Honor Holly 2 Plus – Impressive battery life – Review
With the increase in demand for smartphones with better battery life, the launch of Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus is right on time. Huawei is a company which constantly keeps its ears and heart close to the market. As mobiles are getting powerful, they are demanding more power. The mobiles in the market with large battery trade off either with design or functional performance. The Holly 2 plus has 4000 mAh battery and it is a very slim and light weight mobile with all the functional power of a smartphone.
Design
The Honor 2 Plus has a 5 inch screen and it less than 10mm thin. It weighs 160 grams. It has chrome finished rims on its sides but the body is made of plastic. The removable back is made of plastic like the other parts of the device. It has a mild texture which adds to the grip. At the right you have the metal volume buttons and power button. The bottom has the micro-USB port and a mic. The 3.5mm jack is at the top. The camera and the single LED flash are at the back. The display is 5 inch diagonally and above the display the front camera, ambient and proximity sensors, and notification LED. The menu keys are on-screen and that is much better than non-backlit keys. Overall the mobile feels sturdy and comfortable to hold. For a device in this price range, the plastic used does not feel cheap. It has a style appeal to it, thanks to the metal rims. Honor 2 plus is very comfortable for single handed operations.
Hardware
Huawei Honor 2 Plus is powered by Mediatek MT6735P CPU with Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 processor. It has 2GB of RAM and 16 GB of onboard storage which can be expanded by up to 128GB using a microSD card. It supports 4G LTE, and it includes Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.0 and also has FM radio. It scored over 31000+ on an average when I ran the Anututu benchmark tests at different points in time. Overall, the performance is a good for a device in this price range. It handles graphically intensive games smoothly. Also the UI was snappy and responsive. The ability to handle high definition games and UI without over-heating is something which we have noticed in earlier Huawei devices as well and this is true for the Honor 2 Plus as well.
Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus
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CPU:
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RAM:
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Storage:
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Display:
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Camera:
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OS:
Specs
General
| Announced | 23 January, 2024 |
| Released | 23 February, 2024 |
| Status | Available |
Display
| Display Type <strong>Display Technology => </strong> A number of display technologies and types used in mobile phones => TFT (Thin Film Transistor), IPS (In-Place Switching), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode), Super AMOLED (an even advanced version of AMOLED), Resistive Touchscreen (Resistive touchscreens contain two layer of conductive material with a very small gap between them which acts as a resistance), Capacitive Touchsceen (Capacitive touchscreen technology consists of a layer of glass coated with a transparent conductor) | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen |
| Size | 5.0 |
| Resolution | 720x1280 pixels |
| Pixel Density <strong>Pixel Density (PPI)</strong> is refers to the concentration of pixels on a particular display, measured in pixels per inch (ppi). Pixel density is calculated by dividing the diagonal pixel resolution of a display by its diagonal size, higher pixel density better display quality. | 296 ppi |
| Secondary Display | No |
Hardware
| Chipset <strong>Chipset</strong> is a group of integrated circuits designed to perform one or a more dedicated functions, often with real time computing constraints, Popular smartphones are equipped with more advanced embedded chipsets that can do many different tasks depending on their programming. | Mediatek MT6735P |
| CPU <strong>CPU</strong> (Central Processing Unit) mostly known as processors, CPU processes instructions in order to carry out certain functions that make your device operate properly. Processors are often described as the brain of computers, smartphones and tablets, Smartphones and tablets rely on processors to carry out their every task, Processors are an incredibly important factor in selecting any type of computing device, including your smartphone. | Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU <strong>GPU</strong> (Graphics Processing Unit) is a single-chip processor designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display, This includes things such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. | Mali-T720MP2 |
| RAM (Memory) <strong>RAM</strong> (Random Access Memory) is a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes that allows information to be stored and accessed quickly from random locations. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computer systems, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices. | 2 GB |
