• Case materials: plastic and glass
• Operating system: Google Android 5 (EMUI 3.1)
• Network: two SIM cards, 2G/3G/4G (Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20)
• Processor: 4 cores, 1300 MHz, MediaTek MT6735Р
• RAM: 2 GB
• Storage memory: 16 GB + microSD
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset
• Screen: capacitive, IPS 5"" with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels
• Camera: 13 MP with autofocus + 5 MP, flash
• Navigation: GPS
• Additionally: accelerometer, proximity sensors, FM radio
• Battery: removable, capacity 2200 mAh
• Dimensions: 144.2x72.5x8.95 mm
• Weight: 140 grams

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago, Huawei announced another inexpensive smartphone called Honor 5A. In general, Honor is a sub-brand, so it is customary to mention it without Huawei. So, before us is a smartphone, the cost of which is 8,000 rubles. For this money, the user is provided with the following features: a 5-inch diagonal screen with an HD IPS matrix, good quality camera modules, fourth generation communications, 2 gigabytes random access memory and a selfie flash for lovers of nighttime selfies.

Design, dimensions, control elements

The new product is practically no different in appearance from Honor 4C Pro. The only new element is a glossy edging around the perimeter of the front side, it makes the device more elegant appearance. The shape of the case is rectangular, the corners are sloping, the back side smoothly transitions to the sides. The lid is textured, pleasant to the touch, but a little slippery. The backing of the front panel is monochromatic; in the 4C Pro, a pattern in the form of small dots was noticeable.

The body is completely made of plastic. The back panel and edges are semi-gloss. The front side is protected by glass. If there is an oleophobic coating, it is extremely unimportant: fingerprints are noticeable, difficult to remove, and the finger glides poorly.

There are three color options: black, white and gold (as in our case). I would recommend taking a closer look at the last option: the smartphone looks nice, it doesn’t feel like a cheap Chinese device.

The assembly did not let us down: the case does not creak, does not play, the cover to the battery does not press, and the device does not crunch when twisted.

It fits perfectly in the hand due to its small dimensions, light weight, and sloping edges.

On top of the front of the device there is a camera and sensors (for some reason asymmetrical), a flash and a speech speaker. It is relatively loud, the interlocutor can be heard clearly and intelligibly, the timbre is closer to mid-frequencies, there is not enough sonority.

At the bottom there is a microUSB, a speakerphone and a microphone. On top is a second microphone for noise reduction and a 3.5 mm audio output for headphones.

On the right are the power button and the volume rocker. The pressure is soft, the stroke is average. On the left there is a separate special “Easy Key” button.

In the settings, you can choose to launch applications with a long hold or with two short clicks. I put two short clicks to activate the camera.

On the reverse side the camera lens rises slightly, and next to it there is a double flash.

The cover is removed. Below it is a removable battery, two slots for microSIM and a slot for a memory card.

Honor 5A and LG G4

Display

Honor 5A uses a display with a diagonal of 5 inches. The 4C Pro had the same number. Screen matrix – IPS OGS, resolution – HD, that is, 720x1280 pixels.

The backlight brightness is low, the picture is difficult to read in the light. The viewing angles are maximum; at angles the image does not become violet or yellow. It seemed to me that the 5A has a better matrix compared to the 4C and 4C Pro.

Viewing Angles

White color

Light exposure

Battery

The capacity of the removable lithium-polymer battery in the new product is 2200 mAh. This is the most important difference from the 4C Pro. Let me remind you that the firmware has a 4000 mAh battery.

According to my data, Honor 5A “lives” a little more than half a day, with not the most active use. If you load the device, as they say, to its fullest, then you should expect about 6–7 hours. The video plays for about 5 hours, and you can play with the toys for about an hour.

In general, the battery is weak; even a simple chip from MediaTek and the low brightness of the matrix backlight do not help.

Communication capabilities

The smartphone supports two SIM cards. Naturally, there is only one radio module. Wireless network:

• 2G - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• 3G - HSPA+ up to 42 Mbit/s
• 4G LTE - Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 (Cat4 up to 150 Mbps)

The rest is all typical: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth version 4.0, no NFC, OTG mode is not supported.

The device “sees” both GPS and GLONASS satellites. Signal reception is excellent, sensitivity is high.

During testing there were no unpleasant incidents with connection interruptions or weak cellular signal. The vibration alert is slightly above average in strength and can be felt in the pockets of trousers and jackets.

Memory and memory card

The developers did not skimp on RAM, so in this model you can find 2 GB of RAM. For a device costing 8,000 rubles, this is simply an excellent indicator.

Built-in memory 16 GB (read speed - 155 Mbit/s, write speed - 78 Mbit/s), about 10 GB available to the user. There is a slot for a microSD memory card. The maximum card capacity can be 128 GB.

Cameras

The main module is 13 MP (F2.0 aperture, 27 mm angle), the front one is 5 MP (F2.4 aperture, very wide angle – 22 mm).

Apparently, Honor 5A, Honor 4X and Honor 4C have the same camera modules, at least I didn’t notice much of a difference. It is possible that the automation works a little worse in Honor 4C and 5A: sometimes it misses the white balance, especially in insufficient lighting conditions.

