Honor view 10

While parent company and brand Huawei typically deals in the premium space, the Honor brand represents value-for-money made affordable by intelligent distribution strategies. The latest offering from Honor is the View10, which is the current top-end smartphone from the company in India. With top-end specifications and features, the Rs 29,999. Honor View10 takes on the current affordable flagship champion the OnePlus 5T head on. Here s our review.

Great design

When it comes to design and build, the Honor View10 checks all the right boxes. The phone sports a metal back, and the blue color of our review unit looks absolutely fantastic. The matte finish and slim profile make this a phone that definitely stands out in a crowd. And while the significantly-protruding dual-camera setup looks interesting, it s a bit scary when the phone rests on the camera lenses.

The front of the phone has the 18:9 aspect ratio 6-inch full-HD+ IPS LCD screen. While most phones with the stretched screen aspect ratio go for the all-screen look, where the front is dominated by the screen with very little else apart from the front camera, sensors and earpiece. In the case of the Honor View10, the company has also managed to integrate the fingerprint sensor at its traditional place, right below the screen. The screen itself is excellent, with good, clean colors, and leaves nothing to complain about.

I ve always preferred the fingerprint sensor being at the front, as that makes it possible to unlock the phone even while it s placed on a flat surface, and is also easier and quicker when it s in your hand. Muscle-memory eventually trains you as to the position of a rear fingerprint sensor, but it does add that fraction of a second in unlocking the phone. The Honor View10 does therefore retain the preferred position, but this is achieved by making the phone a little bit larger than similar devices such as the OnePlus 5T. It s a taller and therefore heavier device as a result. It s perhaps a hint too large

specifications

Under the hood are specifications that would make most other phones look bad, including 6GB of DDR4X RAM, 128GB of internal storage, a hybrid dual-SIM slot that supports extra storage and a massive 3,750mAh battery. Charging and data transfers are through the USB type-C port, and the phone also supports Huawei s proprietary Quick Charge standard.

The bundled charger can deliver up to 18W of power, and effectively charges the device from zero to 100 percent in about 90 minutesHonor also speaks of the Kirin 970 s artificial intelligence capabilities. The View10 is said to learn from your usage over time and optimize the phone according to the way you re using it. This includes intelligently preparing your phone based on the apps you frequently use, maintaining resources on important apps and getting tips and tricks to optimize your phone based on the device s learning of how you use it. It s hard to properly judge this, as it s all working behind the scenes. Additionally, the difference it s making is significant, but not greatly noticeable on a day-to-day basis.

Camera that shines

The artificial intelligence capabilities also translate into better performance for the camera. The Honor View10 comes with a dual-camera setup at the rear, which uses a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 20-megapixel secondary sensor with single-tone LED flash. Additionally, the sensors are also in Honor s preferred RGB + Monochrome setup, which helps with shooting in low-light. The primary sensor has an aperture of f/1.8, while the secondary sensor enables lossless zoom of up to 2X, as well as depth-sensing abilities for portrait shots. The phone has a 13-megapixel camera at the front

Verdict

At Rs 29,999, is the Honor View10 a good phone? Undoubtedly. It s an excellent device on all counts, and indeed the only aspect that isn’t fantastic is the software. If you compare it directly with the OnePlus 5T that it hopes to take on, it s actually better when it comes to camera performance. If you want a good phone with a great camera, look no further than the Honor View10. Furthermore, the dual-4G standby is one feature that no other phone can boast of today, and might be important to many users.

However, the OnePlus 5T s superior software, better battery life, faster charging and functional face unlock help it feel like the better phone on the whole. Additionally, while there s very little to fault in the performance of the Honor View10, the Snapdragon 835-powered OnePlus 5T is perhaps slightly better in practicality, and is helped along by 8GB of RAM in the higher variant. It entirely comes down to what matters more to you in practical use. But the Honor View10 is certainly worth considering, particularly if camera capability matters.