Huawei has been known making metal phones for quite a while. Apparently this premium treatment is mostly reserved for the high-end models and rarely for any budget model. But that seems to change after with the introduction of the budget Huawei GR5 at Php 11.9k price (or Honor 5X in PH) which is built in aluminum and bundled with other attractive features inside.
With other brands already have started making midrange and budget smartphones with metal design as a selling point, would this make the Huawei GR5 just in time for the party? What does it really offer over the sea of budget mid-ranger Android smartphones? Find out in our in-depth and full review of Huawei GR5 or the Honor 5X variant here in the Philippines.
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Design and build quality
Wrapped with metal back casing in brush finish makes the GR5 a real looker. It stands out in the crowd as the aluminum dominates the entire device. The camera and fingerprint sensor on the back add some glare on top of the chamfered edges. The plastic caps for signal boosting on top and bottom playfully blend with the gray metal variant.
The fingerprint sensor on the back works at considerable speed and is accurate enough in recognizing saved fingerprints for unlocking.
We are not sure if the textured power button and volume rocker are made of metal too, but both felt super clicky and tactile. On the bottom, only one speaker grill is for the loudspeaker. The other grill is for symmetry. Access to micro and nano dual SIM slots and microSD card can be found on the top right side of the device. Meanwhile, USB and audio ports remain standard.
Relying on on-screen keys needs some getting used to for people coming from physical and capacitive keys. Nonetheless, arrangement and positioning of these nav keys are customizable through the Android 5.1 OS with EMUI 3.1 on top.
The GR5 felt easy to hold in one hand, though not solid as other metal phones. The curved corners and the slightly tapered back ease the handling of the phone while the 158g weight is just perfect for a comfortable grip.
Perhaps the GR5 is one of the best-looking hardware I’ve seen. Huawei has really nailed the formula on how to make it a stand out device regardless of the price tag behind. We really hope they will expand the formula to all their products. We really can’t wait for a waterproof, rugged Huawei though.
Display and viewing experience
Taking care of the multimedia needs is a 5.5-inch Full HD or 1080p IPS LCD panel. The colors are accurate with modest brightness level. The screen protector on top reduces the sunlight legibility outdoors, but overall, the screen does the job.
Perhaps the only issue we are facing sometimes is the lackluster auto brightness control. We found the sensor setting up the brightness a little dimmer on what we really wanted it to be. However, this could easily be toggled by flicking the level in quick menu settings.
Camera in night, day, low light
We’ve seen a lot of 13MP sensors both from top tier and mid level camera phones. Specifically, the one on GR5 is a 13MP main snapper with f2.0 lens that is capable of shooting 1080p video at 30fps while paired by 5MP f2.2 selfie camera.
Quality-wise, we have a quite effective and reliable shooter here. The 13MP produces sharp and well-lit photos. We like the natural colors and sharpness control although shots are visibly better with HDR (high dynamic range), which the Galaxy J5 2016 lacks in our recent comparison.
Daylight shooting is an easy task for the camera while it slightly struggles in low light or night scenarios with the Over Sharpening effect adding more shutter delay and sometimes messing with the color. But make no mistake, we still found the night shots better than most mid-range shooters.
Daylight, HDR, low light shooting
The 5MP front-facing camera takes sharp and lively selfie portraits. The smoothening and toning level of auto beautification effect are kept at a mild level. The brightness, however, is low leaving some spot underexposed. Of course, this can easily be fixed by quick editing if you are just intended to share it on Facebook or Instagram.
Selfie portraits
Video recording supports 1080p resolution and we were quite not impressed with the quality and white balance color. While the camera has a touch to focus control using the stock app, you can install 3rd party apps to get an autofocus control. We’re not really sure if this is a limitation on our unit alone, but we will test it further to see the problem.
Overall camera performance is still good making it a reliable shooter. The camera UI has interesting and fun add-ons including the all-focus or selective focusing, SloMo and more.
Software and UI
On top of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS is EMUI version 3.1. The experience is quite a difference to the Huawei Nexus 6P with stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The EMUI is still familiar sighting because it has similarities to other UI, specifically the Mi UI of Xiaomi and ZUK UI. Even the squircles icons are familiar as we first saw it debuted from Nokia N9 and been evolved on Samsung’s TouchWiz.
The rest of the UI is what you would expect from an Android device, though we admit that EMUI needs a little polishing. At the end of the day, Android is Android where you can have the most flexible, customizable software experience in a phone.
Performance and benchmark
Under the hood is a Snapdragon 616 octa-core chip with two CPU cluster variations in clock speed. The RAM is either 2GB or 3GB with each having 16GB expandable storage. Out unit has 2GB RAM, which we think isn’t enough to keep the performance smooth and fluid. This may be blamed to the UI too.
Nevertheless, the delays and lags on the Huawei GR5 are apparently noticeable but not abysmal or a deal breaker. We are wishing for some optimizations at least when the GR5 receives Android 6.0 Marshmallow update.
Antutu benchmark score
Battery and charging
Powering up all these internals is a 3000mAh non-removable battery with really good figures in actual, day-to-day use. The screen-on time sometimes tips the scale up to 5 hours while the endurance is at 30 hours. This is enough to get you going up to the second day.
Contrary in how efficient the battery performance is, charging is a pain when using the 1.0-ampere power adapter. Charging time almost took 3 hours, but this will be reduced when you used a higher amperage chargers.
Battery life endurance and charging time
Speaker and audio
We have tested dozens of loudspeakers in smartphones and we easily find the mono speaker on the Huawei GR5 underpowered. Bass is low while the vocals are as not as crisp as the other mid-range speakers. At least, the bottom-facing position won’t be muffled easily on its flat back unlike on back-facing speakers.
Price and Verdict
For a sub Php 12k pesos official SRP, the Huawei GR5 makes a better buy than most of the competition. The premium build, sharp display, reliable camera, and decent battery life are the top reasons to consider it when picking up a mid-range Android. We just think easily beats the primary contenders such as the Samsung Galaxy J5, J7 2016, and Asus Zenfone series in value for your money.
Pros
- Metal/premium build and design
- Decent battery life
- Reliable camera
- Accurate fingerprint sensor
Cons
- Mediocre loudspeaker
- UI needs some polishing
Huawei GR5 (Honor 5X) Official Price, Specs, Release date in the Philippines
Display: 5.5-inches 1080p Full HD IPS LCD, 401 ppi
Design: Metal (aluminum), scratch-resistant
Size: 8.2mm thick, 158g weight
Chip:Â Snapdragon 616
CPU: Octa-core Cortex A53 at 1.6GHz processor
GPU: Adreno 405 graphics
RAM: 2GB
Memory: 16GB internal + 128GB max microSD card (dedicated)
Camera: 13MP, f2.0 lens aperture, LED flash, Full HD 1080p video
Selfie: 5MP f2.2 front-facing, 720p video, LED flash
Connectivity: WiFi n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, 4G LTE, dual-SIM (dedicated slot)
Sensor:Â Fingerprint scanner
Port: microUSB 2.0, USB OTG (on-the-go)
Battery: 3300 mAh, No fast charging
Color:Â Grey, White, Black, Gold
OS: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, up to 6.0 Marshmallow
Release date: May 2016 in the Philippines
Price: Php 11,990 pesos official Huawei PH SRP / Online stores in PH
it’s probably the best buy on it’s price range and specs..