The rear camera shoots video in HD resolution at 30 fps. The quality is ordinary, nothing interesting. The front camera shoots videos in HD quality.

The selfie lens is wide-angle and I really liked its quality.

For a device that costs about 8,000 rubles, the footage obtained is quite at the level of smartphones costing 15,000 rubles.

Sample photos

Performance

The Honor 5A smartphone operates on the MediaTek MT6735P chipset (4 cores up to 1000 MHz). The Mali-T720 is responsible for the graphics. This is a simple chip; budget gadgets run on it. Nevertheless, 5A is a nimble little guy: no hesitation, no slowdown, everything is smooth and fast. Games like Unkilled run smoothly on medium settings. You can run it at maximum, but the graphics are slow.

Antutu test

The Honor family of smartphones has always been distinguished by fairly high quality for reasonable money. However, from the moment of their appearance, the bulk of the new products were aimed specifically at the middle or even top segment of the market, while this brand had practically no representatives in the budget segment.

However, a little over a year ago, the company finally released a fairly strong budget smartphone, which made a lot of noise on the market the year it was released and is still on sale at a very reasonable price. The conversation, of course, is about the Honor 5a model. Yes, the phone is not new, but at one time it was equipped with good hardware and therefore has not yet lost its relevance in its price category. We offer you our review of Huawei Honor 5a. Let's see what an old man can do in modern realities and whether it's worth paying attention to it if you manage to find it on store shelves.

First, let's evaluate specifications smartphone and see if it really is as good as they say it is.

• Display: 5-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels and a pixel density of 294 ppi;
• Single-chip system: quad-core MediaTek MT6735C processor with a clock frequency of 1.3 GHz. Graphics accelerator - Mali-T720;
• Operating system: Android 5.1 with proprietary EMUI 3.1 shell;
• Memory: 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal memory plus support for microSD cards;
• Communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz || UMTS 900/2100 MHz || LTE 1, 3, 7, 20, SIM support - 2 nano-SIM;
• Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, navigation - GPS, GLONASS;
• Cameras: main - 13 MP (dual flash, autofocus), front - 5 MP (flash, fixed focus);
• Sensors: light, motion, gyroscope;
• Battery: 2200 mAh, removable;
• Dimensions: 141x71x7.9 mm;
• Weight: 139 grams.

Looking at the characteristics of the Huawei Honor 5a smartphone, you immediately notice two things. Firstly, it’s a 13 megapixel camera, unusual for a budget smartphone, and secondly, a 2200 milliamp-hour battery, which by today’s standards is very modest even for a budget smartphone. Well, let's see how much important roles These parameters will play a role, however - first things first.

Design

Honor 5a comes in three different colors namely black, white and gold. In principle, they all look pretty good, but we like the gold shade the most. It is in this color that the smartphone looks the most harmonious and attractive. The rest of the design of the smartphone is responsible for the back cover, which is made in the style of a textured pattern, sits nicely in the hand and shimmers in the sun, as well as a thin silver edging around the body, made to look like metal.

The device is made entirely of plastic and is a classic candy bar. The front side of the smartphone is covered with protective glass, which copes well with minor scratches. Of course, we didn’t abuse the phone too much, but the surface remained smooth, without visible scuffs. There are no classic “home”, “back” and “menu” buttons on the front panel; instead, the inscription “Honor” is emblazoned on the phone’s body, and the buttons themselves have moved to the smartphone screen in a virtual form.

We should also say a few words about the Huawei Honor 5a video camera, which by design protrudes about a millimeter on top of the back cover of the phone. It looks, of course, quite nice, but the question is how long the camera will remain intact without using the rear bumper. Personally, it seems to us that when actively using the phone, it is still better not to neglect the rear bumper, otherwise unsightly scratches or even microchips may appear on the camera.

The remaining functional elements are in place. The earpiece and front camera are located at the front, the main speaker and microUSB port are at the bottom, and the noise-canceling microphone and headphone jack are at the top. On the right side of the side edge we have the lock key and volume rocker, which have been familiar since time immemorial. But on the left is the “smart” button, which was very popular when the smartphone was released. If you wish, you can assign a wide variety of actions or even a couple to it. As for our opinion, the most interesting feature of the smart button, in our opinion, is “hidden” shooting with the main camera by double-clicking when the phone is locked. I immediately remember the good old films about the valiant agent 007.

The back cover of the device is removable and hides the same removable battery, which is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence today. Also, it is under the cover that we can install two nano SIM cards and an additional memory card. By the way, the ability to use two SIM cards and a microSD card at the same time was very pleasing.

In general, the design of Honor 5a does not evoke a sense of novelty. It is quite attractive, but boring, and, despite all the efforts of the designers, its low budget immediately catches your eye. But I really liked the build quality of the device. The phone feels solid, complete and does not play or squeak at all when you try to push it or twist it. Considering that it is completely plastic, the developers can only be praised.

Display

Huawei Honor 5a has a five-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels and a density of 294 ppi. Looking ahead, I would like to say that the screen, despite all the concerns, turned out to be of very high quality, which is even a little unusual, given the budget segment of the device.

