Honor 90 5G Review – Good For Nothing!

Honor is back in India after 3 years and it wasn’t worth it at all. They have launched the Honor 90 5G but it has lots of compromises and the price is not perfect either.

Honor 90 5G is priced at Rs 37,999 for 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage while the 12GB of RAM and 512GB variant costs Rs 39,999. 

It comes in Midnight Black, Diamond Silver, and Emerald Green color options while it will be available via Amazon.

Honor 90 5G Review

No, the Honor 90 5G is not worth buying because it’s a pricey smartphone while it offers a single speaker, no SD-card slot, plastic build, only 2 OS updates, decent cameras, average SoC, and still, it costs Rs 37999 which is not justified for it offers.

Now, the cameras are not that bad but at the price of Rs 37999, it’s not worth it at all. I mean, by default boosts the colors and there is no OIS.

Also, no charger in the box. So you will have to spend an extra Rs 2000 to get a 66W charger.

Related: 5 Best Smartphones Under Rs 30000

The SOC is not powerful, so it’s not made for gamers at all. It’s a good option for normal users who don’t like to play games.

However, the display is solid but the rest of the phone is just meh.

Display and Build

The 6.70-inch 120Hz curved display looks beautiful while 1600 nits brightness will ensure that everything is visible under the sunlight.

I found one bug that is not that big but it’s there. Let’s say, you’re using Honor 90 5g in your room and you have kept the screen brightness on Auto mode, now if you suddenly go under the sunlight then the brightness doesn’t go up to 100%, it stops at 80%.

Even if you set the brightness to 100%, it will still come back to 80%.

This is a software issue and I’m hoping that this will get fixed soon.

Fun fact, Honor has also curved the top and bottom sides which is a nice touch. 

The in-display fingerprint works well, it’s the same optical sensor.

As this is a 1.5k quad AMOLED panel, you can also set the resolution as per your liking by going to the settings. 

You will also be able to watch FHD+ content on Netflix as well as on other OTT platforms as the Honor 90 5G has Widevine L1 support. Also, HDR10 support is present in Netflix which is rare to see in mid-budget smartphones.

Related: Best Smartphones Under Rs 25,000

This means, if you love to watch movies on Netflix on a smartphone then HDR will provide the best viewing experience.

Now, the design is subjective, so let’s talk about the build.

Honor has used plastic frames and even plastic back while there is no mention of what kind of glass they have used on the front side. 

This doesn’t look or feel good as the Honor 90 5G is a Rs 37999 smartphone, they should have at least added the metal frames.

Everyone will use the case but it will be hard to find tempered glass as the phone has a curved display all around it.

Overall, you will be more than happy with the display quality and even brightness while the build could have been a bit better but is not a big deal.

Performance

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 is a big letdown for the Rs 37999 smartphone, I mean the POCO F5 is priced at Rs 29,999 and still, it’s powered by Snapdragon 7 Gen 2.

The moral of the story is, that the Honor 90 5G is not a gaming smartphone, and it’s not made for power-hungry users.

Benchmark Score of the Honor 90 5G.

• AnTuTu: 575122 (v9), 694546 (v10) 
• GeekBench: 3011 (v5), 2888 (v6) 
• GFXBench: 32fps (ES 3.1 onscreen)

Still, you will be able to play BGMI on smooth graphics at 60fps but if you’re that person who loves to play games for hours then this is not the perfect smartphone for you, kindly look for a smartphone with a powerful SoC.

It also has UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5.0 RAM support which means everything from screen refresh rate to UI will perform better because of the faster RAM and Storage support.

The device runs on MagicOS 7.1 based on Android 13 and Honor has promised 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of security updates.

Now, 2 years of OS updates look good but this is not a budget smartphone, so Honor should have provided at least 3 years of OS updates.

Related: Best Smartphones Under Rs 50,000

By the way, for those who are wondering, Honor 90 5G will support all the Google apps because Honor is not a Huawei company anymore. Everything will work well without any sort of problems.

NFC is also added which means, you can tap to pay anyone with the help of any finance app. Honor has also enabled the 5G network, so if 5G is available in your city then you will be able to use it.

Cameras

Honor 90 5G comes with a 200MP primary sensor, 8MP ultra-wide lens, and 2 MP depth sensor while there is a 50MP selfie shooter on the front.

The rear cameras can shoot videos at 1080p@30/60fps and 4k@30fps while the front can only shoot at 40k@30fps and 1080p@30/60fps.

Both the rear and front cameras can shoot videos at 40k@30fps and 1080p@30/60fps. There is no OIS on this smartphone, it relies on EIS.

It’s very disappointing for the Rs 37,999 smartphone to not have OIS and provide color-boosted images. That 200MP massive sensor was added for nothing, it doesn’t provide the best images as the number says.

Now, it’s not like, the cameras are worse, they’re good and the image will look good when you share them on social media but the quality you expect at 38k is just not there.

