Honor is all set to launch its first smartphone, the Honor 8X with Kirin 710 chipset in India which is a major upgrade from the older Kirin 659 SoC found on a plethora of Honor devices launched in the last one year. The Honor 8X is a significant upgrade compared to the Honor 7X as it has a powerful processor, bigger display, better dual rear cameras and a beefy battery. Also, it sports a notched display, and it's worth noting the Honor 8X is the best-looking smartphone under Rs 20,000, thanks to its glass sandwich design. Honor is known for launching well-designed smartphones, but it's taking the trend to a whole new level with the Honor 8X. The smartphone will be launched at an event in New Delhi where all the availability and pricing details will be revealed by the company. Read on to know where to watch the live stream and the specifications of the handset before the launch event.
Honor 8X India Launch: Where to Watch the Live Stream?
The 'X' series smartphones have been trendsetters in the industry in the last couple of years. With the Honor 6X, the company made the dual cameras obvious in the mid-range segment, while with the Honor 7X, it brought the 18:9 display tech to the segment. So, there's no doubt that Honor is excited to bring the 8X to the Indian market. While we're present at the ground to bring all the live updates, you can watch the live stream below. The launch event is scheduled to start at 11:30 AM on October 18.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkeNy1rUC0
Honor 8X: Specifications and Features
As mentioned above, the Honor 8X is the best-looking smartphone under Rs 20,000. The phone sports a 6.5-inch Full HD+ display on the front which carries a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and 19.5:9 aspect ratio, meaning it has a notch on top of the display. The phone also sports a glass back, but Honor did not mention any protection for the rear glass. At the heart of the phone, we get the HiSilicon Kirin 710 chipset, clubbed with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Honor may not bring the 6GB+128GB version of the 8X to India, but we could see the 4GB+64GB and 6GB+64GB versions making their debut in the sub-continent. That said, there's a microSD card slot for storage expansion.
As for the optics, the Honor 8X rocks 20MP+2MP dual cameras on the rear side, followed by a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies. As always, Honor has packed in a lot of Artificial Intelligence features to enhance the user experience. Software-wise, the phone boots Android 8.1 Oreo-based EMUI 8.2 which is a heavily skinned UI. The Honor 8X is one of the cheapest smartphones to offer slow-motion video recording at 480fps. Maybe, slow-motion video recording would trickle down to mid-range smartphones after the Honor 8X's launch. Thankfully, Honor has also added GPU Turbo feature to the 8X which improves the gaming experience drastically.
The phone sports a larger 3750mAh battery which also has fast charging support. The company will bundle a 10W charger inside the retail box and sadly, the phone still uses a Micro USB port in 2018. Honor should look at HMD Global for what they've done with the Nokia 5.1 Plus.
The fingerprint scanner is present on the rear side and you get an option to unlock your phone with your phone, thanks to the software-based Face Unlock feature. The phone also has support for Dual 4G.
Honor 8X: Expected Indian Pricing and More
If history is anything to go by, the Honor 8X will debut in India at an aggressive price. To recall, the Honor 7X launched at a starting price of Rs 12,999 in India, but we're expecting Honor will be that aggressive with the Honor 8X in India. Since the phone sports a premium glass body, faster processor and better cameras, we're expecting it to start at a price of Rs 14,999. Hopefully, Honor launches the 4GB+64GB version as the base variant this year.