Batteries are just gonna become bigger and bigger (but not much improvement in the field).
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Honor is a company that built a brand new identity after parting ways from Huawei a few years ago. Now, they serve a purpose to its customers. That is, creating smartphones with a valuable and luxury feel complimented by unique design choices. Somehow still, inspired from Huawei’s. The new Magic7 Pro, which would be discussed in a separate article, may prove our theory.
In China, the brand released a new phone. It’s the Honor Power. Its specs are nothing to be clapping hard about, except for one thing, where the name “Power” truly shines: the large battery.
You may have seen a trend in smartphone design lately wherein companies are starting to increase battery capacity, either by increasing the battery density, or simply using other material, such as Silicon-Carbon. Silicon Carbon is a tech that was popularized by, you guessed it, Honor, which increases battery capacity without increasing its actual size. The technology has been present in their other phones already like the Honor 200, and other manufacturers are adopting it too.
During the launch, the Honor Power was boastingly compared against the iPad 11, mainly for its huge battery without increasing form factor. The Honor Power is thinner despite that huge battery capacity and lasts longer (supposedly) than the iPad Air, with 29.60WHr vs 28.93WHr respectively. Phones are reaching tablet levels of battery capacity and we expect to see a rise in trend of this soon. Although, unsurprisingly, this isn’t the first time smartphone brands used a ridiculously high capacity for their phones. Tecno’s POVA series were known for their huge battery sizes, usually ranging between 6000 and 7000mAh.
In Honor’s lab-grown endurance test, the Honor Power can last up to 25 hours while playing long-form video continuously and 14 hours of gaming. Now, you can grind up to Mythical Immortal or Grandmaster, and never cure your gambling addiction while trying to get Castorice or Venti. The phone comes paired with 66W fast wired charging. For a phone focused a lot on battery, it strangely lacks wireless charging.
As for chipset, it’s a pretty competitive and appropriate one. The phone calls for the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. The same chipset that powers the Honor 200. We suspect this chipset was chosen mainly due to its efficiency prowess, which is constantly advertised by Qualcomm. Paired with it are 12GB RAM and 512GB ROM, of course, at the max configuration.
The phone also has a signal-enhancement chip called the Honor C1+. Though it appears this chip only benefits Chinese users. It has the ability to do satellite-based messaging based on BeiDou and is only available at the highest-end variant. BeiDou is only available in China. As for other connectivity options, you get Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6/6e, 5G, and sadly, only USB-C 2.0. Gotta cut costs somewhere.
The Honor Power also has some mid-level display, rivaling that of the Honor X9c and the likes of the Oppo Reno12 or Vivo V50. It is particularly bright at 4000nits. It has 120Hz refresh rate with a resolution of 1.5K and a diagonal measurement of 6.78 inches. As with the Honor number series, the Honor Power has 3840Hz PWM Dimming, higher than any other smartphone which usually maxes out at 1920Hz.
Camera is the phone’s biggest weakness, which we find somehow ironic because Honor’s phones are always advertised as camera powerhouses. Nevertheless, this only goes for the hardware as Honor’s MagicUI-based camera software capabilities remains intact and competitive as others. The phone features an oval punch hole at the front like the Honor 200 Pro which houses a 16MP selfie camera alongside a 2MP depth sensor. The rear features a 50MP camera with OIS measuring 1/1.56″ complemented by a 5MP ultrawide which is typically found only on Honor’s lowest end phones to give the illusion that the second camera is not a gimmick.
In China, the Honor Power starts at CNY 1,999 (~PHP 15.5K) for the 8/256 variant. The 12/256 variant goes for CNY 2,199 (~PHP 17.1K), and finally, the 12/512 variant is available for CNY 2,499 (~PHP 19.4K). As you can imagine, the phone is slotted above the Honor X9c but lower than the Honor number series, and makes for a perfect compromise for those looking for a phone that works for longer periods of time while at the same time good enough for mid-level gaming and photography sessions.
Colors include silver, gold, and black. It is available now in China but its international release is yet to be announced.
Source: Honor (in Chinese)
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