Last week, we shared our unboxing and first impressions of the HONOR 90 5G Lite. Join me as we delve into a full review, thoroughly exploring its features, performance, and what sets it apart from its competition.
Table of Contents
HONOR 90 5G Lite Specifications
| OS: | MagicOS 7.1 – Android 13 |
|---|---|
| Processor: | MediaTek Dimensity 6020 |
| Display: | 6.7-inch 90Hz LTPS LCD |
| Wireless Connections: | 5G, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO |
| Memory: | 8GB+256GB |
| Connectors: | USB Type-C, OTG |
| Cameras: | Rear Camera: Main – 100MP, f/1.9 Ultrawide – 5MP, f/2.2 Depth – 2MP, f/2.4 Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.5 |
| SIM Card Slots: | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM) |
| Battery: | 4,500mAh 22.5W Wired Charging |
| Price | Php 12,990 |
The Design
The HONOR 90 Lite 5G shares some design elements with its non-lite counterpart, although there are a few significant distinctions. It opts for a flat design rather than a curved one. The rear camera arrangement takes an unconventional approach, resembling a Venn Diagram, and it protrudes more than some might prefer.
We received the Cyan Lake color variant, which shares similarities with the Emerald Green of the HONOR 90 5G. It boasts a sandblasted finish, making it resistant to fingerprints. Another color option available is Midnight Black.
On the right side of the HONOR 90 Lite 5G, you’ll find the volume rocker and power button, which also doubles as an integrated fingerprint sensor. The left side houses the SIM tray slot, accommodating two nano SIM cards; however, there’s no microSD card slot. Moving to the bottom of the device, you’ll notice the speaker grille, USB-C port, and a microphone hole. On the top, there’s another microphone hole.
The Display and Speaker
The HONOR 90 5G Lite now sports a 6.7-inch 90Hz LTPS LCD with a resolution of 1080×2388 pixels, an upgrade from its predecessor which featured a 6.5-inch 90Hz TFT LCD screen with a lower resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels.
Like the display on the HONOR 90 5G, it has earned a TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification. This certification is designed to decrease blue light emissions, which can assist users in relieving eye strain and fatigue.
The display quality of the HONOR 90 Lite 5G is decent. Its nearly edgeless display provides a wonderful experience for enjoying content or playing games, with vivid colors. However, the black levels are not as deep as those on an AMOLED screen.
The down-firing speaker has nothing to say special about it. It sounds decent and it satisfies my expectations for its performance at its price point.
The Performance
The HONOR 90 Lite 5G is equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 6020 that is a 7nm chipset which just released early this year. Paired with it is 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Here are the benchmark results we took with the HONOR 90 Lite 5G.
The HONOR 90 Lite 5G runs on MagicOS 7.1 which is based on Android 13. There is a fair amount of bloatware that is pre-installed. Some apps are easy to uninstall but the HONOR apps cannot be uninstalled but it doesn’t interfere with your day-to-day use.
The chipset performed well for everyday tasks like browsing and chatting. It runs less demanding games like Mobile Legends and Wild Rift smoothly. However, for more demanding games like Genshin Impact, you’ll need to set the graphics to the lowest level for smooth gameplay.
The thermal performance of the HONOR 90 Lite 5G is satisfactory. During our CPU stress test, it showed a CPU throttling down to 71% of its maximum performance. While playing games, the device becomes noticeably warm to the touch in less than 5 minutes.
The Camera
The HONOR 90 Lite 5G has a triple rear camera setup and it consists of a 100-megapixel main, 5-megapixel ultrawide, and 2-megapixel macro. On its front camera, you will find a punch-hole camera on the center top that has 16 megapixels.
The rear 100-megapixel main camera only has Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) as a feature, which is a technology enabling quick and accurate focusing by measuring the phase difference in light rays to ensure sharp and clear photos. Unfortunately, it lacks any form of image stabilization.
While capturing photos with the rear 100-megapixel main camera, it pixel-bins down to 25.16 megapixels. To access its full megapixel capacity, you’ll need to switch to Hi-Res mode. However, we advise against using it due to the substantial storage it consumes, and we also observed that the images appeared grainier compared to the default Photo mode.
Reviewing the images that we got from its rear main camera, it captures a well-detailed image with natural colors in daylight, it doesn’t process the images that become too vibrant. In a low-light environment, it is still capable of capturing images that have decent details. However, you can see the graininess is now crawling to the image.
When it comes to ultrawide pictures, it attempts to replicate colors closely to its main camera, although you can observe some detail degradation. Nevertheless, it’s still suitable for social media posts. To utilize the macro lens, you need to navigate to the More mode and select Super Macro mode. The image quality from the macro camera is as expected, with low resolution, at just 2 megapixels. However, it serves its purpose well.
The front camera’s performance is indeed noteworthy. It captures images with sharpness and a natural skin tone, making your photos look vibrant and lifelike.
Both the rear and front cameras are limited to recording video at a maximum of 1080p@30fps. Without image stabilization, it’s expected that the videos may be somewhat shaky, but in practice, the recorded videos turned out quite acceptable.
The Battery
The HONOR 90 Lite 5G has a 4500 mAh battery capacity and can easily handle a day of use. In our 12-hour experience using it for standard use such as browsing the internet, scrolling through social media, replying to messages, taking pictures, playing games, and listening to music, it is able to survive and has a remaining battery of 30%.
The included charger is only 22.5W and it recharges the unit from 0% to 100% over 2 hours which is slow in today’s standard.
HONOR 90 Lite 5G Verdict
The HONOR 90 Lite 5G boasts well-balanced specifications for a smartphone. It offers a decently large display for an enjoyable content-watching experience, a chipset capable of multitasking and casual gaming, a camera that captures detailed and natural-looking photos, ample storage options, and a battery that can easily last a full day of use, making it a suitable choice. However, if you prioritize vibrant images, high-intensity gaming, and fast charging, you may want to consider other options.
In summary, the HONOR 90 Lite 5G priced at Php 12,990, offers excellent value for its price and is well-suited for a wide range of users. The HONOR 90 Lite 5G with 8GB+256GB storage is available for purchase on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
