Honor 50

“The Honor 50 is a high-quality smartphone as is known and expected from the manufacturer. The build quality is correspondingly good, and the camera's pictures and overall system performance are also quite convincing. The long battery life and the included quick charger round off the smartphone package.”

“The Honor 50 impresses with an excellent 120Hz display, which turned out to be brighter than the nova 9's, offers dependable battery life, shoots some good stills and videos, charges fast, and it's one of the lightest handsets in its category. It even fixes some of the flaws the nova 9 couldn't - it supports Google Mobile Services and offers 5G connectivity. It's essentially an improved version of the nova 9. Sadly, this isn't enough to make it to our recommendation list. The Honor 50 isn't exceptionally good in either field, making room for its competitors to shine. There are considerably more powerful alternatives with better camera capabilities for less money. And the Honor 50 misses some common features such as stereo speakers and ingress protection too.”

“If this were any other smartphone from any other company, there wouldn’t be a whole lot to write home about. €529 is a lot of money for what this phone offers when the likes of Xiaomi and even OPPO offer a whole lot better for lower prices. However, there are a few key advantages that Honor smartphones have inherited from their past owner, and those are what will make the company really shine. Camera prowess for one, and battery life being the second.”

“At its starting price, the Honor 50 is a comfortably midrange device. But there are a lot of accomplished smartphones available at similar prices. Phones like the OnePlus Nord 2 or the iPhone SE are both excellent phones that offer a much more rounded experience than the Honor 50. And if you’re considering the Honor 50 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, then you’re just €50 away from the recently announced Pixel 6. It’s a crowded part of the market, and simply having access to Google’s apps and services isn’t enough to make an impact. Honor’s software can feel bloated, and its camera is sluggish and lacking in detail. Speedy 66W fast charging and a slick 120Hz display aren’t enough to distract from the fact that the Honor 50 has some weak spots when compared against the best midrange handsets available. Honor might be a viable purchase now that it can once again include Google’s apps and services on its devices. But it has more work to do if it wants to be truly competitive.”