Honor 10 review: Power-packed alternative to premium flagship smartphones

The Honor 10 lacks an optimised notch screen and stereo speakers, but the sleek look and fast performance, coupled with top-notch innards, make it a winner in the mid-range flagship segment

Technology News : Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei’s online subsidiary Honor on May 15 announced the artificial intelligence-based Honor 10 in India. Priced at Rs 32,999, the smartphone boasts some of the premium design elements and features of the recently launched Huawei P20 Pro — glass-metal-glass sandwich design, notch-based screen, AI camera, etc, which — which make it a cost-effective alternative to premium flagships.

However, being a mid-range device, the Honor 10 cuts down on features like the Leica-tuned camera lenses, vivid AMOLED screen or the dual stereo speakers of the P20 Pro. But, it does sport a 3.5mm audio jack, which is not there in the P20 Pro.

Business Standard reviewed the Honor 10 on several parameters to test its overall performance. Here are the observations:

Honor 10 design

The Honor 10 boasts a glass-metal-glass sandwich design. The front is dominated by a notch-based screen, which leaves negligible bezels on the top and sides. On the bottom, there is a fingerprint sensor placed below the glass, adding to the utility without compromising on the overall design quotient.

The glass back designseems an improvement over aluminium, especially due to its different colour reflection properties. The glass is curved from the edges, something reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S-series devices. While everything seems to be in place, the glass design attracts fingerprint impressions which make it dirty, requiring regular cleaning.

Honor 10 display

The Honor 10 sports a 5.84-inch fullHD+ 19:9 aspect ratio screen, which is bright enough to stay legible under direct sunlight. The notch is set as enabled by default, but can be disabled from settings. However, the notch is disabled by default for video playback through apps like YouTube and Netflix or native video player, and there is no option to enable it.

Online video streaming apps also fail to fill the 19:9 aspect ratio screen and show content at 16:9 aspect ratio, leaving blacked out areas on each side when viewed in horizontal mode, therefore it fails to utilise complete screen area.

Honor 10 multimedia capabilities

The Honor 10 neither have the HDR compliant screen nor the dual stereo speakers that the premium P20 Pro offers. The phone also lacks Dolby Atmos support and relies on Huawei’s 3D audio technology to boost the audio output.

Yet, for a midrange smartphone, the Honor 10 fairs well to play multimedia content, thanks to 3.5mm audio jack that makes a lot of difference, especially for people who like to use headphones more than speakers for content playback.

Honor 10 performance

The Honor 10 is powered by Kirin 970 system-on-chip (SoC), the same processor that powers the premium Huawei P20 Pro. It is paired with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. The phone boots EMUI8, which is an Android Oreo-based customised skin developed in-house by Huawei to utilise the potential of AI across different system settings.

OnePlus 6, Honor 10 India launches this week: Things that you need to know

While the OnePlus 6 is set to be unveiled on May 17 and would go on sale starting May 21, exclusively on Amazon, the Honor 10 would be unveiled on May 15 and go on sale starting May 16 on Flipkart

Chinese smartphone manufacturers OnePlus and Honor are gearing up to launch their flagship smartphone – the OnePlus 6 and Honor 10 – in India this week. While the OnePlus 6 is set to be unveiled on May 17 and go on sale starting May 21, exclusively on Amazon, the Honor 10 would be unveiled on May 15 and go on sale starting May 16 on Flipkart. Both the smartphones would compete in the mid-range flagship segment.

Here are a few things that you need to know about the OnePlus 6 and Honor 10 smartphones:

OnePlus 6 screen

The OnePlus has used a 5.5-inch fullHD screen in most of its smartphones, except the OnePlus 5T, which has a 6-inch screen due to an 18:9 aspect ratio screen. The OnePlus 6, based on recent leak by Amazon Germany, is expected to have a 6.28-inch screen with fullHD+ resolution. As confirmed by the company’s co-founder earlier, the screen would sport a notch on top.

OnePlus 6 design

The OnePlus 6 will make a departure from the current trend of an aluminium build in favour of a glass body, but it would retain horizontal lines and curved design of the current generation flagship.

OnePlus 6 colours

The new glass-based design of the OnePlus 6 is confirmed to feature nanotech coating, something similar to the Huawei P20 Pro. Therefore, the phone is expected to come in multiple colour options, too. The phone is expected to come in at least three colour variants – black, white and blue.

OnePlus 6 camera

In terms of imaging, the smartphone would bring certain upgrades over the current generation. A new camera placement, vertically in the centre, with a fingerprint reader below it, is confirmed. However, the exact camera specifications have been kept under wraps, and the phone, according to a leak, is expected to sport a dual-camera set-up on its back utilising 16-megapixel and 20MP sensors placed vertically at the upper centre, instead of the horizontal set-up found in the current generation. As for the front, the selfie camera is reported to feature a 20MP sensor of f/2.0 aperture size.

As for the features, ultra-slow motion video recording is one particular feature that would be making way to the OnePlus 6, as confirmed by the company through teasers shared on various social media channels.

OnePlus 6 features and specifications

The phone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 system-on-chip (SoC) and have a 256GB storage variant paired with 8GB of RAM. The mid-range smartphone is also expected to have 64GB and 128GB variants, paired with 6GB of RAM. OnePlus has been teasing the features of the smartphone in the form of tweets and as part of other social media promotion activities – ingress protection (IP) rating for water and dust resistance, for example.

OnePlus 6 price

The OnePlus 6 is expected to price sub-Rs 40,000, at least for the base models with 6GB RAM and 64GB and 128GB storage options.

Honor 10 screen

Similar to the OnePlus 6, the Honor 10 would also sport a notch-based screen. However, the Honor device would sport a smaller 5.8-inch fullHD+ 19:9 aspect ratio screen compared to the 6.28-inch in the OnePlus 6.

Honor 10 design

The Honor 10 is expected to feature a glass-metal-glass sandwich design, similar to the recently launched Huawei P20-series. The phone is also expected to feature twilight coloured glass on the back, which shows different colour shades when looked at from different angles. The phone is also expected to sport a dual rear-camera unit placed horizontally on the top left corner. However, the fingerprint scanner is not visible on the back, so it is assumed to have been put on the front side below the screen.

Honor 10 camera

Being a cost-effective substitute to the premium Huawei P20-series smartphones, the Honor 10 might shed the Leica lens in favour of the company’s in-house imaging solution. The phone’s camera is also expected to feature artificial intelligence-based scene selection and other camera modes. However, the AI-based camera feature in the Honor 10 might be limited in comparison with the Huawei P20-series smartphones.

As for the features, AI-based scene selection and ultra-slow motion video recording are expected to feature in the upcoming smartphone.

Honor 10 features and specifications

The Honor devices, a cost-effective substitute to the Huawei P-series and Mate-series premium smartphones, usually feature similar technical specifications and features of the premium Huawei smartphones. The Honor 10 is expected to take inspiration from the recently launched Huawei P20 Pro, however, might miss on premium features such as Leica-tuned camera lenses, AMOLED screen, etc, which are limited to premium Huawei smartphones.

Just like the Huawei P20-series, the Honor 10 is expected to feature Kirin 970 system-on-chip (SoC), coupled with up to 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. The phone is expected to feature Android Oreo-based EMUI 8.0, with system-wide AI integration for enhanced user experience.

Honor 10 Price

In terms of pricing, according to an industry source, the Honor 10 would be launched at Rs 35,000 and would rival the OnePlus 6 in the midrange flagship segment.

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