News & Reviews:   Honor 4x

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.

It is now almost customary for most smartphones coming from China now to have certain key features. This includes a metal frame on the sides, a custom interface that doesn't have an app drawer and looks like an Apple iPhone or other flagship smartphone. Surprisingly, the Doogee Ibiza F2 steps away from it's China-brand siblings for a light, thin and full-metal frame smartphone that we think could also be a great device for the gamer on a budget. Read on and find out why (along with some other details) below.

The entry-level to midrange smartphone market in Malaysia is quickly becoming crowded with quite a lot of choices for around RM600. While it isn't too difficult to find a smartphone within this price range with a phablet sized 5.5-inch display finding one that combines the best value with good build quality and attention to detail is still fairly hard. Our previous preview with the Honor 4X revealed that it could well be one of  these phones but in our full review below we make sure if the Honor 4X is really worthy of your money and attention so check it out below.

The recently released Honor 4X sold out on 1 April in just 8 minutes, despite there being 3000 units available for the pre-order period. Honor Malaysia have since brought in another batch of 2000 units with the same pre-order price tag of RM619 (inclusive of GST) for release on VMALL.my at 4.08pm today. Stand-out tech specs and features for the Honor 4X remain it's 64-bit processor, 5.5-inch display, 4G LTE connectivity and much more. For more information, do check out our preview and hands-on video of the Honor 4X but here is what they had to say about it:

‘We are truly humbled and excited with the tremendous support by our fans and the public – this is what keeps us motivated to go further and enhance our offerings to the Malaysian market. Due to the immense response, we will be allocating a second batch of pre-orders to keep up with demand," Gary Xu, Country Director, Consumer Business Group, Huawei Technologies Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

The Honor 4X is currently available in black or white and all pre-order units for the second batch will be shipped after 18 April 2015.

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.

After initially being priced at RM699, the Honor 4X is due for pre-order release today at 3.08pm. However, according to an anonymous tipster that's not all as the Honor 4X surprice or surprise will be an 11.44% discount inclusive of the 6% GST due on 1 April 2015. This means that instead of RM699 + RM42 (6% GST), those who pre-order the Honor 4X at 3pm will be able to get the smartphone for just RM619. Tech specs and features for the Honor 4X are quite high-end including a 64-bit octa-core Kirin 620 processor, 2GB RAM, 5.5-inch display, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, 4G LTE and 3000 mAh battery. While this may be different from our expected surprise of extra freebies like a casing or memory card, this RM619 pre-order pricing is still a very welcome surprise, especially with brand new implementation of GST today. Stocks are limited to just 3000 however, so if you're interested in the Honor 4X do check out our preview or hands-on video of the smartphone and then head on over to VMALL.my at 3.08pm for the pre-order. Shipping will begin on 18 April 2015.

The upcoming Honor 4X smartphone just got it's official pricing from VMALL.my at RM699. Tech specs and features have also been revealed, confirming that this is the version packing in a 64-bit octa-core Kirin 620 processor, 2GB RAM, 5.5-inch display, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, 4G LTE and 3000 mAh battery. While the price may be a bit higher than what was earlier expected, Honor Malaysia have hinted that there could be a number of freebies coming along with it. Considering ourhands-on and preview time with it we assume that this would be a free microSD flash memory card and maybe a casing or screen protector. If you're interested in finding out about it first you canregister your interest but the release date will probably remain the same at 1 April 2015. 

The Honor Malaysia Facebook page has just hinted something coming soon to Malaysia with a countdown to 1 April 2015. Looking through the various Honor devices previously announced it is a high chance that it could be the Honor 4X with it's 64-bit processor, 4G LTE connectivity, 13MP camera and 5.5-inch display tech specs. No pricing details yet but we assume that a prebook period could be coming soon as well. Previously we had a chance to have some hands-on time and do a preview of the Honor 4X revealing that it is the Kirin 620 powered version which could mean a price range from RM499 to RM799 as the 2GB Kirin 620 version was initially sold for $161 (RM566). If you're interested in the Honor 4X do check out our previous hands-on video and preview for an exclusive look at the upcoming phablet from Honor. In related news, there have been rumours about a slightly lower-end version of the 4X which considering Honor's current naming system could be called the Honor 4C. Hopefully our anonymous tipster comes through with some more info but for now stay tuned as we keep track of the latest developments.

Just a few years ago a midrange smartphone would be a rather slow device with equally slow mobile Internet, a 4-inch display, 5MP camera and a price tag well above RM1000. Fast forward to today in 2015 where we were privileged enough to get some preview time with the up and coming Honor 4X which sports a fast 64-bit processor, 4G LTE connectivity, 13MP camera and 5.5-inch display for well below RM1000. The smartphone landscape is rapidly changing as more higher-end features appear in affordable devices for the masses. The Honor 4X may well be one of these devices. As such we're doing a quick preview of the Honor 4X so do read on to find out more.

The Honor 4X is coming soon to Malaysia and in an exclusive video we managed to get our hands on an early preview of this 5.5-inch display smartphone. Our anonymous tipster sent it in for a little prevew to see what it can do asides from the 64-bit processor, 2GB RAM, 4G LTE connectivity, dual SIM support and 5.5-inch display tech specs that we already know. While we couldn't do an unboxing the hands-on video reveals plenty of features including double tap to wake and a gesture based draw feature for quick shortcuts from standby mode. The Honor 4X is set for release in Malaysia very soon but we've yet to get any confirmed pricing details yet (our guess would be from RM599 to RM799). We've got a more detailed preview coming up but for now check out the hands-on video in this article.