By Gokul Bhagabati,

New Delhi, (IANS) : Camera is the next frontier when it comes to the smartphone war. Under its Honor brand, Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has unveiled Honor 8 – one of the few premium devices, apart from Huawei P9 and iPhone 7 Plus, that offers a dual-camera in the country.

What stands Honor 8 apart from the other two devices is its flat back. The two 12-MP cameras at the back sits neatly within the frame and do not protrude out.

Priced at Rs. 29,999, Honor 8 is in direct competition with Rs 27,999 OnePlus 3, LeEco’s LeMax 2 variant (6GB RAM and 64GB) which comes for Rs 29,999 and Rs 27,999 ZenFone 3 (5.5-inch).

Let us see what works for the device.

Sporting a stylish 5.2-inch full-HD display, Honor 8 has 2.5D glass on both sides which gives it a shiny look.

The device has Kirin 950 processor paired up with 4GB of RAM and has external memory support up to 128GB. The 16-nanometer Kirin 950 chip reduces power consumption and enhances overall performance.

Featuring 12MP dual lens main shooter with 8MP front camera, the device runs on Huawei’s customised Emotion UI 4.1 on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system.

The second-generation 12MP dual camera system captured more light and gave us a crisp picture with vivid colours.

It comes with two modes. The Wide Aperture Mode helps users take photographs with a shallow depth of field as well as adjust the focal point of a captured photo to blur the background and make your subject more prominent.

Professional mode offers a digital SLR-level photo experience – giving users full control over the camera’s ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation and more.

Honor 8’s dual-function advanced fingerprint reader sits comfortably at the back in the centre.

The level-four fingerprint acquisition algorithm promises enhanced security and smart features that make it more accurate with use.

Huawei claims that the sensor can read fingerprints in 0.4 seconds. And they are so right as it unlocked the phone in less than a second!

For rapid 3D fingerprint recognition, select Fingerprint ID in the settings menu, register and you can manage five sets of fingerprint records.

Housing a 3,000 mAh battery with fast charging technology, the battery lasted for a lag-free experience for nearly a day and a half on moderate usage like social media, gaming and watching movies or nearly 10 continuous hours of offline video binging. We also found that the device can handle multitasking well and runs 4K videos without hassles.

The latest Emotion UI 4.1 version makes the user interface quite comfortable and has features that allow users to get the best network for a smooth browsing experience.

The Smart Key feature helps access text messages with one touch. Try double tapping to record quick notes using the voice recording function.

The Knuckle Sense feature allows users take partial or full screenshots with the tap of knuckle and unlock features quickly and easily.

To start recording a video, double-tap the screen with two knuckles, and to stop and save the recording, double-tap with two knuckles again.

The 153-gram device is 4G LTE compatible and offers dual-SIM compatibility.

What does not work.

Honor 8 does not have FM radio support. Currently, the device does not support VoLTE in India but according to the company, the device will soon be enabled with a software update.

Conclusion: Honor 8 is definitely the best camera smartphone under the Rs 30,000 category. So if you are a photography lover, Honor 8 becomes your natural choice.

(Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at gokul.b@ians.in)