfect for gaming.

Its sharp resolution of 2664 x 1200 enhances gaming and content consumption, and with HDR 10+ support, the display delivers enhanced contrast and vivid colors. The only caveat is that the screen lacks reinforcement or glass protection, making it susceptible to damage.

Under the hood, the Honor 90 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition. While not as powerful as the 8 Series found in devices like the Samsung S23 or Nothing Phone 2, this 4nm processor handles most mobile gaming and daily tasks with ease, offering responsive and smooth performance.

The phone comes in 12GB RAM configurations. More RAM allows for smoother multitasking, faster app loading, and a more responsive web browsing experience. Honor’s RAM Turbo technology can expand the RAM by up to 7GB, making multitasking even more seamless.

When it comes to storage, the Honor 90 offers a generous 512GB of internal memory, providing ample space for games, apps, photos, videos, and films. However, there is no expandable micro-SD storage, which may be a downside for some users.

The battery life of the Honor 90 is excellent, thanks to its 5000mAh cell. With moderate to heavy use, the phone easily lasts a full day with some extra juice to spare. The 66W Supercharging feature ensures rapid charging, allowing the phone to reach 45% in just 15 minutes and fully charge in a little over 40 minutes. However, wireless charging is not supported.

The camera setup on the Honor 90 is another standout feature, boasting a massive 200MP main shooter and a 12MP ultra-wide that can also function as a powerful macro camera. The main camera captures incredible detail, making it stand out among other mid-tier phones. The 50MP front-facing camera ensures high-quality selfies and video calls.

While the camera’s colors pop, they can sometimes appear oversaturated and slightly darker than real life. Low-light performance is acceptable but not exceptional, with night shots showing some degradation and graininess. Nevertheless, the camera’s impressive capabilities make it a key selling point for the Honor 90.

Running on Android 13 with MagicOS 7.1, the Honor 90 offers an attractive and user-friendly interface with customization options through themes. It’s worth noting that Honor provides two years of OS updates and three years of security updates, making it a reliable choice, but not on par with Google, OnePlus, or Samsung’s support.

Priced competitively at SGD $619 for the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage configuration, the Honor 90 is a standout mid-range device offering a stunning display, impressive camera, generous storage capacity, and long-lasting battery life. With its elegant design and great performance, the Honor 90 challenges other mid-range and even some flagship devices, making it an excellent choice for users seeking a budget-friendly smartphone without sacrificing style or functionality.

NETWORK

Technology
GSM / CDMA / HSPA / CDMA2000 / LTE / 5G
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
CDMA 800
3G bands HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
CDMA2000 1x
4G bands 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 19, 28, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41
5G bands 1, 5, 8, 28, 41, 77, 78 SA/NSA
Speed HSPA, LTE-A, 5G

BODY

Dimensions 161.9 x 74.1 x 7.8 mm (6.37 x 2.92 x 0.31 in)
Weight 183 g (6.46 oz)
SIM Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, eSIM, dual stand-by) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

DISPLAY

Type AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1600 nits (peak)
Size 6.7 inches, 108.9 cm2 (~90.8% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1200 x 2664 pixels (~435 ppi density)

PLATFORM

OS Android 13, MagicOS 7.1
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition (4 nm)
CPU Octa-core (1×2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.36 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A510)
GPU Adreno 644

MEMORY

Card slot No
Internal 512GB 12GB RAM

MAIN CAMERA

Triple 200 MP, f/1.9, (wide), 1/1.4″, 0.56µm, PDAF
12 MP, f/2.2, 112˚ (ultrawide), AF
2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
Features LED flash, HDR, panorama
Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS

SELFIE CAMERA

Single 50 MP, f/2.4, 100˚, (ultrawide)
Features HDR
Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS

SOUND

Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack No

COMMS

WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct
Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD
Positioning GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS, QZSS
NFC Yes
Radio No
USB USB Type-C 2.0, OTG

FEATURES

Sensors Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, compass, ultrasound proximity

BATTERY

Type Li-Po 5000 mAh, non-removable
Charging 66W wired
5W reverse wired

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