Honor, a very popular smartphone sub-brand of Huawei has confirmed the doubts of a lot of fans while releasing its new handset, the Honor 10 in China by revealing that the new phone does come with the iPhone X like notch. Huawei has also recently released the new P20 Pro which is the first phone in the world to sport a triple camera setup. This new release by Honor is a very modern looking one and comes with a wide range of impressive specifications. The Honor 10 is easily the stripped down version of the Huawei P20 without Leica branded cameras. The device uses the same Kirin 970 chipset and offers EMUI 8.0 out of the box with special AI capabilities.
The most attractive part about the Honor 10 is its back casing which is designed based on the colour changing aurora. The phone seems to be of different shining colour based on the angle we see it from. This comes in two colour-changing variants - Phantom Blue and Mirage Purple. The back of the phone is also curved which makes it easier to hold and also helps the light bounce off the surface for a crisper shine.
The Honor 10 comes with a top-class design which puts a lot of smartphone competitors to shame. The near bezel-less design is very up to the mark from 2018 standards. The chin on the bottom houses the invisible ultrasonic fingerprint sensor which will be able to function as navigation key. The sensor will also be able to detect scans from a wet finger. The Honor 10 has not let go of the 3.5mm headphone jack which is present beside the USB Type-C port on the bottom side of the phone. The speaker grille has also been housed beside the USB Type-C port, and the power and volume rockers can be seen on the right side of the device.
On the hardware front, the Honor 10 imparts a lot of specifications from the P20 devices. The 90% screen to body ratio has been made possible on the phone using the 5.84-inch Full HD+ LCD display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and the notch design. The top part of the phone houses the sensors and front camera. The Honor 10 comes with 6GB RAM and makes use of EMUI 8.1 which is built on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. The battery on the phone is 3,400mAh with fast charging support, and the audio on the device is powered by 7.1 multi-channel Hi-Fi Sound quality.
Honor is placing some serious bets on its AI capabilities which according to the company has been made possible by the powerful Kirin 970 processor which is Huawei’s in-house processor manufacturing unit. The Kirin 970 houses a dedicated Neural Processing Unit and more advanced AI capabilities which Honor has termed as the AI 2.0. On the imaging front the Honor 10 gives some serious competition to the iPhone X. Making full use of the AI capabilities the phone very effortlessly renders pictures with effects like Prisma and also with better contrast than the iPhone X. Alongside that, the Honor 10's AI can detect dynamic pictures more accurately compared to its competitors.
The primary sensor on the camera is a 24MP one, and there is also a secondary sensor with a 16MP lens with f/1.8 aperture and a faster PDAF. The AI capabilities have also been extended to support landscape photography, portrait, subject and scene detection, and overall better shooting experience.
The Honor 10 comes with much more interesting additions to the camera software. Some of the most prominent ones would be the 3D portrait light effect that intelligently fills light depending on the lighting condition, and the AI enabled identification of the subject from the background for clearer bokeh selfies.
The 24MP sensor on the front will help user snap very detailed and clear selfies at any time of the day without worrying about the lighting conditions.
Pricing
The phone comes in two variants depending on the internal storage. The first variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage has been priced at CNY 2,599 which is approximately equal to Rs 27,200 while the latter version with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage comes with a price tag of CNY 2,999 which approximately translates to Rs 31,400. The announcement for pre-orders and shipping in China have gone on air, but there is still no news about the Indian arrival for the Honor 10. In China, the pre-orders will be open starting from April 19 to April 26. The phone will go on sale starting April 27.
