Honor 5C review

The Honor 5C is a very solid phone selling at an attractive price. It's spot on for those who want a phone without a contract.

The little hints of higher-end phone characteristics, like a good Full HD screen and strong selfie camera, have real appeal. The Emotion UI software is much less abrasive than some older versions, and there are no major performance issues.

The main issue here is that there's a lot of competition in the cheap phone arena. The Moto G, for example, has a slightly better rear camera with more reliable focusing, and you may prefer its vanilla Android software.

Who's this for?

The Honor 5C is a very solid phone for those who want a cheap deal but don't want to put up with too many painful compromises in performance or camera quality. While it's not better than the Motorola Moto G4, it is smaller and slightly cheaper.

Should you buy it?

If you're looking for a phone with a bit of high-end flavour on a super-tight budget, the Honor 5C is an excellent choice. As long as you don't mind the Honor software approach, there's nothing major to complain about here.

The main consideration is whether you might prefer the Moto G4, which costs £20 more but has a bigger screen, and a very pure take on Android.

• If you're in the market for a budget-to-mid-range phone along the lines of the Honor 5C, here are some other options you might want to consider…

Motorola Moto G4

Current budget champ the Moto G4 has a plainer plastic build, and costs a little more. However, many of you may prefer it.

Its rear camera is slightly better, and rather than having a custom interface it uses standard Android, with just a couple of Moto additions. The Moto G4 also has a larger screen, which is a pro for those who love mobile gaming and watching videos on their phones, but it also means it's more of a pocket-filler.

• Read our review of the Motorola Moto G4

Honor 5X

For just a little more money than the Honor 5C, the 5X features a fingerprint scanner and a larger 5.5-inch screen. In a pure tech-to-cash equation, the Honor 5X beats almost everything else out there in this price range.

As on the Honor 5C, the display is great too. At first it's hard to pick faults with this phone, aside from the fact that its metal body doesn't seem all that premium – a bit like the Honor 5C, then.

However, the Honor 5X actually feels slower than the 5C in use, though. It's a bit more laggy, which is a real shame.

• Read our review of the Honor 5X

iPhone SE

Unless you buy a second-hand iPhone, your best 'budget' bet from the Apple catalogue is the iPhone SE. Look at the price, though, and you'll see that it's not really in the same league as the Honor 5C. At £359 / $399 the iPhone is much, much more expensive.

In return you get the look and feel of a true high-end phone, and a much better camera. It's a real lesson in how much more you have to pay for an iPhone, though – unless, as mentioned, you find a stellar refurb deal or are happy with a preowned phone. 


• Read our review of the iPhone SE

Sony Xperia M5

Much like the iPhone SE, the Sony Xperia M5 is a reminder of just how good a deal phones like the Honor 5C and Motorola Moto G4 are. The Sony Xperia M5 is a lot more expensive, and unless you're going to use a lot of the phone's features extensively, you may not see that extra cash in action.

Upgrades include more advanced cameras front and back, and an extra gigabyte of RAM. However, when the Honor 5C's performance is surprisingly solid, it's only those cameras that are really worth considering – unless you have stacks of cash to play with.

• Read our review of the Sony Xperia M5