Inside this beautiful blue box lies the Honor 6x.
The newest, and cheapest phone from Huawei.
Decent specs for a budget phone, it even has dual rear cameras.
An octacore processor, and 3 gigs of ram...
But we're not here for specs.
We are here for durability.
So lets see what this honor phone has to offer.
[Intro]
As always lets start with the part where we count to 9....
...also called the scratch test.
Each of my Mohs' Picks have a different tip that gradually increases in hardness.
I start off with a level two pick, and saw that it was leaving a mark on the screen,
which is incredible and unheard of.
The included screen protector almost fooled me...
It does make you wonder why they include the screen protector, are they are worried about
the glass underneath?
After removing the screen protector and restarting the scratch test on the actual surface of
the phone I see that levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 all left a mark.
And now we see the reason for the screen protector.
The glass underneath is not scratch resistant.
Now these scratches could be caused by a few things.
Soft glass, imperfections in the glass, or some kind of weird residue on the screen.
Everyday objects are still able to leave a mark on the glass as well.
My tweezers left a pretty decent groove.
And even my razor blade made a mark, neither of the marks were able to be rubbed off with
a cloth, and neither the tweezers nor a razor would leave a mark on a normal tempered glass
screen.
Since most of the phones these days do scratch at a level 6.
Another weird thing about this glass is when I pealed off the sticker with my numbers on
it, it did not come clean off of the phone, ive used these exact same stickers for all
50 other phones ive tested and they always come off clean.
So theres definitely something funky going on with the glass on the 6x.
Either way.
Leave that plastic screen protector in place if you want to keep your phone looking good.
And when that included screen protector gets worn out.
Replace it with another one.
The front earpiece grill is made out of metal.
Which would qualify as a durable material.
And the opening is small enough that its not going to be a big collector of dirt and grime.
So thats good news.
The front camera is protected by the same glass that covers the screen.
So... just make sure you are careful.
The rear camera lens is not effected at all by my razor blade.
Which is fantastically good news.
Huawei didnt use the same glass back here that was used on the display of this phone.
So big Thumbs up for protecting the dual camera set up.
And now for the back panel.
[Lamborghinis Crashing]
If its cold like metal, and screeches like metal.
We can safely assume that it is metal.
Now, a lot of people think my name is Jerry.
And I can totally see why they would think that, since my youtube channel is 'Jerry'RigEverything.
My real name is Zack though.
And thats why my Instagram and twitter handle is ZacksJerryRig.
It combines both my real name, and my YouTube channel name.
See what I did there?
The sides of the phone are also made from metal.
Even the sim card try is metal.
So thats definitely a plus.
When we get up to the top of the phone we see some plastic come into the build.
And thats mostly fine on a budget phone like this.
You can see the silver and black color differences.
Plastic will probably provide a bit more give and cushion for the screen during a drop,
more than metal would anyway.
So as far as durability goes its still ok.
I'm mostly just happy it has a head phone jack.
The more useful features a phone has... the better.
It has a micro USB charging port at the bottom of the phone, and the base of the phone is
also made of plastic, same as the top.
There are always pros and cons to having plastic integrated in to the build.
But Ill talk more about that in just a second.
The side buttons are also plastic.
So they don't have the premium metal feel, But this is a budget device and plastic is
cheaper to work with than metal is, so its not surprising that a lof of the things are
plastic.
I do test the fingerprint scanner on every phone I buy...
To see how well it stands up to scratches.
I think we can all agree that it is more scratched up than could ever happen naturally.
Unless you are Edward sizer hands of course.
The enrollment and fingerprint recognition of this phone did fail after the scratching,
Unfortunately.
There are other phones that can survive an equally scratched sensor, like the Honor 8,
or the LG v20.
But this phone, did not.
So just make sure not to obliterate yours with a razor like I did.
The Honor 6x lasted 12 seconds under the flame before turning black.
We can tell this screen is an IPS Display because of that color change.
Amoled screens turn white and usually dont recover.
Kinda fun.
The phone is completely cool to the touch within seconds of the heat being removed from
the screen.
And it still functions just like normal.
And now its time for the bend test.
Ive tested about 50 different phones on my YouTube channel.
I agree its a slightly strange hobby.
Ive only had 5 of those 50 phones catastrophically fail.
Most phones are built pretty well.
Budget phones included among the flagships.
But this phone in particular... doesn't doesn't...
quite... make it.
The exterior glass doesn't look too bad, its more the LCD under the glass that cracked
and shattered, Thats the unfortunate part.
Even though the fractured LCD looks cool... the phone is now unusable.
If I pop off the back, which is actually pretty easy to do, we can see why the phone flexed.
There are zero screws holding the back metal panel to the frame of the phone.
So while it does have metal on the back panel, that metal is adding zero structural support
to the phone.
The only thing holding the back panel in place was those flexible plastic end caps.
We saw this exact same problem with the Redmi Note 3 which is also perched on my Shelf of
Shame.
Here is another shot of the glass on the Honor 6x being just fine, its the LCD under the
glass that is destroyed.
Very weird to happen on a bend like that.
The glass can flex, but the LCD cant.
Just for kicks and giggles, Ill flex the top glass one more time.
Look how far it flexed before finally shattered and gave up the ghost.
Between the non structural back panel, and the weak LCD we have a recipe for a fragile
phone.
The glass can only protect it so much.
Makes you wonder if the LCD will be weak during drops as well
But anyway, back to comparing to the Redmi note 3.
The note 3 also snapped in half for the same reason the Honor 6x did.
There is no structural integrity offered by that back metal panel.
It bails out, and pops off, as soon as the going gets tough.
So, if manufactures want a sturdy phone.
The back needs to be physically attached to the frame at multiple points to add some strength.
Now Just because a phone itself is cheap in price, doesn't mean the construction has to
be.
Plenty of budget phones have passed my test.
And there are plenty of screws inside honor 6x.
Huawei just has to stick some of them through the back panel.
Then the back could be structural and not just aesthetic.
Either way.
Im just here to review durability.
And the honor 6x is definitely the newest member on the shelf of shame.
But that doesnt make it a bad phone.
If you own this device, Just make sure it has a case, and a screen protector, and that
you dont scratch the fingerprint scanner, and you'll be golden.
If you need a durable phone in your life, from the honor family, check out the Honor
8.
That phone passed my test with flying colors.
Thanks for watching!
Ill see you around.