Editor's Note: This article is sponsored content from Huawei and was not reported or published by the Tom's Guide staff.
Whether you’re looking for a last-minute gift idea or want to start off the new year with a brand new phone, the Honor 8X needs to be at the top of your list. It’s an impressive phone before you even consider the price, and seems like a flat-out amazing one after you do.
The Honor 8X costs just £229, but can easily compete with models well over twice the price.
Good first impressions
The Honor 8X makes one of the best first impressions of any phone of 2018. Not only does it have a premium metal and glass design, but the rear glass panel also has a stunning dual-texture Aurora Glass finish. This makes the phone one of the most recognizable of the year, at any price. It’s even prettier than your Christmas tree decorations.
Add to this the amazing FullView display and the 91% screen-to-body ratio, and the Honor 8X doesn’t just throw shade on its affordable rivals but makes many far more expensive phones look plain. If Santa was into tech deals, he’d probably love this one.
The Honor 8X’s advanced FullView screen design also makes the mobile all the more enjoyable to use day-to-day. This is a big-screen phone, with a cinematic 6.5-inch screen, but doesn’t demand giant hands. Even Santa’s elves would get on with an Honor 8X.
A good deal of tech
Such a large, bright and sharp screen can do justice to games and Full HD streamed video much better than the competition. And Honor has equipped the 8X with the insides to match.
This phone has a powerful Kirin 710 CPU with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. There’s the room and power not just to splurge on some high-end games to get you through those Christmas break lulls, but for the rest of 2019 and beyond.
It’s primed for the phone fanatics out there, and there are optimizations you won’t find elsewhere too. The Honor 8X’s GPU Turbo boosts gaming performance to make Android’s console-grade games play more smoothly than on rivals. And a huge 3750mAh means it will sail through Christmas day, even if it doesn’t quite outlast those turkey leftovers that seem to hang around for weeks.
Camera smarts
An Honor 8X can blast the boring bits around Christmas, but it’s also perfect for capturing the happy moments. The phone has a 20-megapixel rear camera with AI shooting that ensures all your shots are sharp and alters the profile to suit your subject. It’s like having a personal editor that makes all your photos look more bold and lifelike before you even check them out in the gallery.
The f/1.8 lens offers superb low-light sensitivity for those candle-lit shots and a high-quality 16-megapixel front camera is on hand for those Instagram selfies. If you’re going to spend half the day wearing a Santa hat, you might as well have photographic evidence.
If you’re after a phone, for yourself or as a Christmas gift, the Honor 8X is one of the best deals around.