Gadget review: Huawei Honor 5X

The onslaught of the budget phones continues. And the Honor 5X is up there with the best

The dimensions of Huawei Honor 5X are the same as that of the iPhone 6 Plus.

Quick specs

What: Huawei Honor 5X

At a glance: Android 5.1, metal unibody, fingerprint reader, 13MP camera, 1.5GHz Quadcore

Best buy: ₹12,999 (Flipkart, Amazon)

USP: Well-built, good battery, crisp display

Suddenly, there's a world of iPhone 6 lookalike phones out there. Design is one of Apple's primary attractions. And it makes sense for budget phones to ape it, with minor tweaks. The Huawei Honor 5X is yet another. The dimensions are the same as that of the 6 Plus (with a 5.5inch screen). But apart from having people think you're using an iPhone for a few seconds, is it worth the investment?

What's good: Much like the Honor7, the 5X has a metal unibody design. With a brushed metal back, it has a finish that you'd expect to see on a premium device. The 1080x1920 pixels (full HD) display is crisp, and colours are vibrant, if, at times, untrue. The camera is quick, and produces clear, non-grainy images even in low light. The built-in slow-motion and time-lapse capabilities work satisfactorily. The big advantage of these big phones, though, is a sturdier battery. The 5X packs in a 3,000mAh battery, which goes a day and a half on average use. A fingerprint reader is also a big plus on a below - ₹5,000 phone.

What's not: We're not big fans of plus-sized phones. We prefer devices we could hold and use with one hand. But personal preferences aside, the big letdown on the 5X is the processor speed. The quad-core processor has a clock speed of 1.5GHz. To put that in perspective, the three-year-old LG Nexus 5 has a clock speed of 2.5GHz. In practical terms, though, that means slight lags when browsing menus, and while rendering videos. We also don't get the fingerprint reader at the back. We'd like to be able to unlock the screen without lifting it off the resting surface every time.

Verdict: There are small glitches. But at its price, you can easily overlook them.