honor 5C Hands On: A Decent Mid-Ranger in a Competitive Segment

It was only back in late April when the honor 5C was officially announced, but yet, pre-orders of the affordable device will be open next Monday on the 20th of June. It’s great to see that honor Malaysia is bringing in the 5C in such a timely manner.

At the media preview session of the honor 5C today, we managed to spend some time with the device. Now, although it’s not the most competitively priced mid-ranger in the market, it’s certainly a promising one.

As a mid-range device, the honor 5C boasts some respectable specifications. It has a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS display, a HiSilicon Kirin 650 2.0GHz octa-processor paired with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage – expandable with a microSD card up to 128GB – and a 3,000mAh battery. The 5C also has 13MP rear and 8MP front-facing cameras, a rear fingerprint sensor, as well as a metal back.

Speaking of the metal back of the honor 5C, I quite like it. Even though it has a glossy finish, it isn’t much of a fingerprint magnet. I can also get a firm grip on the device thanks to the glossy finish. Aside from that, the plastic frame of the honor 5C is quite a smart design as well: it gives the 5C a unique appearance. Personally, I find myself favouring the design and the overall feel of the honor 5C over the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 3; I’m especially not a fan of the latter’s slippery matte back panel.

Using the honor 5C for simple tasks – such as launching Chrome, the camera, and scrolling through the home pages – proved to be quite a pleasant experience. There wasn’t any evident lag, and it doesn’t take too long to launch apps. That being said, it still remains to be seen just how good the Kirin 650 processor is, especially in comparison to the highly capable mid-range processor from Qualcomm: the Snapdragon 650. After all, the honor 5C goes right up against the Redmi Note 3 in terms of pricing.

We also managed to try out the camera of the honor 5C. Although I can’t say much about the camera’s performance based on my brief time with the device, it appears to be a pretty capable shooter. There is minimal lag in between shots, and the final images look pleasant, especially when we consider the fact that the 5C is an affordable smartphone.

Other aspects of the honor 5C were good for the most part. The fingerprint sensor is very quick and accurate (the sensor’s useful gestures available on the Huawei Mate 8 and Huawei P9 are also present on the 5C), it’s comfortable to hold, and most of all, it’s priced relatively well. In China, the same variant of the honor 5C available here is priced at 999 Chinese yuan, which comes up to about RM620. For our market, the silver and grey models of the 5C retails at RM799, while the gold model is priced slightly higher at RM849.

At that price point, the honor 5C will face tough competition, especially from the Redmi Note 3. In fact, every smartphone with a sub-RM1,000 price tag will almost always be compared to Xiaomi’s offering. After all, the Redmi Note 3 offers hardware found on devices twice – or even thrice – its asking price.

But, on paper specifications can only tell so much: there are many other factors that determine just how good a smartphone really is. In the case of the honor 5C, it’s a promising mid-ranger, but only a full review of the device can tell us just how it compares against the well-loved Redmi Note 3.