HONOR 90 Review – Is this midrange phone with a huge camera and eyesafe display worth your money?

We previously unboxed and took a first look at the new midrange Honor 90 that crams in several flagship features like a flicker-free, premium AMOLED display and a rear camera array fronted by a massive 200MP camera sensor to allow it to punch above its weight class. Here’s our Honor 90 review where we share if their latest workhorse is worth your money.

Honor 90 Review – Performance and Benchmarks

In terms of hardware, our Honor 90 review sample is kitted out with a midrange Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition processor that has a slightly higher 2.5GHz clock speed over the stock non-accelerated model. Running under the hood is the latest Android 13 with their own MagicOS 7.1 interface overlay with full access to the Google Play store. There is some concern for its service life as Honor is officially offering 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of security updates which means it’ll get Android 15 down the line though some competing brands are offering longer update support.

The phone also features 12GB RAM that also has 7GB of Honor RAM Turbo virtual RAM assigned off the onboard storage for a total of 18GB of combined random access memory available for use. This easily goes into flagship territory and ensures fast app swapping and contributes towards faster performance. Oddly enough, the 7GB of virtual RAM can’t be disabled nor can the amount be reassigned which may irk power users. 

For storage, our Honor 90 review sample has a generous 512GB of non-expandable memory. At the time of writing, it has been inferred that the 12GB RAM/512GB storage model that we’re testing is the highest grade variant issued in the country and according to Honor, another variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage will also be sold in Malaysia.

From a performance standpoint, our Honor 90 review sample has hardware that soundly places it at the upper end of a midrange phone, in particular its generous amount of RAM and storage as well as a highly regarded chipset.  The Honor 70 also features fast WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. When compared to last year’s Honor 70, this raft of upgrades is substantial indeed with a better processor, almost double the RAM, more virtual RAM as well as double the storage. Here’s how our Honor 90 review unit stacks up on paper:

 

Price	RM1,799 (12GB RAM/256GB), RM2,099 (12GB RAM/512GB)
Display	6.7-inch AMOLED, 1,200 x 2,664 pixels, 120Hz, HDR10+
Processor	Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition
OS	Android 13 w/ MagicOS 7.1
Memory	12GB RAM/ 512GB storage
Cameras	200MP F/1.9 w/ PDAF + 12MP F/2.2 ultrawide angle and macro + 2MP F/2.4 depth sensor [rear] / 50MP F/2.4 [front]
Battery	5,000mAh w/ 66W fast charge
Size/Weight	161.9 x 74.1 x 7.8mm / 183g

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, the Honor 90 scored the following:

3D Mark Wild Life	3,134
3D Mark Wild Life ULTD	3,137
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	850
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme ULTD	849
Geekbench 6 single core	1,122
Geekbench 6 multicore	3,254
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	2.628
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	2,985
PCMark Work 3.0	11,551
PCMark Battery Life	10 hours 52 mins

 

In terms of overall performance, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition chipset outclasses the Snapdragon 778G+ chipset that saw service in the older Honor 70 that was released last year by a comfortable margin though battery life was slightly shorter on account of the larger, brighter AMOLED display. On paper, it understandably won’t outclass a flagship grade chipset like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 but this won’t matter as much with day to day tasks and standard usage.

Under practical field conditions, our Honor 90 review sample did not disappoint with the combination of the proven Snapdragon processor in tandem with the generous amounts of RAM ensuring that app swapping, web browsing and other tasks were fast, responsive and snappy. It was also comfortably able to handle games like Genshin Impact and a few rounds of Call of Duty Mobile on default settings as well as slightly more demanding tasks like editing a 1080p CapCut video without issue. 

While most displays typically tout a high refresh rate and colour accuracy as their main selling points, the 6.7-inch AMOLED panel on our Honor 90 review sample goes above and beyond these requirements as it not only has a 120Hz refresh rate but also tackles screen flickering with a ludicrously high 3,840Hz PWM dimming rating on top of getting a DXOMark Gold Display and TUV Rheinland Flicker Free certification.

