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The octa-core processor (4+4 Cortex A53 cores with Mali-T830 MP2 GPU) is supported by 4GB RAM, which is likely the saving grace for the handset's processing performance. We ran both Antutu and Geekbench on the Honor 8 Lite and as expected got low scores of 57739 and 816,3348 (single-core, multi-core) respectively.
Android OS and the user interface on top also plays an important part in the performance section. After using the smartphone for sometime along with our experience with previous Honor devices, we can say that Huawei has done an impressive job with its EMUI. The Honor 8 Lite runs the same version as we saw in the Honor 8 - EMUI 5.0, which has the comparatively new Android 7.0 Nougat as its base. EMUI does seem a different initially with its overlayed options and more. But it is easy to find your way around.
A ton of features and customisations can be found if you dig the Settings option deep enough. You can enable/disable 4G calling, switch the home screen style along with app layouts and grid customisations, select a combination of navigation keys that are placed at the bottom of the display, customise the fingerprint sensor to take images, answer calls and more. Similar to Honor 8, the Honor 8 Lite also lets you customise the fingerprint gesture to show the notification panel, browse photos and more, a function we are a big fan of.
The fingerprint sensor worked with accuracy everytime during our use. We mostly used it for unlocking the device.
For better productivity you can activate a floating dock, switch to one-handed UI design, activate motion control features such as flip to mute as well. Honor has its own HiBoard when you swipe to the extreme left on the main home screen. For those unaware, HiBaord is Honor's way of letting users search for content from both inside and outside the device. It can be deactivated by long pressing on the home screen and navigating to the 'Settings' option.
The dual-SIM smartphone comes with a hybrid microSD card slot. So you can either have two SIM cards activated at once or a single SIM activated with extra storage capability.
Camera is not the best in the segment but is impressive enough to fullfill the needs of majority of customers. The Honor 8 Lite comes with a single 12MP rear autofocus camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash. The colour are well saturated and the images shot in both daylight and artificial light conditions are impressive. The images shot in low light are equally good with much lesser noise levels as compared to others during low-light shots. There is one-touch access to most of the frequently-used features such as video capturing, switching between front and rear cameras, filters, Beauty mode, gallery and the enable/disable flash option.
Swiping towards left will give you the camera and video settings where you can change the aspect ratio, and toggle touch to capture, smile capture and other features. On the right there are different capturing modes to choose from. There is an 8MP front-facing camera with wide-angle lens, which makes taking selfies easier.
Battery, being one of the deciding factors in a smartphone, won't let you down. The Honor 8 Lite uses a 3000mAh battery, which in our day-to-day usage ran for over 9-10 hours constantly on a regular use. Light users will be able to stretch the running time to over 12 hours easily.
Honor has thrown in a couple of battery-saving features in its 8 Lite as well. You can activate the Power Saving Mode, which like seen in other handsets with similar options, limits the background app activity, reduces or disables visual effects and sounds, disables background email retrieval and more. There is also an 'Ultra Power Saving' option that runs only select apps. What's nifty is the handset's constant reminder from time to time about the apps that hog power in the background.
The lack of fast-charging does pinch a little.
Verdict
Honor 8 Lite does leave a good impression in the battery, OS and camera department. These three factors does make it one of the potential contenders in the particular price point. Design, to some extent, is decent but nothing that you aren't familiar with. It does come with useful features baked right inside the UI and the obvious new features that come with Android 7.0 Nougat. But not everything is impressive with Honor 8 Lite.
The smartphone's display is just about average and smudge-friendly, which could be bothersome for users. The processor, though being one of the latest ones, was not able to handle heavy tasks such as multi-tasking between heavy apps or smooth handling of games. It, however, will be able to get most of the job done. Some of the alternatives worth checking out are Moto M, Moto G5 Plus, Vivo V5 and Oppo F1S.
