honor Play review – ultimate 4D gaming experience and GPU Turbo on a wallet-friendly price

When talking about gaming smartphones, the first few phones that come to your mind will probably be Razer Phone, ROG Phone or Xiaomi Black Shark, and now honor has launched their very own gaming smartphone too – the honor Play. Being the first smartphone to feature the new GPU Turbo technology, honor Play truly bring mobile gaming to another level. Check out our honor Play review below to know more!

Design and Display

Different from the recent honor flagships that emphasis on glass design and eye-popping aurora colours, honor Play‘s design is rather ordinary. It is having a metallic body which is quite comfortable to hold, and other than the usual blue version, we are also getting an elegant Ultra Violet version this time.

On the front, it features a 6.3-inch FHD+ LCD display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and the notch design. The sides are thin, while a noticeable chin with the honor branding presents on the bottom. Looking at its rear, you will find its vertically aligned dual rear AI camera and a highly placed fingerprint sensor. Weights at 176 g, the honor Play is only 7.5mm thick.

honor Play Specifications

• Size: 157.9 x 74.3 x 7.5 mm
• Weight: 176 g
• Color: Navy Blue, Ultra Violet
• Display: 6.3-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio
• Resolution: 2340 x 1080 pixels
• CPU: Kirin 970 Octa-core Processor
• GPU: Mali-G72 MP12
• OS: Android 8.1
• Memory:  4 GB RAM + 64 GB ROM (expandable up to 256 GB with microSD)
• Camera:
  • 16 MP Front Camera
  • 16 MP + 2 MP Dual-lens Rear Camera
• Battery: 3750 mAh with fast charging
• EMUI: EMUI 8.2

Camera

honor smartphones always feature powerful camera performance, honor Play doesn’t disappoint us as well. It has a 16MP + 2MP dual AI camera for the rear. EIS and AIS technology presents to stabilize your shots, while the AI features including AI scene recognization (recognizes up to 500+ scenario in 22 categories) serves to adjust the camera settings automatically for impressive shots. There is also an AR 3D animal sticker function that places some adorable moving penguins in your shots.

On the front, the device has a great 16MP camera as well. The front camera is featuring AI functions such as AI beauty that polishes your selfie instantly for some social media worthy shots, you can also play around with the AR stickers and create some interesting or funny selfies!

Performance and Battery

As a gaming-focused smartphone, honor Play has obviously put more effort into improving gaming performance. Powered by Kirin 970 and 4GB RAM, you can expect decent gaming performance, but this is not all of what honor Play is offering.

Being the first in the industry, it features GPU Turbo that optimizes the device for 60% better performance and 30% longer battery life while playing games with it. The new feature is currently available on Mobile Legends and PUBG Mobile (more to come), and of course, we tested the two games with the device. As the result, the device manages to provide a seamless gaming experience as well as a stable framerate under the highest graphics and framerate settings.

Also, honor Play offers a truly 4D gaming experience with smart shock and 3D surround audio. Thanks to the new features, playing PUBG Mobile is as fun as ever. You could feel the device vibrates while you are shooting, being attacked or under an explosion area.

The 3D surround audio immerses you in the gaming world furthermore, as you could tell where the footsteps or bullets came from just by your ears. It works even better if you are using headphones, I could even hear the players nearby activating their grenades!

You don’t have to worry about its battery life as well, it is featuring a massive 3750 mAh battery that is enough for a whole day of normal usage or quite a few hours of gaming. You can also refill your battery quickly thanks to the fast charging technology.

Conclusion

honor Play has lived up to our expectation on its gaming performance, while its camera performance is pretty good under its elegant design too. It is wallet-friendly at only RM1249 (SGD 429), so if you are looking for an affordable phone with superb gaming performance, getting yourself an honor Play would be one of the best choices you can make.

Available in Navy Blue and Ultra Violet, honor Play will be purchasable in Malaysia starting from 10 August. You can view more information on their official site.