Review: Honor View 20

Huawei's sub-brand Honor had the, well, honour of closing out 2018 with a very nice smartphone. They also had the honour of kicking things off this year. The newest face of the company's parade of affordable devices is the Honor View 20 - which is the first major player in the smartphone game to don that new frontal screen design.

In what is probably its biggest talking point - the punch-hole design - the notch is gone; in its place is a cut-out hole on the upper left hand corner that is home to the single-lens front camera. That leaves the display with more room: on the View 20, you'll get 6.4 inches of digital real estate, with teeny-weeny bezels atop, on the sides. but not below; there's still a slim chin over there (for technical reasons). Anyway, I like its finish, particularly the back: V-shaped etches pointing downward are splattered all over the rear, and its patented aurora glass makes it look like all those Vs are running downwards.

It's all clear on the left except for the SIM card tray. On the right are the volume rocker and power buttons, 3.5mm audio jack on top and USB-C port below. Honor also announced that it will have a special-edition View 20 in collaboration with Italian fashion house Moschino coming soon; the wallpaper on our unit was adorned with the Moschino bear, so there's a nifty reminder.
On the inside, the View 20 is blessed with the Kirin 980 chip - the same one found in the insane Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Complemented by its 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage, its performance is buttery-smooth (as it should be).

Swing over to the rear for the fingerprint sensor, which responds well, and a dual-lens camera. This isn't your typical combo, though. The main lens has a ridiculous 48MP resolution, while the second one is what's called a 3D ToF - time of flight - snapper. What does it do? Well, to put it simply, it's there to handle depth in images for more accurate processing, and is critical for games and apps that rely on augmented reality.

Which means you don't have a supporting lens that will give you extra zoom or a wider angle - but that Sony-powered 48MP camera is enough to do the work. Images are quite clear during the day and dark scenes are made brighter. Play around with the camera app's different modes for even more results, like reducing the glare from shiny lights. Overall, the camera doesn't produce many overexposed results.

The selfie camera, meanwhile, is also huge at 25MP. And while it tends to result in smudgy, overexposed, too-beautiful (so to speak) snaps, it does well even in low-light scenes. One thing I've noticed about the camera app, however, is that it does lag quite a bit when you switch modes - especially when you swap the main camera for the selfie one. I don't know if this is a software bug, but you'll be happy to know it doesn't affect the app's performance.

The battery holds up well. In our standard one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, the View 20 lost 14 per cent of power - but that's using the battery's best performance mode, so we have an idea how it'll fare when used in the lower tiers of modes. I found myself plugging it in after a day-and-a-half. Watch out for a spike in the heat coming off the device when using it at best performance mode. I noticed this when I watch videos on an extended basis, and while playing certain games for a long time. It isn't at an alarming level, but it is quite noticeable. Best solution? Switch your battery performance down to a lower level.
AND SO.
A well-rounded smartphone, the Honor View 20's makers were wise to take cues from its more heralded cousin, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. However, a concern is that its price is veering dangerously close towards actual flagship levels. There are other devices that have specs a tad below the View 20's, but are hundreds of dirhams cheaper and give at par results.
alvin@khaleejtimes.com