The device dimensions are 143.3×71.9×9.1 mm. The smartphone is tall and narrow, according to many users, it is comfortable to hold in the hand. In terms of size, it can be compared with the Lenovo P70 (142 × 71.8 × 9 mm). The weight of Huawei Honor 4C is 167 grams, the same weight as its “thickened” version with a capacious battery - Huawei Honor 4C Pro.
From the front, Huawei Honor 4C looks like a regular smartphone: it is somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone 5 or other Huawei phones. The only noteworthy things seem to be the buttons, stylized as virtual keys in Android 5.0, the metallic chrome frame around the display and the black side frames. Because of this coloring, it seems that the screen is very wide and there are simply no frames around it. But as soon as you turn on your smartphone, the magical effect of this “trick” dissipates - there are frames, they’re just black. The back panel of the smartphone has a special texture and is decorated with an embossed Honor logo. In addition to the logo on the back, you can see the device’s speaker, camera lens with flash, and microphone hole. Why is a microphone suddenly needed on the lid? Perhaps for shooting video, but in our opinion it looks unaesthetic.
The case is assembled with high quality. According to the manufacturer, it is made of “three-layer composite material.” The smartphone case is collapsible. There is no usual ledge on it to remove the lid. However, it can be easily hooked anywhere, removed and put back in place. In tests, such lightness also had negative consequences: the lid spontaneously snapped off the body while being carried in a jeans pocket.
Screen - 4.0
The Honor 4C smartphone has a high-quality 5-inch display. It seems to have all the components of an excellent screen for its price: HD resolution (1280x720 pixels), IPS matrix, oleophobic coating and manual color balance adjustment. The pixel density is 294 per inch, which gives a clear picture if you don’t pick at it and don’t bring the screen to your eyes. Viewing angles were average for an IPS display. At the same time, at an angle the image turns slightly yellow. Brightness varies from 14 cd/m2 to 397 cd/m2, for comparison, Honor 5X can produce about 500 cd/m2. For darkness this is excessive brightness, but in the sun the display remains readable. The oleophobic coating is weak - fingerprints remain on the display. The smartphone has a brightness sensor, and with it an auto-brightness function. There is no glove mode, but the screen senses touches when wearing thin fabric gloves. In general, the display is rather of average quality, but for 9,000 rubles it is an excellent screen.
Camera
If you want an inexpensive smartphone with a really good camera, then the Huawei Honor 4C is for you. It has a 13 MP camera with autofocus, flash and image quality that matches the declared resolution. The level of detail is high, noise appears only when shooting in the dark. The camera works well with light, and in case of darkness or overexposure, it automatically turns on the HDR mode (increasing the detail of shadowed and overexposed areas of the frame). The maximum photo resolution is 4208x3120 pixels, there is panoramic shooting, focus adjustment in different areas of the frame, and a face “decoration” mode. The main camera shoots Full HD video (1920x1080 pixels) at 30 frames per second, stereo sound and autofocus tracking.
The 5 MP front camera is perfect for selfie lovers. The maximum photo resolution from the front camera is 2592x1952 pixels, and it also shoots HD video for video calls.
Photos from Huawei Honor 4C camera - 3.5
Photos from the front camera of Huawei Honor 4C - 3.5
Working with text - 5.0
Along with the standard Android keyboard, the Huawei Honor 4C comes pre-installed with a functional Swype keyboard. Thanks to it and the large diagonal of the display, it is convenient to type texts on the phone. It supports continuous word input. The keys have additional symbol markings. The only inconvenient thing is switching between languages - you have to hold down the spacebar, wait a little and select the desired language in the pop-up list. You can choose different designs for the keyboard and adjust its height for convenient use. If you're more used to using Google's standard keyboard, you can select it in your Language and Input settings.
Internet - 3.0
The Huawei Honor 4C phone comes pre-installed with several browsers: the standard Browser, Opera and Google Chrome. Each with its own settings and capabilities. All three browsers have “one-shot” (to the selected size) and automatic text fitting, traffic reduction, tab synchronization, Incognito mode and much more. We tested the smartphone's performance with browsers: it copes well with Internet surfing with several tabs open.
Communications - 1.0
The Huawei Honor 4C smartphone supports a standard set of interfaces: Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), A-GPS with GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP profile. The smartphone does not have LTE support. You can note the work with two Micro-SIM cards at once and the Micro-USB 2.0 connector; it supports USB-host for connecting peripheral devices.
Multimedia - 4.2
During our tests, we highly appreciated the multimedia capabilities of Huawei Honor 4C. It supports a large number of audio and video formats. The only audio files it did not play were AC-3 and DTS formats. Of the video formats, the phone played MP4, MPG, TS, MOV, MKV, AVI, etc., only 2K and 4K video did not play. A nice little thing is that when taking photos, the smartphone does not turn off the music in the player, as is often the case. At the same time, the built-in players turned out to be poor in settings and special features.
Battery - 2.6
Based on the results of our tests, we can call the operating time of Huawei Honor 4C quite low. It lasted 6 hours in the video test at maximum display brightness, which is good for its price tag. But in player mode it discharged quite quickly: it lasted only 41 hours (almost like the Huawei P9 Lite) and turned off. In average usage (1 movie per day, an hour of gaming, several calls, browsing, music, etc.), the smartphone barely lasted us a day. When playing games, the battery practically melts before our eyes - 10 minutes of playing NOVA 3 consumes 7-8% of the charge.
There are several power consumption modes - “normal” (games, online videos), “smart” (everyday use) and “energy saving”. In the latter mode, the image becomes black and white, the brightness is noticeably reduced, and only calls, SMS messages and the contact list remain available.
Performance - 2.1
The Huawei Honor 4C's performance is good for its price tag. The smartphone is equipped with a proprietary 64-bit mid-range HiSilicon Kirin 620 processor. It has an impressive number of cores - 8 at once, but they operate at a low frequency - 1.2 GHz. At the same time, Honor 4C is equipped with 2 GB of RAM; not every budget employee can boast of such characteristics. In daily use, the smartphone does not slow down, applications work quickly, and there is enough RAM for browsing with several open tabs. The phone easily runs demanding games such as NOVA 3, Modern Combat 5. In tests, they loaded quickly, but did not always run smoothly. Dead Trigger 2 was only able to launch once. On subsequent attempts, the game simply crashed at the loading stage. Asphalt 8 had to lower the graphics settings. At the same time, we note that during the first launch we observed artifacts in it - layering of various frames on top of each other. We were unable to repeat this “bug” with subsequent launches.
In benchmarks, the smartphone received scores typical for mid-range hardware - about 27,000 in AnTuTu and 5,100 in Ice Storm Unlimited from 3DMark.
Memory - 3.5
For data storage, Huawei Honor 4C has 8 GB of memory, of which only 3.3 GB is available to the user. The volume can be expanded using a microSD memory card (up to 32 GB). The memory card is hot-swappable; moreover, you can install games and applications on it.
