Full review: Face the day’s next adventure with the HONOR X9C Smart 5G

In today’s day and age of modern smartphone technology standing at the forefront of the human experience, it seems like a herculean task to pick what stands out above the rest.

Thankfully, HONOR has just come out with the sequel to its highly successful HONOR X9C 5G, the HONOR X9C Smart 5G.

Packed with tech and durability features that can keep up with the times, it’s no wonder why this is dubbed as the best-value tough smartphone. So does the HONOR X9C Smart 5G live up to its moniker? Let’s find out.

Design and build

The HONOR X9C Smart 5G features the same SGS 5-Star Comprehensive reliability rating that you trust, meaning that it can withstand up to 2 meters of drop, has an all-angle 360-Degrees Drop Resistance, 3000 Steel Wool Scratch Resistance at the back, and has drop-tested in more than 10 surfaces. 

The back of the HONOR X9C Smart 5G in the same vein, features the same Polycarbonate Polymethyl Methacrylate back cover that HONOR is most known for. This means that accidental scratches against coins, keys and key chains can be the least of your worries.

As for how the back cover feels, and being the basketball sneakerhead that I am, I can say that it almost reminds me of those carbon fibre plates/shanks that sneaker manufacturers use to give basketball and running shoes their structure and support. But this time, the HONOR X9C Smart 5G’s back cover feels even more substantial than that. This thing is hard as a rock, without being heavy or bulky. Physics nerds like me would beg to ask, “What happens when an unstoppable force meets the HONOR X9C Smart 5G’s back cover?” 

As for its water resistance capability, the HONOR X9c Smart 5G can also withstand a dip in water – 5 minutes under 25cm depth and 2 minutes under 50cm depth. The same triple-layer protection technology also prevents water from ingress inside the device, especially in its delicate components.

The HONOR X9c Smart 5G can also thrive in either cold or hot environments, resisting negative 30 degrees Celsius to up to 55 degrees Celsius, representing conditions that we can be in during our daily experiences.

All these tough and durable features might surprise you given the HONOR X9C Smart 5G’s elegant, smooth and light body. 

Slim at 7.88 mm, slender to hold at the sides with its right curvature and a front flat glass panel, which makes this a smartphone likeable to hold around. I had no qualms carrying it around with me or keeping it in my pocket as I was out and about to take pictures one night. 

Beauty born from nature, HONOR X9c Smart 5G will be available in two captivating colorways: Midnight Black and Ocean Cyan.

Display

At the front, the 6.8-inch display of the HONOR X9c Smart 5G is also feature-packed with high brightness, refresh rate, resolution, and even color reproduction – features you only see in flagship-level devices in the past. I could see and feel the immersion, whether I was playing games like Street Racing 3D, binging on my favorite horror Netflix shows, or streaming live NBA games. 

One useful feature is the Night Display, which when enabled, will intelligently adjust the phone’s screen color temperature according to sunrise and sunset times. When you use a mobile phone before going to bed, screen exposure will suppress the production of sleep hormone. Night display can mitigate that effect to help you fall asleep faster. 

Furthermore, there also is your typical Facial Recognition feature, which I found to be useful in tandem with the HONOR X9c Smart 5G’s raise-to-wake and direct unlock that has never made unlocking your phone easier and more streamlined. 

Camera

At the back of the HONOR X9c Smart 5G is the famous profile design of integrating circular black module that houses the dual camera system: 108MP Main Camera and 5MP Ultra-Wide Camera for your content creations.

HONOR also brings AI into this price segment for the first time to help your photography to be even better. AI Night Mode Camera automatically adjusts the right exposure and shutter speed in darker conditions while AI Motion Sensing Capture snaps instantly highlight moments when significant movements are detected into your frame.

HONOR X9c Smart 5G will also carry the HONOR AI Eraser so users can remove unwanted photobombers or details.

The HONOR X9c Smart 5G also has creative shooting features for all you content creators or live streamers out there. It allows you to auto generate instant movie clips and montages, and it even has HONOR Clip, a powerful and easy-to-use Video Editor feature and rich online materials of Cut to produce movies with ease. 