| Internal Storage <strong>Internal Storage</strong> is a data storage space (flash memory) mostly used in smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices where operating system, apps, music, photos, videos, files and other user data Is stored. | 16 GB |
| Card Slot <strong>Memory Card Slot</strong> is a special slot for inserting a memory card. Memory cards allow you to expand the phone's built-in memory, A memory card (sometimes called a flash memory card or a storage card) is a small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small, portable or remote computing devices such as mobile phones, mp3 players, digital cameras. | microSD, up to 128 GB |
| Sensors <strong>Sensors</strong> are electronic components that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure and location, The output is generally a signal that is converted to use in computing systems, a location sensor, such as a GPS receiver is able to detect current location of your electronic device. | Accelerometer, proximity |
Battery
| Battery Type <strong>Battery Type => </strong> Cell phones run on various kinds of batteries depending on the manufacturer, phone size or shape and features. There are basically four types of cell phone batteries => Lithium Polymer, Lithium Ion, Nickel Metal Hydride and Nickel Cadmium. | Li-Poly (Lithium Polymer) |
| Capacity <strong>Battery Capacity</strong> is a measure (typically in Amp-hr) of the charge stored by the battery, and is determined by the mass of active material contained in the battery. The battery capacity represents the maximum amount of energy that can be extracted from the battery under certain conditions. | 4000 mAh |
| Standby <strong>Standby Time</strong> is the total amount of time that you can leave your is fully charged, turned on and ready to send and receive calls or data transmissions before completely discharging the battery. | Up to 720 h (3G) |
| Talk Time <strong>Talk Time</strong> is the longest time that a single battery charge will last when you are constantly talking on the phone under perfect conditions, Ambient temperature and highly dependent on the cellular network environment such as the distance to the closest cell network tower. | Up to 18 h |
| Fast Charging | Yes |
Camera
| Primary <strong>Camera</strong> is able to capture photographs and usually videos, The most important characteristics of a camera are the resolution (measured in megapixels), lens focus type (fixed or automatic), higher megapixel cameras are known to capture higher quality photos, but not always a good measurement of the photos quality. | 13 MP |
| Camera Features | Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR |
| Secondary | 5 MP |
| Image | 4128 x 3096 pixels |
| Video | 1080p@30fps |
| Flash <strong>Flash Light => </strong> There is commonly two types of flash lights are used in camera mobile phones, LED Flash (LED flash offers lower power consumption with drive circuitry that takes up very little room, LEDs can be strobed faster than any other light source), Xenon Flash (xenon flash produces an extremely intense full-spectrum white light for a very short duration) | LED flash |
Design
| Type <strong>Design Type</strong> called form factor refers to a mobile phone's size, shape, and style as well as the layout and position of major components of phone. There are three major form factors seen in mobile phones => bar phones, folding phones and sliding phones. | Bar |
| Dimensions | 143.1 x 71.8 x 9.7 mm |
| Weight | 160 g |
| Colors | Gray, Gold, White |
Network
| SIM <strong>SIM</strong> (Subscriber Identity Module) is a small card that contains mobile network subscriber's account information. This allows the phone using the card to attach to a mobile network. The SIM card is most commonly associated with GSM and UMTS mobile networks. Moving a SIM card from one phone to another allows a subscriber to switch mobile phones without having to contact their mobile network carrier. SIM cards can also be used by a phone to store limited amounts of data, such as phone numbers and text messages. | Micro SIM |
| Dual SIM | Yes |
| 2G Network | GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 |
| 3G Network | HSDPA 900 / 2100 |
| 4G Network | LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) |
Software
| Operating System <strong>OS => </strong> Every computer system run on a base software called Operating System (OS). Operating System controls all basic operations of the computer (such as smartphone, PDAs, tablet computers and other handheld devices). The Operating System allows the user to install and run third party applications (apps), apps are used to add new functionality to the device. | Android 5.1 |
| User Interface <strong>UI</strong> or user interface of a device is the look and feel of the on-screen menu system. How it works, its color scheme, how it responds to button presses, all of these things are part of the user interface. | EMUI 3.1 |
Connectivity
| Bluetooth <strong>Bluetooth</strong> is a wireless communications technology for exchanging data between mobile phones, headsets, computers and other network devices over short distances without wires, Bluetooth technology was primarily designed to support simple wireless networking of personal consumer devices. | v4.0 |
