Friends+Design
- Well built, unibody metal design - the Honor Play is sturdy, solid, and reassuring
- Slim & sleek at just 7.5mm thick, which is quite an achievement especially as it packs a large 3750mAh battery
Display
- Nice, immersive, modern 19.5:9 'notch' display - colour accuracy and viewing angles are both good - and playing games or watching videos is an immersive experience
Software
- EMUI is not the most simple Android UI and can be cluttered at places
Performance
- Power packed performance with Huawei's flagship SoC, and super fast UFS 2.1 storage - the benchmark numbers put it not that much behind the performance monster, OnePlus 6 (and at a significantly lower price point!) - gaming performance is top-notch too
- Also special is support for 'GPU Turbo' which reduces battery drain when playing supported games (technically it is a core level change to how the GPU handles the rendering of visuals) - Honor also is working on implementing GPU Turbo for EMUI visuals which should improve battery performance of the phone even during general use
- GPU Turbo is also not an exclusive feature - it will roll it out to existing phones like the Honor 10, Honor View 10, Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X via a software update - so if you can afford the Honor View 10, it might be a better choice, since the Honor Play is basically a toned down version of the Honor View 10 (the View 10 especially has an edge with its cameras)
- GPU Turbo support is currently limited to very few games
Camera
- Decent rear dual camera setup - takes good images in good light, and clicks decent bokeh shots too
- Good selfie camera, especially in daylight conditions - selfies are rather pleasant and the colours, contrast and dynamic range are all within an acceptable range
- The rear dual camera setup does decently well in good light, but the low-light performance could have been significantly better - at the same time, the video recording quality is also strictly average - there are better-overall-camera phones around in this price bracket, including the likes of the Mi A2, the Redmi Note 5 Pro, and the Zenfone 5Z
Battery
- Very good battery life - it will easily last a day and a half or more on moderate to heavy usage - and if Honor does truly end up implementing GPU Turbo for EMUI’s interface like they plan to, you can expect even better battery life over the course of time
- Supports fast charging
More
- Also enabled later via an OTA would be a feature called AI 4D Smart Shock to bring a new level of immersion for gamers - the feature will provide haptic feedback that is unique and customised to the games you play and the actions you execute within that game
- On the whole, the Honor Play looks like a good choice at this price point - if you’re looking for a phone that’s all about great battery life, really good performance and great visuals, the Honor Play will suit your needs beautifully, as long as you don’t particularly care about having the very best imaging device as well
