Huawei Honor 6 Plus comes with three 8MP cameras

At a press event in Bejing today, Huawei has announced the Honor 6 Plus, which is joining the regular Honor 6 in the Huawei lineup. At first sight the new model might look just like any high-end Android smartphone these days but a glance at the specification sheet reveals that the Honor 6 Plus has not one or two but three 8MP cameras. One serves as a selfie-capture unit at the front while the other two are lined up side-by-side on the rear of the device, in a similar setup to the HTC One M8.

On the One M8, the main camera offers a 4MP pixel count while a secondary camera is used to capture depth information. On the Huawei both cameras come with a higher 8MP resolution and an effective pixel size of 1.98 microns, but the overall concept appears to be very similar to the HTC's Duo Cam.

Like on the One M8 the dual lens setup allows for refocusing of already captured images. According to Huawei, the look of the images can be adjusted to resemble pictures taken at apertures from F0.95 to F16. Unfortunately no information about sensor size and the actual physical aperture of the camera has surfaced yet. In addition, the Honor 6 Plus allows for the application of effect filters, such as tilt-shift, sketch and comics, some of which make use of the dual-cam setup. 

The Honor 6's other components firmly put the device into the high-end bracket of the market. A 5.5-inch 1080p LCD is surrounded by thin bezels, and inside the metal body Android 4.4.4 and Huawei's EMUI 3.0 are powered by a Kirin 925 octa-core chipset and a low-power I3 coprocessor, 3GB of RAM and up to 32GB of internal storage. The battery's 3,600 mAh capacity should allow for extended periods away from a power outlet and like previous Huawei models the Honor 6 features an IR transmitter that makes it suitable as a remote control for your home audio and TV equipment. The device also comes with two SIM-slots, one of which doubles as a microSD-slot that accepts cards with a capacity of up to 128GB. 

An interesting feature for mobile photographers is the Huawei's ability to take pictures while the screen is off by double-pressing the volume rocker. In our review of the HTC One M8 we weren't too impressed by the refocusing feature and other Duo Cam functions. We are looking forward to seeing if the Honor 6 Plus can capture better quality output with its dual-lens setup. The device will be available in two versions. The standard edition with 16GB storage, 3G connectivity and no NFC will set you back approximately $320. The premium edition adds another 16GB, NFC and 4G LTE to the mix and will be available for around $400. No information on regional availability has been given yet.