Honor’s newest phone costs so little, it may as well be given away

The new Honor 7S borders on the unfathomably cheap. Launched Thursday, June 28, in the U.K., it can be purchased for just 100 British pounds, which converts over to about $130. It has been a while since a smartphone we would consider using dipped under the 100 pound mark, and while the Honor 7S is obviously not going to challenge the Honor 10, or any flagship phone, it’s probably going to have specs far better than you expect.

What do you get for your money? The big news is the Honor 7S has an 18:9 aspect ratio screen, following a major trend throughout the phone industry; but more often seen on devices that cost three times this price. It’s a sensible 5.45 inches in size and the resolution is 1440 x 720 pixels, so while not full HD, it’s still acceptable. It’s wrapped in a body that we’re going to assume is plastic, but it does come in the now-famous Honor blue color, along with black or gold. It’s only 8.3mm thick, and 142 grams in weight.

Android 8.1 is a welcome sight, as many low-cost phones come with much older versions of Google’s operating system installed. It’s certain to have the Huawei EMUI interface over the top. Remember, Honor is a sub-brand of Huawei, and they share certain technology between them. However, rather than use a Kirin processor, the Honor 7S has a MediaTek MT6739 chip inside with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage space. Adequate, especially at this price, and there is a MicroSD card slot to expand memory, too.

The rear camera has 13 megapixels and the selfie camera 5 megapixels, which also has an LED selfie light to improve pictures taken in poor conditions. A 3,020mAh battery powers the phone for approximately a day, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, the SIM tray will take two SIMs, and it connects to a 4G LTE network. There isn’t much more you would want from a basic phone, and they don’t get much cheaper than the Honor 7S.

Honor will sell the 7S through its own online store from June 28, plus it will be available through Argos stores and Three network stores, too. No U.S. release details have been announced.

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