News & Reviews:   Honor 3C Lite

To help reveal the inner rockstar in you, Honor Malaysia is partnering with Red Box Malaysia to declare that every Tuesday from now on will be the "honor day" for their karaoke fans out there. Because every Tuesday from 2PM - 9PM starting 19 April 2016 until 31 December 2016, all Honor product users are entitled to 20% discount in any Red Box & Green Box outlets, except for Red Box Plus in Pavilion Mall. There is a total of 12 applicable Honor products, which include the Honor 5x, Honor Band Z1, Honor 7 Enhanced, Honor 7, Honor 6 Plus, Honor 6, Honor 4X, Honor 4C, Honor Tablet, Honor Tablet WiFi, Honor 3C Lite and Honor 3C.

Announced at around the same time, the Huawei Honor 7 and Meizu MX5 share a number of similar features such as an all metal body, more than 5-inch sized full HD display, fingerprint scanner and 20MP rear cameras. Neither are currently available here in Malaysia yet but at 1800 CNY (RM1081) the Meizu MX5 is priced lower than Honor 7 which is going for 1999 CNY (RM1214). The Honor 7 is more compact due to its 5.2-inch display but the Meizu MX5 is thinner at 7.6mm and lighter at 149g despite the larger 5.5-inch display. Both come packing with the latest 64-bit processors, the Honor 7 with a HiSilicon Kirin 935 while the Meizu MX5 comes with a MediaTek MT6795 Helio processor.

The Honor 7 ups the Meizu MX5 with an 8MP front camera but the MX5 has a slightly higher 20.7MP rear camera compared to the 20MP rear camera on the Honor 7. The Honor 7 rear camera uses phase detection autofocus while the Meizu MX5 uses a laser autofocus. Which autofocus is better? Well, the debate on that still hasn't quieted down yet, especially if Huawei uses newer algorithms and sensors like in the Samsung Galaxy S6 which also uses phase detection autofocus. So far, there are still no details yet on which will be coming to Malaysia first, but both have a presence here so we would say in the coming months. For the full comparison check out our Huawei Honor 7 vs Meizu MX5 tech specs comparison tool. Check out our other comparisons in this article or take a spin with our phone comparison tool yourself.

The Huawei Honor series of smartphones have always been about value and quality in nicely designed package. Rounding out the previous Honor 3C Lite, Honor 4C, Honor 4X and Honor 6 family is the Huawei Honor 6 Plus. Like the Honor 6 before it, it features 4G LTE Cat6 connectivity and IR (infra-red) blaster for universal remote control but also adds on a dual rear camera, massive 3600 mAh battery and improved HiSilicon Kirin 925 processor. Is it just a bigger Honor 6 or more than that? We find out with our review of the Honor 6 Plus smartphone.

With the recent announcement and release of the Honor 4X for RM619 on pre-order it looks like we'll soon be seeing a lower-end version of the smartphone in the form of the Honor 4C which recently made an appearance at China's TENAA. Tech specs include a slightly slower but still octa-core 1.2GHz processor (probably still the 64-bit Kirin 620), 2GB of RAM, 8GB storage and a smaller 5-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. The cameras remain the same though with a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. For the looks of the pictures, this Honor 4C smartphone retains the same cross-thatch design on the cover as the Honor 4X and retains the same capacitive function keys as the Honor 4X. No Malaysia release dates or pricing details yet, but with the Honor 4X retailing from RM619 to RM699 we assume that the Honor 4C would go for around RM499 to RM599, slotting in between the Honor 3C Lite and the Honor 4X or perhapseven replacing the Honor 3C.

The next-gen value smartphone known as the Honor 4X was recently spotted out and about in Malaysia thanks to an anonymous tipster. Previously codenamed the Honor Cherry, the new smartphone will use a 64-bit processor and come with 4G LTE connectivity. A look at the tech specs in the pics reveal 2GB of RAM and the aforementioned octa-core processor running at 1.2GHz. Other visible tech specs includes 8GB storage and what appears to be a 5.5-inch display with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. The back design appears to have a nice looking cross thatch pattern and the Honor logo looks engraved. A side by side shot of the Honor 4X next to an Apple iPhone 6 Plus reveals other design changes along with no sign of any Huawei branding. Our anonymous tipster claims that the Honor 4X is coming to Malaysia sometime in late March to early April 2015 and will slot in somewhere in between the Honor 3C Lite and Honor 6. Since the Honor 3C Lite is priced at RM399 while the Honor 6 is going for RM999, this would place the Honor 4X at around RM499 to RM899. No news yet on specific Malaysia release dates or pricing details but stay tuned as we could be getting more information soon.

Thanks again Mr. Anonymous!

While this rumour has already been confirmed, Huawei is dropping their current Ascend branding for their smartphones. This means the smartphone previously known as the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 will now be known as the Huawei Mate 7. This was seen previously in the Phase II Syok Menang article along with what appears to be the removal of Honor branding with Huawei as well. We managed to ask a Huawei Malaysia official about this and he confirmed that while both Huawei and Honor will still be related, they will each be taking different paths and targeting different users. In related rumours, it seems that we could be soon seeing an Honor smartphone going by the codename of the Honor Cherry which could slot in between the Honor 3C Lite and the Honor 6. We assume this would be the Honor 4X but do take this rumour with a pinch of salt. While there are no Malaysia release dates details, we've been told that the Honor Cherry could arrive sometime during or after March 2015. We assume the Honor 6 Plus could soon follow.

The Huawei Honor 3C Lite offers a number of big features at an even lower price of RM399 including an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. Offering the same looks and design, other tech specs like the 5-inch HD display are also retained. Thanks to Huawei Malaysia the Malaysian Honor team we managed to get some time with this value smartphone. Check out our unboxing video below for a look at what the Huawei Honor 3C Lite comes with.