Peculiarities
The main feature of the device is its low price - usually phones with such characteristics cost one and a half times more. The Huawei Honor 4C smartphone runs Android 4.4 OS and its own EMUI 3.0 shell. There is no information about updating to Android 5.0 Lollipop. The device supports 2 SIM cards. It has a removable cover but a non-removable battery. Among the pre-installed software, we note the file manager and phone manager, which monitors applications and allows you to clean your smartphone of unnecessary files. Huawei Honor 4C has some control tricks: turning on the screen by double-tapping, turning off the incoming call signal by turning the smartphone over. In addition, you can launch the desired application by drawing the corresponding letter on the switched off display. This is already interesting: the screen recognizes four patterns - you can draw the letters C, E, M and W and one of the applications will launch on your smartphone. Which one you can choose in the settings. By default, these are the camera, browser, music and weather, respectively.
Huawei is one of the old-timers in the mobile market. Perhaps this is why it differs significantly from many Chinese device developers in its policies, approach and product quality. This is why customers value it so highly.
It can be seen that in order to successfully sell their smartphones, Huawei has tried a lot of strategies. One of them is the release of an independent line of devices under a new brand. In particular, we are talking about the Huawei Honor 4C phone. This is what we will be looking at in today’s review.
In our country, Honor is associated with the Huawei brand and, of course, does not independently promote itself among consumers; whereas the company itself strongly advertises this product as a separate development, an independent brand that produces devices.
Model Positioning
It’s immediately worth noting that the phone was released in April 2015. At the time of its debut, it was so in demand that in the stores where sales were carried out, a temporary shortage of devices began - they were bought faster than they were brought to the warehouse. And this is not surprising!
In the process of preparing the review, we studied more than one and in the eyes of people was identified as an affordable solution with high-tech equipment, worthy of attention. The model is actually functional, reliable, well-assembled and at the same time inexpensive. At the time of sale, the price for Huawei Honor 4C was set at 9,000 rubles. Some mobile market experts believe that this was a promotional price aimed at popularizing the smartphone, its advertising, so to speak; but the price ultimately did not increase.
Appearance
What can you say about the design of the device? First of all, the phone, like many other Huawei products, is presented in a design typical for this company, but somewhat not original. This is a simple “brick”, decorated with a pseudo-metallic surface with a texture dotted with intersecting grooves (the latter occurs on the back cover). Apart from this feature, nothing unusual can be found here.
Despite the fact that the design is very reminiscent of “noname smartphones,” the Huawei Honor 4C (8 GB) feels good in the hand. Probably, the whole point is not only in the correctly selected shape, but also in the materials of the case.
The front panel is completely covered with glass: according to the technical specifications, this is 3 (a coating more resistant to shocks, scratches and other types of damage). On the side faces there is traditionally a button for changing the sound, as well as a key for locking the screen. The back panel of Huawei Honor 4C (Black modification and other colors) contains a barely noticeable Honor inscription and a camera eye with flash, highlighted by a special metal plate. At the bottom of the panel you can also see the speaker - many small holes were made above it.
If you buy a Huawei Honor 4C phone on the official website, you can get the model in white and black variations; There is also a gold version, although you can’t buy it on the Russian market.
Screen
The device is presented in the hottest category of 5-inch smartphones today. With a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels, the phone has a good display density (294 ppi). This allows us to talk about the high clarity of the picture on the screen, giving it a “5” rating. The Huawei Honor 4C smartphone can serve as a player for high-quality films, for example. It’s almost impossible to see the grain here. And, of course, no one will do this on purpose.
The color rendering and viewing angles of the model are also fine - this was confirmed by more than one review left on the Internet. Huawei Honor 4C has several functions that can make working with a smartphone in a dark room (where minimal brightness is required) and, conversely, in sunlight more comfortable.
In addition, there is also the option to customize the screen display to your liking. To do this, the phone menu provides a number of options, each of which can be configured.
CPU
Regarding Huawei devices (Honor 4C 8 GB also applies), it should be noted that they are equipped with hardware individually developed by the company for its products. We are talking about HiSilicon Kirin 620, running on 8 cores. Their clock frequency is 1.2 GHz. And in conjunction with it, a graphics engine (Mali T-450 MP4) also functions.
Thanks to this connection, the device can really be called quite fast in terms of interaction at the everyday level. That is, the smartphone does not glitch if you scroll through the menu on it, open certain applications, leave them in others, and so on.
It is important to note that some performance problems can be encountered on “cumbersome” (in terms of graphics) games. This is where you need to be prepared for the fact that the phone may simply not reproduce any of them.
operating system
The smartphone runs on Android. Surprisingly, at the time of the device’s debut, the current modification was version 5.0, while the developers decided to use 4.4.2 as a basis. At the visual level, the buyer was presented with their own graphical shell, EMUI, which has some differences from “naked” Android. In particular, this applies not only to the presence of some additional applications, but also to the design of menus, windows, transitions and other things.
As another example of the manifestation of such “individualism” of this UI, we can cite a multimedia player developed specifically for Huawei.
Camera
As shown by every review left about the device, Huawei Honor 4C has a 13-megapixel camera (as the main one) and a 5-megapixel front camera. The quality of their filming can be neither bad nor good. Rather, these are typical cameras of mid-range devices. During shooting, it was also noticeable that in the automatic setting mode the smartphone does not maintain color balance well: separately, you can notice the not entirely accurate reproduction of colors in a dark room. Sometimes even a flash doesn’t save you from this, and sometimes it just makes it worse. Therefore, the camera installed on the Huawei Honor 4C smartphone (8 GB) can be used for periodic snapshots, but this device definitely cannot be called a “camera phone”.
Battery
An important nuance that we cannot help but be interested in in Huawei Honor 4C (Black and White versions) is its performance. How long a phone can last on a single battery charge directly affects the user’s attitude towards it. Indeed, in fact, on the road or somewhere in a place without access to the network, only the “endurance” factor can determine the “life” of a smartphone.
The manufacturer installed a battery with a capacity of 2550 mAh on the Huawei Honor 4C 8 GB smartphone. This is not very much: for a device with such functionality, such a battery is enough for 5-6 hours of video playback, 10 for working with mobile Internet, 20 for use with various functions on an everyday level.
Connection
The official name of the device we are describing is Huawei Honor 4C Dual Sim. Already from it we can conclude that the smartphone has the function of supporting work with two SIM cards simultaneously, which undoubtedly gives the user enhanced communication capabilities.
Both cards can receive signals in 2G/3G/4G format. In addition to regular mobile communications, there is also support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals. In addition to all of the above, we can mention the navigation capabilities of the smartphone, support for GPS and GLONASS systems.
