The trio of Honor 20 devices that were announced a couple of weeks ago in India marks the biggest announcement from Huawei ever since the news about its standoff with US authorities began to trend. Huawei has maintained it’s business as usual and the Honor 20 launch in India that followed its global debut in London is a strong signal from the brand. The Honor brand has been key to Huawei’s emergence as a formidable global brand with devices across price points. The Honor 20 comprises of the 20i, an aggressively priced (Rs 14,999) mid-ranger, the top-end Honor 20 Pro that will keep its date with India by the end of June and the Honor 20 that is likely to be the focal point. It’s also the device we spent a few weeks with.
Honor’s obsession with blue goes back well before 2019. It’s a colour the brand can claim to have made trendy in the smartphone space, except blue is the new black with every second brand pushing a new shade of blue. Our review unit of the Honor 20 came in Sapphire Blue and Honor aces the design language. There’s no pattern or gradient but the reflective surface looks stunning in blue but like many other glass backs, this one loves fingerprints too.
It’s not just the appearance, at 174 gms, the Honor 20 feels just perfect in your hands. We really approve of the placement of the fingerprint sensor in the dimpled power key that sits on the right key. It’s practical and super responsive. The 6.26-inch display (1080 x 2340 pixels / 412 PPI / 19.5:9 aspect ratio) is almost identical to the OnePlus 7 except this one opts for a punch-hole display. It’s extremely tiny and easy to ignore; the display is immersive and among the best in the Rs 30,000 – Rs 35,000 flagship-killer segment.
Honor is touting the device’s quad rear cam as one of its key strengths. It brings together a 48MP primary lens with a 16MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP depth sensor and a dedicated 2MP macro camera. It’s quite a versatile package that scores in some key departments. Lowlight images and portrait images are acceptable, but the macro mode didn’t really impress us. Images shot with the wide-angle lens were quite sharp in ambient light. The 32MP selfie camera is quite solid too. The device holds its own among rivals like the OnePlus 7.
The Honor 20 is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 980 processor, the same powerful processor that’s under the hood of Huawei flagships like the P30 Pro. It teams up with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory. The device’s score in our AnTuTu benchmark tests was lower than some of its competition but overall it delivers a robust performance. Gaming gets a boost with Huawei’s Game Turbo 3.0 feature that impacted our tests on games like Asphalt 9. Battery life is quite dependable too. You should manage a day’s battery life with the 3750 mAh battery with a good mix of videos, camera usage and calls. The 20W super charge powers up your device in quick time – 0 to 50% in just 30 minutes.
We haven’t been big fans of Honor’s custom Magic UI and the version (2.1.0) on the Honor 20 doesn’t change our opinion. It’s still too layered and cluttered for our liking and adds too much bloatware. The Honor 20 is a well-rounded device that boasts of a premium design, a versatile camera and a 2019-proof hardware spec sheet. But it has its task cut out in a price segment where buyers expect flagship-level performance.
The Honor 20 costs Rs 32,999 and comes in sapphire blue and midnight black.
