Amidst the brahuha between Huawei and the US government, honor, the sub-brand of Huawei, launched two devices on Tuesday. The show must go on as they say. The China smartphone maker introduced two new flagship models to the global market—Honor 20 Pro and Honor 20.
Honor 20 Pro
Off the bat, the Honor 20 series resembles the Huawei P30 Pro, especially around the back with the vertically-aligned quad-camera system. It features a familiar glass back with a gradient finish too, although this time the “Dynamic Hologram” glass back has a depth-inducing optical effect. It’s pretty good-looking nonetheless, though, expectedly will be a major fingerprint magnet.
The phone features an expansive 6.26-inch Full HD+ display with a punch-hole for its front shooter.
Under the hood, the device runs the top-of-the-line octa-core Kirin 980 chip, mated to up to 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage.
In the imaging department is where the Honor 20 Pro excels. The quad-camera system consists of a powerful 48MP f/1.4 IMX586 main sensor with OIS. Expect stunning low light performance from this big sensor and fast lens combo, aided by the ability to pixel bin four pixels into a larger 1.6-micron pixel size super pixel.
The secondary camera is a 16MP sensor with a f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens while the third camera is an 8MP sensor with a f/2.4 telephoto lens and OIS. The telephoto lens offers 3X optical zoom, 5X hybrid zoom and 30X digital zoom like the Huawei P30.
The fourth camera is a 2MP macro shooter with an f/2.4 aperture lens that lets you capture macro shots from as close as 4cm.
The camera system also offers AI-assisted Super Night Mode and real-time object and scene recognition.
Over on the front, housed in the punch-hole display is a 32MP front-facing camera.
The new camera system has impressed the imaging experts at DxOMark Mobile. The Honor 20 Pro scores an impressive 111 points overall, tying with the new OnePlus 7 Pro, and sitting comfortably behind the Huawei P30 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10+ 5G.
Audio-wise, the phone boasts virtual 9.1 surround sound powered by Histen 6.0, Huawei’s audio technology. Aside from its single bottom-firing speakers, the device also has two built-in mics for noise reduction.
Powering the phone is a 4,000mAh battery that charges up via USB-C. It supports Huawei’s 22.5 SuperCharge rapid charging technology. Honor claims the phone can get 50 percent charge from 30 minutes of charge time.
In case you’re wondering, there’s no wireless charging nor is there a 3.5mm headphone jack. Also missing is an IP-rating.
The Honor 20 Pro features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor built into the power button.
Honor 20
As a more affordable alternative, you can opt for the Honor 20. It features the same 6.26-inch Full HD+ display with a punch-hole.
The Honor 20 also packs the same Kirin 980 processor as its more expensive sibling, mated to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
The good news is that you’ll also get a quad-camera setup as the “Pro.” The bad news is that they’re not quite of the same specs.
The Honor 20 also gets a 48MP IMX586 sensor as its main sensor but it’s coupled with a slower f/1.8 aperture lens. It also gets the 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle shooter and a 2MP macro shooter. What’s different is the absence of the 8MP telephoto shooter found on the Honor 20 Pro.
In its place is a 2MP depth sensor for bokeh shots.
The Honor 20 camera system also lacks OIS, which is a bummer.
On the front, the phone features the same 32MP f/2.0 selfie shooter that’s housed in the punch-hole display.
Powering the Honor 20 is a slightly smaller 3,750mAh battery that charges via USB-C. Like its sibling, the device supports 22.5W Huawei SuperCharge.
Pricing and availability
The Honor 20 Pro will retail for EUR599 (~MYR2,790) while the Honor 20 will retail for EUR499 (~MYR2,324).
In Malaysia, the Honor 20 series is slated for a 23 May 2019 launch. However, according to Honor, pre-order and first-day sales have been postponed until further notice.