05.08.2016
Out of time
Sometimes you catch yourself thinking that you would gladly buy this or that device and take it into your service. Possible usage scenarios pop into your head, and when you study it in absentia, sitting at the monitor, you see nothing but the undeniable advantages of your potential gadget in comparison with the current one. But then the mind takes over, and you begin to look for pitfalls, pay attention to obvious or hidden shortcomings, and in the end you come to real comparisons and conclusions. Conclusions: what real advantages over your current smartphone will you get if you choose a new one?! And here, in general, it turns out that yet another idea to change your fully functional gadget for something, as at first it seemed more advanced, fails and turns out to be hopelessly pointless. Because the current everyday smartphone at the moment largely or completely suits me.
Sometime before
Day after day, my pocket is weighed down by the large and heavy Zenfone 2 ZE550ML, having chosen which, I clearly understood what I would have to face. But if the transition from Moto G 2013 to Asus was completely justified in all respects, then where should I go next when I have at my disposal, in principle, a device that is productive for me, a non-gamer?!
When two gigabytes of RAM is enough, is it worth looking for 3 or 4?! When the built-in storage leaves me with 11 gigs, and the slot allows me to expand them up to 64, do I need to think about an increase in this indicator too?! When cameras produce good and even good shots for me personally, there is a risk of completely changing my “phone camera” to something indigestible in terms of the resulting images. When the other indicators of my smartphone are also at a decent level, is it worth improving each of them separately?! Even the compromise display resolution of 720p on 5.5 inches and the huge dimensions of the device itself are not upsetting, I’m already used to them, what else can I dream about?! Can you guess?!
That's right, this is autonomy. While I'm hopefully waiting by the sea for the weather, that is, updating the system to version 6.0, never ceasing to believe until the very end that at least something will be fixed there, the battery continues to mercilessly lose its capacity from charging twice a day. Not every day, but quite often this is how many times a day I have to top up the battery on my Zenfone 2.
Now, imagine, the “savior” comes to the fore - Huawei Honor 4C Pro, a more recent version of last year’s affordable smartphone. Here, it seems to you that everything is in order with the parameters, even the thickness does not bother you, my Asus is still a donut. And when all this beauty is included in a five-inch case, it seems that I have found the ideal solution. But... remember what I wrote about at the beginning?! That's right, my mind spoke to me and I began to slowly reject this idea. Until a certain day.
The day before the first day
Unexpectedly, one of my friends decided to exchange gadgets for a while. At that time, he became interested in one of my devices, and he, in turn, offered last year’s Honor 4C. Not without some doubts, I began to think: why do I need this?! Alleged scenarios for further events began to enter my head almost immediately: if I agree, I will spend a month or two with it as my main communication device and, based on it, I will finally decide whether I need the same smartphone, only in the Pro version.
There are two options! I didn’t like Honor - I’m just changing back, taking from all this some experience of using Honor brand smartphones, and forming my own view of this cohort of devices. Even if one copy does not equal the entire line, I will at least have an idea about them. Second - I liked Honor 4C. I again gain some experience, draw conclusions and... again return my smartphone and the hero of the review to its rightful owner, after which I go to the store for the Pro version.
So I decided to accept the offer.
Day 1. Receipt
The device that I intended to receive, according to the owner, must be relatively new, about three months from the date of purchase, it has not seen a fall on the asphalt, has not been in the hands of a service center employee, and has not even been swum in shallow water. I just had to find out how things are in reality.
Finally, I have a smartphone in my hands. It's included, but I want to look at its appearance first. In appearance, the phone looks like an unremarkable block with a plastic cover decorated to look like some kind of fabric. It fits into your hand like a glove, it doesn’t feel heavy or light, it weighs as much as it looks. The back surface is corrugated with a fine notch, it is pleasant to the touch, I like this approach, it is much better than the boring soft-touch and plastic pseudo-skin. Touch marks on the case are visible, but not in huge quantities. The Honor logo, shiny and slightly recessed, turns out to be completely contaminated with banal dust.
Noteworthy is the absence of scratches on the glass, which are especially noticeable under the scorching sun. According to the owner, he shot the film quite recently, but it doesn’t matter to me whether he’s telling the truth or not. If so, then it means that I have a perfect-looking screen, albeit one that mercilessly collects fingerprints, but is clearly coated with some kind of simple coating for easy sliding. If his words are not true, then the glass is what we need, it does not collect scratches from scratch, and you can safely discard the films.
Out of habit, I tap the protective glass twice, but, to my surprise, nothing happens. It’s strange, according to reviews it’s also possible to unlock the display, the checkbox should be unchecked in the menu, then I’ll check. But even so, the power button fits exactly under the thumb of the right hand or under the index finger of the left. It protrudes well above the body, but does not have a clear move and, unfortunately, shakes slightly, but I would not call this a drawback as such. Volume adjustment is also convenient, and the rocker is again in my favorite place - just above the power key. The remaining elements are scattered throughout the body in the usual sequence. The camera is in the back corner, the connectors are on top and bottom, as is usually the case. Nothing broken, broken, or loose, the phone was used carefully. I don’t see any compartments for a SIM card - the case is collapsible.
But removing the back cover, which also covers the ends, is not so easy. It holds tightly, and the manufacturer did not provide any recesses for prying. What to do with it and how to open it?! Yes, as it turns out, there is no temptation to remove the lid again, but every trip inside is a whole story. History, however, does not pretend to be repeated often. I haven’t installed a flash drive yet, but a SIM card to check the quality of the connection, yes. There are three compartments in total: two micro-SIMs, and one for a memory card. I didn’t like the strangely designed slots at all; not only is it impossible to understand how deep the cards need to be pushed, but you also won’t be able to pull anything out of these compartments without a sharp object. Yes, this is not an everyday story, set it and forget it, but even with this calculation, Huawei, why make it so inconvenient?!
Under the scorching sun, the screen becomes hopelessly dim, as if it lacks brightness and is at best set to half the average maximum value. Imagine my surprise when I observe that this is the highest threshold. It’s not that nothing is visible on the screen at all - it is visible, but the image noticeably fades under bright rays, more than on most smartphones I’ve come across.
Most likely, such restrictions were not imposed by chance, but in order to save the vital resources of the device. So that the user does not feel discriminated against, Huawei decided to partly alleviate the blame for the reduced brightness with some strange option - “increasing image clarity in the sun.” I must admit that the move is not the best, because this “increase in clarity” entails a qualitative decrease in the picture. It feels like someone played around with filters in a photo editor and passed off the result as some kind of know-how.
This is where my acquaintance with the phone ends. First impressions are mixed, but there are a number of pleasant points: the convenience of the case goes without saying.
Day 2. First setup and memory
Some time has passed since I received it, just in case, I reset the settings again, installed the most unusual applications - nothing interesting, it will take a long time to fully study it.
From the first minutes of use, Honor 4C gives the impression of a high-quality device that is worth its money. At home, brightness is no longer so critical, but a decent picture is noticeable, with decent viewing angles, a clear and responsive sensor - everything that owners first pay attention to is captivating with its high-quality performance.
