Today through an unveil event in China, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor announced the arrival of the Honor 10 flagship smartphone. The same event was also used to unleash Honor’s first notebook called the Honor Magicbook.
The Honor 10 features a very impressive glass chassis that has the ability to show different colors when it is viewed from different angles. It is equipped with a notched display that offers a large screen space. Some of the other attractive features of the Honor 10 include improved AI 2.0, 6 GB RAM, 128 GB storage, AI driven dual cameras and more.
Design
The Honor 10 has an aluminum frame that is flanked with glass panels on both sides. The device measures 149.6 x 71.2 x 7.7 mm and weighs 153 grams. The Honor 10 uses a biaxial curved glass design that allows it to show off endless colors when it is viewed from different angles. In addition to Phantom Purple and Phantom Blue color variants that produce infinite colors, the Honor 10 will be also available in regular colors like Seagull Gray and Midnight Black in China.
Display
Like the P20, the Honor 10 features a notched display. It is fitted with a 5.84-inch LTPS IPS LCD screen that offers screen resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels along with an aspect ratio of 19:9.
The handset also provides an option to hide the notch by blackening the areas that are present on its either sides, similar to what we saw on the P20 Pro. The home button placed on the bottom bezel of the Honor 10 is integrated with an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. The Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor offers better security than a traditional sensor. Further, it can be used to unlock it even with wet fingers.
Performance
The Kirin 970 chipset brings along its NPU unit for handling AI tasks. Unlike the P20 that comes in a single option of 4 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, the Honor 10 comes in multiple variants. The different models of the Honor 10 are 6 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage. The 3,320mAh battery of the phone is enabled with support for SuperCharge 5V/4.5A fast charging technology. It allows the phone to gain 50 percent of power by charging it only for 25 minutes.
The Android 8.1 Oreo that is overlaid with EMUI 8.1 is available on the Honor 10. The handset includes AI 2.0 through which it can accurately identify dynamic pictures and it can process image effects twice as fast as iPhone X. AI 2.0 can also designed to deliver better work efficiency in while working on productivity apps. AI 2.0 has also learned different kinds of photography skills for capturing enhanced shots of people, pets, and landscapes.
Cameras
When it comes to photography, the Honor 10 offers its users with f/1.8 aperture 16-megapixel + f/1.8 aperture 24-megapixel dual camera setup. There is no Leica or SUMMILUX branding for the dual rear cameras that can be found on Huawei P20 and P20 Pro smartphones.
With AI 2.0, the horizontally arranged dual camera sensors carries support for scene recognition like food, scenery, and so on. When there are a lot of people in the scene, the Honor 10 can precisely blur others in the background and focus more on the subject. The smart fill light effect can automatically lighten up the face of the user according to the lighting of the surroundings in order to capture enhanced shots. The AI album available on the Honor 10 can smartly classify the images in different folders which makes it easier to find them.
The Honor 10 houses the same Sony IMX578 24-megapixel selfie camera that is available on the P20 series smartphones. Whether it is day or night, the selfie snapper is optimized to capture excellent photos in any lighting conditions. It can apply different optimization for hair, face, and background for shooting perfect selfie shots. It can also identify facial features and accordingly enhance specific areas like eyes and nose.
The front camera of the Honor 10 can be also used for facial recognition. It also carries support for AR stickers.
Other Features
The Honor 10 is packed with other usual features such as dual band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, USB-C port, GPS, and GLONASS. The handset lacks support for 3.5mm audio jack which means there is only one port that can be used for charging as well as for connecting a wired headphone. For enhanced audio experience, it features an AK4376A Hi-Fi chip that carries support for 7.1 multi-channel immersive sound output.
Pricing
The pre-orders of the Honor 10 will begin later today in China and its official sales will start on April 27 at 10:08 AM (local time). The 6 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variants are respectively priced at 2,599 Yuan (~$414), 2,999 Yuan (`~$477). It will be available for purchase at Huawei Mall, Official Honor stores at Jingdong, Tmall and Suning.
At the Honor 10 launch event, the company also introduced accessories like Honor Moonlight Stick worth 139 Yuan (~$22), Honor Multi-Port Charger priced at 149 Yuan (~$23), Honor Monster headphones (2nd gen) wroth 249 Yuan (~$39). These accessories will be available at aforementioned stores starting from 10:08 AM (local time) on April 27. We’ll cover them in a separate article soon.
