Honor X9b First Impressions: Ultra-Bounce for the Win?

Honor's latest smartphone, 9xb, goes big on style and durability.

Written by Sheldon Pinto, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 15 February 2024 13:35 IST

Honor X9b First Impressions: Ultra-Bounce for the Win?

The Honor X9b is priced at Rs. XX,XXX in India

Highlights

The Honor X9b has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC
It has a massive 5,800mAh battery
Software is stuck on Android 13

The new Honor X9b is a good blend of what many expect from a budget smartphone. Priced at Rs. 25, 999 the X9b is the second smartphone from the brand after its recent revival. This one aims for a segment just below the Honor 90, which was introduced as a premium smartphone but currently retails at around Rs. 25,999 in India, which now makes it a mid-range device. I have been using the Honor X9b for a while, and here are my first impressions.

The Honor X9b is available in single 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage options. The phone's design has some similarities with the Honor 90, which appears more premium, but goes with a slimmer and sleeker appearance overall.

The Honor X9b does not come with a charger in the box

It is available in two finishes. There's Sunrise Orange which has a vegan leather rear panel in orange, and a toned-down Midnight Black, which is the one we received for review. The device weighs 185 grams, which is quite light, and its curved edge front and rear panels give it a very slim profile, measuring just 7.98mm at its thinnest point. Honor also claims that its phone has an official IP53 rating for dust and water resistance.

Honor 90 5G First Impressions: A New Beginning

I like the gold ring around the large camera module. The circular camera module is quite flat and rises just by a few millimetres, helping the phone maintain its overall slim profile.

The 6.78-inch 3D curved-edge display with thin bezels gives the phone a premium look. It's of the AMOLED variety and offers a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. Honor has utilised its patented Ultra-Bounce technology, which uses a shock-absorbing material at the back of the display (along the sides) to absorb impacts from drops of up to 1.5 metres.

The Honor X9b looks quite sleek and stylish and offers an IP53 rating for dust and water resistance

Honor provides a transparent TPU case in the box, wired earphones, a Type-C to 3.5mm adapter (for the earphones) and a Type-A to Type-C charging cable. Sadly, there is no charger provided in the box.

The phone has a large 5,800mAh battery, and Honor claims that it can be charged at 35W using its own charging adapter (not provided in the box).

The Honor X9b has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC, which was designed for mid-range devices and is manufactured using the 4nm fabrication process, which also makes it efficient. This, combined with the large battery and the AMOLED display, should see some impressive battery life figures.

The Honor X9b has a very slim profile

Magic OS 7.2, which is based on Android 13, powers the phone's software experience. It's similar to Huawei's HarmonyOS in terms of appearance, but it is a bit disappointing to see a smartphone launched in 2024 with Android 13. Honor claims that it will provide 2 years of Android updates and 3 years of security updates, which does not seem like much given that it is already one milestone update behind the rest.

The phone has a 108-megapixel primary camera which the brand claims also offers lossless 3X zoom, reducing the need for a dedicated telephoto camera. There's also a 5-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Selfies are handled by a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

The Honor X9b has a 3D curved edge AMOLED panel

While the Honor 90 had a lot going for it in terms of hardware at launch, it makes better sense today after a price cut. This puts the new Honor X9b in an odd space, given its price tag. Also, there's no telling if this smartphone will also receive a massive price cut a few months after launch, which will surely anger early adopters once again.

While the rest of the phone seems to check most boxes for a budget device, the competition in the Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000 segment is quite cutthroat, offering good value with the latest processors and camera hardware. Will Honor's Ultra-Bounce tech prove its worthiness in a competitive market segment? Stay tuned for our full review to find out how the Honor X9b performs and whether it offers better value than the competition.

Will the Nothing Phone 2 serve as the successor to the Phone 1, or will the two co-exist? We discuss the company's recently launched handset and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Honor X9b

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Slim IP53-rated design
Phone can survive drops
Large battery with excellent standby

Bad
Weak overall camera performance
Relatively slow wired charging
No charger in the box
Limited software upgrade commitment

Read detailed Honor X9b review

Display 6.78-inch

Front Camera 16-megapixel

Rear Camera 108-megapixel + 5-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB

Battery Capacity 5800mAh

OS Android 13

Resolution 2652x1200 pixels

More Honor mobiles Honor mobiles price in India

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Honor, Honor X9b, Honor X9b 5G, 5G, Honor X9b Design, Honor X9b Specifications in India, Honor X9b Cameras, Honor X9b Battery, Honor X9b IP Rating

Sheldon Pinto

Email Sheldon Pinto

Sheldon Pinto is based in Mumbai, and has several years of experience in reviewing smartphones and gadgets. As a Senior Reviewer at Gadgets 360, you will always find him deeply immersed in his reviews, switching from one phone to another. When the battery dies out, Sheldon is always browsing the web for a good sci-fi movie or reading up on cars and bikes. He also loves creating lists of interesting places to eat and travel. Sheldon is available on Twitter at @shellshocd, and you can mail him at ...More