But behind the external embellishments lies the inside of the smartphone, which, by the way, is not as incredibly good as its exterior.
We are, of course, talking about the amount of memory on board the device. If the operating system was in complete order, not only in nominal terms, but also in real values, then with the constant data there was clearly a confusion, and quite a significant one at that.
I’ll start with the pleasant thing, namely with the fact that out of 2 gigs for the user’s needs, even after installing all the necessary programs, there is still 1.1 GB left, which is generally fantastic for a green robot redrawn beyond recognition by the manufacturer. The result truly inspires respect, and if the built-in storage supported the successes of the RAM module, then I would be able to close my diary now and recommend the Honor 4C for purchase. Of the eight installed gigabytes, in reality I see only 3.65 GB, and they are already half occupied out of the box. In total, if you buy a smartphone from last year, but a fairly modern one (look at its technical characteristics again), you get only 2 gigabytes of permanent memory! Two!
I can already see how many readers are quickly losing interest in this device and closing my story, but to those who still decided to stay, I express my deep gratitude for their attention and continue.
At first, the picture I saw amazed me. Until now, I considered devices with 8 nominal gigabytes of internal storage to be quite suitable for real life. Today I begin to notice the opposite and understand that not only a full-fledged Windows system can grow by more than half of the internal memory, but also the familiar Android to all of us.
I immediately noted that in the system settings there is an option: installation on an external card by default. But it works, I must say, not the way we expect. A heavy game without the ability to download and unpack directly on the internal memory, the smartphone automatically places it on an external drive, traditionally leaving some crumbs inside the device. But applications have to be transferred manually, and many software, as you know, cannot do this, and therefore it turns out that 2 GB is left for almost all the software you installed! With this download to the SD card, Huawei is again trying to make amends to users, but what prevented him from simply not messing up, please tell me?!
A cry from the heart is not the best place to describe a technical device, but without emotions you can’t really talk about such a smartphone.
Day 3. Attention to detail
Now I don’t even remember when I first managed to experience the beauty of the notification indicator. This tiny LED has become a truly simple and ingenious solution for both network-dependent people and time-conscious users. No need for a second screen, special curves on the main display, or windows inside the case - a simple LED indicator surpasses all other options with its elegance and energy efficiency. But the most precious twinkling light is the one that can shine in different colors and is customizable inside the smartphone. My new gadget carries exactly this irreplaceable feature, but not to its fullest extent. Unfortunately, the color of the glow is not customizable, but it can flicker in different shades. So over time you just get used to the way the LED lights up when you miss one action or another.
The smartphone menu includes a very important item related to notifications, which is called their center. In it, you can assign call signs from any of the installed applications in detail: whether to display them in a pop-up window, on the lock screen, etc.
Returning to the ergonomics of the smartphone body, I’ve been holding the Honor 4C in my hands for a couple of days now and I can say that it doesn’t lie as nicely and comfortably as the Wileyfox Swift that recently came to my attention. The smartphone, which caused a lot of noise mainly because of its price, turned out to be so convenient that you don’t want to let it go. Having experienced some of the slipperiness and angularity of the Huawei smartphone in comparison, I still can’t call it a failure. It is moderately comfortable and about as good looking.
And to make it look really good, I decided to take a toothpick and a small piece of tape to clean the rear Honor logo from the dust that had settled into the recesses of the letters. One toothpick only collected dirt into a pile, but hardly pulled it out of the “gutter.” That's when I needed some tape, which, to my surprise, stuck part of the shiny "h" on itself. Either I chose the wrong method, or the inscription was applied so carelessly - there is only one conclusion. This logo on the back began to irritate me even more.
Afterwards I tried to bring all the letters to a single denominator and tear out all the shiny coating from the inscription, but my attempts were unsuccessful. The rest of the logo remains in place, prominently highlighting the tattered first letter.
I don't see anything wrong with dedicated system keys. Even though many will argue with me and say that the return key should be on the right, I will not agree with them and will continue to say the opposite.
The “back” touch button, by the way, is the only one that does not involve launching another function when held for a long time. In contrast, the home screen key can bring up Google search, and the right button turns out to be not a list of applications at all. A short click on the square opens the menu in those applications where it exists, and only a long press shows the last running programs. Unfortunately, it is not possible to configure this key and change, for example, the purpose of this button. The buttons, by the way, are drawn and are perfectly visible in the light, but are absolutely invisible in the dark, due to the lack of backlighting underneath them.
And the last detail, discussed during the meeting, is a double tap to unlock. It is still there, and with it, support for gestures on a locked display. There are not many letters, but they are all very clear and it is impossible to get confused in them. C - for example, is great for the camera. Just locking the display by tapping on an empty space will no longer work. This feature of many modern devices is not implemented by Huawei in this model.
From the lock screen you can pull out not only the top curtain, but also a small row of icons at the bottom. Four shortcuts launch the voice recorder, calculator, flashlight and camera.
Day 4. Negotiations
Five inches is the golden mean in our time, because it is this diagonal that both “Internet-dependent” users and those constantly sitting on a “telephone wire” focus on.
The day of negotiations has arrived. I decided to call everyone with whom I had not communicated for a long time, and just find out some news from friends personally, without expecting another correspondence on social networks. The Honor 4C is worth praising for the call quality. The voice speaker is very clear and there is plenty of volume reserve. You can safely enter into a long debate even with “whisperers,” that is, with those acquaintances who for some reason constantly speak very quietly into the phone. You don't have to ask again. Even when approaching noisy roads, I could not complain about the sound in the speech speaker. I haven’t tried just going to the train station to talk next to the approaching train, but I think that’s unnecessary.
It was also unnecessary because the interlocutors were not always happy with the fact that I was talking to them from the street. Even a barely perceptible wind can be heard by the person on the other end of the line, and this despite the fact that the device has a microphone for noise reduction.
Huawei is trying its best to solve this borderline situation with sound quality during a conversation in its favor with software. The dialer application pleases with its simple implementation, contacts are also concise, and there are no complaints about SMS. It’s interesting that if there are three icons on the desktop: phone, contacts and messages, it’s all one application, just different tabs.
The menu when calling, on the contrary, is replete with a scattering of proposed actions. The only thing missing is that you can record calls without leaving the place of negotiations, but the speakerphone and other functions are well known and expected.
Managing the operating parameters of both SIM cards is in the smartphone settings. We won’t find any actions different from stock Android here; the menu is simply redrawn to suit the entire interface.
The phone, unfortunately, does not support LTE at all. Despite the fact that this is not a smartphone-making dinosaur, it is still quite a relevant solution, officially sold by Huawei for 10 thousand rubles. Not everyone, of course, will take advantage of this 4G, but without it it’s very poor.
