The Honor Play has been a hot topic online in smartphone communities for a couple of weeks now since its launch. Its arrival in the Philippines has managed to shake the entire mobile phone landscape, thanks to its amazing value for money.
While it’s essentially a midrange smartphone, the Honor Play is equipped with flagship-level hardware like the HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and Mali-G72 MP2 GPU. There’s also the huge 6.3-inch notched screen and 3,750mAh battery, which should help in getting the most out of the phone when it comes to gaming.
But aside from its flagship-grade hardware, the Honor Play also has tons of software features and optimizations. Probably its main highlight is the GPU Turbo, which is a proprietary technology that improves the hardware and software integration of Honor smartphones.
Honor Play is the first-ever smartphone to have the GPU Turbo built-in, but other supported devices are also scheduled to get it soon. For now, only a few number of smartphones gets a taste of the GPU Turbo’s up to 60% increase in graphics performance and up to 30% better power efficiency.
Along with the gaming acceleration, Honor also has other gaming features at their disposal.
First is the AI 4D Smart Shock. As the name suggests, it’s a way of vibrating the phone depending on the game’s current scenario. For example, a team fight in a MOBA game would vibrate differently compared to a first-person (FPS) game.
Another good addition is the AI 3D Surround Sound. Together with AI 4D Smart Shock, these two features give a competitive advantage to a player, as he/she will be able to tell where the gunshots are coming from by just listening carefully to the 3D sound 7.1 channel Histen audio of the Honor Play.
Honor Play also has a full Game Suite which is good to have especially when you’re really into gaming. In the settings, the user can decide which games get optimized for faster performance. It can also block notifications while the owner is in-game, so there won’t be distractions at all. In addition, there’s gonna be no more accidental misclicks as well as virtual buttons can be disabled to prevent unintended exits which could potentially ruin the gameplay.
Since gaming is resource intensive, chances of the Honor Play running out of battery in the middle of the day, despite its large battery capacity, is quite high. With this in mind, Honor included an Ultra Power Saving mode which could help extend the phone’s battery life by limiting the app usage to only a select few to conserve power.
Without a doubt, the Honor Play is one of the best smartphones in the midrange market right now. This handset offers high-end features that we only see in flagship smartphones before. But do you know what’s the only thing keeping the Honor Play in the midrange category? Its Php15,990 price tag.
For more information about the Honor Play, check out our hands-on article here.
Nice review. It is a great midrange phone but it is not available yet at Honor authorized physical store & out of stock at Shopee & Lazada.