Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus Review: The phone you NEED?

This is the Honor Holly 2 Plus which was launched alongside it's bigger brother, the Honor 5X in India on January 28, 2016.

This phone was aimed at being the perfect partner for the aged people, who don't want a lot out of their devices. It came into the competition with Lenovo and Coolpad's Budget offerings, which were really better on paper on comparing them to this device. So, is it really a good device? Do specifications matter? Let's find out.

This device is the newer version of the previously launched Honor Holly (2014) and is a competitor with offerings such as Coolpad Note 3 which are more feature packed. 

Build and design: 

The phone is having plastic on the back, which is designed to look somewhat like metal. There is a rubberized feel in hand and the phone is having some curvy edges. The phone doesn't have the most fascinating design, but it is something solid for the people looking for a cheap budget option. It won't break off easily, you know?

The back gives a really rubbery feel and makes the person get great grip of the phone in the hand. You won't actually drop this phone for sure with the back. Honor is also selling some cases on their official website, i.e.- hihonor.com. Anyways, the phone gives a really good in hand feel while holding. No problem here.

Getting into the material of the back a little more, Holly 2 Plus packs in a faux-metal frame (that is actually plastic) with plastic internals. The plastic back can be bent with your hands. You need to take care of dents etc. on the back cause it is really prone to getting deep, harsh dents on the back of the device.

Build and Design: 7/10

Overview:

The phone has a micro USB Port for charging and data transfer and two grills, but sadly, only the left one is a speaker, which nowadays, is the case for every other phone out there. Anyways, the speaker is loud and crisp with no distortion at high sound levels. Good job there, Honor!



The right has the volume and power buttons, which are nice to press and are tactile as well. They have a brushed aluminium feel which is a nice addition.



The top has a 3.5mm headphone jack. One good thing about the device is, all the 4 sides have a metal-ish finish which feels really good.


The back of the device is removable and exposes two sim card slots and a micro SD Card Slot. It also exposes the non user replaceable, MASSIVE 4000 mAh battery.

Up front, we have got a 5" 1280 x 720 Display with no protection which is a shear disappointment.  However, the glass on is not prone to scratches. Also, since there is no oleo phobic coating on the display of the device, the front is a fingerprint magnet and also gets really oily with use, so make sure to take a clean cloth with you. Above the screen is a notification LED which is a nice addition and a 5 MP Front Facing Camera which can click really good, and I mean really good Selfies. Bottom is a really laaaarge bezel which looks straight up ugly. There should definitely be a revamp in the next Holly device.

One thing to note here, is that you need to touch the display really hard for it to function properly which is not a thing you'd expect out of a device in 2016. 

Display:

The phone has a 5 inch 720p display. The display lacks oleophobic coating, meaning that you would find yourself struggling to clean up the display almost every single time you pick up the smartphone. More importantly, wiping off those smudges was a task by itself as it was not easy to do the same. This resulted in a display that gets smudged so bad that it actually ends up hampering your ability to read or view content on it. Don't get me wrong here, the display shows good colors with Honor's software optimization to Warm/Cool the display in the Display settings. Outdoor visibility is pretty much above average with decent viewing angles indoors. 

For your information, the company is providing a one month display replacement guarantee. The phone however, doesn't have any glass protection.

Overall, the display isn't something to brag about. It is one of the more than decent things in this device.

Display: 6/10

Specifications:

Display	5” 720p (296 ppi) Supports upto 5 Fingers
Software	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop EMUI 3.1
Chipset	MediaTek MT6735P (Quad Core - 1.3GHz) Mali T720MP2
Storage	2 GB RAM / 16 GB Internal ( Expandable)
Camera	13 MP Rear + 5 MP Front Camera
Battery	4000 mAh Non User Replaceable
Price	Rs. 8,499/-

This thing doesn't support OTG, WHY?

Performance:

The phone runs on Android Lollipop with EMUI which is Honor's custom Android skin, on top. The phone is really fast in performance with little or no lags. Apps open up fast, and perform like a charm. The MediaTek Processor here does a good job. Overall, the performance of this device is really good and you would be satisfied on that department. The phone really beats up it's competition like the Coolpad Note 3 in the performance department.

Despite the heavy skinning, general performance is smooth. On average, you have about 1.2GB of free RAM available, which shows good optimisation on Honor's part. The phone works well with 4G on Band 40 and barely heats up during regular usage. We did face an annoying issue while using the MTP mode for transferring files. Windows simply refused to detect the phone at first and only worked after we tried several times.

Battery Life: 

This phone is packing a 4000 mAh battery which is a MASSIVE number. The phone can easily get you through more than 2 days without requiring to recharge it again. It gave me a screen on time of around 5-6 hours on heavy use and 6-7 on general use. Even honor realized that battery life is by far the best feature of the phone, so they provide you with an option to use this device as a powerbank via reverse USB OTG Mechanism. The battery life is straight up amazing! It is by far, the best feature of the phone.

Battery: 10/10

Camera:

The Holly 2 Plus features a 13 MP Rear Camera Sensor with a 5 MP Front Facing Camera. The camera has some modes that you will find in any other Honor Device. You will find modes like HDR, Some few filters etc. Talking about the cameras, both the cameras on the phone are really good. The front facing camera has a beautification mode which can easily cut down your face marks and make your face look really beautiful. The Front Sensor is really good in taking selfie pictures in both low light and outdoor conditions. The 13 MP Primary Camera is also good, the shutter speed is fast, it can take more than decent pictures in outdoor conditions but doesn't lack behind in the night as other phones do like the Coolpad Note 3. It can take less grainy, and beautiful pictures in the night as well. Find the camera samples below.

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Verdict:

The phone is a decent device with the best features being the battery life and camera. Basically this phone can capture crispy images and can run through a full day with no hassles. This is a good buy for some people who are into fast devices and don't want to spend a lot.

Anyways, you can buy this device if you need a device for years, or maybe gift it to someone elder to you?

Despite the cons, this phone is still a decent device to go for. If you can stretch the budget a little, look at phones like the Honor 5X, Redmi Note 3, and LeEco Le 1S. Find review of these device on www.Youtube.Com/TickTockTech

Post your questions down below!