Best Cheap Android Phone – Huawei Honor 5A – Amazing Mobile Phone at A Cheaper Price
Huawei surprised us again with a new mobile phone release. The Huawei Honor 5A is currently the best cheap Android mobile phone if you will look at the specs relative to the price.
This mobile phone is priced at RMB 699 (around US $106.26) on its first sale which received more than 11 million registrations.
What are the amazing features of this smartphone? How is it compared to other smartphones within the same price range?
Device Type: Smartphone
Display: 5.5 inches (720 x 1280 pixels)
Camera: 13MP
Hardware: Snapdragon 617, Quad-core 1.5 GHz + Quad-core 1.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM
Battery: 3100 mAh
Price: US$ 106.26
Design – Elegant, Stylish, and Comfortable to Hold
The Huawei Honor 5A has a textured design at the rear which is cool and stylish, unlike other smartphones with a plain plastic design.
What I also like about this smartphone is the gold side frame in the White version. The color combination looks very elegant. Aside from White, you can also choose from Yellow, Pink, Black, Gold, and Azure color variants.
The camera is located on the upper left side of the rear with the LED flash just right under it. And the ‘honor’ logo is located near the rear’s center and at the front’s bottom.
It has a thickness of 8.5 mm, which is not too thin nor too thick compared with other current smartphones. For a 5.5-inch display, the weight is 168 g which also within the average.
Like most smartphones today, the sides near the rear are beveled for a comfortable grip. A 5.5-inch smartphone is not easy to use with one hand when you’re typing something, so a comfortable grip will really help.
Display – HD Resolution with Excellent Viewing Angles
The size of the display is similar to the iPhone 6s Plus. If you don’t just use your phone for calls and text messages, a bigger display can provide a better user experience.
It’s easier and more enjoyable to watch videos, read e-books or news, browse social media, and play games.
It’s also a pleasure to use because it’s really convenient when you don’t have to zoom in and out of the display very often.
It has an HD display resolution (720 x 1280 pixels) with 267 pixels per inch. The sharpness is good, but it’s not as great compared with the expensive smartphones with Full HD displays.
But for its price, the HD resolution is just right. This resolution is actually the level of sharpness you can find in the top smartphones under US$ 100.
The display technology is IPS LCD which is an excellent one. It has better viewing angles and good color saturation. This display technology can also be found in the latest iPhones and LG’s flagship, the LG G5.
Performance – A Mid-Range Powerhouse for An Entry-Level Price
The Honor 5A comes with a Snapdragon 617 chipset with an Octa-core 1.2 GHz to 1.5 GHz CPU. This chipset was first available in the last quarter of 2015 and can also be found in latest mobile phones such as Lenovo Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus.
The Snapdragon 600 series is the chipset series in mid-range smartphones and it can provide you a superior mobile experience.
This means that in terms of processing power, the Honor 5A can closely compete with the top mid-range smartphones with prices from US$200 to US$250.
Although Huawei Honor 5A has a mid-range chipset, the price of this smartphone is cheaper and within the range of entry-level mobile phones.
The top Android smartphones right now with prices from US$100 – US$150 usually have a Snapdragon 400 series which is the chipset series for entry-level Android mobile phones.
The RAM size is 2 GB and it has an Adreno 405 graphics processor. Most top smartphones within the same price range only have a 1 GB RAM and a lower graphics quality, so the Huawei Honor 5A is actually a good deal.
Note that there are different versions of this smartphone and the one that uses the Snapdragon 617 chipset is the AL00 version. The other versions will pack the HiSilicon Kirin 620 chipset which has almost the same CPU speed and a Mali-450MP4 graphics processor.
The Honor 5A also has the latest Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) OS.
Camera – High Resolution at a Cheaper Price
The rear camera has a 13 MP resolution, the same camera resolution in most flagship smartphones. Other smartphones within the same price range only have an 8 MP to 10 MP camera.
The apertures size is f/2.0 which is quite large. This feature determines the level of dimensional effect on your photos. The larger the value, the better.
The dimensional effect is achieved by focusing on the subject while blurring the background. It’s one of the effects used by most professional photographers.
The rear camera also has autofocus, LED flash, face detection, panorama, and HDR shooting mode for better photo quality.
Amazingly, it can also record Full HD (1080p) videos.
The front camera, on the hand, has an 8 MP resolution with the same aperture size and can also record Full HD videos. This is excellent for a clear shot of your selfies and a sharper resolution for your video calls.
The top smartphones within the US$100 to US$150 price range normally have a 2 MP to 5MP front camera resolution only.
Battery Life, Storage Capacity, and Other Cool Features
Another awesome feature of the Huawei Honor 5A is the huge battery capacity. It has a Li-Ion 3100 mAh battery which is even larger than the battery capacity of the iPhone 6s Plus.
The internal storage is 16 GB which can be expanded up to 256 GB using a microSD card with a dedicated slot. That’s a lot of storage for your movies and other huge files.
Currently, the largest microSD card is 200 GB, so you can actually maximize the use of the highest storage available using this mobile phone.
You can also use LTE with bands 1(2100), 3(1800), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) for the AL00 version. The other versions include LTE band 7(2600) aside from the other bands previously described.
Take note of the LTE band of your network in your location if you want to use LTE connectivity.
Other cool basic features include a 3.5 mm jack for your headset, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth for your wireless accessories, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS when finding a location, and FM radio.
Huawei Honor 5A, More Worth for Every Penny
The Huawei Honor 5A is a smartphone with mid-range level specs, but with an entry-level price. If compared with the current standards, this mobile phone’s value is twice its initial price offer.
It has a beautiful design, HD display, faster processor, and a larger battery life. It also has a lot of features that tops almost all of the mobile phones within the same price range.