Hands-on with the Honor 8 Pro: A premium VR-ready Android smartphone

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  • Honor 8 Pro

    Honor 8 Pro

    The Honor 8 Pro is the new top-of-the-range smartphone from Huawei's Honor brand.

    It features a 5.7-inch display wrapped in a very solid-feeling metal body with curved edges. It also has a dual-camera setup (although the cameras lack the Leica branding seen on the Huawei P10) and a fingerprint reader on the rear. That may find favour with those who were disappointed to see the fingerprint reader switch to the front on P10.

    Photo by: Image: ZDNet

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

  • Honor 8 Pro software

    Honor 8 Pro software

    The Honor 8 Pro uses predictive memory allocation, startup memory optimisation and other tricks to preload frequently-used apps and keep you from hanging around waiting.

    Photo by: Image: ZDNet

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

  • Honor 8 Pro rear

    Honor 8 Pro rear

    One common complaint about Android is that devices slow down over time. Huawei claims to tackle this with its EMUI 5.1 software, which it says will keep the devices running at 80 percent efficiency 'stutter-free' after 500 days of usage. It does this through some behind-the-scenes features, including active run-time RAM defragmentation, advanced memory compression and a faster kernel for memory recycling. As consumers hold onto their devices longer, features like this may become more of a selling point.

    The octa-core Kirin 960 chip delivers impressive CPU and graphics performance, while the handset's 4,000mAh battery should provide two days of regular use or 1.5 days under 'heavy' use, the company said.

    The Honor 8 Pro has the now-customary dual-lens rear camera system, which is handy for creating those Bokeh-style shots (the two cameras are flush with the back of the device so there's no sensor bump on the back).

    Photo by: Image: ZDNet

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

  • Honor 8 Pro and VR

    Honor 8 Pro and VR

    The Honor 8 Pro's crisp quad-HD display comes into its own with applications like VR. Cleverly, the box the phone comes in converts into a VR viewer to tempt users into trying out the handset's VR features.

    Photo by: Image: ZDNet

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

  • Honor 8 Pro and VR viewer

    Honor 8 Pro and VR viewer

    The handset and viewer side-by-side. The Jaunt VR app is loaded on the device to you can try out some VR videos: features in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them -- such as the view from the bottom of Newt's suitcase -- are great fun, even if they're not in the same league as the VR offered by something like the Oculus Rift.

    Photo by: Image: ZDNet

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

  • Honor 8 Pro VR viewer

    Honor 8 Pro VR viewer

    Here's the VR viewer disassembled to show the Honor 8 Pro inside.

    Photo by: Image: ZDNet

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

  • Honor 8 Pro features

    Honor 8 Pro features

    Honor 8 Pro specs

      Display
      5.7 inch 2560 x 1440 Quad HD display at 515ppi

      Dimensions
      157mm x 77.5mm x 6.97mm

      Weight
      184g including the battery

      Operating System
      Android Nougat with Huawei EMUI 5.1

      Processor
      HiSilicon Kirin 960, Octa-Core (4x2.4GHz+4x1.8GHz)

      Battery
      4,000 mAh (Charging duration 1 hour 50 minutes; 3G airtime: 30 hours, standby time: 21 days

      Memory
      64GB ROM, 6GB RAM, storage expandable to 128GB with MicroSD

      Cameras
      2 x12-megapixel dual rear-facing camera, 8-megapixel front-facing camera

      Connectivity
      Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G/5G, Bluetooth BT4.2, USB 2.0, GPS/AGPS/Glonass/BeiDou Navigation Satellite System

      Sensors

      Hall effect sensor, infrared sensor, fingerprint sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, digital compass, gravity sensor, gyroscope

      Stay tuned for ZDNet's review of the Honor 8 Pro.

      Photo by: Image: ZDNet

      Caption by: Steve Ranger

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    Honor 8 Pro and VR

    The Honor 8 Pro's crisp quad-HD display comes into its own with applications like VR. Cleverly, the box the phone comes in converts into a VR viewer to tempt users into trying out the handset's VR features.

    Caption by: Steve Ranger

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