Honor has just launched the Honor 90, the company’s latest lifestyle-focused smartphone this evening. While it is not a full-fledged flagship like the Magic series, the Honor 90 still boasts some impressive specifications on paper, most notably a 200MP main camera and up to 512GB of storage for a starting price of RM1,799.
Table of Contents
Honor 90 – Specifications
| Model | Honor 90 |
| Dimensions | 161.9 x 74.1 x 7.8 mm |
| Weight | 183g |
| Processor | CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 GPU: Adreno 644 |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Storage | 256 / 512GB |
| Display | 6.7″ AMOLED 1200 x 2664 pixels 120Hz 1,600 nits (peak) |
| Camera (Front) | 50 MP, f/2.4 |
| Camera (Rear) | Main Camera: 200 MP, f/1.9, PDAF Ultrawide Camera: 12 MP, f/2.2 Depth Camera: 2 MP, f/2.4 |
| Operating System | MagicOS 7.1, Android 13 |
| Battery and Charging | 6,000 mAh 66W wired charging |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual band Bluetooth 5.2 NFC GPS |
| Biometrics | On-screen fingerprint reader, face unlock |
What’s In The Box
- Honor 90
- Protective case
- 66W charger
- USB Type-A to Type-C charger
Design
What strikes the Honor 90 unique is that it has 3 distinct colour ways: Emerald Green, Diamond Silver, Peacock Blue. Emerald Green is the most subdued, and has a matte finish. Diamond Silver looks the most elegant, boasting a diamond-shaped dimple pattern. Peacock Blue is the most flamboyant of the trio, boasting a colour changing pattern as it reflects and bounces off light.
Our review sample came in the Diamond Silver colourway, and it looks gorgeous. Despite having a gloss finish, it does not feel slippery on my hands at all. It is however, prone to fingerprints and smudging. Just like the Magic5 Pro, it is curved along the edges offering excellent ergonomics.
The camera is arranged in a dual ring layout, tucked at the top left corner. Both the power button and volume rockers are arranged at the right side, while the left is laid bare. The SIM tray, USB Type-C charging port and a single speaker are located at the bottom.
Display
The curved display on the Honor 90 has a resolution of 1200 x 2664 pixels, which sits right between FHD+ and QHD+. For a 6.7-inch display, the visuals look sharp and colours are vivid.
For those who prefer more accurate colours, you can set the display to Normal Mode, which automatically adjusts between sRGB and P3 colour gamuts depending on the content you are viewing. But if you like colours to pop, there is a Vivid Mode.
Audio
Unfortunately, the Honot 90 only has one speaker at the bottom of the phone, which is a bit odd to me, as even entry-level smartphones have started to offer stereo speakers. The single firing unit leaves much more to be desired especially when viewing content in landscape.
In terms of volume, it is loud enough. Audio quality is a little bit of a mixed bag, as there is pronounced midrange, but the mid-bass extension sounded muddy to me.
Camera
The Honor 90 has a powerful 200MP main camera. Under good lighting, it takes pleasant and sharp photos, and HDR performance is great. Low-light performance is decent as well, with noise keep under control, at the cost of a bit of sharpness at the edges. Being a 200MP camera, the 2X digital zoom also results in pleasant images.
The images pixel bins to 12MP by default, but you do get to shoot at full resolution. I recommend you using it under very good light, like middle of the day, as it is prone to noise when shot under less than ideal lighting. There is however, no OIS on board, which is a bit of a shame really.
The 12MP ultrawide is decent, but the lack of autofocus reduces its versatility somewhat. That being said, the images look sharp (as long as within focus distance) and has pleasant colours.
Video
You can record up to 4K30 video on the Honor 90. The videos look sharp and produces natural colour tones. While there is no OIS, it seems to adopt some form of electronic stabilisation as I noticed the videos to have the shaking reduced.
Performance
Benchmarks
| Geekbench 6 | CPU Single Core – 1,114 CPU Multi-Core – 3,080 GPU – 2,623 |
| 3DMark Wild Life | 3,172 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 12,130 |
The Honor 90 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, and is paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. For a midrange chip, it performed decently on all benchmarks, and can easily handle most users’ day to day use.
Gaming
Gaming performance is decent as well. I could play most games in medium to high settings. For instance, I could get Genshin Impact to run at 45 fps on medium. PUBG Mobile and MLBB could hit high frame rates at low to medium graphical settings.
Battery Life
The Honor 90 is packed with a by now industry standard 5,000mAh battery. It lasted 14 hours and 13 minutes on PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test, which is slightly above average. In terms of real world use, I could get it to last more than a day under moderate use, and barely 2 days with a more conservative approach.
Final Verdict
4 / 5The Honor 90 is a stylish midrange phone with a variety of attractive colour options. It also boasts a potent camera system, making it a great companion for the hip and fashionable.
To me, Honor has nailed the lifestyle angle for the Honor 90. Not only it feels good on the hands, the camera is also quite capable. While the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 is by no means the fastest chip for this price segment, it is more than enough to satisfy most users.
For more information about the Honor 90, please visit the official Honor Malaysia webste here.
