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Honor announce the £149, NFC equipped 5C


Guest PaulOBrien

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Guest PaulOBrien

Honor have today announced their latest entry level device, the £149 Honor 5C. The 5C, which shares the majority of its specifications with the Huawei P9 Lite, features a 16nm Kirin 650 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM, full HD 5.2" IPS screen and f/2.0 cameras on both the front and back (13 Megapixels on the rear, 8 Megapixel front facing). A 3000mAh battery sits inside the metallic, 8.3mm thick body. What's missing for the knock down price? Just a fingerprint reader really, which strangely features on the Chinese 5C but not the European version.

We've been having a play with the device and it's surprisingly swift. The camera, which impressively features full Camera2 API support for compatibility with apps such as Manual Camera, gains the full range of modes featured in the flagship devices and thus far performs rather well. As an Honor device, there are certain features that you would expect to see, and they are included, for better and for worse. You do get dual SIM support and pretty unbeatable value, but you also get EMUI (version 4.1 on top of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow), which is somewhat polarising. 

The phone is available to pre-order today from vmall.eu, priced at £149.99 SIM free and available in gold, silver or grey. 

Tempted? Let us know what you think!

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Guest Voxpop2011

NFC and DUAL SIM.   The search may be over for an inexpensive phone that I can use in conjunction with Android pay and my two sims.  I read that Wileyfox is about to launch a new handset and was hoping against hope that it will have NFC.  Well I don't need to bother now. 

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Hi, interested in this. Can anyone confirm whether it has notification led please ? 

Additionally, can you also please confirm if device encryption works as this is important for work.

thanks.

UPDATE: I've downloaded the manual and it seems that both above are present. I'll try and upload the manual in the thread.

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Guest PaulOBrien
2 hours ago, xzyk said:

Hi, interested in this. Can anyone confirm whether it has notification led please ? 

Additionally, can you also please confirm if device encryption works as this is important for work.

thanks.

UPDATE: I've downloaded the manual and it seems that both above are present. I'll try and upload the manual in the thread.

Device encryption is on by default, not sure on notification LED!

P

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Guest Voxpop2011

I have downloaded the user manual and have been flicking through it.  There is mention of fingerprint ID, but warns it 'may not be available on all phones'.  No mention of NFC, but it's probably in settings.  The handset has built in call/message blocking called 'harassment filter', so I can ditch my third party app (still running 4.4.4 so don't know what the latest update has to offer).  On paper, the Honor 5C looks like a great budget phone with all the features user such as me want - dual sim/NFC/call blocking - and a reasonable battery life.  Bloatware continues to be a nuisance, so I will remove all that I can and install the Alex launcher.

If I were a budget handset manufacturer, I would take note.

 

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I agree it looks like good value for money but as I've often found with these chinese phones all may not be what it seems. Besides very slow on updates, although they always promise them, you also are not assured that they've gone through the google certification process. For example, another phone i have been looking at is the elephone p9000, which also has NFC, however that phone is not on the google certified list of approved phones for android pay because elephone decided to use developer signature keys, so just because NFC is present does not necessarily follow that android pay is available.

UPDATE: ok, so i contaced google on their chat support line and they could not verify that the phone is android pay compatible. They suggested to contacted Huawei directly. Unless someone here can confirm they've used android pay and it's working I will be giving this one a miss and probably go for the  OP3 (screen isssues or not).

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Guest Voxpop2011

I have had a look at the specs of the OP3 and note the presence of NFC as well as a fingerprint sensor.  Do you know for certain that this model complies with google certification and that Android pay will be possible?  Just discovered that the OP3 is twice the price of the Honor 5C, so no sale.  I have done with 'expensive' handsets.

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Guest xzyk

ok, so i now have the phone. I can confirm:

1.Android Pay works with my credit cards.

2. Notification led works.

3. Flip to Mute works.

4. Double tap to wake missing from 'Smart Assistance', it's on the 5x so this may be a kernel change and enabling the option, maybe Paul can look into this for us.

5. Device Encryption works fine;able to connect to works network after accepting their policies.

6. Host Mode USB OTG is not supported not even with a powered microUSB hub.

Overall, impression is good, performance is ok, but phone not yet optimised.
Loaded Nova launcher so i can get double tap to lock/screen off.
Loaded Greenify.
Disabled/uninstalled most of google apps and some Huawei ones.

Happy with the purchase so far. I won't BL unlock or root yet until I'm happy all is well. I would recommend this phone.

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Guest Voxpop2011

Ha, ha.  So you changed your mind about the OP3 - was price a factor?  I can't afford the Honor 5C just now and even though my bank is not participating in Android pay yet, it will be an upgrade of the Moto G2.  I have changed my mind about buying from 3UK as I don't fancy the song and dance should anything go wrong.  Buying online means that I can just send back the handset and request a replacement or refund.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest Voxpop2011

I have finally bought the Honor and am slowly making it my own, although I have no intention of either rooting or modding.  However, I am having trouble backing up my WhatsApp data to the google servers.  I am pleased to note the torch app - no need to download from an app store only to find that the developer has requested FULL permission for using the torch - and the call/text blocker is also welcome.  I haven't gone over to everyday use as my second sim has to be nano, so am waiting for a new one.

 

I had to 'suck it up' and order a case from Amazon after the one from MobileFun proved to be for the fingerprint model. 

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