Honor 9X Lite Review: A Budget Phone with Google Services
If you are looking for a budget smartphone that offers decent performance, good cameras, and Google services, you might want to check out the Honor 9X Lite. This is a remake of the Honor 8X with a new camera and an old software. It is also one of the last Honor phones to have Google apps before the Huawei ban. In this article, we will review the Honor 9X Lite and see if it is worth buying in 2023.
Honor 9x Lite
Design and display
The Honor 9X Lite has a big screen with a small notch for the front camera. It has a glass back with a gradient color effect and a metal frame. The back also houses a dual camera setup and a fingerprint scanner. The phone comes in two colors: Emerald Green and Midnight Black.
The dimensions of the Honor 9X Lite are 160.4 x 76.6 x 7.8 mm and it weighs 175 g. It is not very compact or lightweight, but it feels solid and comfortable to hold. The phone has a dual SIM slot that can also accommodate a microSD card for extra storage.
The display of the Honor 9X Lite is a 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. It has a pixel density of 396 ppi and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The screen is bright, sharp, and colorful, with good viewing angles and contrast. It also supports eye comfort mode to reduce blue light emission.
Performance and battery
The Honor 9X Lite is powered by a Kirin 710F chipset with an octa-core CPU (4x2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53) and a Mali-G51 MP4 GPU. It has 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. The phone runs on Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9.1 on top. It also has Google Play Services, which means you can access all your favorite Google apps without any hassle.
The performance of the Honor 9X Lite is decent for its price range. It can handle multitasking, gaming, and everyday tasks smoothly, without any major lags or crashes. However, it is not very fast or responsive compared to some newer phones with better processors. The phone also tends to heat up when playing intensive games or using heavy apps.
The battery of the Honor 9X Lite is a non-removable Li-Po 3750 mAh unit that supports 10W wired charging. The battery life of the phone is good, as it can last for a full day of moderate usage or more than a day of light usage. However, the charging speed is slow, as it takes about two hours to fully charge the phone from zero to 100%.
Camera and audio
The Honor 9X Lite has a dual rear camera system The Honor 9X Lite has a dual rear camera system that consists of a 48 MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture and a 2 MP depth sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. The main camera can capture detailed and vibrant photos in good lighting conditions, with good dynamic range and color accuracy. The depth sensor can create a bokeh effect for portrait shots, with decent edge detection and background blur. However, the camera struggles in low-light situations, as the photos become noisy, blurry, and dull. The camera also lacks some features like night mode, ultra-wide-angle lens, and optical zoom.
The front camera of the Honor 9X Lite is a 16 MP selfie shooter with an f/2.0 aperture. It can take decent selfies in daylight, with good skin tones and facial details. It also has a beauty mode that can smooth out the skin and enhance the features. However, the front camera also suffers from low-light performance, as the selfies become grainy and soft. The front camera also lacks some features like HDR, flash, and autofocus.
The Honor 9X Lite can record videos up to 1080p at 30 fps with both the rear and front cameras. The video quality is average, with good colors and stability in daylight, but poor details and noise in low-light. The phone also lacks some features like 4K recording, slow-motion, time-lapse, and stabilization.
The audio quality of the Honor 9X Lite is decent, but not impressive. The phone has a single bottom-firing speaker that can produce loud and clear sound, but lacks bass and richness. The phone also has a 3.5 mm headphone jack that can support wired headphones or earphones. The phone also has a microphone that can capture clear and crisp voice calls, but can pick up some background noise as well.
Connectivity and extras
The Honor 9X Lite supports various connectivity options, such as 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC, and USB Type-C. The phone also supports dual SIM cards that can work on different networks simultaneously. However, the phone does not support some features like 5G, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, wireless charging, and water resistance.
The Honor 9X Lite has some extra features that make it more convenient and secure to use. The phone has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner that can unlock the phone quickly and accurately. The phone also has a face unlock feature that can recognize the user's face and unlock the phone in a second. However, the face unlock feature is not very secure or reliable, as it can be fooled by photos or masks. The phone also has some sensors like accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass, and ambient light sensor.
Conclusion
The Honor 9X Lite is a budget smartphone that offers decent performance, good cameras, and Google services for a low price. It has a big and bright display, a sleek and stylish design, a large storage capacity, and a good battery life. However, it also has some drawbacks that make it less competitive in 2023. It has an old software version, a slow charging speed, a mediocre low-light camera performance, and a lack of some modern features like 5G, wireless charging, and water resistance.
If you are looking for a similar phone in the same price range, you might want to consider some alternatives like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T, the Realme C25s, or the Samsung Galaxy A22. These phones have newer software versions, These phones have newer software versions, faster processors, better cameras, and 5G support. However, they also have some drawbacks, such as lower storage capacity, smaller battery size, and no Google services. You can compare the specifications and features of these phones in the table below .
Phone
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T
Realme C25s
Samsung Galaxy A22
Display
6.53-inch IPS LCD, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 395 ppi, 60 Hz
6.5-inch IPS LCD, 720 x 1600 pixels, 270 ppi, 60 Hz
6.4-inch Super AMOLED, 720 x 1600 pixels, 274 ppi, 90 Hz
Processor
MediaTek Dimensity 800U 5G
MediaTek Helio G85
MediaTek Helio G80
RAM
4 GB or 6 GB
4 GB
4 GB or 6 GB
Storage
64 GB or 128 GB (UFS 2.2)
128 GB (eMMC 5.1)
64 GB or 128 GB (eMMC 5.1)
Battery
5000 mAh, 18W fast charging
6000 mAh, 18W fast charging
5000 mAh, 15W fast charging
Rear camera
48 MP (wide) + 2 MP (macro) + 2 MP (depth)
48 MP (wide) + 2 MP (macro) + 2 MP (depth)
48 MP (wide) + 8 MP (ultra-wide) + 2 MP (macro) + 2 MP (depth)
Front camera
13 MP (wide)
16 MP (wide)
13 MP (wide)
Software
Android 10, MIUI 12
Android 11, Realme UI
Android 11, One UI Core
In conclusion, the Honor 9X Lite is a budget phone that offers decent performance, good cameras, and Google services for a low price. However, it also has some drawbacks that make it less competitive in 2023. It has an old software version, a slow charging speed, a mediocre low-light camera performance, and a lack of some modern features like 5G, wireless charging, and water resistance. If you are looking for a similar phone in the same price range, you might want to consider some alternatives like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T, the Realme C25s, or the Samsung Galaxy A22. These phones have newer software versions, faster processors, better cameras, and 5G support. However, they also have some drawbacks, such as lower storage capacity, smaller battery size, and no Google services. You can compare the specifications and features of these phones in the table above.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about the Honor 9X Lite:
Q: How much does the Honor 9X Lite cost?
A: The Honor 9X Lite costs around $150 USD or â130 EUR. The price may vary depending on the region and the retailer.
Q: Does the Honor 9X Lite have Google services?
A: Yes, the Honor 9X Lite has Google services, such as Google Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, and more. It is one of the last Honor phones to have Google apps before the Huawei ban.
Q: Does the Honor 9X Lite support 5G?
A: No, the Honor 9X Lite does not support 5G. It only supports 4G LTE networks.
Q: Does the Honor 9X Lite have a microSD card slot?
A: Yes, the Honor 9X Lite has a microSD card slot that can expand the storage up to 512 GB.
Q: Does the Honor 9X Lite have a headphone jack?
A: Yes, the Honor 9X Lite has a 3.5 mm headphone jack that can support wired headphones or earphones.
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