Colors are rendered natural, contrast and White color at a very high level, in the best traditions of high-quality IPS matrices. And even the blacks seemed quite deep and rich to us, which is a very rare occurrence for this type of screen, even in more expensive phones. Viewing angles are also good, with colors not inverted at very extreme angles, but the overall brightness of the image still drops quite a bit, reminding us that nothing is perfect. Also, some people may be upset that the colors cannot be made more saturated: after all, this is not an AMOLED.

The clarity of the screen, thanks to the HD resolution, is also quite good; the only thing that didn’t please me was individual fonts, which turned out to be a little blurry. The maximum brightness of the smartphone is approximately 430 cd/m2, which is a very good result for a budget employee. In bright sunlight, the screen fades a little, but in principle remains readable. An automatic screen brightness adjustment function is also available, but it works quite slowly and is mostly annoying. For manual settings, in addition to the display brightness, not much is available to the user, namely setting fonts and adjusting color temperature.

In the multi-touch test, the display showed support for up to five simultaneous touches, which, in principle, is currently quite enough for the vast majority of applications. But the oleophobic coating was not very pleasing. At first glance it seemed that it was not there at all, however, after using the device longer, we concluded that it was still present, but in itself not of very high quality.

In the end, I must say that the screen of the Honor 5a turned out to be very good and even today it looks quite good. We can safely give the smartphone a plus for this parameter.

Sound

We probably won’t dwell on this point in too much detail, since there is simply nothing particularly interesting to talk about the sound of the Honor 5a. The sound from the external speaker of the device can be described as “normal”. Yes, to be honest, it is configured quite well, many thanks to the engineers for this. The phone tries its best to convey the full spectrum of the audio range, but no matter how hard it tries, the sound remains budgetary and you are unlikely to listen to music with it.

As for the sound in the headphones, it mostly depends on the headphones themselves and is loud enough to drown out all external noise, at least we were quite happy with the volume level. The volume of the speakers is enough to hear a call on the street, but it is still better not to turn off the vibration. You can hear your interlocutor well, there are no particular complaints here. Let's move on.

Cameras

But the camera of Huawei Honor 5a is something that is worth discussing in more detail.

This smartphone has a 13 megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual LED flash and autofocus. This situation is noteworthy in that such cameras are very often installed on phones that cost twice as much as our hero, but in public sector phones they are very, very rare guests.

During the day, the camera takes really, really good shots, one might say, no worse than more expensive devices. The clarity of the images is good, colors are reproduced correctly, and autofocus works flawlessly. Thanks to its high resolution, the camera copes equally well with both general plans and macro photography, while in macro shots the smartphone very beautifully and gently blurs the background. The camera app is also very user-friendly and, so to speak, intuitive. Here the user can manually set the white balance or apply one of the available effects, among which you can find HDR or the very interesting “successful photo” mode.

Overall, I really liked the camera and would like to give it the highest score, if not for one “but”, and this “but” is night photography. In low-light conditions, the camera performs much worse. Quite a lot of digital noise appears in the frame, and if a noise reduction effect is applied, the picture loses quite a lot of clarity. Focusing at night also does not work very well and when shooting general plans it does not want to focus “into the distance”; instead, it strives to focus on a near, more illuminated object.

The Honor 5a camera can also record HD video. The video itself is of very good quality and has an honest 30 frames per second. However, today this is not exactly what we are waiting for, since many smartphones have already learned to record video in a higher FullHD resolution, even if their camera itself is weaker. Based on this, it is not entirely clear how to feel about the 5a camera: on the one hand, it is of excellent quality, but on the other, it turns out that it is already outdated.

The smartphone also has a front camera with a resolution of five megapixels, an F/2.4 aperture and its own LED flash. The quality of pictures of this camera, of course, cannot be compared with the capabilities of the main one, but for selfie lovers it will do very well. The front camera takes good wide-angle pictures, and at the software level, the user has access to interesting decorations that can be used to give the photo a nice look.

To sum it up, we still really liked the cameras, especially considering the price category in which the “experimental” smartphone is. Perhaps not everything is done perfectly, but for what is done well, the phone definitely deserves another big plus. We invite you to evaluate examples of photographs of Huawei Honor 5a in different conditions filming and draw your own conclusions.

Memory and memory card

Honor 5a already has the usual budget smartphones amount of RAM, namely two gigabytes. However, it is worth noting that at the time of the release of this phone, such volumes were still not introduced everywhere by most companies, so we can say that in this case Huawei acted very generously. Today, this amount of memory is still quite sufficient for most applications and games, and, most likely, the 5a will not feel its shortage for a long time with moderate use for everyday tasks.

The phone also has 16 gigabytes of very fast permanent memory on board, of which just under ten gigabytes are available to the user. In the AnTuTu benchmark, when testing memory, Huawei Honor 5a shows a read speed of 155 Mbit/s, a write speed of 78 Mbit/s, which is a very, very decent result. Similar results are usually produced by phones from more expensive price categories, and it’s very nice that Honor was able to surprise us so much.

It is worth noting that this smartphone also supports microSD memory cards up to 128 gigabytes in size. At the same time, the phone allows for parallel installation of a memory card and two SIM cards.

Connection

Honor 5a supports the following networks:

• 2G - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz;
• 3G - HSPA+ up to 42 Mbit/s;
• 4G LTE - Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 (Cat4 up to 150 Mbps).