At first I didn’t find anything special in it, well, it’s just a shell and a shell. Having inherited some techniques from related Chinese firmware like MiUI and Flyme, EMUI has still become very recognizable, and Huawei cannot be accused of directly copying its competitors. But there are very few fresh ideas here, if any at all.
I don’t want to burden my review with a full review of the shell; I will only note my subjective advantages and disadvantages of this user interface.
I'll start unconventionally with the disadvantages, and the first of them is the control keys. It’s quite difficult to retrain yourself to launch the list of recently running applications by holding the “Square” button for a long time. Moreover, I didn’t find any standard ways to change its purpose with a short press on my smartphone. It would be great to set a long hold to launch a menu, which, to be honest, I don’t need at all.
The second unpleasant moment concerns the curtain, which, much to our disappointment, does not launch from anywhere on the screen. Instead, after swiping from top to bottom, an application search window on the smartphone appears in the middle of the screen. The curtain is not shared, but divided into two tabs, and the notification panel is lowered by default. You can get to icons by swiping to the right, as well as return to notifications by swiping back. Hence, often, when trying to add brightness by dragging the slider in the curtain, I do not achieve the desired result. The smartphone understands this as a swipe from left to right and takes me to the notification menu.
The default font of the system is too small; I think not every person, even with eagle eyesight, will like such small signatures. In the settings, the font, of course, can be changed to large, in general, which is what I did, but, unfortunately, individual interface elements did not increase in size, for example, pop-up notifications.
Among the positive aspects of the shell, I would especially like to note the work on autonomy, which offers an abundance of energy saving modes and permissive and prohibitive rules for each application to be in the background, receive notifications, etc.
The abundance of themes and the presence of their own catalog allows you to colorize the boring look of Android; however, removable themes are far from exclusive to this shell.
Huawei’s traditional simplified smartphone management mode, which involves launching a kind of launcher that is understandable even to older people, has not disappeared anywhere.
But, probably, the main advantage of EMUI is its weight in working order. Yes, the firmware eats up the lion's share of the permanent memory, but it is very economical in terms of operational memory, which benefits the phone's performance.
Otherwise, the shell from Huawei is just another variation on the external appearance of the system without any special advantages over other user interfaces. Compared to MiUI or even heavy ZenUI, in my opinion, EMUI loses in functionality, appearance and the number of customizable areas.
Day 8. Walk
The first competitor that comes to mind is a smartphone from the reborn company Fly - Wileyfox Swift, which recently appeared on the Russian market for 9 thousand rubles. There is little in common between these devices, just take the fact that the Fox was originally conceived as a very cheap device for a set of characteristics on board and over time only became more expensive, while Honor, on the contrary, is going to reduce the cost. The undeniable advantages of Swift are an extra 8 GB of storage space, a fresh green robot, and even with Cyanogen, which for me is just a big plus, good display brightness and a more convenient case, 4G support, finally. Of the minuses - slow memory. By camera and battery - parity. If I were buying a smartphone today, then, of course, I would choose the updated Fly, if only because it has more memory.
I am only familiar with the rest of the competitors in absentia and there were no pitfalls in their line of sight, but in any case, rivals with a 2/16 memory set will have an advantage, regardless of whose blood they are. So, buying last year’s budget phone from Meizu looks much more advantageous. The M2 Mini model is distinguished by an abundance of colors on the back cover and also a very interesting software shell. And those who love autonomy can pay around a thousand rubles extra and purchase the Highscreen Power Ice model, which largely replicates the appearance and concept of Xiaomi Redmi 3. I’m generally silent about the latter, because buying it (or Redmi 3S, it doesn’t matter) looks even more attractive. The only problem is with the warranty. If you're lucky, you can try to find a seller in the Russian Federation who provides their own on-network guarantee, and if this reassures you, then you can completely trust a non-certified phone.
You can easily add the Asus ZenFone Go ZC500TG smartphone to the list of competitors. The Taiwanese computer giant has recently released so many different types of public sector employees that there is simply no strength to sort them out. At first I liked the Zenfone, and I am also a regular user of the second generation of Asus smartphones. As practice shows, the Taiwanese simply relax on inexpensive phones, so I wouldn’t risk recommending Zenfone instead of Honor.
If you wish, you can also find inexpensive models on sale from ZTE, Alcatel, Lenovo and other strong market players, so purchasing a model for the summer of 2016 is not very promising.
Three weeks later
At first, the lack of memory weighed on me, rather, morally. Timely clearing the cache and manually moving programs to an external drive saved me, but after almost a month of use, the memory ran out. The warning that the phone's memory is full stopped disappearing from the notification panel, I lost the ability to update installed software, and downloading new software became pointless. Although I didn’t install even a tenth of the programs that I had on my main smartphone here, only the very, very necessary ones.
The second unpleasant moment was the back cover, which not only catches fingerprints, but also collects scratches too easily. I managed to install two pieces without much hassle.
Thus, after almost a month, I finally realized that this phone is not for me and I am also not going to buy its upgraded version. I don’t know why, but I don’t like the Honor brand, at least in the fourth revision. Honor 5C is much more interesting, it has a larger screen, but is not bloated into a phablet, and the body is made of noble materials and the battery initially has more impressive parameters than in the current one.
The only thing that bothers me is the increase in price of the line from model to model. If the Honor 3C for its price of 9 thousand rubles was quite interesting, then the 4C Pro for its starting price is almost not attractive. New product number five promises to be very suitable and modern, but the starting price of 14 thousand is no longer budget-friendly. It’s sad to see how good quality for modest money is systematically flowing into the middle class.
A month later. Final conclusion
When launching the next Honor model in Russia, Huawei is trying to attract special attention to it, offering future users to purchase at a slightly better price than retail, and giving small but very useful little things in addition. Phones are imported in small quantities, thereby creating an artificial shortage. And everything would be fine, but I still didn’t see anything stunning in the previous year’s model, well imagining in my head the state-of-the-art dream car of spring 2015, so that I could run to the store for this copy or wait for the next batch in online sales. The company only takes advantage of its impeccable reputation, good price and decent characteristics, burying the shortcomings of its models.
Summarizing my own experience of using the Honor 4C, with all my generally positive attitude towards this model, I cannot call it optimal and well-balanced. When the lack of permanent memory constantly makes itself felt, when the screen is hopelessly dim in the sun, and this does not provide a proper increase in autonomy, when the back surface is extremely impractical (it constantly collects fingerprints and scratches, and dirt gets stuck in the logo), when the smartphone heats up in vain, when for 10 thousand rubles you do not get support for 4G networks, these shortcomings pale in comparison the rest are quite strong points, such as a lot of RAM or a good camera, fast operation and good performance... There is no need to talk about any balance between them, the advantages do not overshadow the list of disappointments mentioned above, alas.
In the summer of 2016, I would risk not recommending the Honor 4C for purchase, even in the context of its slightly dropped price. A wide variety of more balanced models than this one have appeared on the market. Even competitors from last year are doing quite well, such as Meizu M2 Mini, for example. Would I have sung differently if I had become the owner of this gadget last year?! I think not, but I would constantly look at replacing it.
