Mini review: 7d-501u Honor X1

[Guest Ralph Martin]

Just got one of these. It's a perfect size for me - unlike most 7" tablets it has a very narrow bezel, just like a phone. It's also very slim. It fits my pocket, has a nice big screen, and yet is easy to hold. I find it OK to use as a phone as well as a tablet.

 

After starting, there was a system update - its now running Build B013.

 

Battery life is awesome. Even after playing with it for most of the day, the battery still had about 50% left.

 

It comes with some Chinese bloatware, but much of it can be removed. You can download goole play store / play services from Huawei's store. Most of the interface is fine in English, although one or two things have not been translated like the help app.

 

You can't make SIP calls without directly - you need to use a 3rd party solution.

 

It's a bargain price for a serious bit of kit, but a few corners have been cut to keep the price down:

-no NFC

-no 5GHZ radio, no 802.11ac

-no barometer

-maximum SD card size is 32Gb

-it's only running Android 4.2 (but I have seen claims it will get upgraded to kitkat later)

 

On the other hand, the screen is bright and sharp, and it is plenty fast enough.

 

I prefer Go Launcher EX rather than the built in Emotion interface, and the screen is big enough to have 9 x 9 icons - they all fit on one screen, using folders.

 

There are a few nice software touches 

-a do not disturb mode for night / other times

-fine degree of control over permissions granted to each individual app, ability to run at startup / when screen is off, etc

-software similar to clean master to get rid of junk, free up memory, etc

-a way of quickly sharing stuff via WiFi to any other brand of device

 

Overall, I'm really pleased with it and will be retiring my Galaxy Note II, which now seems to have a tiny screen.