Honor 90 Review: A Cautionary Comeback!

The Honor 90 is a slim and lightweight smartphone powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor and comes with 8 GB or 12 GB RAM and 256 GB or 512 GB of storage. It’s a comeback for the Honor brand in India, and consumers were keenly looking forward to its (re)launch, considering it’s being brought to India by Madhav Seth, the erstwhile head of Realme India.

The Honor 90 starts at INR 37999 for the 256GB variant and goes up to INR 39999 for the 512GB variant. There are some very confusing discount offers that are a bit difficult to understand.

We have been using the 12GB + 512GB variant of the smartphone as our primary device for over three weeks. Does it justify the price? Find out in this review of the Honor 90.

Honor 90 Review: Build and Design

The Honor 90 is a slim and light smartphone. It weighs about 183 grams and is 7.8 mm thin. This makes the Honor 90 one of the slimmest and lightest devices in this segment. It feels good in the hand, especially because the back and front are curved.

We are using the Diamond Silver color, which has some patterns on the back that make the device feel better in the hand compared to the other two color options. The other two colors are called Emerald Green and Midnight Black. The Diamond Silver color is glossy and attracts fingerprints, but it can be easily cleaned with a microfiber cloth. It reflects light to create different patterns and the camera cutouts are also surrounded by a shiny ring.

The Honor 90 is an overall good-looking device that feels good to hold and can be used without a case. The material of the back is probably glass and the side frame is made of polycarbonate. There are no creases or creaks to be seen and the Honor 90 is very well made. But at a price of INR 37999, a metal frame would have been necessary. Nothing was said about the type of protection for the display, but it should hold up well considering what the marketing team did with the walnuts.

There was a pre-applied screen protector on the Honor 90, but it suddenly started to bubble, so we had to remove it. So far, there are no scratches on the screen, but time will tell how well it holds up.

All in all, the Honor 90 is a good-looking and well-made smartphone, but yes, the build quality could have been better considering the price.

Honor 90 Review: Display and Audio

The Honor 90 has the best display under INR 40000. The 6.7-inch quad-curved display with a resolution of 2664×1200 px, 10-bit colors and 1600 nits peak brightness surpasses any smartphone display in this segment in terms of color reproduction and clarity.

The display is curved on all four sides, giving it a seamless feel. We personally like curved displays and we love the Honor 90’s display, it is a beautiful display that is also the best in terms of eye protection. The Honor 90 has a TUV certified display with 3840 Hz PWM dimming for a flicker-free viewing experience. It supports FullHD video streaming on all OTT platforms and offers HDR10+ support.

The display is easily visible outdoors or under direct light sources. The 120 Hz refresh rate ensures a smooth experience when scrolling and during general use. The software is optimized so that there are no lags or stutters.

The Honor 90 offers a pristine viewing experience, but the same cannot be said about the audio experience. The haptic feedback is just okay, it does rattle a bit, but for the most part it responds well. There is also an always-on display that can be customized accordingly.

The Honor 90 does not have a headphone jack and also only has a single speaker on the bottom, which is loud but distorts a bit at the highest volumes. A stereo speaker system is a must in this price range. For us, this is an absolute minus point, since we like to listen to music via our phone’s speakers on a regular basis. However, wireless audio accessories work well.

Overall, the display is one of the best parts of the Honor 90, but the audio experience is not as good.

Honor 90 Review: Software

The Honor 90 runs on Magic OS 7.1 based on Android 13. It supports all Google apps, so there are no compatibility issues. So far, we haven’t seen any ads or pop-ups. The software is very well optimized, there are hardly any hiccups or lags in daily use. The camera shutter speed and HDR processing could have been faster, but that seems to be more of a processor issue than software. There are many pre-installed apps, but most of them can be uninstalled.

Magic OS is packed with features and is probably one of the best parts of the Honor 90. You might think that the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 would have a hard time driving the 1.5K display, but there is no problem at all since the software is so well optimized. As for updates, Honor has promised two Android platform updates and three years of security updates. Our Honor 90 still has the July 2023 security patch installed, so we are not sure about the software updates. Time will tell whether Honor keeps its promise.

Overall, the software of the Honor 90 is very good compared to other smartphones in this price range and is one of the strong aspects of the Honor 90.

Honor 90 Review: Performance and Battery

The Honor 90 is equipped with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 accelerated edition which is just an overclocked variant of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. You have up to 12GB LPDDR4X RAM and up to 512GB UFS 3.1 storage support. For the price of INR 37999, Honor should at least have used the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 or the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

Nevertheless, the phone is smooth in day-to-day usage and handles the 120Hz refresh rate along with the 1.5K display well. 4K video playback on YouTube can be a bit stressful sometimes but it is not a major issue. Honor has an All-zone Cooling Drive system to keep the device cool even during heavy usage and it surely works as we have not experienced any warmth during our usage of the Honor 90.

