Smartphone markets have beendefined by their prices, like sub 10K, sub 15K, Sub 30K and so on. But what do you do when a smartphone in a segment offers so much or provides top of the line features for the segment, but at a much lower cost? A new segment may not be the answer, but the Honor 7S will certainly make you consider the other options in the sub 8K segment very hard. Because, with the Honor 7S, you stand to get all the good things, with money left over for indulging yourself with a few special accessories or two.
For the Honor brand, one of the most distinctive calling cards has been the ability to bring premium features to ever lower price segments. This time, much like the Honor 9 Lite shook up the sub 15K segment, the Honor 7S makes its debut, in the sub 7K segment effectively, even as its features comparable to those from the leaders in the sub 8K segment. So what is the disruption this time, you may ask?
Plenty, we can tell you. First up, the biggest surprise is the 5.45 inch, fullview display, that will surprise any user in the sub 8K segment, thanks to the 1440 X720 resolution, and the 18:9 aspect ratio. Yes, 18:9, which barely became a standard across all premium smartphones last year, is now available at this price, with the Honor 7S.
The sub 10K segment has some special requirements and based on that feedback, Honor has come up with another interesting feature. A larger receiver volume. Apparently, users were keen to have a bigger range for volume, and the Honor 7S delivers that. That’s the kind of small but relevant feature that should please a lot of users.
The camera, the one feature a value phone always had to compromise on, also throws up a big surprise. A 13 MP rear camera with PDAF. That simply means faster focus, to deliver better, crisper pictures for you. No more blurred images, or shaky ones, due to movement after you have clicked the picture. That, we believe is a feature well worth valuing. From the brand that made dual cameras ubiquitous on higher grade phones, this is a welcome move to make the user in the sub 10K segment enjoy her phone experience a lot more now.
The 5MP front camera has an added feature too, in the form of an LED selfie light that will make your selfies far better with backlight. Of course, it’s too much to expect amazing pictures in low light, but for now, the cameras on the Honor 7S steal the show from the competition.
With RAM of 2 GB, and storage of 16 GB, the Honor 7S may not offer the moon, but offers enough to make it fully capable of regular everyday tasks. Keeping it all running is a quad-core Processor and a 3020 mAh battery, which has the added benefit of Honor’s battery optimisation features. The dual sim slot, an essential for this category is there, along with an expandable slot for a Micro SD, to add up to 256 GB of storage of needed.
If you thought the hardware was impressive, keep in mind that the Honor 7S comes with Android 8.1.0, keeping you right up there with the best phones when it comes to your Android version, something that was unthinkable for this segment till 15 months back.
So what makes this phone a compelling buy? The features are a large part of the story, but perhaps the clincher is the price. At Rs 6,999, the Honor 7S is almost 20-30% lower than comparable smartphones, with barely a compromise on performance. Especially on key aspects like display, camera and Android version. That makes is the real value buy, when it comes to the budget segment.