Huawei Honor 6C is a budget phone with a good list of advantages

Main characteristics of Huawei Honor 6C

Classic five-inch LTE smartphones costing about ten thousand rubles. Very pleasant in everyday use. Very worthy. I’ll say right away: overall, I’m satisfied.

And it all started funny. Honor 6A and Honor 6C are practically twins. Both in appearance and in characteristics. They are so similar that by mistake they sent me 6C instead of the promised 6A. And they are so close that it took me several days to notice that something was wrong...

Briefly about the main thing.

Honor 6C is six months older. Because of this, alas, only the sixth Android. But the rest is in complete order. Lots of memory (3 + 32 GB), excellent battery, very decent camera. The hardware is not top-notch, but even with serious games there are no problems. Not to mention Twitter browsers. The screen resolution is not high, but at five inches this is enough for me.

Honor 6A. Three thousand rubles cheaper - nine versus twelve. Android is not a six, but already a seven, this is also a plus. Now about the main thing, now let's look for the cons.

— Slightly weaker processor? Little things. Irrelevant. — Less memory — 2 + 16 GB. God bless the RAM, that's what less flash memory is - very significant, because... The memory card is installed instead of the second SIM card. - Screen. Instead of 2.5D rounding and a magnificent oleophobic coating, there is an indistinct film and ancient edges around the glass. It's annoying, but, in principle, you can put up with it. - Most offensive. Camera. The number of megapixels is the same, but the quality is very different.

Otherwise, there are no significant differences between the devices.

Now about everything in a little more detail.

Appearance

Both smartphones are available in three colors - gold (white front), silver (also white front), gray (black front).

Matte metal body. Nice build. On-screen buttons. There is an LED. I have no questions about appearance, nothing to complain about.

Some boring details

Above the screen everything is traditional - speaker, sensors, front camera. There's also an LED here.

Under the screen there is the inscription “Honor” and nothing more.

Behind. Everything interesting is above. Camera, flash nearby. Below the camera is a fingerprint sensor.

On the top edge there is a 3.5 mm audio output and a microphone for noise reduction.

At the bottom there is a Micro-USB connector. On the sides there are two gratings. Under one there is a speaker, under the other there is a microphone.

On the right side is the power button and volume rocker.

On the left is the card tray. Either two Nano-SIMs, or one SIM card and a memory card.

Design

Honor 6c comes in three colors - gold, silver and grey. We came across a gray smartphone for review, and after twirling it in our hands a little, we’ll say that the first impression was “very good”, but over time the effect of novelty wears off and the feeling comes that in fact Honor doesn’t stand out in any special way. against its competitors from the middle segment.

The smartphone is made in a combination of plastic and metal, or rather, the phone body itself is mostly plastic, but the back cover, apparently, is made of honest hardware. Holding the phone in your hands is comfortable, the metal gives a feeling of pleasant coolness, and at the same time the device practically does not slip and does not stick together when pressed hard. But although the tactile sensations were pleasing, the completely unremarkable design haunts me: the 6c turned out to be completely faceless, a gray mass among many similar smartphones. The metal cover is fitted to the plastic elements end-to-end and without any special frills, and for some reason the camera is painted in the color of the body and practically does not stand out. Moreover, taken as a whole, there are absolutely no elements that would please the eye. From the point of view of design and design, Honor 5c looked much more interesting.

The phone has very wide frames for its class. On the sides this is not very noticeable, but as for the bottom frame, this is simply the apogee of inappropriate use of space. In more budget Honor models, this can still be forgiven, but in the middle class, if you don’t have mechanical navigation buttons, spending so much free space on a simple “Honor” inscription is the height of waste.

The rest of the functional keys and connectors are in their places. On the front panel, in addition to the already announced inscription, you can traditionally find a speaker, a proximity sensor and a front camera; on the back cover there is a main camera, an LED flash and a round fingerprint scanner, which, by the way, works quite well. On the sides we have: on the right there is a lock key, a volume control, on the left there is a tray for a SIM card. And finally, at the bottom there is the main speaker, a microUSB port, and at the top there is an auxiliary microphone and a headphone jack. As they say, nothing unusual, everything is standard.