The phone also supports wireless communication standards such as Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth version 4.0. These parameters can already be called outdated, since quite a large number of devices have already been released that support newer standards, but so far smartphones with such indicators are still functioning successfully and do not create any special problems for owners.

In addition to the above, we will say that the phone can work as a navigator using GPS satellites and Russian GLONASS. Signal reception from satellites is good, sensitivity is also quite high, in most cases it is possible to catch a signal even while inside a building.

In general, the smartphone is not bothered by lost connections and is very confident in searching for a network even outside the city. It can be stated that the device performs the basic functions of a telephone at a decent level.

Battery life and performance

Honor 5a is equipped with a single-chip system based on the MediaTek MT6735C processor. This is a quad-core chip with a clock frequency of 1.3 GHz, made using a 28-nanometer process technology. Knowledgeable people They will immediately understand that you shouldn’t expect much speed from this chip. Although this chip is often installed in entry-level smartphones to this day, it is already a fairly old system and its performance level is for the most part only sufficient to reproduce the basic functions of the phone. It's a stretch that the processor can also provide comfortable browsing and video playback. At the same time, in terms of multitasking or heavy applications, this processor is no longer enough.

The single-chip system is also equipped with a Mali-T720 graphics accelerator. This video core copes quite well with simple games, but in newer and more complex projects, for an acceptable frame rate you already have to set medium or even low graphics settings. For example, we can take the favorite online game World of Tanks Blitz: with a screen resolution of 1280x720 pixels, the smartphone produces 35–55 frames per second at medium settings and 20–35 frames at high settings.

In the AnTuTu benchmark, Honor 5a produces about 34,000 points, which is about 2,000 points less than the results of smartphones equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, which is built on the same Cortex A-53 cores, but has a frequency of 100 megahertz more. The result is not bad, but everyone will draw their own conclusions.

As for the autonomy of the device, it turned out to be quite predictable. Still, the battery capacity of 2200 milliamp-hours is very small today, even an economical processor and not the largest and brightest display did not help. If you use the phone sparingly, the battery charge lasts for about two days, but under normal loads, such as frequent calls, Internet surfing, and the like, the phone will ask to be charged by the evening, even if it was charged one hundred percent before. In more specific numbers, you can expect about 9-10 hours of reading time, 5-6 hours of video viewing and 3-4 hours of heavy video games.

Software platform

Honor 5a is equipped with the Android operating system version 5.1 and the proprietary EMUI 3.1 shell. Most likely, wait for operating system updates to more new version Neither owners nor potential buyers of a smartphone are worth it anymore.

The EMUI shell is built on the principle of no application menu; all installed programs are placed immediately on the desktop. At the same time, many icons in the launcher can simultaneously act as widgets and provide the user with information online. For example, the alarm clock shows the current time, the weather icon shows the current temperature, and the calendar shows today's date. Quite an interesting and convenient solution.

There are a lot of applications preinstalled in the shell, including: a file manager, a utility Reserve copy, music player, FM radio, mirror, magnifier, program for retouching photo portraits, voice recorder, notes, online music service Deezer, but most of them can be easily removed using standard operating system tools if they do not suit you or you need free space . On the lock screen you can find a special curtain, behind which quick access to a flashlight, voice recorder, calculator and camera is hidden.

In the phone menu you can configure a smart button and define the configuration of virtual control buttons. By shaking the device, you activate the fun function of shuffling icons if you are tired of the current arrangement, and in the design application you can choose a variety of unique topics, many of which change not only wallpapers and icons, but also the lock screen.

conclusions

Honor 5A at one time was a very good representative of the budget segment, capable of competing on equal terms with famous top brands. And surprisingly, it has not lost its relevance to this day. Yes, time is running out, the smartphone is equipped with an outdated operating system, has a rather weak processor by today’s standards and a small battery. But on the other hand, the 5a also retains many positive qualities, including an excellent tandem of the main and front cameras, an excellent display for the budget market, and fast expandable flash memory.

At one time, this device cost around 8,000 rubles, but today its cost is on average 7,000 rubles, and if you think sensibly, it’s difficult to find something better for that kind of money. Ultimately, if you come across this phone on a store shelf, whether you pay attention to it or not is up to you to decide. However, it is difficult to argue with the fact that Honor 5a still holds up at a decent level.

Video review of Huawei Honor 5A

In conclusion, we also invite you to check out the video review of Huawei Honor 5A LTE DUAL SIM from our colleagues.

At the end of the summer of 2016, the world famous company Huawei announced the budget Huawei Honor 5a series. We are reviewing it.

The average cost of this gadget is 8 thousand rubles.

Comparing the price of the device and the final functionality, we can conclude that Huawei did their best.

If you want to get acquainted with the gadget in more detail before purchasing, then you will find our review useful and Huawei specifications Honor 5a.

