Honor is back in the budget phone game with the new X8

Yes, it has Google Mobile Services

Phone maker Honor has slowly eased back into mobile market relevance since it was spun off from parent Huawei in late 2020. It made its way back to western regions with a new flagship offering at MWC. The company is now setting sights on the budget end of the spectrum with a new "X-series" phone, the Honor X8.

Prior to going independent, Honor's nomenclature for its affordable phones put numbers in front of the 'X,' such as the fairly ambitious Honor 9X from 2019. With the script flipped, it seems the marketing department decided to follow suit product-wise.

Display 6.7" 2388 x 1080 (19.9:9) LCD @ 90Hz SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 RAM 6GB + 2GB RAM Turbo (flash conversion) Storage 128GB Rear cameras 64MP f/1.8 main, 5MP f/2.2 wide (120°), 2MP f/2.4 macro, 2MP f/2.4 "bokeh" Front camera 16MP f/2.45 Power 4,000mAh battery w/ 22.5W wired charging OS MagicUI 4.2 w/ Android 11 Connectivity LTE, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, no NFC Peripherals USB 2.0 (Type-C), fingerprint on power, 3.5mm audio Sizing 163.4 x 74.7 x 7.45mm, 177g Colors Titanium Silver, Midnight Black, Ocean Blue

For a first dip back into the wading pool — the immediate setting being the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — we're looking at a pretty decent offering with some tricks we've seen before such as pulling up to 2GB of the flash storage to expand RAM capacity and by pointing out the 93.6% screen-to-body ratio, calling out in particular the 1.15mm top bezel and 1.1mm side bezels. Other attractions include its feather-adjacent weight and Google Mobile Services which means the Google Play Store.

Pre-orders go online in the two countries tomorrow at hihonor.com for 899 AED or approximately $245. With time, we presume, Honor could let the X8 head elsewhere as well.