1. Eye Comfort mode
One of the highlights of the Honor 8 Pro is its gorgeous 5.7-inch quad HD display, but if you find it straining your eyes, just switch to Eye Comfort mode, which claims to filter out blue light for a more relaxed reading experience. You can even schedule when you wish the phone to switch over to this mode. You can even control color temperatures if you do not like the default option (some might find the default option too ‘yellow’)
2. Voice controls – especially one!
Yes, we know the Honor 8 Pro comes with Google Assistant. But the phone also has its own set of voice controls, which lets you make quick calls (just hold down the volume down button and call out the name of the person you wish to call), make or reject calls (simply say “answer call” or “reject call”), and there’s our favourite, the Voice Wakeup, which lets you not just wake up your phone by saying “Dear Honor” but also locate it – simply say “Dear Honor, where are you.”
3. Gesture controls
The Honor 8 Pro comes with gesture controls like flip to mute, pick up to reduce ring volume and raise to ear to answer or make calls, but also with what are called “knuckle gestures.” These are basically made using your knuckles (hence the name, duh!) and while they seem unusual are actually very useful – you can knock twice on the display with your knuckles to take a screenshot, launch apps by drawing letters on the display with your knuckle, and enter split screen mode by just drawing a line across the screen with your knuckle. Seems odd initially, but it really works.
4. Customizable navigation buttons
No, you are never going to be stuck with the “home button in the center with either the back or recent apps button on either side of it” configuration with the Honor 8 Pro. You can try out no fewer than four navigation button configurations, with buttons at different locations depending on your preferences (back button to the right or left of home key), and can even add a key dedicated to pulling down the notification bar. Cool, eh?
5. Versatile fingerprint scanner
Yes, the fingerprint scanner on the back of the Honor 8 Pro unlocks the phone, as most scanners do. But there is a whole lot more it can do: it can take pictures, answer calls, allow you to browse photos by just swiping across it, turn off alarms, and – this is our favorite – allows you to access the notify action bar by just swiping across it!
6. Monochrome magic
Remember how excited everyone was with the monochrome sensor on the Huawei P9 last year? Well, you can get something similar here as well. Of the two cameras on the back of the Honor 8 Pro, one is a monochrome sensor, which means that you can get “pure” black and white photographs without having to mess around with filters. Yes, the sensor is there mainly to get better detail in low light photography, but we just love the fact that we can switch to it and go for proper black and white snaps!
7. Camera shooting modes
All the cameras in the world are of little use if not backed up by good camera software. And this is where the Honor 8 Pro shines. Stock Android fans might blanch at the idea of multiple shooting options, but general users who don’t want to meddle with complex settings will love the more than a dozen shooting options on the Honor 8 Pro, which include a good food mode, a document scan mode and even light painting and time-lapse. And yes, if you like to mess around with settings, just go to the pro photo mode. Of course, you can mess around with bokeh by playing with the aperture as well!
