When a smartphone is marketed specifically toward students, you usually expect a few compromises disguised by flashy marketing.
We’re here to tell you that the HONOR X8d isn’t entirely immune to that trope, but it does bring a couple of compelling features to the table. What it lacks in raw firepower and 5G connectivity, it attempts to make up for with a large battery, a sleek profile, and a suite of potentially useful AI tricks.
After a few weeks of testing, here is how HONOR Philippines’ new model actually holds up in the real world.
@revuphilippines 7,000mAh battery. 108MP AI camera. Just 7.5mm thin. 🤯 We found the perfect accessory for the always-on-the-move aesthetic. 💅 Here's the HONOR X8d, unboxed ahead of its Philippine launch! Details 👉 www.revu.com.ph. #HONORX8d #MyStyleMyAIPhone #HONORPH #RevuDotComDotPH @HONOR Philippines @monch @Alora Uy Guerrero ♬ original sound – REVU Philippines
Slim and stylish
The first thing that stands out is the design. The HONOR X8d looks fantastic for its segment. Yes, it is made of plastic, but the finish, polish, and attention to detail are top-notch, resulting in a handset that looks significantly more premium than its price tag suggests.
On the back, you’ll find a square-shaped housing with a subtle triangle design outlining two camera sensors and an LED flash. Speaking of that flash, the X8d features a cool little party trick: When the flashlight is turned on, a white silhouette illuminates both the back frame and the camera module. While you’ll only really notice it in pitch-black darkness, it’s a fun touch that gives the phone some much-needed personality in a crowded midrange market, really selling that “stylish” vibe HONOR is pushing.
Another highlight is the dedicated physical button on the side. It’s highly customizable, supporting single, double, and long presses. By default, it summons HONOR’s AI assistant. For a device built for students, having instant physical access to academic and productivity tools is a smart move.
Durability is also a pleasant surprise. The body carries an IP65 rating. For the average consumer, this means the device is completely dust-tight and can survive low-pressure water jets. In practice, it will likely survive getting caught in a sudden downpour or an accidental coffee spill at your desk, but you definitely shouldn’t submerge it in a swimming pool.
And somehow, despite packing a big 7,000mAh battery, the HONOR X8d is only 7.5mm thick and weighs around 188 grams. That battery, by the way, is rated by the company’s labs to endure more than 1,000 charge cycles and retain at least 80% of its capacity over six years of use. As an obvious caveat, the sheer size of the screen and battery means this isn’t exactly a one-handed phone. However, thanks to that slim footprint, it remains quite easy to pocket and hold for extended movie or gaming sessions.
The Light Blue color option we reviewed is particularly attractive, but the HONOR X8d is also available in Velvet Grey and Velvet Black if you prefer something more traditional. Audio is handled by stereo speakers that support Hi-Res Audio. They produce decent sound with relatively crisp highs, though the bass leaves a lot to be desired. If you are in a noisy environment, the 300% Loud mode does a nice job of cutting through the chatter.
Moving to the display, you get a 6.77-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen offering a 10-bit color depth capable of displaying a billion colors. Out of the box, the panel looks a bit oversaturated for our tastes, so you might want to dive into the settings to tone it down. Once tweaked, it’s a great screen for the price.
It comes loaded with HONOR’s recent eye-comfort technology, too, including a Circadian Night Display, Dynamic Dimming, and 3840Hz PWM Dimming to reduce flicker. Brightness peaks at an impressive 3,000 nits, and can hit 1,300 nits in High Brightness mode. We found that it’s plenty legible outdoors under direct sunlight.
The refresh rate operates dynamically between 60Hz and 120Hz, though you can lock it to either extreme. Just keep in mind that a 120Hz screen doesn’t mean your games will actually run at 120 frames per second, especially given the processing power under the hood. And while the AMOLED panel supports always-on functionality, it skips the under-display fingerprint reader. Instead, you unlock the phone using a side-mounted scanner. It’s fast, accurate, and honestly, we’re perfectly fine with this implementation.
Multiday use in the modern era
Let’s address the elephant in the room — the chipset. The HONOR X8d is built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s Gen 2. In the Philippines, it’s available in a lone variant featuring 8GB of physical RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
The processor choice is the biggest downside of the device. Even with the “Gen 2” moniker, the core architecture is fundamentally older tech built on a 6nm process, paired with a 4G modem and an Adreno 610 GPU. It simply doesn’t have the juice to run modern AAA mobile titles fluidly. To play a demanding game like Wuthering Waves, we had to drop the graphics to the absolute lowest levels. Even then, the resulting blurry visuals and uneven frame rates literally hurt our eyes after a while, prompting us to put it down.
