Disclaimer: This article is not sponsored by Honor Germany. At least not directly. Rather, my guilty conscience forces me to finally give the Honor Play the honor that this fantastic smartphone deserves. It is really great!Disclaimer: This article is not sponsored by Honor Germany. At least not directly. Rather, my guilty conscience forces me to finally give the Honor Play the honor that this fantastic smartphone deserves. It is really great!
I have been using the Honor Play, the gaming smartphone par excellence, for three years. However, I have never played mobile games with it in all this time – I do not like mobile games. I also didn’t actively or consciously choose this phone. No, the Honor Play decided for me – three years ago at gamescom 2018. The first day of the trade fair was just coming to an end. I was there as a press representative for a video game site that focused exclusively on console games. In the morning, I had met an old acquaintance at the entrance. He was in a hurry, but suggested that we could meet for a beer at the Honor Germany booth in the evening. There was some presentation of a new gaming smartphone – including beer. I like beer,
Together with another beer-loving colleague, I went to the Honor Germany booth that evening. We registered in an exemplary manner at the press desk and were initially put off: “The appointment has been postponed a bit. But you are welcome to bridge the waiting time with a fresh beer.” Goal achieved. We quickly agreed that we would head back to the hotel after finishing our drinks, but we didn’t count on the press desk employee. She suddenly brought the “Honor boss Germany” to us, whom we could only identify as such on the basis of his name tag. A few minutes later, we were sitting in an inaccessible, very chic area in the back of the Honor booth. Together with the “Honor boss Germany”. He had specially chased away a few more employees from a seating area for us. Absolutely appropriate, because now it could finally start. Only what actually?
“Sorry for the delay, you know how it is on the first day of the trade show. All the nicer that it now still works out and I can present the new Honor Play to you today. Could you just briefly update me on which medium you’re from and to what extent you want to cover the Honor Play in your coverage?” None of us had ever heard of the Honor Play – no wonder, since the official unveiling hadn’t even taken place in Germany yet. And eSports in the mobile sector really doesn’t interest anyone. Except the “Honor boss Germany” – and me. At least I tried hard to convey this impression for the next hour and a half (yes, hour and a half).
There is this moment when you just can’t get out of something. You’ve let it happen for too long, you’ve waited too long, you’ve delayed it too long. It was one of those moments, and so I had no other choice: “Our focus has been mainly on console games up to now, but we now want to open up to the topic of eSports and set a content focus here in the future. Of course, the Honor Play would be a great vehicle for eSports in the mobile sector.” My answer pleased the “Honor boss Germany” very much and the conversation took its course. We talked about display sizes, octa-core processors, PUBG (the full name “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” just wouldn’t come to mind, but I had seen a PUBG poster while drinking beer at the booth), the eSports efforts of soccer clubs (which are and were completely unknown to me, but I had seen a Bayer 04 Leverkusen logo while drinking beer at the booth), and battery and RAM performance of modern smartphones. Nevertheless, it was a nice conversation between the “Honor boss Germany” and me – my colleague did not speak a single word the entire time, but limited himself to friendly nods and smiles.
Nevertheless, the initially extremely embarrassing basic situation now seemed to slowly dissolve into nothingness and I was just waiting until the “Honor boss Germany” would finally say goodbye to us. Then, however, the Honor Play (a great phone!) came into play again, because exactly this phone was suddenly put on our table by an employee. I looked at the package and, after a few seconds of chaperoning, passed it on to my colleague. He looked at the pack. “Well, unwrap it. I think you got a blue model.” I unwrapped the phone from the sealed box and said things like, “Wow, big display!” and “Wow, it feels good in the hand!” So what were we supposed to do with this thing (a great thing!)? Should we take pictures of it? Should we take notes on it? Should we plug it in? I handed the phone to my colleague, who also marveled at it briefly before putting it back in the box. The Honor Play (a great device!) now lay in the middle of the table. I started new attempts at conversation to get a hint from the “Honor boss Germany” about what to do with the phone. He became more taciturn. Moments of silence. Long moments of silence. Another look at the box. Silence. After what felt like an eternity, he finally stood up. He thanked us for the conversation, told us that he was looking forward to our report and left.
I still use the Honor Play (it is very, very good!) to this day. However, some apps (for example, the Honor Cloud Manager) require that you register for it with your phone ID and name on the Honor site. I can’t use these apps because I still have the feeling that the “Honor boss Germany” is just waiting for it – literally lurking for it! He then gets into his car, drives to my house, rings my doorbell and hits me on the head. And maybe he’ll take my beloved Honor Play (a fantastic phone!) away from me. I don’t want to risk that.
Dear Honor team, my Honor Play is already three years old and battery performance and speed have decreased noticeably. If you would like an expert report on one of your newer smartphone models, you can send it to me without any red tape. I am a big fan of the Honor Play – and of Honor in general. A smartphone that is not from Honor is not a serious smartphone for me.
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