Honor View10 review: A smartphone that aces the mid-tier flagship race
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei unveiled the Mate 10-series, powered by its flagship artificial intelligence-based Kirin 970 system on chip, in its home country last year. Like the previous Mate-series devices, the Mate10-series phones were released in only a handful of markets – and the price-conscious Indian smartphone market was not one of them.
However, Huawei’s online sub-brand Honor has launched in India the View10, an affordable version designed on the footprints of the Mate 10-series, at Rs 29,999. The View10 is Honor’s third launch at this price – the Honor 8 and Honor 8 Pro were the previous two.
The Honor View10 features the company’s latest Kirin 970 processor, which boasts a neural-processing unit for artificial intelligence wizardry. The phone comes with 6GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage packed inside a sturdy metallic body reminiscent of the Honor 8 Pro. The key attraction of the device is its dual-camera set-up on the back and the futuristic 18:9 aspect ratio screen.
Business Standard reviewed the View10 to test the phone’s hardware and software prowess, besides the overall smartphone performance. Here are our observations:Despite a 5.99-inch screen, the View10 is narrower than the Honor 8 Pro, which had a 5.7-inch screen; in terms of height and thickness, it has retained the dimensions of the predecessor. The screen has been stretched to fit the 18:9 aspect ratio which leaves limited space for bezels. The screen resolution has been reduced from quadHD (1440 x 2560) in the Honor 8 Pro to fullHD+ (1080 x 2160) in the View10. That does affect the pixel counts of the otherwise capable display.Talking of the overall design, the front is now dominated by the 18:9 aspect ratio screen and a fingerprint scanner embedded under the home key, which is placed on the limited bottom bezel space. While the front sees a major improvement and looks better, the back looks a tad bland, reminiscent of the Honor 8 Pro design. The protruding camera lenses, coupled with prominent antenna lines on top and bottom, temper the overall design theme.
Honor has a history of using dual-camera set-ups; it is among the first few smartphone manufacturers to introduce the concept in mobile phones. Besides, the company has a dedicated series of smartphones – the P-series – that boasts industry-first dual-camera set-up co-created in partnership with imaging experts ‘Leica’.
The approach of different manufacturers to the dual-camera set-up is different, and Huawei opted for a monochrome sensor, mated with a regular RGB-based primary sensor, to power its two rear cameras. For the camera-centric P-series and Mate-series smartphones, the camera performance is fine-tuned on the basis of algorithms co-designed by Leica and Huawei. However, for an all-rounder device like the View10, the company has relied on internal engineering and, therefore, the phone brings a capable dual-camera set-up minus the Leica branding and some software goodies that are limited to the P-series and Mate-series smartphones.
The View10 utilises a 16-megapixel RGB camera sensor, coupled with a 20MP monochrome lens, with a bright f/1.8 aperture. In the View10, the camera carries the advantage of the processor’s AI-based NPU to improve imaging capabilities, which are prominent in the Bokeh (portrait included) and AI modes. The camera delivers a consistent performance during day-light conditions, but getting the night shots right takes some effort – especially if you are not using the flash. You need to tweak the settings and select the right mode. The focus is a little out of touch and not the fastest we have seen in mid-range flagships like the OnePlus 5T.
The front camera houses a 13MP sensor, backed by the AI-based Bokeh mode that also has a beauty mode. The beauty mode works as intended, but the Bokeh is not a success story every time. It works mostly but causes artificial blurring on portrait’s edges which looks out of place.The Kirin 970 processor powering the View10 is a powerhouse. The phone’s performance is top-notch, with no visible lags or slowdowns anywhere. The View10 handles multitasking, background operations and multiple apps working in the background with ease. Graphic-intensive games like Need for Speed and Asphalt 8 work like a charm at the maximum graphic setting.
The phone boots Android Oreo 8.0 covered under the highly customised EMUI 8.0 theme, which comes packed with a host of features. EMUI offers a lot of scope for customisation, but the theme, visibly inspired by Apple’s iOS, does little good with Android. For example, there are no on-screen or capacitive navigation keys. The home key doubles up as the back and recent app keys. Long pressing the home button takes you to home; swiping left or right opens the recent app window; and a single touch on home key works as the back button. It takes some time to get used to the set-up, but the overall Android operating system just does not feel as swift as the iOS for single-button usage.
Powering all the action is a 3,750 mAh battery that easily keeps the show running for more than a day, even after intensive use. The phone comes bundled with a fast charger that replenishes the battery fairly quickly.The Honor View10 is an all-rounder with a clear edge over other mid-tier flagships in terms of imaging, performance and battery life. It does not feel as plush as OnePlus 5T but offers a solid all-round performance, which can potentially leave the OnePlus flagship behind. Priced competitively at Rs 29,999, the phone offers a futuristic screen, a dual-camera set-up and a top-notch processor that justifies the cost in every sense.
