Honor, the new brand launched by Huawei, has unveiled its latest handset in the Honor Holly.
After the release of the top end Honor 6 a few months back the company is following-up with another handset to deliver a smartphone to those on a budget.
The Honor Holly will be available from 23 February. The price will be chosen by the people via hihonor.com/pricehacker between now and 23 February. This will be limited in numbers so it's first come first served on the good prices between 23 and 26 February.
Design and build
On first looking at the Holly handset it is clear that the plastic case holds a lower-end smartphone. While it's not as slim as some phones in the hand, it's plenty small enough to sit in your pocket comfortably. It also feels strong with a removable rear that's locked in and sealed tightly - though we're not going to drop it in water anytime soon.
While some smartphones are doing away with front-facing buttons the Honor Holly still features Android's Home, Back and Option buttons.
Power and performance
There is a 2,000mAh battery which we'd imagine does well on the low resolution screen combined with lower power 1.3GHz quad-core processor which is backed by 1GB of RAM. Though we haven't had a chance to test this in our hands-on time with the phone.
The phone jumps between apps and screens with ease. At this level it's tough to see a lag in a handset unless you're running top end software. So for the price you should be happy with this handset that will allow you a smartphone experience for a budget price.
For storage you get 16GB built-in and you are able to use microSD to expand the memory further by 32GB.
Screen
The display is a 720 x 1280 resolution on a 5-inch screen meaning a 294ppi. This isn't amazing but the colours are rich and it does feel like a decent screen, especially for the price.
In our limited time with the handset we didn't notice any lag and the even when not on full brightness it was clear. It would do the job, essentially, and we can't find reason to complain for the price.
Camera
In the rear is an 8-megapixel snapper with f/2.0 sensor capable of Full HD video while the front-facing selfie snapper manages 2-megapixel shots. In the low light of the event that f/2.0 aperture seemed to do well allowing lots of light into the lens for judder-free, bright photos.
There is a watermark function, enhanced selfies with a viewfinder so you look at the lens rather than at the screen. The all focus mode allows you to change the focus point after the shot has been taken - an impressive extra in a handset at this price.
Software
Like the Honor 6 the Honor Holly will comes with a skin over the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. This is the Emotion UI 2.3 that is found on Huawei handsets. The icons are also modified for the brand with rounded edges that makes it feel a bit more fun, or child-like.
The new Emotion 3.0 UI is currently on the Honor 6 and may come to the Holly, since the hardware can support it. This would mean features like Visualised data, a nice option showing a circle that fills in more as the data goes up. So as a step counter, for example, you'll have the number in the middle and your goal around the edge filling in until you hit it.
Another 3.0 feature assists one-handed use allowing you to shift the keyboard about, use floating windows and pull down to hover multiple screens.
First impressions
For a budget handset the Honor Holly offers full smartphone specs that will offer pretty much everything you could need.
For anyone who wants a Full HD screen the Holly might not be good enough. But for power that will chug along for most needs, a decent set of cameras and a solid build, you can't go far wrong with the Honor Holly.
The fact you get to choose your price point is a nice touch, but since it's limited in number it feels like more of a promotion than a game changer.