The device is rated 6/10, nothing outstanding. A typical middle peasant with his own pitfalls.
Denis Pervukhin
Information about the make, model, and alternative names of the specific device, if available.
Design
Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, colors offered, certificates.
| Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 71.9 mm (millimeters) 7.19 cm (centimeters) 0.24 ft (feet) 2.83 in (inches) |
| Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 143.3 mm (millimeters) 14.33 cm (centimeters) 0.47 ft (feet) 5.64 in (inches) |
| Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units of measurement. | 8.8 mm (millimeters) 0.88 cm (centimeters) 0.03 ft (feet) 0.35 in (inches) |
| Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement. | 162 g (grams) 0.36 lbs 5.71 oz (ounces) |
| Volume The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. | 90.67 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 5.51 in³ (cubic inches) |
| Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale. | Black White Golden Pink Blue |
| Materials for making the case Materials used to make the device body. | Plastic |
SIM card
The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.
Mobile networks
A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.
| GSM GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is designed to replace the analogue mobile network (1G). For this reason, GSM is often called a 2G mobile network. It is improved by the addition of GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), and later EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technologies. | GSM 850 MHz GSM 900 MHz GSM 1800 MHz GSM 1900 MHz |
| CDMA CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) is a channel access method used in communications in mobile networks. Compared to other 2G and 2.5G standards like GSM and TDMA, it provides higher data transfer speeds and the ability to connect more consumers at the same time. | CDMA 800 MHz (CL00) |
| TD-SCDMA TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) is a 3G mobile network standard. It is also called UTRA/UMTS-TDD LCR. It was developed as an alternative to the W-CDMA standard in China by the Chinese Academy of Telecommunications Technology, Datang Telecom and Siemens. TD-SCDMA combines TDMA and CDMA. | TD-SCDMA 1880-1920 MHz (TL00; UL00) TD-SCDMA 2010-2025 MHz (TL00; UL00) |
| UMTS UMTS is an abbreviation for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. It is based on the GSM standard and belongs to 3G mobile networks. Developed by 3GPP and its biggest advantage is providing greater speed and spectral efficiency thanks to W-CDMA technology. | UMTS 900 MHz (UL00) UMTS 2100 MHz (UL00) |
| LTE LTE (Long Term Evolution) is defined as a fourth generation (4G) technology. It is developed by 3GPP based on GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA to increase the capacity and speed of wireless mobile networks. The subsequent technology development is called LTE Advanced. | LTE 1800 MHz LTE 2100 MHz LTE-TDD 1900 MHz (B39) (TL00; UL00) LTE-TDD 2300 MHz (B40) (TL00; UL00) LTE-TDD 2500 MHz (B41) (CL00; TL00; UL00) LTE-TDD 2600 MHz (B38) (TL00; UL00) |
Mobile communication technologies and data transfer speeds
Communication between devices on mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data transfer rates.
Operating system
An operating system is a system software that manages and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.
SoC (System on Chip)
A system on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device on one chip.
| SoC (System on Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components, such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation. | Huawei HiSilicon KIRIN 620 |
| Technological process Information about the technological process by which the chip is manufactured. Nanometers measure half the distance between elements in the processor. | 28 nm (nanometers) |
| Processor (CPU) The primary function of a mobile device's processor (CPU) is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications. | ARM Cortex-A53 |
| Processor size The size (in bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of the registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have higher performance compared to 32-bit processors, which in turn are more powerful than 16-bit processors. | 64 bit |
| Instruction Set Architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute. | ARMv8-A |
| Number of processor cores The processor core executes software instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to be executed in parallel. | 8 |
| CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 1200 MHz (megahertz) |
| Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphics applications. In mobile devices, it is most often used by games, consumer interfaces, video applications, etc. | ARM Mali-450 MP4 |
| Number of GPU cores Like a CPU, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle graphics calculations for various applications. | 4 |
| GPU clock speed Running speed is the clock speed of the GPU, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 500 MHz (megahertz) |
| Amount of random access memory (RAM) Random access memory (RAM) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted. | 2 GB (gigabytes) |
| Type of random access memory (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device. | LPDDR3 |
Built-in memory
Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed capacity.
Memory cards
Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage capacity for storing data.
Screen
The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.
| Type/technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the quality of the information image directly depends. | IPS |
| Diagonal For mobile devices, screen size is expressed by the length of its diagonal, measured in inches. | 5 in (inches) 127 mm (millimeters) 12.7 cm (centimeters) |
| Width Approximate screen width | 2.45 in (inches) 62.26 mm (millimeters) 6.23 cm (centimeters) |
| Height Approximate screen height | 4.36 in (inches) 110.69 mm (millimeters) 11.07 cm (centimeters) |
| Aspect Ratio The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side | 1.778:1 16:9 |
| Permission Screen resolution shows the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. Higher resolution means clearer image detail. | 720 x 1280 pixels |
| Pixel Density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be displayed on the screen with clearer detail. | 294 ppi (pixels per inch) 115 ppcm (pixels per centimeter) |
| Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors that the screen can display. | 24 bit 16777216 flowers |
| Screen area Approximate percentage of screen area occupied by the screen on the front of the device. | 67.11% (percentage) |
| Other characteristics Information about other screen features and characteristics. | Capacitive Multi-touch |
Sensors
Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device can recognize.
Rear camera
The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its back panel and may be combined with one or more secondary cameras.
| Sensor model | Sony IMX214 Exmor RS |
| Sensor type | CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) |
| Sensor size | 4.69 x 3.52 mm (millimeters) 0.23 in (inches) |
| Pixel size | 1.127 µm (micrometers) 0.001127 mm (millimeters) |
| Crop factor | 7.38 |
| ISO (light sensitivity) The ISO value/number indicates the sensitivity of the sensor to light. Digital camera sensors operate within a specific ISO range. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the sensor is to light. | 100 - 1600 |
| Svetlosila | f/2 |
| Focal length | 3.66 mm (millimeters) 26.99 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame) |
| 5 | |
| Flash type The rear (rear) cameras of mobile devices mainly use LED flashes. They can be configured with one, two or more light sources and vary in shape. | LED |
| Image Resolution | 4160 x 3120 pixels 12.98 MP (megapixels) |
| Video resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels) |
| Video recording speed (frame rate) Information about the maximum recording speed (frames per second, fps) supported by the camera at maximum resolution. Some of the most basic video recording speeds are 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps. | 30fps (frames per second) |
| Characteristics Information about additional software and hardware features of the rear (rear) camera. | Autofocus Continuous shooting Digital zoom Digital image stabilization Geographical tags Panoramic photography HDR shooting Touch Focus Face recognition White Balance Adjustment ISO Setting Exposure compensation Self-timer Scene Selection Mode |
Front-camera
Smartphones have one or more front cameras of various designs - a pop-up camera, a rotating camera, a cutout or hole in the display, an under-display camera.
