HONOR 90 Lite 5G Review (SRP Php12,990)
Here’s my Honor 90 Lite 5G Review which is now available in stores nationwide as well as Shopee and Lazada featuring 6.7” FHD+ LTPS LCD, MediaTek Dimensity 6020 and 100MP f/1.9 main camera.
Looking for a solid phone without having to break your budget? Well it looks like HONOR Philippines has the perfect smartphone for you then just and it just came out recently. I’m talking about the Honor 90 Lite 5G. For starters the phone is priced at PHP 12,990 which is a little bit high but considering the quality and the build i’m definitely recommending the phone for you. As i mentioned earlier this is the downgraded version of the honor 90 which came out a few months ago but honestly it doesn’t feel like it’s a downgrade at all.
Design
There is a big difference between the Honor 90 Lite 5G and Honor 90 and it mainly is about the large flat sides with a plastic back panel is completely different from the smooth and stylish honor 90 that came before it. Honestly it looks like a generic smartphone with flat sides low on bezel screen and corners but it still works especially if you think about the budget. Now the Honor 90 Lite 5G is available in several colors we have Midnight Black, Titanium Silver and Cyan Lake. Of all the models that came out I personally like the black version. While the other phones that came all this quarter have all stylish looks, the Honor 90 Lite 5G wanted to be as minimalistic as possible. The back features a matte finish with the cameras on the side and that’s about it.
One part I like about the Honor 90 Lite is the two overlapping circles for the camera on the back and then of course the embossed 100MP logo on it. The bottom part of the honor frame features the USB-c port as well as the loudspeaker. The left side is where you can find the dual sim card tray but sadly folks there is no SD card slot for this smartphone. One thing that makes perfect sense with the smartphones design is that it’s easy to hold and is actually very light weighing in at just around 179 grams. On the right side of the phone is the power button which also serves as the fingerprint scanner and the volume controls. Pretty standard for most of the android phones that are out right now in the market.
Display
The Honor 90 Lite 5G comes with a 6.7 inch display and a pretty cool bezel which is also super super thin. The smartphone also features a wide full hd resolution with a 19.9: 9 aspect ratio. Doesn’t sound like much but again considering the price point you are getting a lot out of your money. Of course the only drawback is that since this is an lcd screen there are a lot of limitations that you have to deal with. Still with a 90 hz refresh rate and a lot of screen controls the night the owner 90 is still a pretty good smartphone to bring along with you whether you’re going out with friends or you’re going to work.
The phone’s brightness isn’t worth writing about but just for just in passing let me just say that it’s pretty OK but don’t expect it to be too bright when you are using the phone outdoors because you will definitely be a little bit disappointed with this.
Sound Quality
Honestly speaking I’m not a big fan of the speakers for the Honor 90 Lite 5G. I was really hoping for a more steady sound and stronger bass but honestly it just doesn’t sound solid enough for me. Still it’s pretty serviceable. the mono function of the speakers or just one speaker in general is also a bit of concern for me. Could work if it uses a higher quality sound cheap but that is not the case for the smartphone.
Camera
One of the biggest selling points for the Honor 90 Lite 5G is the camera. Top the branding it’s 100mp main camera along with a 5-megapixel ultrawide depth lens and a 2MP macro lens. There are several other shooting functions that you can use including super macro and HDR mode which all perform extremely well. Photo quality for the 90 Lite 5G can range between OK to really great but you have to consider the lighting if you really want those picture perfect shots. The images that you get are very sharp and the colors are definitely rich and vivid.
One thing that i really liked about this smartphone is that the camera isn’t overcompensating; by that I mean it doesn’t fix or process the images too much just enough for you to get a really good shot. That would mean that you really have to push it a little further when you want to get out those creative shots. But when you do land that perfect shot it looks amazing. And that’s because the phone combines four (4) on sensor pixels into one to make the final image so imagine it’s taking four shots at the same time and combining all of them into one perfect shot. So it really works well if your image or your subject is going to be a standard or a stable or a steady image.
When you do use the phone camera on a higher setting like saying you’re turning on the HDR or you’re going to use the 100 megapixel main camera function, I do recommend that you clear up your phone’s file storage because some photos can reach up to 25MP for just one single photo.
Buyer beware however, the phone struggle it comes to low light scenes and at night here are some of the samples I took.
The ultra wide camera for the Honor 90 Lite 5G is also just ok for me it’s able to take nice shots but compared to other phones that are out in the market right now it’s just ok.
The front camera of the Honor 90 Lite 5G is just ok as well it doesn’t give out any cool or specific traits whatsoever it’s just there and it gives you average the really good photos. And that’s expected because it’s just 16 megapixels. The cool thing about the front camera though is that there are several filters you can use to accentuate and make your photos better.
For video recording the Honor 90 Lite 5G has a maximum output of 1080p at 30 fps. That’s totally ok for the price range and you might miss out on the stabilizer that the Honor 90 has but that’s ok. And you can also expect 2k video quality on this phone. Performance I am actually amazed at how much juice this phone can squeeze out. it comes equipped with a Mediatek Dimensity 6020 along with an 8GB ram memory. While it doesn’t sound appealing or enticing you do play mobile games and use apps on the phone it works very smooth using the phone for heavy gaming i haven’t experienced any lags and surprisingly very minimal heating issues. Because it’s made out of a higher quality processor multitasking is very easy for this and my way of checking is going on genshin impact and then 15 to a web browser to check on specific details on a map for example and i haven’t seen i haven’t experienced any kind of lags. For me that’s a clear-cut indicator that this is a pretty solid phone.
OS Apps and UI
The Honor 90 Lite 5G comes with a MagicOS 7.1 working together with an Android 13 setup. And just like other Honor smartphones out in the market expect a lot of bloatware and some third-party apps which you can easily remove it or uninstall the moment you can use your phone. Scrolling left, right, up and down is fairly easy and it’s very smooth and of course the new were functions like swiping left or right aka “gestures” or just using the home buttons is still there is an available function for you to use.
Battery
The Honor 90 Lite 5G comes with 4500mah battery which honestly surprised me because it’s a 5G phone so you should have been getting more but the cool thing it is that it lasts a long time. I was able to bring it out for a trip to do some coverage and i was able to use the phone with mobile data on and playing a little bit of games on the side and when i get home it’s around 30% so there’s still a lot of juice left. There is no fast charging capabilities here for the smartphone but again the price point is what hinders it from going all out.
Overall Verdict
I recommend the Honor 90 Lite 5G for people who are on a tighter budget but still looking for quality. The camera is ok for a 12,000 pesos phone. it’s nice to touch and hold and it’s very easy to put in your pocket or hide in your bag. I dare say that it’s definitely a good idea to call it an Honor 90 Lite 5G. However if you are expecting the phone to really be more like the Honor 90 aka the original one you might be a little disappointed with this one as there are hiccups when it comes to shooting photos and videos; number one for me is the lack of the stabilizer which was a very very neat feature for the Honor 90. Still a good phone for the price.