On the other hand, there is a significant amount of delay in the camera app when using the Hi-Res 200MP mode or while processing HDR-heavy images. Games run fine but do not expect a great experience. The gameplay in Call of Duty Mobile and Pokémon Unite was smooth for the most part. If you are someone who plays a lot of games on their smartphone then something like the iQOO Neo 7 Pro will be a better choice for you. The performance is decent on the Honor 90 but could have been much better considering the price point of the device.

As for the battery, the Honor 90 lasts more than a day with mixed WiFi and mobile data usage. It has a 5000 mAh battery that performs well. You can expect between 5 to 7 hours of screen on time with the phone.

As for charging, the Honor 90 technically supports 66W of charging power, but that can only be triggered with a proprietary charger, which you unfortunately won’t get with the Indian variant. Instead, Honor is including a 30 W charger along with a USB-C to USB-C cable when you purchase the phone. With the 66W charger that our review sample has, the Honor 90 can be fully charged within an hour.

Honor 90 Review: I/O and Connectivity

On the bottom, the Honor 90 is equipped with a USB 2.0 Type-C port for charging and data transfer. There is a dual-sim card slot that can accommodate two 5G sim cards. There is a mono speaker for audio output and a primary microphone. On the right side are the power and volume buttons. On the top is the secondary microphone with noise cancelation. The Honor 90 has an optical fingerprint sensor in the display that enables biometric unlocking quickly and reliably. You can also set up a face unlock if you want.

In terms of connectivity, the Honor 90 supports Bluetooth 5.2 and WLAN 6. Bluetooth connectivity is solid for the most part, but we did have a few issues when using our Bluetooth earbuds. The WLAN connection is strong and offers stable speeds. Although the Honor 90 is a 5G phone, we were unable to get a 5G signal with our Jio SIM, but we did get 4G+ carrier aggregation. The phone also has NFC support for tap-to-pay payments and other NFC-related tasks.

Honor 90 Camera Review

The Honor 90 is equipped with a 1/1.4-inch 200MP main sensor with an f1.9 aperture, as well as a 12MP ultra-wide-angle and a 2MP depth camera on the back. On the front, there is a 50 MP sensor for selfies. All cameras of the Honor 90 work well and deliver good-looking results in both photos and videos.

The Honor 90’s cameras produce saturated colors that are pleasing to the eye. Sometimes the reds and greens are oversaturated, but most of the time they remain consistent in different scenarios. Images are sharp and full of details. The HDR performance of the phone is also quite good. Even the low-light photos look good. It doesn’t have OIS, but considering the price, OIS should have been part of the Honor 90’s camera system.

This phone probably has the best selfie camera in this price segment thanks to its 50MP sensor and balanced skin tones. The portrait shots from the rear and front cameras are also among the best in this segment. However, there is a significant color shift between the primary and the ultrawide sensor.

When it comes to videos, the Honor 90 can record 4K videos at 30fps with both the rear and front cameras, which is a rarity these days. However, 4K recording is limited to 15 minutes at a time, which is a bit of a shame. The videos are very usable and have good stabilization thanks to EIS on the front and back. For all the vloggers out there, Honor has included quite a few features like AI Vlog, dual recording, etc. Overall, the Honor 90 is a very good camera smartphone that rivals iQOO Neo 7 Pro, Nothing Phone (2), etc. And even has the edge in most cases.

You can check the camera samples in full resolution here.

Honor 90 Review Verdict

The Honor 90 is a good smartphone overall, but not at the price of INR 37999. Right now, the smartphone can be purchased for INR 29999 if you add up all the available deals, but that won’t be the case in a few weeks. So if we judge the Honor 90 at its original price, it lacks a powerful processor, stronger build quality, OIS and a charger in the box compared to its competitors. But if you can get it for under INR 32000, it is a great smartphone at that price.

The Honor 90 has a great display, good design, pretty good cameras and well optimized software. It is a comeback device for the Honor brand in India. The pricing could have been a bit more aggressive and the marketing a bit simpler. Let’s hope Honor continues to launch great smartphones like they used to. For now, we would only recommend the Honor 90 if the price stays below INR 32000. With upcoming festive season, it might well be the case. Otherwise, the iQOO Neo 7 Pro, the Nothing Phone (2) and the OnePlus 11R seem to be good alternatives.

Buy Honor 90