| Sensor model Information about the manufacturer and model of the sensor used by the camera. | OmniVision OV5648 |
| Sensor type Information about the camera sensor type. Some of the most widely used types of sensors in mobile device cameras are CMOS, BSI, ISOCELL, etc. | CMOS BSI+ |
| Sensor size Information about the dimensions of the photosensor used in the device. Typically, cameras with larger sensors and lower pixel densities offer higher image quality despite the lower resolution. | 3.67 x 2.74 mm (millimeters) 0.18 in (inches) |
| Pixel size Pixels are usually measured in microns. Larger pixels are able to capture more light and therefore provide better low-light photography and wider dynamic range than smaller pixels. On the other hand, smaller pixels allow for higher resolution while maintaining the same sensor size. | 1.435 µm (micrometers) 0.001435 mm (millimeters) |
| Crop factor The crop factor is the ratio between the dimensions of the full-frame sensor (36 x 24 mm, equivalent to a frame of standard 35 mm film) and the dimensions of the device's photosensor. The indicated number represents the ratio of the diagonals of the full-frame sensor (43.3 mm) and the photosensor of a particular device. | 9.44 |
| Svetlosila F-stop (also known as aperture, aperture, or f-number) is a measure of the size of a lens's aperture, which determines the amount of light entering the sensor. The lower the f-number, the larger the aperture and the more light reaches the sensor. Typically the f-number is specified to correspond to the maximum possible aperture of the aperture. | f/2.4 |
| Focal length Focal length indicates the distance in millimeters from the sensor to the optical center of the lens. Equivalent focal length (35mm) is the focal length of a mobile device camera equal to the focal length of a 35mm full-frame sensor, which will achieve the same viewing angle. It is calculated by multiplying the actual focal length of a mobile device's camera by the crop factor of its sensor. Crop factor can be defined as the ratio between the diagonals of a 35 mm full-frame sensor and the sensor of a mobile device. | 2.3 mm (millimeters) 21.72 mm (millimeters) *(35 mm / full frame) |
| line of sight The field of view shows how much of the scene in front of the camera will be captured. This depends not only on the focal length, but also on the size of the sensor. It can be calculated using the viewing angle of the optics and the crop factor of the sensor. The viewing angle is the angle between the two farthest diagonal points of the frame. | 88° (degrees) |
| Number of optical elements (lenses) Information about the number of optical elements (lenses) of the camera. | 4 |
| Image Resolution One of the main characteristics of cameras is resolution. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in an image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often list resolution in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions. | 2560 x 1920 pixels 4.92 MP (megapixels) |
| Video resolution Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record. | 1280 x 720 pixels 0.92 MP (megapixels) |
Audio
Information about the type of speakers and audio technologies supported by the device.
Radio
The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.
Location determination
Information about the navigation and location technologies supported by your device.
WiFi
Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless communication for transmitting data over close distances between various devices.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between various devices of different types over short distances.
USB
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.
Headphone jack
This is an audio connector, also called an audio jack. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Connecting devices
Information about other important connection technologies supported by your device.
Browser
A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.
Video file formats/codecs
Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode/decode digital video data.
Battery
Mobile device batteries differ from each other in their capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge necessary for their functioning.
| Capacity A battery's capacity indicates the maximum charge it can hold, measured in milliamp-hours. | 2550 mAh (milliamp-hours) |
| Type The type of battery is determined by its structure and, more precisely, the chemicals used. There are different types of batteries, with lithium-ion and lithium-ion polymer batteries being the most commonly used batteries in mobile devices. | Li-Ion (Lithium-ion) |
| 2G talk time 2G talk time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 2G network. | 25 h (hours) 1500 min (minutes) 1 days |
| 2G latency 2G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 2G network. | 500 h (hours) 30000 min (minutes) 20.8 days |
| 3G talk time 3G talk time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged during a continuous conversation on a 3G network. | 16 h (hours) 960 min (minutes) 0.7 days |
| 3G latency 3G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 3G network. | 500 h (hours) 30000 min (minutes) 20.8 days |
| 4G latency 4G standby time is the period of time during which the battery charge is completely discharged when the device is in stand-by mode and connected to a 4G network. | 250 h (hours) 15000 min (minutes) 10.4 days |
| Characteristics Information about some additional characteristics of the device's battery. | Fixed |
- Class: smartphone
- Form factor: monoblock
- Case materials: plastic
- Operating system: Google Android 4.4, EMUI 3.0 shell
- Network: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HSPA+
- Processor: 8 cores, Hi-Silicon Kirin 620
- RAM: 2 GB
- Data storage memory: 8 GB
- Interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset
- Screen: capacitive, IPS 5"" with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels
- Camera: 13/5 MP, flash
- Navigation: GPS, GLONASS
- Additionally: accelerometer, proximity and lighting sensors, FM radio
- Battery: non-removable, lithium-ion (Li-Ion) capacity 2550 mAh
- Dimensions: 143.3 x 71.9 x 8.8 mm
- Weight: 162 g
Contents of delivery
- Smartphone
- Charger
- USB cable
- Warranty card
- Quick User Guide
Introduction
In April this year, Huawei held a presentation of three smartphones in Russia: Honor 6 Plus, Honor 4X and Honor 4C. For those interested in checking them out without reading the full reviews, please follow the link below:
In the review of Huawei Honor 4X, I described in sufficient detail the positioning of the 4X and 4C - these are devices for those who want to get powerful hardware for relatively little money, at least now it’s difficult to find a device for 9,000 rubles with two gigabytes of RAM and 8- nuclear processor. I would like to repeat once again that the price will not change, despite rumors that Huawei allegedly carried out a promotion in order to attract more attention to itself and its gadgets, and would later raise the price of the 4X and 4C.
It should be noted that there is a slight shortage of these devices, so Honors are supplied to the online store in batches. The next one will be after the May holidays. And so, at the time of writing the review there were no devices available.
And further. The official comment on the question of how to correctly name Honor gadgets, with or without mentioning the company - simply Honor. So, for now, “Huawei” will be in the name: Huawei Honor 4C, Huawei Honor 4X, Huawei Honor 6 Plus and so on. However, Honor is no longer a line of devices, as it was before.
Design, dimensions, control elements
Externally, 4C and 4X are practically no different from each other, the difference can only be noticed in the dimensions: 143.3x71.9x8.8 mm for the younger model and 153x77x8.6 mm for the older one. Weight is approximately the same - 162 grams 4C and 170 grams 4X.
Honor 4C uses a slightly different plastic structure for the rear panel. If in 4X it resembled linen fabric, here the “pattern” is much simpler: transverse notches forming many diamonds, and the “Honor” inscription is not highlighted so large.
