Smartphones are getting bigger every year and thanks to the reduction in the bezels around the display, their sizes have remained more or less the same. 6-inch flagships have become the norm this year, but there are a couple of devices which try to take smartphone screen sizes to the next level. Xiaomi’s Mi Max series started the trend of such large screen entertainment smartphones and even Honor joined the party with its own Note series back in 2016. Today, Huawei’s sub-brand is has launched the update to the two year old Note series smartphone, called the Honor Note 10. The phone joins the likes of the Mi Max 3 aimed at users who are looking for a phone bordering the size of a tablet.
Honor Note 10: Design
The Honor Note 10 is massive and that’s evident from its 6.95-inch 18.5:9 full screen display. Mind you, this is an AMOLED panel, unlike LCD on the Mi Max 3 and comes with 115% NTSC color gamut. The phone features 2.5D glass on the front and the back. The glass on the back has a special metal oxide nano-coating which makes it glitter under light. We are used to seeing special effects on the glass back of Honor smartphones, so this design was expected.
Apart from reducing the bezels around the display of the Honor Note 10, as compared to its predecessor, the Note 8, the phone is also narrower which will ensure that its easy to grip despite its huge display on board. There are two color options available, phantom blue (mixture of violet and blue) and magic night black.
As you might have already noticed, the Honor Note 10 ditches the notch, unlike other recent Honor smartphones, which is a welcome sign for notch haters.
Overall, the Honor Note 10 does pretty well for a nearly 7-inch monster smartphone. The front design is symmetric with minimal bezels, while the back with its special nano-coating looks beautiful. Design wise, you shouldn’t have any complaints.
Honor Note 10: Specs
Since the Note 10 is all about its 6.95-inch display, let’s talk about that first. The display is an AMOLED panel with 600 nits brightness and 70,000:1 contrast ratio. The phone supports HDR10 format, which means you get a better color range, making for a better viewing experience. For a smartphone that’s meant to be an entertainment monster, HDR10 support is definitely a big deal. Further, the Honor Note 10 boasts of AI video quality enhancement which promises improvement in video quality by up to 20%. The company explains that the phone uses AI to intelligently fill pixels on the screen to make it look more vibrant.
But what’s the use of a good display without great audio, right? Honor has got you covered here as well. The Honor Note 10 features symmetric stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
Apart from the large screen, one of the key highlights of the Honor Note 10 is its special CPU Turbo button. The phone features a dedicated Turbo key on the right side which will essentially start cleaning up background processes to allow CPU performance to reach its peak capacity. The Turbo mode will reportedly allow the Honor Note 10 to run even the heaviest of games without any hiccups. What’s more, you can customise this Turbo button for different functions like acting as a recording button during gameplay or as a shutter button in camera mode. Note that the phone comes with GPU turbo as well!
With the CPU running at its peak capacity, there’s always the question of heating. Honor is taking care of this issue as well, by adding a “PC level liquid cooling system” called “THE NINE” liquid cooling technology. The tech involves using a liquid cooling tube similar to the MacBook Air and can enhance heat dissipation capacity by 41% and reduce the maximum CPU temperature by up to 10 degrees celsius. That’s pretty impressive!
Coming to the other Honor Note 10 specs, the phone features the flagship Kirin 970 processor with up to 8GB RAM option and a gigantic 5000mAh battery to keep you running for more than a day. The company claims that you can play wilderness action for up to 4.5 hours and king of glory for up to 6.5 hours at a stretch with this large battery on board. Charging the large battery isn’t an issue since the phone supports 5V 4.5A super fast charging that’ll ensure that it gets topped up in around 2 hours!
The Honor Note 10 is not all about gaming, it’s also a good option for office and business use. The phone supports 1080p wired as well as wireless projection. Given its large display, there’s also a split display mode.
Coming to the cameras, the Honor Note 10 has the same setup as the Honor 10 featuring a 16MP + 24MP f/1.8 dual cameras. So, the camera performance should be similar to the Honor 10 as well. However, the Note 10 comes with AIS (AI image stabilisation) technology which will also aid in improving night photography. There are other standard features such as scene recognition, different beauty mode for selfies and AI bokeh.
Honor Note 10: Price & Availability
The Honor Note 10 is priced as follows:
- 6GB + 64GB Price: 2799 yuan ($410),
- 6GB + 128GB Price: 3199 yuan ($468),
- 8GB + 128GB Price: 3599 yuan ($527).
The phone will go on sale via Huawei’s Vmall, Jd.com, Suning.com, and Tmall. First sale is on August 1 at 10:08AM in China.
Despite the similarities in the screen size, the Honor Note 10 and the Mi Max 3 are clearly aimed at different consumers. The Mi Max 3 is more of a budget option (~$250) for large screen lovers while the Honor Note 10 is more of a complete entertainment package (~$400) with better display, audio and gaming experience, at a higher price tag.
