I'll go out on a limb and guess that most of us have probably used only one smartphone in 2023 and it was probably launched before 2023. For me, that's the iPhone 14 Pro. I can't call it my favourite, because, having used only that phone in 2023, I don't qualify for a favourite.
bought two for my daughter and my father just light version thes are not power users and Honor 90 lite is amazing, I had previous honor view v20 still works,love honor,currently iphone user
Mark's review game me a lot to think about! Not quite sold on the camera, perhaps, hoping for a Gcam port to tone down the contrast/smoother graduation between tones. I've poured over so many reviews and sample pics and I strongly recommend you do the same, if the camera matters to you. The camera seems to be trying to be a crowd pleaser by offering up unnatural looking shots that though superficially pleasing to some people, perhaps to many people, really do look overly processed in some shots. It seems some people really like that and some don't, I'm in the don't camp. So all that said, I was very surprised, then, to see the phone, as a camera, came third in a group test of about ten phones, with the pics judged by a RU-vidr's audience and I realised different people are looking for different things, so you need to figure out what you want from a camera. I don't like overly contrasty images; they might 'pop', as some people say, but... Actually, I was quite relieved that the reviewer seemed to agree with me more than his audience. Some daylight shots in darker historic streets looked grim/gothic, or perhaps dramatic is a better word but far from neutral and I found myself thinking how could anyone be happy with that? Unless you like dramatic. As the phone appears to be good value for money, if you don't mind the omission of things I'm used to taking for granted, like stereo speakers (it's easy to accidentally mute the one speaker by accidentally covering it) and lack of a headphone jack, I'm hoping to find a Gcam port that tames the contrast/brings out more subtle graduations between tones, pics that look more Google than... than like they came from a smartphone, if you know what I mean! If anyone has reviews of some Gcam ports for the Honor 90, I would love to see them. I thought with the phone having been out for a while, now, there would lots of ports/mods/sample pics but I haven't had much luck finding them. Am I asking too much at the price, absolutely! Should I be going for a Pixel phone. Having poured over so many photographs, I probably should, especially with good deals on the Pixel 7 and 7A, or else swallow hard and buy an Oppo Find X7 Pro from China, which seems to have the best cameras on flagship phone, at the moment, in terms of resolving fine detail.
my smartphone of 2023 was and still is the samsun s23, after many years of BIG phones, note 9`s 10`s 20, 21s 22s ultras and other brand in similar size i thought i`d try a smaller, lighter phone, ok, i miss the 100x time`s zoom of the ultra, but the sheer pleasure in holding and using a phone far smaller is marvellous, put it in your pocket and you nearly forget it`s there, no chance of that with the ultra, i honestly thought i`d try it out for a week or two, and then return it and revert back to my ultra, instead after about a week, the ultra was for sale on ebay, and i haven`t looked or more importantly "thought back" yet, i tried the pixel 8 just before xmas , but sent it back, it just wasn`t as polished as the s23 , occasional stutters and freezing, and this is the second pixel 8 i tried in 2023 , so anyway, this is my "personal" opinion and let`s be honest here , opinions are like arseholes, everybody`s got one, love the channel, bye.
I am always wary of rankings. The best of anything. My needs, preferences differ from the next person. I don’t need a pro model in my life. I want a phone with good battery life, easy portability, storage for my music & pictures. I enjoy your presentations!
I have to agree, for a couple of months there was a bit of lag but with the latest update patch and having applied Nova launcher, and tweaking haptics etc, this phone is actually very very good. I've hardly any scratches too and have removed the screen protector months ago. Thank you Honor!! The 90 Pro is great...
first time to see a midrange to be smartphone of the year, all others reviewer will choose the perfect (or atleast the highest spec at the time) flagship without considering their cost at all. So this is definitely an interesting one.
