This post is brought to you by HONOR.
If you have ever been shot at with a paintball gun, you probably know how much pain a paintball bullet can inflict, even when wearing protective gear. That’s not surprising given the average speed of a paintball bullet before hitting your body is about 307km/h. So would you be able to survive being shot 2,500 times with paintball bullets?
HONOR’s most durable smartphone to date
Maybe you may find it difficult to imagine it, but the X9b from Honor went through exactly that and took it like a champ. A total of 2,500 paintball bullets were shot right straight at the screen of four units of the X9b by 80 individuals at the Nemesis Legion Paintball Academy.
Thanks to the HONOR Ultra-Bounce Anti-Drop Display, the screen remained intact with no visible damage. Absorbing the impact energy on the screen and the rear panel is a 3-layer protective structure comprised of a partial screen reinforcement, buffer protection around the screen, and sealing protection inside the chassis.
HONOR says its innovative low-modulus cushioning material with flexible micron-level gaps surrounding the screen can absorb up to 1.2 times the impact energy, thus increasing the toughness of the display by 3 times compared to its predecessor.
As a result, the X9b can now survive drops up to 1.5m high compared to its predecessor. To demonstrate the smartphone’s toughness, HONOR invited several people to split stacked wooden boards using the X9b. A total of 200 pieces of wooden boards were split, but none of the X9b smartphones used to do it had their displays cracked.
As such, this All-angle Ultra Tough smartphone as HONOR calls it, received the world’s first 5-star all-angle drop resistance certification from the Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) of Switzerland.
This certification has given HONOR the confidence to provide customers of the X9b with a 365-day front and back crack protection warranty. This is double that of what its predecessor was offered. So, if you somehow managed to crack the screen or the rear panel within the warranty period, HONOR will replace the cracked parts for free.
A bright and colourful display
But the display is not just tough. It’s a joy to use as well. The 6.78-inch curved AMOLED panel features a 1.5K resolution and a 10-bit colour depth with a silky smooth 120Hz refresh rate that makes using the phone feel snappy. Peak brightness is rated at 1200nits which makes viewing the screen under sunlight a no issue.
That brightness is also controlled by a high frequency 1920Hz PWM dimming to minimize screen flicker at low brightness and reduce eye strain. Other eye protection features include a TÜV Rheinland Hardware-Level Low Blue Light Certification and a Circadian Night Display option that will automatically adjust the colour temperature from cool to warm, for improved sleep.
Performance to match
Performance-wise, the HONOR X9b comes with the capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset built on the advanced 4nm process. HONOR says this processor provides up to 40% more computing power and 35% more graphical power than its predecessor.
It is paired with 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and a spacious 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. These versions of RAM and storage are uncommon in this class of smartphones. UFS 3.1 storage offers higher read and write speeds for faster loading of apps. The faster storage also allows you to convert up to 8GB of space into virtual RAM, providing a whopping 20GB of RAM in total.
Capable optics
With so much storage on offer, you will want to freeze memorable moments in photos and videos. Capture clearer photos and record 4K videos at 30fps with the high resolution 108MP primary camera with a 1/1.67-inch sensor and a large f/1.75 aperture.
The HONOR X9b has a triple camera setup, so you also get a 5MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP macro camera. For selfies and video calls, there is a 16MP camera nested in a punch hole on the display.
Biggest battery in its class
Powering the phone is class-leading, massive 5,800mAh battery which HONOR claims can last up to 3 days of use on a single charge. In other words, you can get up to 19 hours of continuous video playback, 12 hours of continuous gaming, or 22 hours of continuous social media exploring. All the more impressive given that the smartphone is 7.98mm thin and weighs 185g.
HONOR has also included a couple of smart battery health features to extend battery life. After 3 years of use or 1,000 charge cycles, the company says the battery will still retain 80% of its capacity. Speaking about charging, the HONOR X9b supports 35W fast charging.
Now available in stores nationwide
There are three colour options to choose from: Sunrise Orange, Titanium Silver, and Midnight Black. With the Sunrise Orange option, the HONOR X9b comes with leather finishing on the rear panel for a more premium feel and a chance to stand out at this price point.
And that price point is RM1,499 for a single variant with up to 20GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The HONOR X9b is now available across Malaysia, and if you are planning to pick up one, HONOR will be bundling gifts worth RM 759 which include the Earbuds X5 and 365-day front and back crack replacement.
Learn more about the HONOR X9b today.
