In an upgrade for its Honor 8 smartphone (that was brought out in 2016), the Huawei-sub-brand Honor has now released its latest offering in the Indian smartphone market – the Honor 8 Pro.
While the Honor 8 was a more than a decent device itself, the company intends to put on a device that one-ups the same. Speaking of the 8 Pro, it isn’t an entirely new phone altogether, having already been out in China as the Honor V9, but Honor certainly has felt the need to keep the ‘Honor 8 series’ gag alive in the country.
So, what’s changed, you ask? Should you upgrade from your Honor 8 to an Honor 8 Pro?
Also Read: OnePlus 5 VS OnePlus 3T – What Has Changed?
Yes, there’s an elephant in the room, and to know how we addressed it, read on.
Honor 8 Pro vs Honor 8 Specs Comparison
Model | Huawei Honor 8 Pro | Huawei Honor 8 |
Display | 5.7-Inch, qHD, IPS LCD | 5.2-Inch, IPS FHD Display, 424ppi |
Processor | 2.4GHz Octa-Core Kirin 960 Processor | HiSilicon Kirin octa-core Chip, Mali-T880MP2 |
RAM | 6GB | 4GB |
Internal Storage | 64GB, expandable up to 256GB | 32GB storage (expandable up to 128GB) |
Software | Android Nougat-based EMUI 5.1 | Android 6.0 Marshmallow based EmotionUI 4.1 |
Primary Camera | 12MP (RGB) + 12MP (telephoto) rear camera, f/2.2 aperture, laser autofocus, dual-LED flash, 4K video recording | 2 X 12MP sensor, dual-tone LED flash, Laser AF, f/2.2 aperture, 6P lens |
Secondary Camera | 8MP selfie camera, f/2.0 aperture, 1080p video recording | 8MP Front-Facing Camera, F/2.4 aperture |
Dimensions and Weight | 157 x 77.5 x 7mm and 184Grams | 145.5 x 71 x 7.5mm and 153Grams |
Battery | 4,000mAh, fast charging | 3000 mAh, fast charging |
Others | 4G VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, USB OTG, 3.5mm, Hybrid SIM, NFC, USB Type-C, Infrared, GLONASS, Fingerprint Scanner | 4G VoLTE, Hybrid SIM, Fingerprint sensor, Infrared sensor, 3.5mm Audio Jack, USB Type-C, USB OTG, Infrared, GLONASS |
Price | Approx. Rs. 39,500/- | Rs. 29,999/- |
Design and Display
If you have a quick glance at both the phones, you’d find it really difficult to differentiate between the two on the design front (yes, they appear near identical). Both have thin bezels up front, while the back is also the same with the dual camera unit on the top left, the company branding on the chin, as well as the fingerprint scanner bang in the middle.
However, once you spend a few minutes with the two, the differences spew up. First up is the obvious difference in the screen size, with the 8 Pro giving off about half-an-inch of more screen space (5.7-inch as compared to the Honor 8’s 5.2-inch one).
The phone is also slimmer around the waist than its contemporary (6.97mm to 7.5mm), and appears more pleasing on the eye (persona preference, this one), owing to a larger screen and compact-friendly features, such as lesser weight and thickness. Those interested in an even smaller setup, might favor the Honor 8 here, though.
The Full HD IPS LCD display worked well enough in the case of the Honor 8. With the 8 Pro, the company has buffed it up further to a QHD one, producing even clearer and sharper images, inspite of having a much bigger display (also offering more ppi density in the process).
Also, both the phones have the same layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the top, in a bid to increase the scratch resistant of the two.
Software and Performance
As is the case with all of the Honor smartphones, the duo comes riddled with the Emotion UI (EMUI) on top of the Android OS. That means you get plenty of pre-loaded features and applications with both (we personally prefer a clutter-free, near stock Android experience though).
The Honor 8, considering the time gap between the two of them, comes running on Android Marshmallow and has the previous version of the EMUI (5.0). The Honor 8 Pro on the other hand, has the Android Nougat OS, as well as the latest version of the EMUI (5.1).
Well, considering that the Honor 8 is upgradable to both the latest (an EMUI upgrade is in the offing) software platforms, this isn’t going to be much of a concern to the users.
The hardware seems a bit of an upgrade with the Honor 8 Pro, with the phone drawing power from an updated Kirin 960 chipset (the latest off the block from the company), as compared to Honor 8’s Kirin 960 processor.
The upgraded version of Kirin 960 packs a quartet of Cortex A-73 cores which as Honor claims to be 30% faster than the four Cortex A-72 ones that were there in the Honor 8.
The RAM also sees an improvement, advancing from 4GB in the latter to 6GB in the former (there’s a similar 4GB RAM variant also available).
Pooling in this enhancements, we are placing our bets on the 8 Pro to be the better and more future-proof performer out of the two.
Camera and Battery
For the optics, the newest Honor member has the same dual lens setup as its older colleague – twin 12MP snappers having f/2.2 aperture, EIS and (still) no OIS.
What’s changed here is that the 8 Pro now has the provisions to capture the surroundings in true monochrome, while the 8 relied on special filters to mimic the same. Oh yes, the 8 Pro can also capture 4K videos.
Flipping to the other side, there’s the same 8MP selfie snapper in the pair, although the one in the Honor 8 Pro comes with some minor upgrades with the aperture, offer a comparatively wider aperture (f/2.4 giving way to f/2.0).
The battery capacity in the 8 Pro sees an upgrade too, expanding further to 4,000mAh in comparison to the Honor 8’s 3,000mAh one. Both the phones have fast charging capacities, though.
Also Read: Best Design Phones Under 30,000 INR [April 2017]
Final Verdict
All in all, the Honor 8 Pro is a significant upgrade form the Honor 8, having made improvements on almost all fronts. That said, it is definitely worth a shot, considering it packs some fine features and specs combined with aggressive pricing. A safe bet, this one.