The rest of the device is a typical non-name “brick”. I think everyone understands what I mean.
The device is quite comfortable to use due to its compact size (yes, I think that with a screen diagonal of up to 5 inches the device can be considered compact), it fits well in the hand, the corners do not dig into the palms too much. The case is not slippery, but this is not due to the perforation on the back of the device, it’s just that the plastic itself is like that. The official website says that “the body of the smartphone is made of three-layer composite material,” “the screen occupies 76% of the front panel of the smartphone, and the logo on the back panel is inspired by traditional Chinese embroidery.”
The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. After a couple of weeks of active use of the 4C, nothing bad happened to the display: no scratches, no chips, no scuffs. There is an oleophobic coating, but it is not of the highest quality: even after wiping the surface of the screen with a microfiber cloth, a light residue may remain. The finger glides across the display without difficulty.
The official website sells two color options for Honor 4C: black and white. There is also gold, but not in Russia.
At the top center is the speech speaker. Its volume is average or slightly above average, the timbre is closer to high frequencies, and lacks low frequencies. The interlocutor can be heard clearly, but not too clearly.
To the right of the speaker is the front camera, to the left are light/proximity sensors, as well as an indicator of missed events.
Below the display are the typical Android buttons: Menu, Home and Back. They are made in the Lollipop style, marked with silver paint, and they do not have a backlight.
A micro-USB connector and a microphone are on the bottom, while on the top there is a single 3.5 mm audio output for headphones or a headset.
There are no elements on the left. On the right are the power button and the volume rocker. Comfortable.
On the reverse side there is a camera module and a flash on a separate “island”, a second microphone and a speaker from the bottom.
The case is collapsible. To remove the cover, you need to pry it over the micro-USB recess. On the left are two slots for micro-SIM cards, and between them is a connector for installing a memory card.
Huawei 4C and 4X (right)
Huawei and Meizu M1 Note
Display
This device uses a screen with a diagonal of 5 inches. Physical size – 62x110 mm, frame on top – 16 mm, bottom – 17 mm, on the right and left – approximately 4.5 mm. There is an anti-reflective coating, but it is not very effective.
The display resolution of Huawei Honor 4C is HD, that is, 1280x720 pixels, aspect ratio is 16:9, density is 294 pixels per inch. IPS matrix without air gap.
The maximum brightness of white color is 353 cd/m2, the maximum brightness of black color is 0.63 cd/m2. Contrast – 560:1.
The white line is the goal we are trying to achieve. The yellow line is the actual data on this screen. You can see that we are directly below the target curve, meaning that for every value between 0 and 100 the image is not bright enough. The yellow line is actually the average amount of red, green and blue.
The average gamma value is 2.4. The graph for a mobile screen is quite stable.
Judging by the levels graph, there is a slight excess of blue and a clear lack of red.
The temperature practically does not change depending on the brightness and is approximately 7500K.
Judging by the diagram, the data obtained does not quite correspond to the sRGB triangle. It is quite strongly shifted upward to the right.
The viewing angles are average, at certain angles you can even notice an inversion, not to mention the fact that we will see a more purple picture on the right, and a yellow one on the left.
If you don’t go into details, this is an extremely budget matrix with low performance.
Viewing Angles
Behavior in the sun
Illumination Uniformity
Battery
This model uses a non-removable lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery with a capacity of 2550 mAh. There is no official information about the operating time of the device, so we tested it ourselves:
- Playing 720p video (MP4) at maximum screen brightness and headphone volume – approximately 6 hours
- Browsing via Wi-Fi – about 18 hours
- Browsing via 3G – about 10 hours
- The total average operating time of the device (3G, calls, SMS, letters, Twitter) is approximately 20 hours.
Overall, the Honor 4C showed excellent results. The chipset, the capacious battery, and the low screen resolution all played a role here.
Communication capabilities
This model works in 2G (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and 3G (HSPA+ up to 42 Mbit/s) networks. Both SIM card slots operate in 2G/3G. Unlike Honor 4X, Honor 4C does not support LTE. There is also no NFC chip. The remaining parameters are the usual: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and GLONASS.
The official website says: “Laser technology and dual design improve signal reception - the antenna power is 3 dB higher than that of smartphones in this class, which guarantees stable communication in areas of poor network coverage. For higher efficiency, GPS and Wi-Fi antennas use special asymmetric technology.” Unfortunately or fortunately, I cannot confirm or refute these words - everything is typical for any similar device.
Memory and memory card
The developers did not skimp on RAM, so in this model you can find 2 GB of RAM. For a device costing 9,000 rubles, this is simply an excellent indicator.
Built-in memory 8 GB, about 5 GB available to the user. There is a slot for a microSD memory card. The maximum card capacity can be 32 GB.
Cameras
The main module is 13 MP (F2.0 aperture, 27 mm angle), the front module is 5 MP (F2.4 aperture, very wide angle 22 mm).
Apparently, Honor 4X and Honor 4C have the same camera modules, at least I didn’t notice much of a difference. It is possible that the automation in Honor 4C works a little worse: sometimes it misses the white balance, especially in low lighting conditions.
For a device that costs about 9,000 rubles, the footage obtained is quite at the level of smartphones costing 15,000 rubles.
The rear camera shoots video in FullHD resolution at 30 fps. The quality is ordinary, nothing interesting. The front camera shoots videos in HD quality.
Photo examples
Example photo with front camera
Performance
Huawei Honor 4C, in fact, like Honor 4X, uses HiSilicon Kirin 620 chipsets with eight processor cores. The configuration of this solution includes eight Cortex-A53 processor cores (28 nm process technology) with a frequency of up to 1.2 GHz and a Mali-T450 MP4 GPU.
In order not to repeat what was said in the Honor 4X review, I note that the 4C device is fast and not slow at all, there are no shell friezes. When it comes to performance in games, things are not so clear. Of course, most games run fine, but there are applications in which the number of frames decreases quite noticeably, and some effects disappear. For example, Dead Trigger 2 did not run at all on my sample. Honor 4X behaved similarly.
brief information
Performance tests
Software platform
The device runs on the Google Android operating system version 4.4.2. The shell uses a proprietary UI called EMUI version 3.0.
Multimedia
The Honor 4C smartphone is equipped with a standard music player of its own production. The volume of sound output through the speaker is quite high, the quality is good (the sound is loud and clear), at least there is no overload or wheezing.
The volume in the headphones is high. The quality is excellent. In the settings, you can easily turn on the melody playback mode with the DTS effect: the sound acquires more high and low frequencies.
- Affordable price
- Powerful processor
- Lots of RAM
- Great cameras
- Capacious battery
- Two SIM cards (both slots work in 3G)
- Good speakerphone
- High-quality sound in headphones
- Excellent case materials, good assembly
If you are looking for a smartphone under 10,000 rubles, then I recommend taking a closer look at the Huawei Honor 4C. For the money, the device turned out to be successful.
