Honor X9b 5G Review: Durable and reliable smartphone

Honor X9b Review: Honor has come up with its second offering in the smartphone section - Honor X9b. Featuring a partially reinforced body and boasting features like an Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display, the device is said to be grabbing the attention of a diverse set of users. Being one of the latest offerings in the under-sub-30k range, we’ll delve deep to analyse in this review how well this device fares. 

Honor X9b Review: Variant and Price 

The Honor X9b is available in only one RAM and storage variant of 8GB + 256 GB. This device comes in two colour variants -Midnight Black and Sunrise Orange (Vegan leather) and is priced at Rs 25,999. Here we are using the Midnight Black as a review unit. 

Honor X9b Review: Design 

In day-to-day usage, the first thing that stands out is the slim profile of the phone. A thickness of almost 8mm and a weight of approximately 185g lend the Honor X9B an exceptionally light feel, placing it into the “neither too big nor very miniaturised” category. The device features a frosted glass back panel which has a matte finish. In conformity with the trend set by its contemporaries, this device is adorned with a circular camera setup, circumscribed by a couple of golden concentric circles.

Watch Honor X9B Drop Test Video Below

The curved display of Honor X9b has slim bezels, ensuring a flawless media experience. Encircled by a glossy metallic frame, the smartphone houses the SIM tray, USB-C port, speaker grill, and the primary microphone at the bottom. 

ALSO READ | Honor Choice Watch Review: Strikes good balance between appearance and performance

The best part is that the smartphone is quite durable. We purposely dropped the smartphone during our review, something that we don't even think about when using other devices. But it survived every single time. Moreover, someone threw the Honor X9B around 30 feet in the air from the stage ahead of singer B Praak's live music concert at Amity University, Noida on the launch date. It landed on iron railings before falling to the ground. To everyone's surprise, it survived that as well. While this is something that we will not recommend doing, it certainly shows that the smartphone is very durable. So if you are someone who tends to drop smartphones quite often, this might be the best available option right now. 

Honor X9b Review: Display

Featuring a curved 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, the users’ multimedia experience is seamless. With a resolution of 2652x1200 pixels (FHD+), the screen accurately represents the colours, maintaining the natural tone. The display is bright but might not reach the high levels, yet is amply illuminated to give better results in outdoor conditions. The display is reported to feature Honor’s HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display, rendering it further durability. To enhance the content consumption experience, users can rely upon the Video Enhancer Mode, which improves the colour and contrast of video content. Nonetheless, the audio experience can be adjudged as sub-par vis-à-vis display, as it features mono speakers, which sometimes end up being loud and lacking depth, depriving users of the wholesome experience. 

Honor X9b Review: Performance and Software

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor, the phone delivers a considerably satisfactory performance within its price range. For casual gamers out there, this device impressively handles games like Traffic Rider and Angry Birds and also manages other demanding games like Genshin Impact. Operated on MagicOS 7.2, based on the Android 13 Operating System, with a relatively clean appearance, the user experience is buttery smooth with the Honor X9b. 

ALSO READ | iQOO Neo9 Pro Review: Formidable smartphone at modest price

Honor X9b Review: Battery and Charging

The Honor X9b boasts a 5,800mAh battery, which can give a backup of up to 1.5 to 2 days under modest usage conditions. It supports 35-watt wired charging, which typically takes more than a couple of hours to fully charge the battery. This is a slow charging rate when compared to other brands that have curtailed the charging time to minimal levels. The good thing is that it is only 7.98 mm thick despite having a 5,800mAh battery.

Honor X9b Review: Camera

The triple camera setup of this device includes a 108MP main camera, a 5MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP macro camera. The photos captured by this device display a proper amalgamation of sharpness and contrast, yielding okayish results. At times, the camera setup tends to overexpose certain parts of the photo but is balanced out by the natural, true-to-life colours. The camera performance under low light conditions is an area where this device leaves room for improvement. Moreover, the 16 MP selfie camera is better and captures photos in detail. 

Honor X9b Review: Verdict

Things that can entice potential buyers to go for this device include seamless display and build quality. Battery life is something which makes Honor X9b a standout phone among other mid-range offerings. If your day-to-day activities majorly revolve around launching applications to multitasking, enjoying video content and scrolling through social media pages, this device is well-suited, functioning smoothly and efficiently. However, if your priorities involve camera-centric features, you might need to re-assess the decision to go with Honor X9b.