Honor, the companion brand to Huawei, announced the Honor 6A in China in May, and then brought the phone to the U.K. in late July. Why should you care? Because good, cheap phones aren’t easy to find; and phones that are good, cheap, and small are an even rarer commodity. The Honor 6A features a 5-inch, 720p display and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430 system-on-chip, yet costs 150 British pounds, or the equivalent of $120 in China.
On the back is a 13-megapixel camera featuring phase detection autofocus, and a fingerprint sensor located underneath. There is also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and the battery weighs in at a hefty 3,020mAh — generous capacity that helps that 720p screen last a while on a charge. Joining the Snapdragon 430 is 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage. Only available in China is a more powerful version with an extra gigabyte of RAM and twice the storage. It costs 1,000 yuan, or $145. The phone also accepts MicroSD cards up to 128GB.
In terms of software, Android 7.0 Nougat is on board, with Huawei’s EMUI 5.1 user interface over the top. A vast improvement over previous versions of EMUI, there’s the option to use an app drawer, it’s faster to perform most tasks, with fewer clicks needed, and the system has the brains to remain fast over time by using special algorithms to manage memory. Honor has also employed special techniques to ensure the Honor 6A’s battery doesn’t prematurely age, and estimates it will still have 80 percent usable capacity even after two years of use.
The body is all-metal, so it stands out among other low-priced offerings, and is supremely comfortable to hold. We had the chance to spend some time with the Honor 6A, so do read our in-depth hands-on to see what we thought of the phone. In China the Honor 6A comes in a choice of silver grey, gold, pink, and blue — all with a white front. Buy the Honor 6A in the U.K., and you’re restricted to the silver grey.
The Honor 6A is sold in China through online outlets including JD.com, where it became available on June 1. In the U.K. and Europe, from July 31 it’s sold through Huawei and Honor’s online Vmall store for 150 British pounds. Additionally, the Three network will have the Honor 6A online and in-store from August 7 where it can be purchased with a contract from 11 British pounds per month. Availability in the United States is unknown at this time.
Update: Now the Honor 6A is on sale in the U.K., we’ve given it a try and added links to our hands-on review. Plus noted its arrival on the Three network.