| Infrared <strong>Infrared</strong> connectivity is an old wireless technology used to connect two electronic devices. It uses a beam of infrared light to transmit information and so requires direct line of sight and operates only at close range. | |
| Wi-fi <strong>Wi-Fi</strong> is a popular wireless networking technology using radio waves to provide high-speed network connections that allows devices to communicate without cords or cables, Wi-Fi is increasingly becoming the preferred mode of internet connectivity all over the world. | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n |
| USB | microUSB v2.0 |
| GPS <strong>GPS</strong> The Global Positioning System is a satellite-based radio navigation system, GPS permits users to determine their position, velocity and the time 24 hours a day, in all weather, anywhere in the world, In order to locate your position, your device or GPS receiver must have a clear view of the sky. | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS |
| NFC <strong>NFC</strong> (Near field communication) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish peer-to-peer radio communications with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity, usually no more than a few inches. |
Benchmarks
| Antutu | 31681 |
| Basemark OS 2 | 627 |
| Basemark X | 6265 |
| Geekbench 3 Multicore | 1817 |
| Geekbench 3 Single Core | 614 |
| Quadrant | 13952 |
| Velamo Metal | 1035 |
| Velamo Multicore | 1450 |
Reviews
Whatever said and done, at the end of the day, the a smartphone is a communication device. Telephony call quality on the Honor Holly 2 Plus is good. Calls on speaker was not loud enough. But the device had no issues with network connectivity.
Display
Huawei Honor 2 Plus has a 5 inch IPS HD display. It offers a pixel density of 296ppi, which may appear low on paper, but in reality the display is pretty sharp. The colors were not punchy and they appear a bit washed out. Also the viewing angles and sunlight legibility doesn’t score good scores. The touch responsiveness was good but overall the display is not brilliant.
Software
Honor 2 Plus runs on Android 5.0 out of the box and the UI is skinned on top with Huawei’s EMUI 3.1. EMUI has a minimalistic design approach. It feels light and has very minimal transition animations which makes it snappy. When compared to the earlier versions of th EMUI, the 3.1 has a considerable list of noteworthy features that are handy with utility value. It has a few themes for customization and personalization. The phone manager application has a bunch of features like cleaning cache, power saving options, data management, notification management, lock applications, etc. Apart from a couple of gestures, Honor 2 plus has emergency SOS feature which can notify others about your location or nature of emergency. It is good to a bunch of sensible features packed into this little beast. Apart from these utility applications, the UI does have many pre-loaded applications.
Camera
The 13 MP primary shooter with f/2.0 lens is really fast when it comes to focusing. When there is enough light, the camera captures fine details, but it does not perform well under low light conditions. There is no unnatural sharpening algorithm or color boost from the software. The colors stay natural and the depth of focus is good as well. It can also capture 1080p videos and the quality of video is on par with its still image quality. The 5 MP selfie shooter with f/2.2 lens also gets the fine details on ample light conditions. As the light dips, both the front and rear camera results are below average. The camera UI is minimalistic and very simple to use, though it is feature rich. It does not have a dedicated pro mode, but the settings under the auto mode, lets you tinker with some settings like the exposure, ISO, etc…
Battery
4000 mAh battery and all of that power packed into a tiny chasis, that is what the Honor Holly 2 Plus brings to the table. I have used the Gionne Marathon M5 as well as the ASUS Zenfone Max. These mobiles were bulky, but not the Holly 2 Plus. It is not just slim, it last for a long time. On my regular usage, the mobile lasted for over 2 days. Even on intensive usage, the mobile refused to die even after 1.5 days. Battery life on this mobile is impressive. This can also act like a powerbank and charge other devices.
Verdict
The Honor Holly 2 Plus has a long tongue twisting name but it has a long battery endurance. It is priced at Rs 8499 and available in Amazon India. If you are looking for a mobile with dependable battery life and a decent performance, Honor Holly 2 is a good buy. It has got good design and a functionally engaging software UI. The software did crash for a few basic apps like the google search, but it could be a bug and it can be resolved with an update. The display is of average quality, but overall the design is ergonomic, handy, sturdy and stylish for a device that is priced at Rs 8499. I can’t stress enough on the battery endurance of this mobile. This is the smallest mobile in the market right now, with a large battery and small dimension.
