Huawei Honor 50

The Honor 50 impresses with an excellent 120Hz display, which turned out to be brighter than the nova 9's, offers dependable battery life, shoots some good stills and videos, charges fast, and it's one of the lightest handsets in its category. It even fixes some of the flaws the nova 9 couldn't - it supports Google Mobile Services and offers 5G connectivity. It's essentially an improved version of the nova 9.

The Honor 50 is a well-rounded phone: its screen, front-facing camera and battery life all impress, and we didn’t find any major issues while using the device. However, the mid-range phone market is competitive, and we struggled to find a particular area where the device excelled.

The Honor 50 is a premium-looking package that aims high and for the most part, hits the mark. It’s an attractive and affordable mid-range phone that offers some of the luxuries of a top-end device but has some baffling omissions. It's a quick and nimble device that can stand up to the big boys, and while it certainly doesn’t feel like a top-end flagship, it’s more than capable, making this a terrific and dependable device.

The Honor 50 is a welcome return to the global market (with Google!) that stands out for its beautiful design and top-notch curved OLED display, though struggles to excel elsewhere.

Honor’s first solo effort away from the Huawei mothership packs design punch and a gorgeous screen, plus it finally brings Google’s apps back into the fold – but rivals either match it for the money, or offer more for little extra cash.

At the end of the day, the Honor 50 is a midranger and a pretty good one at that. The base model starts at 529 euro for the 6/128GB version but at this price point the competition is pretty stiff - there are a bunch of good Xiaomi phones, and let’s not forget the Galaxy A-series.

With Google Mobile Services on-board, the Honor 50 is a respectable -- if not show-stopping -- mid-range 5G handset. The design is pleasing, the curved OLED screen is very good, and the 120Hz refresh rate is welcome. The vlogging camera features might not appeal to everyone, but they are fun to experiment with, and we applaud the absence of big-name, third-party bloatware.

At its starting price, the Honor 50 is a comfortably midrange device. But there are a lot of accomplished smartphones available at similar prices. Phones like the OnePlus Nord 2 (€499 for its step-up 12GB RAM / 256GB storage model) or the iPhone SE (€539 for its 128GB storage variant) are both excellent phones that offer a much more rounded experience than the Honor 50. And if you’re considering the Honor 50 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, then you’re just €50 away from the recently announced Pixel 6.