Honor will be introducing a new midrange handset in the country this October 10, the Honor 8x. Huawei’s sub-brand will be bringing a new premium build budget handset with a large display and powered by the company’s own Kirin 710 chipset.
As we’ve seen powerful midrange handsets recently released in the market, a compare is a must. Going against the Honor 8x is one of the latest Samsung midrange devices, the Galaxy J8. Which new midrange handset has better display, battery, and memory? Let’s find out here.
| Phone | Honor 8x | Samsung Galaxy J8 |
| Display | 6.5-inch 2340p x 1080p LTPS display with 16,700,000 colors, 397 PPI, 19.5:9 widescreen, Multiple-point touch-sensitive screen | 6″ Super AMOLED display, 1480 x 720 resolution, 18.5:9 |
| Dimensions | 160.4mm x76.6 mm x7.8mm, 175g | 159.2 x 75.7 x 8.2 mm, 177g |
| Chipset | Kirin 710, Octa-Core (4 x Cortex-A73 2.2 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 1.7 GHz) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 |
| OS | Android 8.0 Oreo + Huawei EMUI 8.2 | Android 8.0 (Oreo) |
| GPU | Mali G51 | Adreno 506 |
| Memory | 4GB RAM, 128GB/64GB ROM (expandable up to 400GB via microSD card | 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage (expandable via microSD card) |
| Front Camera | 16-megapixel (F/2.0 aperture) front-facing camera | Dual: 16 MP (f/1.9) + 5MP |
| Rear Camera | 20-megapixel (F/1.8 aperture) + 2-megapixel dual-lens rear-facing camera with Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) | Dual: 16 MP (f/1.7) + 5 MP (f/1.9) LED flash |
| Battery | 3750 mAh | 3500 mAh |
Table of Contents
Design
At first glance, you’ll notice that Honor 8x somehow looks similar to Huawei’s Nova 3 and Nova 3i. It has a large display with ultra slim bezels on the sides and a notch at the top that houses the front-facing camera and some sensors. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy J8 has slightly thicker side bezels. The top bezel and bottom chin are thick compared to most midrange handsets today. Because it is notch-free, Samsung had to have a top bar for the sensors.
The Samsung Galaxy J8 is slightly heavier with a smaller display. Honor 8x has a somewhat larger display measuring 160.4mm x 76.6 mm x 7.8mm and weighs 175g while Samsung Galaxy J8’s display measures 159.2 x 75.7 x 8.2 mm and weighs 177g.
Honor 8x uses a metal middle frame and adopts a 2.5D double texture aurora glass body with a grating effect. Contrarily, the Samsung Galaxy J8 sports a glass front with a plastic frame.
These phones also vary in camera placements. The dual camera setup on the Samsung is at the upper middle of the handset with the LED flash sitting on its right side. The fingerprint scanner can be found on the rear, underneath the cameras. On the Honor 8x, the dual cameras are positioned vertically at the upper left part of the rear, accompanied by the LED flash.
Looking at the two handsets side by side, the Honor 8x looks more premium than the Galaxy J8, thanks to its aurora glass body. However, it is prone to fingerprint smudges unlike the Samsung Galaxy J8’s.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy J8 features a 6″ Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1480 x 720 pixels and an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. Its screen was bright enough and the colors were accurate when we tried watching movies and playing games. Furthermore, the colors don’t change when viewed from different angles.
Going to its competitor, the Honor 8x houses a 6.5-inch Full-View Display 2.0, and a 19.5:9 ratio in a 5.5-inch body. Its display also comes with the notch, which can be seen on most recently released handsets. Going to its resolution, the display of the Honor 8x also has a high 2340 x 1080 resolution. We liked watching movies and playing games on this device, and did not encounter viewing problems outside in broad daylight.
The Honor 8x undoubtedly has a brighter display than the Samsung Galaxy J8, with the latter leaning towards warmer hues compared to the lighter and cooler display tone of the Honor. It’s also more fun watching videos on the Honor handset because of its higher screen resolution of 2340 x 1080p. Nonetheless, the Galaxy J8 has a great display for its price as well.
Camera
For taking photos, the Honor 8x features a 20MP + 2MP dual-lens rear-facing camera. At the front, there’s a 16MP front-facing camera. While the Samsung Galaxy J8 sports a dual 16 MP + 5 MP rear camera and LED flash. It also has a 16 MP front camera. Here are some sample shots from both phones for comparison.
User Experience
The Samsung Galaxy J8 is powered by the Snapdragon 450 with an Adreno 506 GPU. It contains 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. In addition, the smartphone runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. As mentioned above, the Honor 8x is powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 710 chipset with two quad-core Cortex A53, coupled with Mali G51 GPU. This handset has 4GB of RAM paired with 128GB/64GB ROM, which is also expandable up to 400GB via microSD card. It runs on Android 8.0 Oreo + Huawei EMUI 8.2.
With regards to security, both smartphones sport a fingerprint scanner and a face unlock feature. The two security features of Samsung Galaxy J8 were easy to set up and work fast enough. However, the face unlock was slower than other midrange devices. Unfortunately, the handset can be unlocked even with the eyes closed. Also, the feature doesn’t work when the user is wearing eyeglasses.
In comparison, Honor 8x’s face unlock feature doesn’t work if the user’s eyes are closed, so you don’t have to worry about your phone getting unlocked when you’re asleep. It also works with eyeglasses on. We noticed too that Honor 8x’s face unlock and fingerprint scanner features are faster than that of Galaxy J8.
We also made sure to test the phones’ gaming performance. The games we played were Asphalt 9 and Arena of Valor (AOV). Launching the games on the J8 were quick although we experienced some problems during gameplay. When we played AOV, we noticed that there were lags in the character’s movements. At first, we thought the problem might be due to our internet connection but that wasn’t the case. However, when we switched playing Asphalt 9, we experienced no problems with the gameplay. This might mean that although the device can take heavy graphical games, it might not be suitable for heavy online mobile gaming.
Going to the Honor 8x’s gaming performance, playing AOV and Asphalt 9 was a breeze. We didn’t encounter any game lags. Though the handset tends to slightly heat up when playing Asphalt 9 for a long period of time, it just needs a 5- to 10-minute break and it’s all set again. Also, knowing that this handset bears Huawei’s chipset, we’re hoping that it will soon get the GPU turbo update, similar to other Huawei devices.
Audio
When we tried playing some music, we noticed that the sound on the Galaxy J8 was a bit scratchy on maximum volume which isn’t the same on Honor 8x’s. In terms of loudness, however, the Galaxy J8 offers higher decibels compared to its competitor.
Battery
In the battery department, the Honor 8x is fueled by a larger battery pack of 3750 mAh while the Samsung Galaxy J8 has a 3500 mAh battery pack. With light usage, both the Samsung and Honor handsets can provide the user a whole day of battery juice.
| Device | Battery | Battery Life (light usage) | Charging |
| Honor 8x | 3750 mAh | more than 12 hrs | approx 2 hrs |
| Samsung Galaxy J8 | 3500 mAh | more than 14 hrs | approx 2 hrs |
Price and Availability
The Samsung Galaxy J8 has a price tag of PHP 15,990 and it’s currently available in official Samsung stores and online retailers nationwide. However, the price and availability of the Honor 8x is yet to be announced. Stay tuned!
For more information on the product, visit Honor online at www.hihonor.com or like https://www.facebook.com/honorphilippines/