Characteristics

• Case material: plastic and glass;
• OS: Android 5;
• SIM: 2 SIM cards;
• Processor: MediaTek MT6735P, 4 cores, 1300 MHz;
• RAM: 2 GB;
• Data storage: 16 GB + MicroCD slot;
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0;
• Connectors: MicroUSB for battery charging and synchronization, 3.5 mm headset jack;
• Screen: 5”, capacitive, maximum resolution 720×1280;
• Camera: 13 megapixels, autofocus, front camera – 5 megapixels, flash;
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor, FM radio;
• Battery: 2200 mAh;
• Dimensions: 144.2 x 72.5 x 8.95 mm;
• Smartphone weight: 140 grams.

Design, dimensions and controls

The design concept is very similar to the predecessor of this series.

There are only minor changes, expressed in the edging of the front panel of the phone with a glossy finish.

This design move gives the device a more elegant and stylish appearance.

The body has a rectangular shape with smooth and neat corners.

The embossed rear panel smoothly transitions to the side edges of Huawei Honor 5a.

The back cover is made of textured material, but it slips a little in your hands.

The body of the Huawei phone is completely made of plastic. The back panel of the smartphone and the side edges are semi-glossy, which looks very good.

The front side of the gadget is protected by glass with an olephobic coating.

The use of this technology is questionable, because fingerprints are very noticeable on the sensor, and they are difficult to erase.

In addition, due to this coating, you feel discomfort during use, since your finger glides across the screen poorly.

Manufacturers provided the buyer with three body colors:

• Black;
• White;
• Gold.

You should choose the color of your smartphone based on your own aesthetic inclinations.

The case in gold color looks more elegant and sophisticated.

Having examined the case in detail, there is no feeling that this is a cheap Chinese phone.

It is pleasant to hold in your hand and convenient to use.

Summing up the intermediate result, reviewing Huawei Honor 5a, I would like to draw a positive conclusion.

The case is assembled with high quality. The phone does not creak, there are no gaps detected, and the back panel does not fall towards the battery.

In addition, thanks to its optimal dimensions and light weight, the smartphone is pleasant to hold in your hand.

Now let's move on to the front panel of the phone.

At the top, above the screen, there is a front camera, flash, proximity sensor and speaker.

The absence of any symmetry is immediately noticeable.

This does not affect the operation or comfort of use in any way, but it does cause aesthetic dissatisfaction.

Front panel of Huawei Honor 5a

Speaking about the speaker, there is nothing bad to say.

The interlocutor during a conversation can be heard clearly and loudly, the sound without extraneous vibrations.

On the bottom edge of the phone there is a built-in Micro USB charging and synchronization, a headset jack, a microphone and a speaker for hands-free calling.

On the right side there is a power button, volume settings and a special “Easy Key”.

This button is designed to quickly navigate to the most popular applications and operations.

The keys are pressed softly and pleasantly, without crunches or unpleasant sounds.

On the back cover there is a slightly protruding camera and a dual flash.

Taking off back panel, we can observe the phone battery, 2 connectors for and 1 slot for .

Display

This Huawei smartphone is equipped with a five-inch HD IPS display.

Screen resolution – 720 by 1280 pixels.

The image on the screen is perfectly visible from different angles, and it does not give off purple and yellow hues.

One of the downsides is the brightness of the phone. It is not high enough, so the image is very difficult to see in the sun.

The color saturation of the screen is pleasing. The colors are bright and expressive.

In general, the picture is pleasing to the eye and perfectly conveys all the shades and subtleties of the image.

Battery

Honor 5a is equipped with a lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 2200 mAh.

To tell the truth, it is worth saying that the battery is weak.

For comparison, the Honor 4c PRO has a 4000 mAh battery.

Having conducted a similar review of Huawei Honor 5a, we can say with confidence that the phone will find it difficult to “survive” the whole day.

Here it’s worth thinking about purchasing an external battery for greater confidence. The charge lasts for 1/2 days (with average use).

If you use the phone under load, the charge will last for about 7 hours.

Charge Huawei Honor 5A

In video viewing mode, the phone sits down after 5 hours of viewing. If you want to play some games, then count on 1.5 hours of work.

As a result, the battery is very weak and not practical.

Adjusting brightness and other functions that should reduce battery consumption don’t even help here.

Communications

The smartphone has one radio module and works with two.

The phone supports 2G up to 1900 MHz, 3G up to 42 Mbps and 4G LTE up to 150 Mbps.

Minor disadvantages include the absence and lack of OTG support.

The device works perfectly and flawlessly in GPS mode.

The signal is received well and with high sensitivity, which is good news.

When reviewing Huawei, we did not find any significant shortcomings in the quality of cellular communications, data transmission, or in working with GPS.

RAM and memory card for data storage

As for the device’s RAM, everything is great.

Let us remind you that average price phone is 8,000 rubles and 2GB is an excellent indicator that ensures comfortable operation.

Especially “in duet” with a quad-nuclear one, but more on that later.

The phone's built-in memory for data storage is 16 GB.

Data read speed is 155 Mbps, and write speed is 78 Mbps.

About 10 GB is available for use, the rest of the space is taken up by system data.

There is a slot for Micro SD.

The maximum amount of card memory that the phone will support is 128 GB.

Again, a very good indicator.

As a result, the user can get 138 GB of memory for working with files.

Camera

Rear 13 megapixels with F2.0 aperture and 27 mm angle.

Front camera 5 megapixels with F2.4 aperture and 22mm wide angle.

Among the shortcomings, we can note small errors in image focusing and white balance.

