Huawei may be caught in the ongoing trade war between the US and China, but that has not stopped its sub-brand Honor to introduce its first-ever flagship series in India, a high-growth market for the company. The Honor 20 series comprises three new smartphones—Honor 20 Pro, Honor 20, and Honor 20i. We have been using a review unit of the Honor 20 device for the past fortnight now; it stands out for its great photo and video capturing skills, elegant design and a great user experience.
The Honor 20 comes with a powerful Kirin 980 AI chipset with GPU Turbo 3.0 for a better gaming experience. Its new dynamic holographic design differentiates it in the crowded marketplace. The phone carries a Rs 32,999 price tag, in 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM combo.
The new Honor phone looks quite premium with glass on the front and back. It feels compact, sturdy and lightweight (174g) in the hand. The rear glass panel comes with a 3D Triple Mesh design that gives a holographic-like reflective finish. Our trial unit was a Sapphire Blue variant, the other colour option is Midnight Black. The front of the device is dominated by a 6.26-inch display that offers a resolution of 1,080 x 2,340 pixels and a high pixel density of 412 PPI. The display produces sharp and vivid colours with good brightness, both indoors and outdoors.
The Honor 20 device settles nicely in the hand with a firm grip. There is a small circular cutout on the top left corner to house the front camera. Also, the buttons on the side are well within reach, especially the power button which doubles up as a fingerprint sensor.
Probing the innards, the Honor 20 runs on Android Pie with Magic UI 2.1 that enables square-shaped app icons for all apps, which look consistent and aesthetic. On the camera front, the Honor 20 is exceptionally good. It sports a 48MP, 16MP, 2MP and 2MP camera setup aligned vertically at the back. The main 48-megapixel sensor is capable of taking highly detailed pictures and enhanced low light performance. The front camera is a 32-megapixel shooter, with software backed portrait mode. The primary camera has an f/1.8 sensor for ultra-high-resolution photography. There is a 16-megapixel super wide-angle camera as well. The third and fourth cameras come with 2-megapixel sensors each where one will be used for depth sensing while the other is a macro lens. The photos we clicked in daylight had incredible details. Also, the selfie camera produced an extremely crisp and sharp picture.
The Honor 20 offers a dual Nano SIM slot with no support for storage expandability. It is backed by a 3750mAh Li-Po battery; with continuous data usage and gaming, the battery could last between 10 to 12 hours. The device supports fast charging and you get a 22.5W charging brick with the box.
Overall, the Honor 20 is an attractive device with high-end features; its camera quality sets it apart.
Estimated street price: Rs 32,999