The smartphone is going to get better and much cooler this year. If you don’t believe me, take the foldable phone from Samsung as an example or the punch-hole camera on the new Honor View 20. These are innovations seen for the first time on a smartphone.
The Honor View 20 offers a bevy of ‘world first’ features and the company is touting it to be a “game changer”. The big question... is it?
I tried the phone for a few weeks and here is a first impression of the Honor View 20.
Design & Display
It’s a swanky looking phone, no two ways about that. The glass body on the back sports a very refreshing V-shape gradient that reflects different colours. At 180 grams, it doesn’t feel that heavy in the hands though the wide form factor makes one-hand use difficult.
The Honor View 20 sports a 6.4-inch FHD+ display that doesn’t have any bezels at all! Not even a notch. This is a perfect display for watching your favorite Netflix series when you are on the go.
The ear speaker and the notification light have been very smartly stacked on the top without compromising with the looks of the device. The volume keys and the power button are on the right side while the left sports the slot for the SIM.
The curved edges provide the elegance needs while the overall aesthetics scream: “I am not boring”.
Performance & Hardware
The Honor View 20 packs in the latest Kirin 980 octa-core processor coupled with 6GB of RAM. The new processor is the same that’s been used in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and that has proven to be a stellar performer. Android Pie is on offer out-of-the-box and Honor’s Magic UI runs quite smoothly.
It comes with 128GB of on-board storage which cannot be expanded. The phone also offers "AI Smart Cooling" that is bundled with the Kirin 980 and helps predict overheating scenarios before they occur.
A fingerprint sensor at the back, face ID, a 3.5mm headphone jack are some other additions. The Honor View 20 also comes with an IR blaster that you can use to control various home appliances just like a remote. It’s a handy feature.
The phone also supports motion-sensing games just like what you see on high-end consoles like a Xbox Kinect or Nintendo Wii.
It comes with just one speaker. Despite that the audio levels are exemplary. It’s not overwhelming, yet keeps the output crisp.
Camera & Battery
The camera is perhaps the biggest highlight of Honor View 20. It comes with a whopping 48-megapixel shooter and another 3D camera on the back that helps with recognition of 3D objects.
The camera works well with the Kirin 980 which enables realtime scanning and animation of 3D objects. The company says that it’s accuracy is close to what Microsoft’s Kinect camera kit offers. Hence the phone can dive into the augmented reality gaming space as well. The setup comes bundled with Honor’s own set of AI features which adjust the camera settings and aperture based on the scene.
On the front it comes with a 25-megapixel snapper that is pretty impressive too, but we’ll reserve our final judgement on the quality and performance in our full review.
Under the hood is a 4,000mAh battery that supports fast-charging technology. The company claims that it’s even faster than the OnePlus Dash charging technology. Considering that the Honor View 20 comes with a 4,000 mAh battery, getting 55 percent charge in just 30 minutes from the 5V charger isn’t bad at all.
Initial Verdict
The Huawei... Honor View 20 seems to be living in the shadows of the success that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has garnered (as the View 20 is similar of the Mate 20 Pro)
It will be interesting what the View 20 will be priced at. It’s got it all! A good camera, a powerful processor and the looks to put a smile on your face.
Honor says that it’s looking to price it somewhere close to the OnePlus 6T and if that’s the case then OnePlus is in for some very serious competition. Quite frankly, Honor gets the job done in the hardware department with this one though software is still a work in progress. But, don’t let that be a deal breaker.
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