Last year, the mobile phone was an unusual character. Accustomed to the high-end models carry the baton, 2015 was a year of inflection in which we saw a lot of phones that cost about 200 dollars proving to be a solution very capable for most users: Motorola Moto G, BQ Aquaris M5, X5 Aquarius, Xiaomi Mi4i, Alcatel Idol 3, Xperia M4 … the list was long and the trend for this year pointed in this direction as well.

Some like Samsung have decided to bet on a product line of more refined (and expensive, I must say) and the Galaxy A5. Others, such as Huawei, have decided to create Honor as a line to compete in price and to be a reference. They demonstrated with Honor 7 and now, belatedly, they want to continue with an attractive model but come a bit late: Honor 5X. Yesterday we could finally try and these are our first impressions.

The difficult mix of power, performance, design and price

It is very difficult to put on the balance pointer variables hardware, performance, design and price at the end some just limping and, by extension, showing that when purchasing that device is a series of compromises. Sometimes usually they pay a higher price to meet the rest, sometimes (as we have seen in our analysis) results in shortages that affect our daily lives as a battery that lasts little, a camera that does not measure up or poor memory. In the middle range, the debate is more intense because it is very hard to find that balance.

In 2015, we saw many manufacturers looking to balance its own scale and Honor was one of the last to appear. Its 5X was introduced in October, as sales in some markets in November, re-launched in January in the United States. So late is a drag because with the weapons with which they compete are those that was good in 2015. In 2016, we expect more but we must recognize the Chinese manufacturer that does not reach all badly.

Honor 5X comes with hardware-known by now: Snapdragon 615, display more than five inches with Full HD resolution, 2GB of RAM … His strength is something we will see much this year in the mid-range: a fingerprint reader also work well allows us to use for more than unlock the terminal.

The first sensation in hand with the device is excellent. High-quality materials fine frames and a look that surprised because the PVP of the terminal, who I would have said a few years ago that a phone with the aluminum body would be priced well. Great job on the design as an introduction to a brand that in 2015 sold 40 million devices but that has yet to be released in certain markets.

On the screen, we see that Huawei puts a right panel showing that the best technology is saved for the top model. Quality above average and with good resolution, see our in-depth analysis but the first impression was positive.

With processor performance, we knew was going to be positive. True, the Snapdragon 615 is not the best chip of Qualcomm in 2015 but has shown enough quality to go up there. The SoC moves Android 5.1 Lollipop (no plans to upgrade to Marshmallow) with software layer EMUI. Everything moves very fluidly and what we have proved, we have not been limited to daily tasks terminal.

In the area of software, we continue to wonder forever: EMUI is a complete layer but still thinking more about the tastes and preferences of users in Asia than in the West. Tailor aggressive but opens a wide range of possibilities for users, may end up being a bit tiresome. We have missed an upgrade to Marshmallow and see if past mistakes are repeated like having a task manager too aggressive to the point of eliminating push notifications without our noticing. We will see in the analysis.

With the fingerprint reader, there has been a great opportunity to play but the feelings are good.When unlocking is as fast as the top model and to use it for something else is a good incentive. This time, we have gestures and Mate S but plenty of shortcuts to call contacts or open certain apps. It will be a good incentive.

The camera is early to speak, conditions have not allowed us to dazzle quality sensor so it is early to say what we expect from her. Indoors we have seen that suffers a bit when busy artificial light but it is very likely to feel better real situations. No one has a lot of bulbs at home to light up a room. The good news is that the camera app is still as simple and intuitive as in other Huawei phones.

Honor 5X wants to be the new Moto G

Motorola has received in these two and a half years a lot of (deserved) recommendations when someone was looking for a competitive midrange terminal. Moto G is a big terminal but other manufacturers as tightened to not only improve the proposal but with much more round and equally attractive proposals in price.

Honor 5X aims to be a very popular mid-range terminal: good specs, attractive design, and a priori few shortcomings. My doubts, for now, are suspects our contact wires, battery, and camera. Either it is early to speak or until we analyze it thoroughly we cannot be sure. Now, this terminal comes a few months later but with enough momentum to remain a recommended option. Let’s see if the distribution comes because it seems that the main focus will be the online sales market where the Moto G has prevailed all told.