If you want a premium-feeling phone on a budget, the Honor 70 is a tempting choice, with a good camera and attractive design.
We should begin this Honor 70 review with one very simple fact: it was hard to populate its ‘cons’ list. TechRadar’s house style dictates that we need to provide three and it was a challenge to even come up with one.
That’s not to say that the Honor 70 is perfect, but it does all you expect and more for the price. Could it have a telephoto lens, wireless charging, or even a higher-res display? Sure, but at the price, none of those are things you’d really expect.
So, the Honor 70 is a competitive mid-range phone, in fact, it feels a lot more like a flagship phone than most other handsets we see at this price. And that premiumness – whether deserved or otherwise – can’t help but endear you to the device.
The phone has an eye-catching design, with a back that boasts both a reflective diamond pattern and a sparkly effect. Some, particularly those who like their nondescript black phones, might find this a little gauche, but the sheer number of compliments it received while we were testing is hard to ignore.
It also has a curved-edge display, something you rarely see in non-premium phones. That gives the phone both another premium element and also makes it comfortable to hold in the hand.
The screen is just as attractive as the design of the phone – it’s bright and bold, and you’ll be happy watching TV shows or playing games on it.
We also want to highlight the device’s impressive battery life. If anything, this is the trait that flags the Honor 70 as a mid-range phone instead of a premium one, as we’re so used to seeing pricey phones with disappointing battery lives. The fact that the Honor 70 waltzes through a day of use signposts it as a mid-ranger, but we’re happy with that distinction.
We do need to point out one thing that some could consider an elephant in the room, though we don’t. On paper, the Honor 70 doesn’t seem too different from its predecessor, the Honor 50. (What happened to the 60? No idea.)
The new phone’s chipset is only the ‘Plus’ version of the older one’s, while the 70’s main camera is lower-res than the 50’s, and the charging speed, screen resolution and front camera are the same on both.
However, the specs list doesn’t actually do justice to the user experience, and the Honor 70 feels like a step up in all departments. The cameras are noticeably better, and the phone feels faster than its older relative.
Despite the fact that the new phone costs more and has a specs list that seems similar to the Honor 50, trust us, the Honor 70 is a worthy step up, and it makes the phone a lot more tempting compared to the stagnant-feeling mid-range market in 2022. The rough edges of the 50 have been sanded down, resulting in one of the best Android phones this year.
The Honor 70 costs £479 in the UK, which is a slight increase from the £449 starting price of the Honor 50. That’s for 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, though the predecessor had 6GB RAM, so the price increase may be justified.
That starting price converts to $570 or AU$810, but Honor hasn’t confirmed if the phone will be sold in those regions. In the case of the US, it seems unlikely, as Honor doesn’t sell its gadgets there.
There’s also a version for £529, which gets you 256GB storage instead of 128GB, and that’s the exact same price as the Honor 50’s 256GB storage option.
The phone was formally launched at the annual tech show IFA 2022 in early September, though it was announced in China earlier in the year, and was actually put on sale in late August just days before Honor’s IFA show.
The Honor 70 feels like a premium phone, both to look at and to hold, which is a breath of fresh air in a year when most expensive phones don’t even feel very premium.
The back is the most eye-catching aspect, and while we imagine it’ll prove divisive, everyone who saw the phone during our testing period remarked on its appearance. The back has a reflective diamond appearance and a glittery finish that sparkles – both elements reflect the light in different ways, making for a phone that’s clearly designed to attract attention.
