Huawei Honor 8
Phone Scoop Review
Sep 29, 2016 by Eric M. Zeman
The Huawei Honor 8 is a high-quality piece of hardware that's surprisingly affordable. It competes well with a handful of other $400 unlocked phones from the likes of Alcatel, OnePlus, and ZTE. The Honor 8 boasts top specs, an attractive glass-and-metal design, and Huawei's Emotion UI on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Here is Phonescoop's in-depth review. read review ›
User Reviews
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One remarkable phone
I bought this phone when it came out three weeks ago.
I chose it over the One Plus Three and the Axon 7. The Honor 8 is supposed to have a better camera than the other two. And the software wasn't as clunky as the other two also.
I'm impressed with the way it operates. It has not let me down yet. the software operates flawlessly. The phone hasn't locked up once. There is some quirks about the software for instance there is no app drawer so all your apps end up on the main pages like on the iPhone. This can be solved by downloading an app off the Play Store. If you're looking for a $400 phone, you really need to consider this phone
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Nice spyware-laden device
This is a very nice device at a very nice price. Unfortunately it has security issues. I am not a security expert, but I will share what I found.
Upon powerup, the device asks permission (at least it asks) to access your contacts, and a bunch of other things (some of which are necessary). This happened for at least five different Huawei supplied features that use your data connection to share your info with Huawei. You can decline, and also never be asked again if you choose. The default launcher doesn't show all your apps, so you need to change that. I installed Nova Launcher (needs no permissions), and I am happy with it.
When you plug this into your PC, you will note that it has a partition that appears as a CD-ROM, and has an autorun.inf file that launches "hisuitedownloader.exe". Once that is installed, it creates a registry key to ensure it runs every time you turn on your computer. A non-Windows reboot prompt alerted me.
Even without that software, you will see the phone in your explorer folder pane. But there will be no content in it.
Pros:
Very nice device, thin and sleek
Great octo-core SOC
Sharp IPS screen
Fast charging (the charger to do that costs about $25 extra)
Great fingerprint reader
Excellent power management
Accepts microSD cards up to 128GB
The speaker sounds surprisingly good
Cons:
SPYWARE
Screen is smaller than 5.2 inches would seem (Android buttons take up part of it)
Cannot be opened to replace the battery
Very slippery- it's all glass- MUST have a case
This phone is much less expensive than ones with competitive features from other manufacturers. But it also provides a platform for accessing information from your phone and probably your PC too. The USA and its states will not use Huawei networking equipment because they are known to introduce vulnerabilities that cannot be fully mitigated. This despite the fact that Huawei is the largest manufacturer of networking equipment in the world. I have drawn my own conclusions.
