The Honor 4X will be landing in Europe sometime between April and June this year with a strong spec list and attractive price tag.

It’s a tier below the Chinese firm’s Honor 6 and 6 Plus smartphones, yet the 4X still sports a large 5.5-inch display.

The resolution isn’t full HD, rather it’s 720p, but Honor has crammed in an octa-core processor and 2GB of RAM into the handset’s plastic body.

Basically you’re getting a phablet sized screen and a load of power for not very much money. It’s just £149.99 (around $230, AU$290) in fact. So far, so good then.

Honor has managed to keep the bezels round the screen to a minimum, making the 4X slightly easier to hold but there’s no getting away from its phablet proportions.

I was able to hold it in one hand, and I could easily access the physical buttons on the right side of the device – although some in-hand shuffling was required to get to certain areas of the display.

The display is actually rather nice, even though it’s a 720p resolution stretched across 5.5 inches, with strong viewing angles and some decent colour.

The all plastic body feels solid, and the textured rear cover provides an extra bit of grip while also looking quite nice. At 170g it risks being too heavy, but I actually found it surprisingly lightweight.

You’ll find the Android navigation keys below the display, and while Honor as used the symbols found in Lollipop the 4X is actually running KitKat.

Honor has confirmed that the Android Lollipop update will land on the phone this summer, so at least it will all make a bit more sense in a few months.

It’s not stock Android on the Honor 4X, as it also sports parent company Huawei’s questionable Emotion UI 3.0.

I’m not a huge fan of the interface, with childish icons and an inconsistent theme, but it’s not the worst I’ve used and it is at least simpler for first time users with the removal of the app tray.

As I’ve already mentioned there’s plenty of power inside the Honor 4X and while the interface is relatively smooth it’s not as slick as I was expecting.

Apps sometimes took a couple of seconds to load, and the camera application was a little sticky with a slow shutter key.

The Honor 4X is capable of capturing some nice shots as it’s been equipped with a 13MP rear facing camera – and decent feature for such a low cost device. Up front a 5MP camera will have you snapping selfies by the second.

Honor is promising two days battery life with moderate use from the sizable 3000mAh power pack inside the 4X.

I’d be surprised if real world usage did see it stretch to 48 hours, but hopefully it’ll offering better life than many of its peers.

As with all of Honor’s devices apart from the 6 Plus, the 4X will only be available online, so you won’t be able to pop into a store and try before you buy.

Early verdict

Phablets appeal to a smaller audience than your standard size smartphones, so the Honor 4X certainly won’t be for everyone.

What it offers is a big screen and a decent amount of power for a low price, and it manages to pull it off pretty well. It may struggle to sell being online only, but it’s another promising effort from the breakaway brand.

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