In general, one could talk for a long time about why the smartphone ended up being so unremarkable compared to its predecessor and competitors. But we don’t see much sense in this, perhaps the developers this time were not given money for the original design, perhaps the deadlines were running out and they had to send “what we have” into production, it doesn’t matter. As they say, it depends on the taste and color... Our opinion, of course, does not pretend to be a standard of taste, and perhaps someone will like this design. So we work with what we have and move on.

Internals (iron)

The Snapdragon 430/435 chipsets are very similar in their characteristics. Yes, sure. Theoretically, the speed of memory (both RAM and flash) also affects the speed of smartphones. Plus, the operating systems are different, and even with different bit depths.

I honestly took a stopwatch and began to torture both smartphones simultaneously. Opening web pages, books, application loading speed - that's all. Not. Well, yes, on average 6C is a little faster. But the difference is within the measurement error, by and large.

Three gigabytes of RAM are, of course, better than two. But it’s still quite possible to live with two.

But 16 GB of flash memory (of which only 8 GB is free) and a hybrid slot - this, of course, Huawei did in vain. Here the 6C has a huge advantage over its brother. On the other hand, if you don’t need a second SIM card, you don’t need to pay much attention to the amount of flash memory. Install a good, capacious Micro-SD and that’s the end of it.

The set of sensors is strictly identical - I even checked their names. Accelerometer, proximity, illumination, compass. Plus a fingerprint scanner on the back, which I already mentioned. There is no gyroscope.

The finger sensor, by the way, is very good.

Synthetic tests

Honor 6A to the left or higher

Honor 6C comparison with Honor 5C and Redmi 4 Pro

To understand what the new Huawei gadget really is, let's compare it with its predecessor Honor 5C and, perhaps, the most perfectly balanced 5-inch midranger Redmi 4 Pro.

Without going into too much detail, the Honor 6C is inferior in all respects to its predecessor, which appeared in August last year. The only exception is the amount of internal and RAM memory, of which the Honor 5C has 16 GB and 2 GB, respectively. The new Honor 6C has decreased in size by several millimeters, while losing 18 grams of weight. I dropped the Honor 6C in performance by as much as 10,000 points. Frankly speaking, the new mid-budget device from Huawei has turned out to be quite controversial and its previous version looks more attractive, given that the new product is inferior to it in almost everything and costs 2,000 rubles more.

If we compare Honor 6C and Redmi 4 Pro, then a Huawei smartphone simply has no chance of winning. The reality is that the Redmi 4 Pro is head and shoulders above in all respects, especially in terms of processor power and relevance, display options and appearance. On the Redmi 4 pro smartphone you can play most modern games even at high graphics settings, which the competitor certainly cannot boast of. Considering the difference in cost, which is 3,000 rubles, Honor 6C remains completely out of work. Huawei's device could compete with the younger version of Redmi 4 in terms of characteristics, but the price difference between the devices is as much as 6,000 rubles. As a result, Honor 6C is not a rival to any version of Redmi 4.

It is worth noting that compared to smartphones, Meizu Honor 6C also does not look its best, since Meizu asks for no more than 10,000 rubles for similar characteristics of devices.

Communication with the outside world

Suddenly. According to the official store, smartphones have different LTE bands... And the absence of Band 20 on Honor 6A is at least strange.

Alas, there is no support for 5 GHz Wi-Fi, no NFC, and no ability to connect OTG devices.

Theoretically, Snapdragon 435 can support LTE 300/150 Mbit/s. In practice, only category 4, 150/50 Mbit/s is declared for both smartphones.

Screen

Good screens. Subjectively, the 6C seems to be a little nicer. But this is so... Only if you look at them side by side and meticulously compare. The 6A's screen is also in perfect order. Plus even a little brighter.

I already cursed at the film and the lack of oleophobic coating on the 6A at the very beginning of the review.

Operating system and other software

Honor 6A – Android 7.0 Nougat + EMUI 5.1.

Honor 6C - Android 6.0 Marshmallow + EMUI 4.1.

Interestingly, the 6A operates in 32-bit mode, while the 6C operates in 64-bit mode.

There were no problems with notifications on any smartphone. Almost. It was a wonderful catch... I can’t even call it a glitch, actually.