Sometimes it is not detected correctly, especially in poor lighting conditions.

The rear camera shoots HD video at 30 frames per second.

In terms of the quality of the shooting, nothing supernatural or innovative can be noted.

The front camera also shoots video in HD resolution without any problems.

The quality of the front lens is good and the wide image capture angle is especially pleasing.

Again, remember the price of a smartphone. This aspect is pleasing, because similar shooting quality is found in phones costing 15,000 rubles.

Honor 5a is in no way inferior, and in some conditions even wins.

Example video:

Example video on Huawei Honor 5a

Operating system and performance metrics

The functionality of Huawei Honor 5a is based on the MediaTek MT6735P chip.

This chipset has four cores and operates at frequencies up to 1000 MHz.

The graphics are at an average level. Built-in Mali-T720 graphics processor.

This graphics core is designed for mid-budget devices, but at least it produces good performance.

The design of the smartphone can be called rather inconspicuous, and the body is very tall, but collapsible, which today looks unusual.

The main material of the case is plastic. Only the frame, stylized as metal, looks unusual, which is why from the end the smartphone can be confused with a more expensive model. Thanks to the textured back, it lies pleasantly and securely in the palm of your hand, and due to its compact diagonal, it can be operated with one hand. The device body is collapsible, and the cover and battery are removable. Having disassembled the smartphone, you can see separate slots for two SIMs and a MicroSD card. The build quality can be called high for a budget employee - there is no play or creaking anywhere, the body is quite durable, and the lid fits tightly, except that it is not so easy to remove.

Huawei Honor 5A can be bought in three colors - black, white and gold.

Screen - 3.9

The screen of Huawei Honor 5A cannot be called excellent, but it is quite clear and bright. Still, it would be naive to expect something more for such a price tag.

The smartphone is equipped with a clear 5-inch IPS screen with HD resolution (1280×720 pixels). The pixel density is 294 per inch - this is enough to not see individual pixels on the screen. There is no information about the use of protective glass. The screen gets dirty quite easily with fingerprints and is difficult to wipe off. The measured brightness range turned out to be quite wide, from 13 to 514 nits, which, on the one hand, is close to a comfortable level for the eyes in the dark, and on the other, provides good readability in the sun. Nevertheless, during the day the screen is still not perfectly readable, but this is due to the moderate contrast - 700:1, and there are also slight inaccuracies with color rendition (evenly across all colors). The phone has an auto-brightness feature, but it works slowly, sometimes ignoring changing lighting conditions. But the color gamut is not bad for the low price - 93% of standard sRGB. Also, the color temperature turned out to be too high - 8200 degrees, which makes the picture look a little bluish. However, this error can be corrected manually in the screen settings.

Cameras - 2.5

Despite the seemingly high resolution of 13 and 5 MP, Huawei cameras We were not impressed with the Honor 5A. They are unlikely to replace your budget camera, and high-quality pictures and selfies can only be taken in good lighting.

The main camera is inferior to that of both Honor 5C and Honor 4C. It takes a long time to focus and is quite slow when shooting in HDR mode and in low light conditions. Colors are rendered well, but a little pale. The detail of objects is low for their resolution, the sharpness is uneven across the frame, there is a lot of noise (or the consequences of their “blurring”), and light sources entering the frame can easily ruin it. That is, from all sides the camera is frankly weak. You can get a high-quality photo only during the day, but it copes poorly with shooting indoors. It is a little surprising that with a 13 MP sensor, the camera records video at a resolution of no higher than 1280x720 pixels, which is quite small.

The 5 MP front camera is not far from the quality of the 2 MP front cameras from two years ago. It makes a lot of noise (especially indoors), and the detail of the frames is so low that even proprietary skin smoothing filters are no longer needed. In addition, we can say that, despite 5 MP, the video recording resolution is limited to HD resolution.

Photos from the Huawei Honor 5A camera - 2.5

Photos from the front camera of Huawei Honor 5A - 2.5

Working with text - 5.0

You can easily and conveniently work with texts on your smartphone. The device interface offers two keyboards to choose from: the standard one from Google and Huawei’s own Swype.

You have most likely already seen the first one on any other Android phone. It features fast switching between languages ​​and support for continuous word input (Swype). The Huawei Swype keyboard has the same name continuous input function, marking of additional characters and gesture control. As a minus, we note the inconvenient switching between languages ​​- by holding down the space bar and swiping up. If you are not satisfied with these keyboards, you can easily install any other one from the Play Market.

Internet - 5.0

Initially, Huawei Honor 5A comes pre-installed with Chrome and Opera browsers. Although the second one is initially hidden for some reason, it can be found in the settings among applications or simply by searching on the desktop. Chrome can be said to be the standard option that comes pre-installed on most Android devices. It works quickly and can sync with the desktop version to display bookmarks and history. But Opera has such features as reading mode and automatic adjustment of text to the width of the screen. At the same time, it’s a pity that the company apparently got rid of its own proprietary browser - we personally liked it no less. However, you can install any browser you like yourself.

Communications - 2.6

The set of communications of Huawei Honor 5A can be called typical for today:

• simple Wi-Fi b/g/n with the ability to distribute the Internet via Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP profile
• pretty fast LTE Cat. 4, up to 150 Mbit/s
• A-GPS with GLONASS support
• FM radio (only works with headphones).