Thanks for your thoughts, I'd like to hear more of them. Very mixed feelings about the Honor 90. Looking at a lot of reviews, wasn't thrilled about daytime photos with it? They looked overly contrasty/brittle, in other words very much looked like small sensor (and I know it uses a fairly large sensor) smart phone photographs rather than something from a camera. I know my expectations are too high at the price point but they looked very average compared to flagship phones, to the point that I couldn't understand why reviewers were comparing it with flagship phones? Even Pixel phones seemed to take consistently better, almost-impressive photographs. I think with iPhone and Pixel, though they aren't the best camera phones, they are relatively good at consistency, which makes them appealing, even if I don't come from a world of ancient DSLRs and am 'into' a lot of tweaking, 'in post'. I guess the lack of features on the Honor 90 is a reflection of the price, no headphone jack, a headphone jack being something you like to see on a tries-hard midranger, the frustrating mono speaker that is easily accidentally covered, fit and finish/build quality could be better but that it isn't a flagship, so... It appears to be a really good phone otherwise and I would love some hands-on to try it. Particularly keen to see how it does with a Gcam port, hoping it takes down the contrast/gives that smooth graduation between tones that looks more like something... not from a phone camera sensor. My favourite smartphone for photography, not sure when it came out but (currently) the Oppo Find X7, the photograph samples I've looked at were okay, video pretty good if not quite up there with the silky smoothness of the iPhone, also the Vivo X100 Pro, which seems to get better with each firmware update from Vivo and has much better photography software than the Oppo. Those phones are problematical for me, though, as they are not directly available here in the UK but it seems if you want something better than markedly than Samsung and iPhone for stills, you have to order a phone from China. Something I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. The OnePlus 12 looks interesting-ish, if not quite delivering the same quality, but the pricing in the UK seems to be really terrible compared to the eye-popping incentive deals OnePlus and sellers are offering American customers. Hope that changes. Would love to see you test some Gcam ports on the Honor 90, if you still have it, and on phones that have basically good video (video capture and budget are necessarily important to me, at the moment) like the Xiaomi POCO F5 Pro. I'm hoping Gcam would significantly, relatively speaking, improve the photographs from both, though probably I should be looking at Pixel phone, right?!
Bold choice and lovely to see price being a consideration. iPhone contracts are eye-watering and well beyond my budget. So seeing a phone who maybe has the odd compromise but it still excellent qualities actually coming out on top was a delight.
Thank you for the review Mark! As a retiree, I am sticking to my iPhone 11 Pro Max until it falls apart! 😊 Enjoyed hearing the features and opinions of each phone that you review on this video
I always start with a flat display and rule out any phone with a curved display. So that means the Pixel 8 Pro or iPhone 15PM are my leading contenders, and I call it a tie as they both have pros and cons. As far as curved displays go, I have tried many, and none shine brighter. I can see why you chose a mid-range, as the flagship 2023 entrants are much of a muchness with as many cons as pros. The OPPO Find X6 Pro would have been my choice, but that was not released in the UK, so the Honor Magic 5 Pro and S23U fight it out as curved screen champs. For folding phones, the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold are the best. The Galaxy Fold 5 comes last as although 80% of the phone is excellent, its cameras and awful front display aspect ratio make it drop like a stone through my rankings.
Great video Mark. My take as follows: if you are in the Apple ecosystem then obviously iPhone 15 pro Max. If you are after the pure Android experience, then the Google Pixel. Foldable maybe One Plus and going rogue the your choice. It’s unlikely that any smartphone manufacturer will release a duff phone now. Have we reached the peak of what a smartphone can do ( other than camera tweaks) possibly? Apple might take things in a new direction with Apple Vision? Happy New Year everyone.
Last year i was thinking about buying a new phone, and the best i found was the Honor 90. It has everything i need. But in the end I still keept my Huawei p20 pro, because in my opinion the camera is still better. But im waiting for the next honor. Im hopping you will make a video about it.
definitely thinking of getting the honor 90 to replace my honour 10 lite that I've had for ages since I could do with the 5G networking and more onboard ram for my apps etc 🥺
My phone of the year is the iPhone 15 plus! Excellent display, Dynamic Island, phenomenal battery life (literally the best I’ve ever had, 12/13 hours SOT), fast, reliable, superb build quality, incredible speakers, and weighs a fraction of the pro max, and costs a fraction of the pro max.
I own both OnePlus 11 5G and Pixel 8 Pro, love the Pixel, but love the OnePlus battery life. Unplugged my OnePlus 11 last night about 8pm, it sat overnight nightstand and used it this morning for a bit, now mind you I have battery saver on. But when I checked the battery about 10am on Accubattery app, it said iI used Zero battery and at 100%, after going through my social apps and watching some videos, I checked Accubattery and said sill at 100% but 1.4% used lol. Pixel 8 Pro would loose a lot more % on battery saver and sitting overnight, it woould probably be at 90% after same usage.
I agree that apple’s ecosystem is the best. That challenge is trying to make sure you are only buying what you need and understanding want vs. need. Which I will be the first to say that I failed at. 😂
Like with many ridiculous good priced earbuds from china I can’t help myself to feel that you pay the gap with your data… I use a iPhone 14 Pro Max in 2023 since the 15 series didn’t offer me anything I haven’t got with the 14 for a cheaper price. I consider getting a budget android for the highres Bluetooth codecs in 2024, mb a nothing phone 2 or a asus zenfone 10. The honor 90 is interesting too here.