Telegram allows you to customize the color of the LED indicator. And by default this color is blue. But none of the smartphones can blink blue. And it doesn't blink at all. There is only one way out - in the Telegram settings manually switch the color to red, for example.

Honor 6A:

More screenshots from Honor 6A

Honor 6C

More screenshots from Honor 6C

Software platform

The characteristics of the Huawei Honor 6c include the Android operating system version 6.0 and the proprietary EMUI 4.1 shell. Unfortunately, after the release of the pro version of the smartphone, owners of old 6c can no longer count on updating their phones to new versions of the operating system over the air.

In general, the proprietary shell pre-installed in this smartphone does not differ from that in other Huawei products. In particular, in this version there is a notification curtain that is already familiar to us: by swiping your finger from bottom to top across the locked screen, you can call up a submenu where you can find a flashlight, voice recorder, calculator and similar useful applications. Using a fingerprint scanner, you can not only unlock your phone, but also flip through music tracks, answer calls, turn off alarms and view photos. In short, the Huawei proprietary shell, as always, is very convenient and functional.

Battery

The batteries are the same, 3020 mAh. At present, the volume is average. However, they say that Qualcomm is doing well with energy saving.

My battery tests showed 166% of the conventional standard for Honor 6A and 156% for Honor 6C. Not bad. It is possible to drain the battery in the evening if you really want to, but it is difficult.

Honor 6A

Honor 6C

Cameras

The main camera of Honor 6c has a 13-megapixel matrix and an f/2.2 aperture, while it is additionally equipped with a single-color LED flash and phase detection autofocus. The flash works well, and, despite its monotony, the pictures are well lit, but not overexposed. However, we immediately find a significant drawback: this camera does not have a stabilization function when taking photos, so pictures in motion often turn out blurry.

In daylight conditions the camera performs quite well. The sharpness of the images is at a fairly high level, color rendition is close to natural, detail is normal in both close-up and distant plans. The camera copes well with shooting panoramas and general plans. It is a little worse at macro photography and blurring the background, but still the quality is quite acceptable. But as for photos at night, this could be described with a harsher word than just “bad.” The image immediately loses its clarity, and a huge amount of digital noise appears in the picture. At the same time, it does a good job and often saves photos, only slightly sacrificing additional clarity, without turning the photo into outright soap.

The shooting program is traditionally equipped with many different modes and decorations, including everyone’s favorite HDR and “delicious food”. The user can also manually set white balance, focus and exposure, which will undoubtedly please those who like to experiment with the camera. If you compare the Huawei Honor 6c with the company’s more top-end representatives, then, of course, the set of functions of this model will seem very limited. On the other hand, the quality of the 6c camera is not so high that it requires all these options. In our opinion, in this case a fairly good balance has been struck between possibilities and necessity.

The Honor 6c camera can record video in FullHD format at 30 frames per second. But the video quality itself still leaves much to be desired. Even in fairly bright lighting, digital noise creeps in, detail is quite mediocre, and colors look slightly washed out. There is an electronic stabilization function, but it doesn’t help at all when shooting on the go; the picture still remains jerky and torn. The sound is also not encouraging: even with a light wind you can hear whistling and other unpleasant extraneous sounds; the presence of a special microphone does not seem to affect the situation at all. In general, we would prefer to use the 6c to take photographs rather than shoot video.

The smartphone is also equipped with a front camera of 5 megapixels and f/2.2 aperture. The camera focus is fixed, there is no flash. The front camera essentially has the same functions as the main one, but for obvious reasons the shooting quality is much worse. In general, if you are not a demanding selfie lover, then the capabilities of the front camera will suit you quite well. If you can’t imagine your life without a selfie, then in order to avoid disappointment and nervous tics, it’s better for you to bypass 6 on the side.

We invite you to evaluate sample photos of Huawei Honor 6c and draw your own conclusions.

Honor 6A and Honor 6C as cameras

Here's a look at the official specifications. And one smartphone has 13 megapixels, and the other. Alas, not just megapixels...

Honor 6C is also, of course, not without sin. And it’s clear that the camera is not top-level. And why to “insulate” pictures in cloudy weather is a separate question. But still, this is a really extremely high-quality camera. Especially if you look at the cost of the device. This is already the level where it’s not a shame to click something from memory and post it on social networks. The ability to shoot normally in the dark was frankly pleasing.