The only unusual thing here is the presence of relatively fast LTE and FM radio, which is ignored by many flagships, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S7. A standard Micro-USB 2.0 connector is used for charging and connecting to a PC. The phone works with two micro SIM cards, each of which has a separate slot, as well as a memory card.

Multimedia - 4.2

Huawei Honor 5A cannot boast of high sound quality, but it supports a fairly wide range of audio and video formats.

So, the phone plays tracks in FLAC (the audio player does not see them, but they are launched directly from the file manager), but is not compatible with music in AC-3. Everything is fine with video formats; during tests, difficulties arose only with RMVB and some WMV and MPG videos.

The phone comes pre-installed with a simple but nicely designed audio player. It offers an equalizer with a set of presets and several effects. The pre-installed video player has the ability to rewind, change sound volume and brightness using “swipe” on different areas of the screen. In addition, you can block the image (so that it does not close from an accidental touch) or run the video in a small window on top of the desktop or applications.

Battery - 2.5

The operating time of the Huawei Honor 5A, as expected, turned out to be low; with fairly intensive use of the smartphone, it is hardly enough for a day of work. This is quite typical for a budget employee, but you always want more, especially in the presence of long-running competitors.

The smartphone received a battery with a capacity of only 2200 mAh. This is a low figure for a 5-inch HD screen; it is compensated only by the not very “gluttonous” chipset. Perhaps such a battery was installed deliberately in order to reduce the price and differentiate the smartphone from another new product of 2016 - the long-running budget Honor 4C Pro with almost the same characteristics.

Thus, Honor 5A worked for 6 hours when watching HD movies at maximum brightness, this is an average result comparable to ZTE Blade X5 and more than an hour ahead of Lenovo A6010. But at the same time, there are budget phones that have been doing this longer, for example, Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) or Lenovo A5000. At the same time, the results in the audio test turned out to be weak - only 32 hours, only the fast-discharging Asus Zenfone 2 ZE550ML or the ultra-thin and ultra-light Fly IQ4516 Tornado were worse. But the phone performed well in mid-level games - up to 4 hours in not the most demanding games. Recording HD video already takes 21% of the charge in half an hour - this is a lot, especially considering that we usually record Full HD videos for this test; such a resolution is simply not available here.

Performance - 2.2

The performance of Huawei Honor 5A can be called quite good for a budget phone with an entry-level chipset. It handles everyday tasks quite well and handles most games.

The phone is equipped with 2 GB of RAM and a popular quad-core MediaTek MT6735P processor (operating at up to 1.3 GHz). A similar one was used in ZTE Blade X5, Oukitel K10000 and many others. The choice of processor looks strange after last year's Honor 4C, which, with a similar price tag, was equipped with a more powerful eight-core chipset. However the filling Honor smartphone 5A ensures fairly smooth operation of the interface and most games. It is capable of handling even heavy and demanding games, but only at low graphics settings. Thus, the ported game Oddworld runs quite smoothly at low resolutions, while the mediocre Thumb Drift slows down at high settings, but only slightly. Interestingly, the phone body remains quite cool during games, almost without heating up in the hands.

In various benchmarks, the smartphone receives scores comparable to those of the Lenovo A6010 and Samsung Galaxy A3:

• in GeekBench 4 - 1592 points (more than a hundred lower than the three-year-old flagship LG Nexus 5)
• in AnTuTu 6 - 32659 (20 thousand lower than Honor 5C)
• in 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited - up to 4869 (about the same as Honor 4C Pro).

Memory - 3.5

The internal memory of the Huawei Honor 5A is 16 GB, of which about 10.15 GB is available to the user. If this is not enough, the smartphone has a slot for a MicroSD card, with which you can add up to 128 GB. It’s noteworthy that the card slot is not a combined one, but a separate one, but it’s a little disappointing that it’s covered by a battery, meaning you won’t be able to replace the card without rebooting. In addition, it turned out that only part of the phone can be deleted pre-installed applications such as Sberbank, WPS Office or Odnoklassniki. They are not transferred to the memory card, but quite a few applications and games from the Play Market are willingly installed on it.

Peculiarities

Honor 5A runs Android 5.1 and the proprietary Emotion UI 3.1 interface. These are far from the latest versions, and there is no update information. Most likely, it won’t exist, although budget constraints did not prevent the manufacturer from updating Honor 4C and Honor 4X from Android 4.4 to Android 6.

Despite the low price tag, the phone has several features. So, a removable battery and separate slots for a second SIM card and a memory card look unusual today. In addition, the new product received an additional Smart Key button, like the Honor 7. Using the latter, you can control the phone: it distinguishes between single and double presses, as well as presses and holds. Moreover, you yourself are free to choose which commands in your smartphone they will execute.

Review of Huawei Honor 5A – another inexpensive smartphone with good content. Interestingly, there is a front-facing flash and a customizable smart button. In typical Huawei fashion, the device is sold under different names. For example, the Y6 II Compact is presented on the European market. There is a purely Asian version - Honor Play 5. The only difference is Play 5 in the location of the noise-canceling microphone and flashing LED lights.