On the bright side, lighter games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang run smoothly, even with graphics set to High. Still, the brand really needs to consider a more capable chipset for next year’s iteration, as there are much more powerful alternatives in this price segment.
For the gamers out there, Bypass Charging is included and is a very welcome addition. This feature allows the smartphone to draw power directly from the charger to the motherboard, bypassing the battery entirely and preventing excess heat buildup.
Endurance, however, is where the HONOR X8d truly shines. That 7,000mAh cell is exactly how big a phone battery should be for multiday use in the modern era. Given the modest internals, our unit lasted us two whole days of moderate-to-heavy use. Charging maxes out at 45 watts using the included brick and cable. Going from zero to full takes patience; in our tests, a full charge clocked in at 126 minutes.
Meanwhile, in the PCMark battery-rundown test, our unit lasted 16 hours and 23 minutes. While that isn’t the highest synthetic score we’ve seen this month, real-world testing is what truly matters, and here, the device does not disappoint. All tests below were conducted at half-brightness:
- YouTube: 3% drain after 1 hour (1080p 60 FPS over Wi-Fi)
- Netflix: 4% drain after 1 hour (HD over Wi-Fi)
- Wuthering Waves: 14% drain after 1 hour (Performance preset, 30 FPS)
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang: 8% drain after 1 hour (High preset)
A capable camera and a lot of AI
Flip the HONOR X8d over and you’ll find a 108-megapixel main shooter paired with a 5-megapixel ultra-wide. In both daylight and nighttime settings, the main camera performs surprisingly well, accurately recognizing whatever scene you throw at it. Just be aware that this AI smarts can be a double-edged sword. Keeping automatic scene detection on can occasionally bog down the camera app’s performance.
As for zooming, the handset leans on its high megapixel count for a 3x “lossless” crop since there’s no true telephoto lens here. It yields highly usable results. And while the software lets you zoom up to 8x, do yourself a favor and stick to the 3x preset sitting right there in the viewfinder. We found the ultra-wide to be strictly for daytime use, as you’ll need plenty of sunlight to get a decent shot out of it.
Sample shots
For students and office workers, the native camera app includes a Scan Document option. What’s great about it is the ability to scan documents natively in boosted colors, greyscale, or black and white. For video calls and casual selfies, the 16-megapixel front-facing camera gets the job done. Vloggers can shoot 1080p video at 30 FPS on both the front and rear cameras.
HONOR has heavily leaned into software tricks to elevate the user experience, particularly for those who don’t know their way around complex editing software. The gallery features AI Eraser (to remove photobombers), AI Upscale (to sharpen older or cropped photos), AI Remove Reflection (perfect for shooting through glass), AI Outpainting (to expand the edges of a photo), and AI Eyes Open (to fix accidental blinks).
Beyond photography, the X8d uses HONOR Share for seamless file transfers across devices. There is also Magic Portal, which streamlines the copy-pasting process by letting you drag text or images directly between apps, skipping several annoying steps. Finally, AI Writing handles text generation, quick rewrites, and grammar checks. As mentioned earlier, all of these tools are just a press away thanks to that dedicated side button — a hardware feature many smartphones are lacking.
Final thoughts
What the HONOR X8d lacks in 5G connectivity and gaming firepower, it heavily compensates for with sheer endurance and practicality. You’re getting sleek hardware — complete with a punchy 10-bit display and booming stereo speakers — backed by a handy suite of AI tools.
It’s obviously not an A+ package for power users or hardcore gamers, but at ₱15,999 (around $266 converted) in the Philippines, it remains a decent option for students and casual users hunting for a long-lasting entertainment device that won’t die during a marathon study session.
HONOR X8d specs
- 6.77-inch AMOLED display, FHD+ (2392 x 1080) resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 3,000 nits peak brightness, 3840Hz PWM dimming
- 6nm octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 processor
- Adreno 610 GPU
- 8GB RAM (+ 8GB virtual RAM)
- 256GB storage
- Triple 108-megapixel f/1.75 main, 5-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel macro rear cameras with LED flash
- 16-megapixel f/2.45 front camera
- Side-mounted fingerprint reader
- 7,000mAh battery with 45-watt USB-C fast charging
- MagicOS 10 based on Android 16
- IP65 water and dust resistance, 2m drop resistance
- Colors: Velvet Grey, Velvet Black, Light Blue
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