The proof is in the pudding and at a special preview, Honor displayed a variety of flagship smartphone brand displays in dim light conditions along with their own Honor 90 which displayed far less flickering when viewed through a smartphone camera; while it’s not obvious to the naked eye, this flickering effect does contribute to eye fatigue over time.

The display also has NetFlix HDR certification and movies onscreen look fabulous with the 120Hz ensuring silky smooth animations when navigating the menus though most games are capped at 60Hz.

This makes the Honor 90 exceptionally pleasant to view in low light environments and also ensures that the display remains crisp and visible even in broad daylight.

As I particularly enjoy reading ebooks at night in bed, the display itself allowed for me to read in a more comfortable fashion. It’s not particularly obvious but it proves itself over time with less eye strain across the duration of my review period. To date, this is one of, if not the best display on a midrange phone in the market and is good enough to even give some flagship phones a run for their money.

While the display is top notch, Honor has unfortunately only kitted out the phone with a mono speaker which does the job but isn’t exactly the best on test. Sound staging is understandably absent but it can be dialled to maximum volume without distortion.

In terms of battery life, the Honor 90 doesn’t disappoint with its 5,000mAh battery and relatively efficient chipset offering just under 11 hours of usage when tested via PCMark’s battery life benchmark. In practical usage, it easily offers a full day of usage with a combination of WiFi and data as well as liberal social media use along with a few minutes of phone calls, light gaming and videos.

More conservative users can easily stretch this to two days of usage. Charging it is also relatively swift with its bundled 66W charger and takes under an hour to juice up from dead zero. While there’s no wireless charging support, this isn’t a deal breaker seeing the fact that this is primarily intended as a midrange phone.

Honor 90 Review – Cameras

The Honor 90 has an unusual triple camera setup on the rear built around a massive  200MP F/1.9 camera that has PDAF and uses gyro-based EIS for video capture but lacks optical image stabilisation.

The sheer size of the primary camera sensor allows it to offer up to 10x digital zoom. Riding shotgun is a 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera with autofocus and a 2MP F/2.4 depth sensor. Combined, this setup allows the phone to capture up to 4K@30fps video and 1080p@60fps video in 16:9 or 21:9 aspect ratio.

In daylight conditions, the ultrawide angle camera and the main camera performed well with good dynamic range, relatively accurate colour rendition and great detail that’s ideal for the usual gamut of scenarios from family and group shots to the obligatory snaps of meals and holiday scenery. 

The main camera also does pretty well at 2x digital zoom on account of the sheer size of the main camera sensor though shots at 10x digital zoom are soft with a lack of detail as the camera lacks optical image stabilisation and a dedicated telephoto lens setup.

Shots in dim light are decent though you’ll get the best results with the primary camera. Videos also have similar outcomes with much better footage in brightly lit conditions with dim yielding softer results though they’re still on par with other midrange phones of its ilk. 

Up front, you get a single large 50MP selfie camera that is also capable of 4K@30fps video and similar 1080p@60fps video in 21:9 and 16:9 aspect ratios as the rear camera. It does the job for mugshots in daylight and brighter lit areas. Low light shots and videos are on the soft side but are sufficient for social media use. 

Should you buy the Honor 90?

At launch, Honor Malaysia is pricing our Honor 90 review sample with its 12GB RAM and 256GB storage at RM2,099 which is near the price point of its predecessors the Honor 70 and Honor 50 when they debuted. For those on a tight budget, the 256GB variant is also available for RM1,799.

At this price point, it’s a good midrange workhorse phone with an outstanding, colour calibrated quad curved AMOLED display, solid performance for its class along with a large battery. It lacks some niceties like Gorilla Glass and IP resistance but if you are looking for a midrange phone with a top-shelf display and near flagship grade performance, this won’t let you down.

Honor 90 review unit courtesy of Honor Malaysia. For more details please visit https://www.hihonor.com/my/