Honor 90 Review: First Impressions

First Impressions

The Honor 90 is the brand’s latest mid-range phone, which brings some impressive features to the table.

Introduction

Honor looks to further stretch the boundaries of the mid-range smartphone market with its latest device, the Honor 90.

Going against the grain and – in some instances – outdoing phones twice their price, the onslaught of midrange handsets continues to amaze.

The recent Google Pixel 7a is one of the best examples, offering performance and a camera setup that easily rivals far more expensive devices, and that’s before mentioning similarly impressive performers from the likes of Motorola and Samsung. Honor is no newcomer in this space, but it is looking to cause quite a stir with its latest smartphone.

Ahead of our final verdict, I’ve managed to spend a few days with the Honor 90 which has given me enough time to write an initial hands-on review. The question is, does the Honor 90 have what it takes to become the next great mid-range handset? Here’s my experience so far.

Design and display

• Edge-to-edge 6.7-inch display
• 120Hz refresh rate
• 3840Hz PWM Dimming

On the surface, there isn’t too much to separate the Honor 90 from its predecessor, the Honor 70. It boasts the same dual-camera lens design on the back, which isn’t really to my tastes, and the colour options aren’t drastically different either.

Switch on the larger 6.7-inch OLED display, however, and it immediately becomes apparent what Honor is focussing on above all else. The panel is incredibly bright and practically end-to-end with very small bezels. I can’t remember the last time a smartphone display gave me pause, but that’s exactly what happened when I booted up the Honor 90 for the first time – it’s absolutely stunning.

Honor has been keen to highlight that the 90 can pull off some incredible feats when it comes to dimming. The screen is a lot easier on the eyes during nighttime reading, so if you enjoy using your phone to catch up on the latest books – you may appreciate what’s on offer here.

Aside from being slightly larger, the screen also features more prominent curves than the Honor 70, which unfortunately does feel like you’re losing a bit of screen real estate, but I don’t foresee this being a major issue.

Cameras

• Upgraded 200MP main sensor
• Additional 12MP ultra-wide and 2MP depth sensors
• 50MP selfie-camera

While the screen is easily the Honor 90’s crowning achievement, several updates have been made in the camera department which should appeal to content creators and anyone who regularly posts on social media.

There are still three cameras to be found on the back (including a 12MP ultra-wide and a 2MP depth sensor) but this time around they’re led by a new 200MP wide sensor. The front-facing camera has also seen a bump, jumping from 32MP to 50MP.

Of course, as is widely understood at this point, megapixels don’t immediately translate to improved photography – just remember all that the Pixel series has done with its computational processing over the years.

However, after debuting the impressive Honor Magic 5 Pro earlier this year, Honor has at least shown itself to be a contender when it comes to smartphone photography, and one that shouldn’t be ruled out.

I still need to test out the finer details here, but from the handful of pictures I’ve taken so far, I can say that I’ve enjoyed the results. The main sensor does a particularly good job of accurately recreating the colours of a given scene, and the telephoto lens is pulling its weight when it comes to separating a subject from the background.

Performance

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition
• MagicOS 7.1 based on Android 13

Under the hood, the Honor 90 has done away with the Snapdragon 778G Plus chipset, in favour of the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition. Honor claims that this ‘Accelerated Edition’ comes with faster GPU and CPU performance than with the standard Gen 1 chip.

I’ll be running proper benchmark tests to see how the chipset stacks up on paper, but from my initial thoughts based on the testing so far, I feel that this may be the area where the Honor 90 has had to make some cutbacks in order to land on its midrange price point.

The performance hasn’t been bad per se, but Honor’s MagicOS 7.1, which is based on Android 13, feels a bit clunky. Moving between apps and menus isn’t quite as smooth as what you’ll find on Tensor G2 powered Pixel phones, and that could be a sticking point for those sizing up the Honor 90 against the Pixel 7a.

Battery life

• Larger 5000mAh battery
• 66W wired fast charging

If performance is an area where the Honor 90 leaves me somewhat wanting, then the same cannot be said for battery life. With a massive 5000mAh cell to brag about, the Honor 90 does have longevity on its side, which is handy because you’ll be wanting to make the most of that eye-catching screen.

In these early tests, I’ve managed to stretch the Honor 90’s battery life to just under two days, and while this was under normal (see: not intensive) use, it does bode well that the Honor 90 can at least have plenty left in the tank at the end of a long day.

This is also helped by 66W wired fast charging, and Honor claims that you can get 20% back after just five minutes of charging. There’s no wireless charging to speak of, and while this isn’t too surprising at this end of the market, the feature is slowly starting to creep its way into similarly priced handsets.