Back in early April last year, Huawei sub-brand Honor launched the Honor 7A smartphone. And, the company was all set to launch its successor – the Honor 8A – on January 8, i.e., tomorrow. However, it looks like the company couldn’t wait till January 8 as it has already made the Honor 8A official, but under the moniker of Honor Play 8A.
We have been hearing about the Honor 8A, now called Honor Play 8A, since last month. And, thanks to multiple leaks, we knew almost everything there is to know about this smartphone except the pricing and availability details. But now that the phone’s officially unveiled, we are obliged to talk about the phone’s design and hardware again.
Talking about its design, the Honor Play 8A boasts a plastic build with the frames made out of metal. The back of the phone also looks attractive because of its two-tone design. On the front, you have a 6.09-inch LCD display that has a resolution of 1560 x 720 pixels. The display also has a waterdrop-shaped notch up top. But, even with a notch, the Play 8A does have a large chin for our liking. However, it’s worth noting that the smartphone has a screen-to-body ratio of 87% which isn’t all that bad.
Under the hood, the Honor Play 8A comes with MediaTek’s Helio P35 SoC running the show which is laced with 3 GB RAM. The smartphone boots up to EMUI 9 which is based on Android Pie. The Honor Play 8A is offered in two storage options – 32 GB and 64 GB. However, it also comes with a dedicated slot for microSD card that allows storage expansion up to 512 GB.
For photography, the Honor Play 8A features a 13 MP camera at the back and an 8 MP camera on the front; the former has f/1.8 aperture whereas the latter has f/2.0 aperture. For comparison, the Honor 7A comes with a dual camera setup at the back which is a combination of one 13 MP and one 2 MP camera.
The Honor Play 8A also doesn’t come with a fingerprint scanner which is present on the Honor 7A, hence, you will have to rely on Face Unlock to unlock the smartphone if you are lazy enough to unlock it by entering your PIN or password.
Lastly, the Honor Play 8A is offered in four colors – Black, Blue, Red, and Gold – and, fueling the entire package is a 3020 mAh which draws power from a micro USB port.
Honor Play 8A Specifications
- CPU: 2.3 GHz Helio P35 octa-core processor
- RAM: 3 GB
- Operating System: EMUI 9 based on Android 9.0 Pie
- Display: 6.09-inch HD+ (1560 x 720 pixels) IPS LCD display
- Rear Camera: 13 MP with f/1.8 aperture, PDAF and LED flash
- Front Camera: 8 MP with f/2.0 aperture
- Internal Storage: 32/64 GB
- External Storage: Expandable up to 512 GB via microSD card (dedicated slot)
- SIM: Dual
- Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, GPS, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 3.5 mm headphone jack, micro USB
- Other: Face Unlock
- Colors: Black, Blue, Gold, Red
- Battery: 3020 mAh
Honor Play 8A Price and Availability
- Price (3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage): ¥799 (around $116/₹8148)
- Availability: Available for pre-order in China. No word on availability in other markets