I would say that for the price, HONOR has really upped the ante as far as the photography tech goes, as I was able to take vivid photos of the beautiful outdoors, capture those precious moments with my beloved pets, as well as take in the night outlook of the bustling city and fauna.

Thanks to the AI, I was able to transform and enhance dull and dark pictures into vivid scenes, negate the poor lighting and shadows with some grandeur and even some cuteness overload. I even look as if I just had a facial in the one selfie I took. 

Performance

Larger storage and RAM are all about the rave. Get 12GB Physical RAM plus 12GB additional HONOR Turbo RAM for a total of 24GB RAM and a reliable 256GB storage for your content to store.

HONOR X9c Smart 5G carries the same Magic OS 8, meaning you have access to UI interfaces that improves your overall use; see notifications without leaving the current screen with magic capsule, transfer photos or text to another app quickly through magic portal, Magic Lock Screen lets you customize your phone to your preference even when not in use, and Parallel Space that enables two home screens and accesses each one when needed.

Another handy feature I found of the HONOR X9c Smart 5G is the Scan Document, which can convert paper documents, such as PPT, into electronic files, making it easy to save and share them. 

One aspect I found unique of the HONOR X9c Smart 5G was that they have this AI-suggestion cards section that suggests your most-used and liked apps on your home screen so you never miss a beat. 

You can also sync your voice recordings with notes for precise playback. This feature I found very intuitive, since making notes simply through one’s voice and to be able to type at the same time is surely a game-changer when it comes to one’s work or school life. 

Being into rock music, I was pleasantly surprised that the HONOR X9c Smart 5G also comes with the HONOR Sound system, which features 4 different modes for you to experience; Auto, 3D Audio, Natural, and Standard. This 3D Audio mode in particular felt like I was let into a whole new world of listening to music, almost like I was there. I could hear almost every cymbal and drum-fill, which is the instrument in particular I like to hear the most, while also every guitar harmony and accompanying second higher or lower octave voice could be heard in all its purity. 

My only gripe with the HONOR X9c Smart 5G as far as performance goes was that the Spotify app was a bit glitchy when trying to download songs for offline mode, and when I finally got it to work after re-installing it, it took forever to download my one ambient sleep-time playlist.

Battery and charging

HONOR goes beyond the expected with a bigger 5800mAh battery that keeps you on for up to 20 hours of video playback and up to 42 hours of online music playback. Should you run out of juice, stay just a bit longer with our low power saving mode and charge up easily with its 35W HONOR Super Charge. 

Not only durable outside but also inside, HONOR takes into consideration battery longevity – even after 1000 cycles or estimated 3 years, the battery will be able to retain 80% of its capacity. 

The HONOR X9c Smart 5G comes equipped with 3 battery modes to suit your everyday lifestyle, Performance mode, Power Saving mode, and Ultra Power Saving mode. 

I found through my usage of the HONOR X9c Smart 5G as far as the battery performance was that it was satisfactory. I could be multi-tasking with social apps and streaming music at the same time during the day, and then at night play my ambient sleep-time music for extended hours at a time and the battery would still last longer than I thought it would. Then the next day, thanks to its 35W Honor Super Charge, the battery went from 15% to full charge in around 20-30 minutes only, although I had already turned off the phone. I did however find similar results on the first few times I had to charge that it was really fast and reliable. 

Verdict

So coming in at an SRP of P13,999, and with all its tech and durability features, I would definitely say that the HONOR X9c Smart 5G really is best defined as a best-value tough smartphone, especially if you can get it at a discount; ala shopee’s 3.3 sale which comes in at only P10,799. Its price really is justified by the tech you’re getting, so you get what you pay for, and that’s a jack-of-all trades smartphone with an ultra-durable yet stylish shell to boot. It’s a smartphone that caters to any segment of the market and offers all the features out of a modern-day smartphone you can ask for.