By the way, the good news is that the dynamic range is perfect, there is no issue there.

Under low light conditions, the image does come out well but somehow, it softens images and sometimes, it looks like the images are edited and added the beauty mode on top.

So to get detailed images, try to use PRO mode which uses the 200MP sensor and will try to provide better-looking images under low lights.

You can also use the dedicated night mode which increases the ISO and adds a little bit of noise.

The 8MP ultra-wide lens is there. It takes solid images under daylight but it suffers a lot under low light, so don’t use this sensor under low light, rely 100% on the primary sensor at night.

By the way, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G which is available at Rs 33,999 takes better images than the Honor 90 5G.

That 2MP depth sensor is there, so let’s talk about the 50MP selfie shooter.

If not the best then the Honor 50 5G has the best front camera under Rs 40,000. You will be more than happy with the quality of the image, also, Honor has added tons of filters, so use them because it’s free.

It’s like, you don’t have to edit your images, just take a selfie and share it on social media and it will still look good.

By the way, you will not get a neutral look at all. Whether it’s selfies or normal images, everything comes with a little bit of boosted colors along with a bit of white tone.

Now, here is the cache with 4k videos. You can only shoot 4k videos for only 15 minutes and after that, you have to start shooting again. It’s a limitation that honor has added.

For example, if you want to shoot 20 minutes of 4k video then you won’t be able to do it. First, shoot for 15 minutes, and again, shoot for 5 minutes.

Also, because of missing OIS, the videos don’t come out stable at all at 4k@30fps. So shoot at only 1080p@30fps for better results. 

Honor 90 5G cameras are not perfect, they are decent which is not justifiable at all as this is a Rs 37999 smartphone while the lack of OIS does feel when shooting videos at 4k. So if the cameras are your high priority then kindly stay away from the Honor 90 5G.

Audio and Battery

You’re expecting stereo speakers because this is Rs 37,999 smartphone but sorry to disappoint you, the Honor 90 5G comes with a single speaker which is good but it’s not justifiable at all for the price it comes.

There is no 3.5mm Audio jack or SD-Card slot.

The 5,000mAh battery will last for a day but if you’re power hungry user who loves to play games for hours then you will have to charge this device twice a day.

Now, the Honor 90 5G does support 66W wired fast charging but the charger is not supplied in the box. So if you want to use fast charging then you will have to buy the charger.

Now, Honor is not yet selling the 66W charger but the Xiaomi one which is 67W costs Rs 1999.

So you will have to spend another Rs 1999 on top of Rs 37999.

The end story is, that the battery life is not the issue but the charging is a bigger problem as you will have to spend an extra Rs 1999 for a 66W charger.

Honor 90 5G Pros and Cons

PROS	CONS
Smooth 120Hz AMOLED Panel	Pricey
Quad Curved Display	Lack of OIS
Superfast 66W Wired Charging	Low Light Photography Needs a Lot of Improvements
Long Lasting Battery Life	Videos don’t come out Stable
Good Looking Design	Only 2 OS updates
NFC Support	Only Single Speaker
	No Charger in the Box
	Not the best option for Gaming
	Decent Rear and Front Cameras

Verdict

Honor 90 5G Full Specifications

Price	8GB RAM + 256GB Storage: 37,999 12GB RAM + 512GB Storage: 39,999
Display	6.70-inches FHD+ AMOLED Display Wide-Vine L1 Support 1600 nits brightness HDR10 Support 10-bit Panel 1200 x 2664 pixels Resolution 120Hz Screen Refresh Rate
Dimensions	161.9 x 74.1 x 7.8 mm Weight: 183g
Build	Glass Front Plastic Frame Plastic Back
OS	MagicOS 7.10– Android 13 2 Years of OS Updates. 3 Years of Security Updates.
Chipset	Chipset: Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition (4 nm) CPU: Octa-core (1×2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.36 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A510) GPU: Adreno 644
Benchmark Score	AnTuTu: 575122 (v9), 694546 (v10) GeekBench: 3011 (v5), 2888 (v6) GFXBench: 32fps (ES 3.1 onscreen)
SD-Card Slot	No
Rear Cameras	200MP Primary Sensor 8MP Ultra-Wide Lens 2MP Depth Video 4k@30fps 1080p@30/60fps.
Front Camera	16MP Selfie Shooter. Video 4k@30fps 1080p@30fps.
5G Bands	14 5G Bands.
3.5mm Jack	No
Speakers	Single.
Bluetooth Version	5.2 Version.
FM Radio	No.
NFC	Yes.
Sensors	Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, compass, ultrasound proximity
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes, In-Display fingerprint sensor
Battery	5,000mAh (non-removable). 66W Charging Speed No Charger in the Box
Weight	183 Grams
Colors	Midnight Black, Diamond Silver, and Emerald Green
In the Box	Honor 90 5G, USB Cable, Sim Tool, Protective Cover, Guides

Images by PrathapGTech