Introduction
The Honor 90 is the latest addition to the company’s number series of phones. As such, it is not a true flagship. That position seems to currently be reserved for the “Magic” line. What you get with the Honor 90 instead is a solid mid-ranger in terms of specs. However, as far as looks and design are concerned, Honor didn’t skimp at all.
The Honor 90 is slick and slim, well-constructed, light and well-balanced, and has a universally rounded body for a great in-hand feel.
Its design is also very elegant and even luxurious. The Honor 90 can be had in a number of eye-catching colors and interesting finishes, which we will go over in a bit.
Honor 90 specs at a glance:
- Body: 161.9×74.1×7.8mm, 183g; plastic frame.
- Display: 6.70″ AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1600 nits (peak), 1200x2664px resolution, 19.98:9 aspect ratio, 435ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition (4 nm): Octa-core (1×2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.36 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 644.
- Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android 13, MagicOS 7.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 200 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.4″, 0.56µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 112-degree, AF; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.4, 100-degree, (ultrawide).
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 5000mAh; 66W wired, 5W reverse wired.
- Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.2, aptX HD; NFC.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical).
Despite being a mid-ranger at heart, the Honor 90 does come with some pretty high-end features. One of its highlights is unquestionably the curved 6.7-inch display. It is a 10-bit panel with HDR10+ support and a whopping 1600 nits of advertised peak brightness. It also has a 1.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and 3840Hz PWM dimming, as well as 400-grade dimming adjustment.
Then there is the impressive camera setup on the Honor 90. On the back, the phone has a massive 200MP, f/1.9 main camera alongside a 12MP, f/2.2 autofocus-enabled ultrawide that can double as a powerful macro cam. On the front, the Honor 90 is rocking a 50MP ultrawide selfie. Both of these cameras are capable of 4K@30fps video capture and support EIS.
A 5,000 mAh battery with 66W charging and some additional features, like NFC, help the Honor 90 be a pretty well-rounded device overall. It does still have some notable omissions, though, like the lack of official ingress protection and stereo speakers. Nothing dramatic, but still worth mentioning.
Software
The Honor 90 runs on Magic OS 7.1. This is the latest iteration of Honor’s UI, which no longer carries the “UI” branding and has gone with the “OS” notations for some time now, partially in an effort to differentiate from Huawei’s EMUI.
Naturally, there are still plenty of similarities between Huawei’s EMUI and Magic OS, but crucially, unlike Huawei’s, Honor’s OS builds come with Google Play Services and a standard set of Google apps. Magic OS 7.1 is also based on the latest Android 13, so you get a modern overall experience.
Going from Magic UI 6 to OS 7, we see subtle changes here or there, but the overall look and feel of the Magic overlay remain the same. Iconography is largely unchanged, the task switcher and notification/quick settings are the same, too (and that’s one area where the latest EMUI and its Control center differs), and the Settings menu doesn’t look one bit different either.
Also available here is previously introduced functionality like large folders and the card bar that sits under app icons to indicate that the app supports cards (another name for the in-house widgets). Speaking of widgets, though, some EMUI features like widget stacking and combined widgets are notably absent.
There are plenty of customization options to explore. You’ve got a wide selection of themes, Always-on display styles, the lot. You can also enable an app drawer if you like.
Honor provides a bunch of proprietary apps, too. There is Gallery, Honor Health, Notes, Files, System Manager, Weather.
Performance
The Honor 90 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset. It is a modern part introduced in 2022 and based on an efficient Samsung 4nm manufacturing process. The Honor 90 uses a slightly overclocked version of the chipset called the “Accelerated Edition”. Its prime Cortex-A710 CPU core is clocked at up to 2.5 GHz instead of the standard 2.4 GHz. The rest of the CPU configuration consists of three more Cortex-A710 cores (Kryo Gold), clocked at up to 3.36 GHz and finally, an additional four Cortex-A510 cores, working at up to 1.8 GHz.
The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 has an Adreno 644 GPU. There is an integrated X62 5G and LTE combo modem for connectivity. Also, a FastConnect 6700 modem provides Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (ax). The Honor 90 supports GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS and QZSS for positioning. By the way, there is also NFC on board.
We haven’t put the Honor 90 through its paces yet, but we did manage to get a Quick AnTuTu run in. It should be noted that AnTuTu has a pretty robust and well-rounded set of benchmark runs within it, including GPU tests and tests for memory and storage. As such, it provides a pretty good overall performance picture. Also, while looking at the results, do keep in mind that the Honor 90 has a pretty high native display resolution, which does put more strain on the GPU.
The Honor 90 is pretty serious about cooling the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. The phone has a 4483 mm2 vapor chamber handling the heat. Also, 1270 copper wires in a dense woven mesh.