The Honor 6A has a frankly weaker camera. A lot of soap, very low detail - even in ideal sunny conditions. Shooting in the dark is sad. Frankly a “technical” camera, nothing more. Disappointed. Very disappointed.

I recommend downloading full-size photographs for thoughtful study - they are stored in a single archive on Yandex.Disk (approximately 1 GB).

Left 6A, right 6C

More photos

More paired photos for comparison. With Honor 6A. With Honor 6C.

More photos from Honor 6A

More photos from Honor 6C

I haven't looked into the front cameras in much detail. It seems to be about the same typical average level. Although no. Perhaps the Honor 6C is still better.

Display

The Honor 6c screen module is equipped with a high-quality IPS matrix and has a resolution of 1280×720 with a pixel density of 294 ppi with a diagonal of five inches. These are very, very good indicators, but (attention!) - for the budget segment. Compared to its competitors, Huawei Honor 6c loses a lot, since most of them have long switched to FullHD displays with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. However, low resolution is one of the few disadvantages of this model. The only thing we can highlight is the vague black color that most IPS matrices suffer from, but otherwise we really liked this display, so let’s move on to the advantages of the 6c screen.

I would immediately like to note the excellent screen brightness, which is approximately 450 cd/m2, and the good anti-glare coating. Even in very bright sunlight, the display remains quite readable, and the colors do not lose saturation. As for the colors themselves, they are moderately bright, close to natural shades. The screen does not flicker, color reproduction is correct. The color temperature is shifted towards cool shades, but if desired, the user can fine-tune it to suit themselves using a special built-in utility.

The white color is as close as possible to real white, it does not turn yellow or violet. The contrast of the smartphone is at a good level. Viewing angles are also very good, colors do not fade or invert even when the phone is turned very sharply, only white tones slightly lose their quality.

The screen is covered with tempered protective glass Gorilla Glass 3rd generation, made in 2.5D format. The phone is quite resistant to minor scratches, so if you use the device carefully, you can easily do without film or additional protective glass. The smartphone is also equipped with a very high-quality oleophobic coating. The finger glides across the screen easily, fingerprints are almost invisible and can be easily removed with a napkin. There is no air gap between the matrix and the glass, which has a positive effect on both the sensitivity of the phone and color rendition.

To sum up, we can say that the screen of the Honor 6c is made at a very good level and, so to speak, is not at all budget-friendly. However, the low resolution by modern standards completely ruins everything. If the screen had a higher resolution, there would be no complaints about it at all. And so the phone loses precisely in the point that the mass consumer first of all pays attention to when evaluating the device’s display. It turned out badly, gentlemen engineers/marketers.

Honor 6A and Honor 6C as GPS navigators

Both smartphones know about the existence of not only GPS satellites, but also GLONASS with BeiDou.

The tracks here and there are a little sloppy. But in general, there are no problems with navigation. Taking into account the good battery and bright screens, these are almost ideal hiking navigators.

Honor 6A test tracks

Honor 6C test tracks

Review of the Huawei Honor 6C smartphone and its characteristics

Now technologies are actively developing, more and more functional models are appearing in the assortment of world manufacturers, which in their power are already approaching home computers. This leads to the fact that worthy devices appear in the budget and mid-price categories, the capabilities of which will satisfy the capabilities of any user. Huawei Honor 6C review is clear confirmation that a good smartphone does not have to be expensive. It has a good camera, a capacious battery and good hardware - an excellent choice for your money. Honor 6C got rid of the shortcomings of its predecessors, and in addition received a fingerprint scanner, which was so missing earlier.

Honor 6A and Honor 6C as toys

A strange glitch - GTA San Andreas consistently crashes on 6A. Everything else is good. The power of even such not very powerful hardware is quite enough for modern toys. Thanks not to the highest screen resolution.

Autonomy

Huawei Honor 6C mobile review showed that the battery did not support fast charging, which was done in order to save money. Its capacity is standard - 3020 mAh. At the same time, battery life is one of the strengths of the Honor 6C. On average, if you don’t heavily load it throughout the day, you can count on a couple of days of use without recharging. In an hour of playing tanks, the battery loses 23% at a comfortable brightness level. Watching videos in airplane mode drained the battery in 13 hours.