At the time of creation Huawei review Honor 5A official price of the smartphone is 143 US dollars. In this price segment, there has been serious competition between manufacturers from China for a long time. It remains to be seen what place Honor 5A will get in this fight for customer attention.

Appearance and connectors

A classic-shaped smartphone housed in a plastic shell. Available in black, white and gold colors. There are no touch buttons below the screen, as the controls are built into the OS interface.

The back panel is removable and pleasant, thanks to the pattern of intersecting lines.

Under the cover there are separate slots for a SIM card and a USB flash drive. There is a removable battery. Buttons for controlling mode and volume are on the right edge.

On the left side is a smart button for Easy Key. Its purpose and capabilities will be discussed later.

The bottom grille houses the main speaker with a microphone and a MicroUSB connector.

At the top end there is a jack for connecting a 3.5 mm headset.

Huawei Honor 5A price

Below we have selected stores where you can buy this smartphone:

CPU

The “heart” of the hardware is the MediaTek MT6735C. Its 4 Cortex-A53 cores can operate at up to 1.3 GHz. There is a Mali-T720 graphics chip. A budget solution that does not interfere with the smartphone's vigorous navigation through the menu and demonstrates good performance for standard and daily loads. You can also play resource-intensive 3D games. It’s just that the quality of graphics will lag behind the level of more productive hardware.

In the Antuco test, the device scores a little more than 33 thousand points. In case of intense and prolonged overheating, the operation of the phone is not affected.

Memory

In the memory situation, you can expect: 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory. You can run multiple apps and switch between them without any glitches. On the built-in disk, 9.4 GB of 16 remain free for use. If there are a bunch of applications and a couple of games, this is enough, but in other cases, a rescue flash drive comes to the rescue. It is possible to install a removable MicroSD drive with a capacity of up to 128 GB.

Battery

This model uses a 2200 mAh battery. It provides autonomy for a full day of work under moderate loads. If you don't let go of the device and put a heavy load on it (games, videos, WiFi, camera), the battery will last half a day. You can increase operating time using built-in energy saving programs.

Camera

The main module produces a resolution of up to 13 MP. Equipped with automatic focus and dual flash. The application interface is convenient and functional, contains settings for ISO, sharpness, saturation, contrast, white balance. Exposure can be changed in real time.

Everyday shooting will be appreciated for its fast and accurate performance, focusing, and photos with good details. The panoramic shooting system is easy to handle: frames are superimposed well, and the finished images are of fairly high quality. The device is especially good at macro photography because the camera can easily focus on objects at close range. At the same time, it nicely blurs the background.

But there is something to complain about. For example, a drop in sharpness at the edges of the frame. Or the appearance of an overexposed area in a photo in bright sunlight. You shouldn't expect miracles from night shots either: loss of detail and noise are standard situations for a device of this level.

For some reason, the video says maximum HD resolution (1280 x 720) at 30 fps. The quality is more or less, but not clear enough. The front camera with a resolution of 5 MP has a wide viewing angle and is complemented by a single flash. You can count on decent results in good lighting. The low quality is partially saved by the flash.

Display

The smartphone is equipped with a 5-inch IPS matrix with HD resolution (1280 x 720). Pixel density 293 PPI. The picture is clear and crisp, the colors are calm, not saturated. When tilted or viewed at an angle, the image is not inverted and magenta or yellow tones are not displayed. The maximum brightness is quite modest, so the image becomes faded in the sun.

But, due to the absence of an air gap, the amount of glare on the screen is reduced, and the picture becomes clearer. The display is covered with tempered glass, which is resistant to abrasion and scratches. The oleophobic coating on the glass is very weak, but it is there. The sensor is sensitive and can process 5 touches simultaneously.

Networking capabilities

The smartphone supports the installation of two Micro-SIM cards, which works without problems in 2G / 3G / 4G networks. For wireless transmission Data has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

Satellite navigation functionality is provided by GPS and GLONASS. With the satellite system function it works well, even indoors.

Sound

The main speaker is the most budget-friendly one. The volume level is average and sounds flat. But it doesn’t wheeze or crackle. With headphones, the situation is reversed, with pronounced low frequencies and acceptable surround sound. With the exception of audiophiles, everyone will be pleased with the sound quality. The speaker is moderately loud and voice can be heard without interference.

Software part

As a basis for development software used operating system Android 5.1. In addition, the proprietary EMUI 3.1 Lite shell is installed. Due to the absence of a menu button, many items user interface different from regular Android and support themes. The system includes software chips to support motion control, advanced save profiles, and smart button settings.

Possibilities

The programmable Easy key saves time when launching the three most important functions and applications for the user. Each function is called individually: double, single or long press. If you bring up the camera from the lock screen, it will immediately focus and take a photo. The whole process takes 2.2

Advantages and disadvantages of Huawei Honor 5A

pros

Availability of a “smart” button;
The overall balance between hardware and software components works flawlessly.

Minuses

The OS version is not the latest;
Low resolution of recorded video.

Smartphone Matches

“Dual SIM cards, standard camera, fast internet, not slow, not buggy, with big screen(but not with a shovel), and not so expensive.” If this list is your main requirement for a phone, then you can safely consider this device for purchase.