Honor 9 Lite review: Premium smartphone loaded with features on a budget

Honor, the online sub-brand of Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, appears to be on a roll in India. After launching the mid-tier flagship Honor View10 – and the budget devices Honor 9i and Honor 7X – the company has launched the Honor 9 Lite, featuring some premium features for its modest price tag of Rs 10,999.

The Honor 9 Lite sports a premium glass design, dual-camera set-ups on the front and rear, and a futuristic 18:9 aspect ratio screen. In terms of specifications and features, the Honor 9 Lite looks like a heavy contender in the budget smartphone segment. But, does it have the potential to fend off the competition. Let’s take a look:

Design and display
The Honor 9 Lite is by far the most premium budget smartphone in the segment. The device boasts metallic chassis sandwiched between glass on the front and back – similar to premium flagship phones like the Apple iPhone 8-series and Samsung Galaxy S8-series.
The front of the smartphone is dominated by a 5.65-inch fullHD+ screen. Thanks to its 18:9 aspect ratio, the form factor of the device is compact and light weight, making it handy to use and comfortable to carry in pocket. The back sports a fingerprint scanner at the upper centre and dual cameras placed at the extreme top left, coupled with an LED flash. Interestingly, the camera unit does not bulge out – it did in the Honor View10 – and fits right inside the frame, improving the phone’s design quotient.

Talking of the screen quality, the display throws punchy colours with ample brightness to keep things going even under direct sunlight. Contrast remains sharp and watching multimedia content on this smartphone is a delight.