Design
- With a flat metal backplate, 2.5D curved glass on the front, and a display that dominates the front fascia, the Honor 7C feels sleek and premium
- The lack of antenna lines, subtle Honor branding, minimal regulatory information lend a very clean and minimal look to the back panel
- Build quality is top-notch too, and the phone feels solid in the hand
- Pretty wide which hinders one-handed use considerably
Display
- Decent 5.99 inch 18:9 modern, tall display - colours are vibrant and viewing angles are spot on (although outdoor visibility is average, and resolution could have been better)
Software
- The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate, and is ergonomically placed - it can be used for a variety of shortcuts such as taking a picture, answering calls, and sliding down the notification panel
- Battery life is decent (though not overly impressive)- with moderate use, the phone will last the day - EMUI also has a host of battery saving features, one of which reduces the screen resolution when you're running low on power
- The Honor 7C runs Huawei's EMUI custom skin atop Android - although EMUI has matured over the years and is now one of the most versatile and feature-loaded skins out there, it is still cluttered in some places and laden with bloat - a multitude of Honor's applications compete with Google's own, and the phone comes with a lot of 3rd party apps pre-installed
Performance
- Although performance is decent in day-to-day use, it does struggle with intensive workloads - with multiple apps open in the background, you will experience lags - other phones in this price bracket, even those with the same Snapdragon 450 (like the Redmi 5) seem to do better
Camera
- The Honor 7C also supports face recognition, using the 8-megapixel front camera - it works quite well for the most part in good light
- Average dual camera system on the rear - there is lack of detail in the images, and low light shots are barely usable - the blur (bokeh) effect is also not the most accurate, and edge detection around the subject is average - video recording is strictly average too - the cameras on competing phones like Redmi Note 5 and Realme 1 are significantly better
- The 8-megapixel front shooter is average too - it can take decent photos in good light but struggles in low light, producing noisy and murky shots
Audio
- The speaker that is very shrill and tinny
Battery
- No modern USB-Type C port for charging and data transfers
- The smartphone also does not support quick charging, and takes more than two and a half hours to charge fully using the included charger
More
- On the whole, potential buyers are likely to find a much better value proposition in the likes of the Oppo Realme 1 (which lacks a fingerprint sensor but offers a better-rounded package), or the Redmi Note 5 (which offers far more value for money), or the Asus Max Pro M1 (simple, stock Android UI) - the Honor 7C will also face tough competition from Honor's own 9 Lite (which has a higher-resolution display, a better set of cameras, and a sleek glass body)