Honor 7 Smart Key: A Feature That Every Phone Needs

They say the greatest ideas are the simplest ones. And the Smart Key on the Honor 7 is certainly one of the features that is so brilliant, and in hindsight, so simple, that it makes you go - "Why didn't anyone think of this before?!"

In case you are wondering what the Smart Key is all about, here's a little refresher from Gadgets 360's review of the Honor 7:

The Smart Key is a rather unique addition to the device, and one that we hope more manufacturers start incorporating. This is a physical button that can be customised to trigger specific functions. The key can be set up to trigger up to three different functions with a single press, a double press, or a long press. There are four quick functions to choose from: ultra snapshot, voice recording, flashlight, or screenshot, or you can launch a specific app. It's an absolutely fantastic feature that makes the device much more intuitive and user-friendly.

With most phones, getting to your favourite app usually involves a few steps. First, you unlock the phone, which can be a pain in itself, unless the phone has a fingerprint scanner like the Honor 7, but let's say you have unlocked the phone. Since it's your favourite app, it's likely right there on the home screen as you unlock the phone, so you can tap and launch it. Or you will need to dive deep into the launcher to dig out the app or search for it. This process takes anywhere between two to ten seconds, depending upon how comfortable you are with your smartphone, and where the app you are launching is located.

However, the Honor 7 makes this a lot simpler. You simply unlock the phone using the fingerprint scanner of the Honor 7 - it takes less than 0.5 seconds - and press the Smart Key. Boom, you just launched your favourite app. From the Settings of the phone, you can easily configure this to be any app of your choice.

That might be the handiest thing the Smart Key can do, but it's surely not the only thing. You can also configure it to launch the flashlight, take a screenshot, start voice recording, or take an ultra snapshot. What's more, you can configure different actions for double press, and long press as well, which means one key can perform as many as three different functions. Isn't that truly smart?

We can see other phones copying this feature in the future. But you'll remember where you saw it first - the Honor 7.