Honor is a subsidiary smartphone manufacturer from Huawei, and Honor 20 Pro released in Jul 2019 currently ranked top 4 in Dxomark smartphone competition. I wrote this article and listed out everything you need to know about Honor 20 family!
The smartphone industry gets super competitive since at least 4 famous Chinese companies joined this marathon, especially in 2018, including Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo.
The previous pioneers – Apple and Samsung got threated a lot due to the new faces from China. But I love to see the new innovation invented by Chinese manufacturers, they all bring some cool technologies for their own flagships.
Let’s follow Blablaphones for a better dive! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Product: Honor 20 Lite
Display: 6.21″ IPS LCD (1080 x 2340 pixels) 19.5:9 ratio (415 ppi density)
Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 710
RAM: 6 GB
Storage: 128 GB storage, microSD card slot(up to 1 TB)
Camera: 24.0 MP(PDAF) + 8.0 MP(ultrawide) + 2.0 MP(depth sensor)
Front Camera: 32.0 MP(HDR)
Battery: 3,400 mAh and Fast battery charging 10W
Colors: Phantom Blue, Phantom Red, Magic Night Black
Other Features: Fingerprint (rear-mounted)
Released: Apr 2019
(There are blue, red, black color to choose for Honor 20 Lite.)
Product: Honor 20
Display: 6.26″ IPS LCD (1080 x 2340 pixels) 19.5:9 ratio (412 ppi density)
Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 980
RAM: 6 GB
Storage: 128 GB storage, no card slot
Camera: 48.0 MP(PDAF, wide) + 16.0 MP(ultrawide) + 2.0 MP(macro camera) + 2.0 MP(depth sensor)
Front Camera: 32.0 MP(HDR)
Battery: 3,750 mAh and Fast battery charging 22.5W (50% in 24 mins)
Colors: Sapphire Blue, Midnight Black, Icelandic white
Other Features: Fingerprint (side-mounted)
Released: Jun 2019
(From Honor 20 to 20 Pro, both get a FOUR-camera set.)
Product: Honor 20 Pro
Display: 6.26″ IPS LCD (1080 x 2340 pixels) 19.5:9 ratio (412 ppi density)
Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 980
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: 256 GB storage, no card slot
Camera: 48.0 MP(PDAF, wide, OIS) + 16.0 MP(ultrawide) + 2.0 MP(macro camera) + 8.0 MP(telephoto, OIS, 3x optical zoom)
Front Camera: 32.0 MP(HDR)
Battery: 4,000 mAh and Fast battery charging 22.5W (50% in 30 mins)
Colors: Phantom Blue, Phantom Black, Icelandic Frost
Other Features: Fingerprint (side-mounted)
Released: Jul 2019
(Honor 20 Pro gets 111 scorings on Dxomark which ranks currently #4 on the list!)
Design & Display
The dewdrop display on Honor 20 Lite which we saw quite often as Samsung Galaxy A series this year, “Infinity-U” or “Infinity-V” by Samsung’s term.
With the dewdrop which houses the front camera, the screen-to-body ratio reaches 19.5:9 on Honor 20 Lite. The back of Honor 20 comes with gradient colors, so it will show thousands of different colors if you flip it around.
For Honor 20 & 20 Pro, they look more flagship style with a hole-punching design on the top left corner. It’s also something we saw from Samsung Galaxy S10 family earlier this year.
Honor’s back design is based on the aurora we see from the dark sky, so it gives a feeling of cold but shines in different lights. As for Honor 20 Pro, it’s called “holographic design” that creates different lights with multi-dimensional reflections.
Between many colors from Honor 20 Lite to Honor 20, I love midnight black on Honor 20 which does deliver a low-profile and premium taste!
Camera
It’s quite exciting that an entry phone from Honor 20 family comes with a triple camera set which we only see in flagships in the past.
The triple camera set of Honor 20 Lite is 24.0 MP(PDAF) + 8.0 MP(ultrawide) + 2.0 MP(depth sensor), and it has all the feature that we want for a camera.
But, since Apple’s portrait mode, Google’s night sight, and Samsung’s ultrawide are deeply embedded in our mind. It’s a pitty that I didn’t see much Honor-only on Honor 20.
I think Honor 20 Lite should be highly promoted by its front camera with 32.0 MP for any perfect selfie you want!
There are also beauty modes to boost the result for your selfie. I find some of them very interesting, such as oily glare removal, acne removal, and teeth whitening, etc.
(There are at least 10 beauty modes of Honor 20 Lite to work together with the 32.0 MP.)
Macro Camera
For Honor 20 & 20 Pro, I do see one more “Macro Camera” added which makes both phones are with 4-camera set. This is my FIRST time to know this implementation on a smartphone.
I like Honor thinks outside the box and goes a different way compared to other competitors. I know Huawei Mate 20 has a “super macro mode” as a feature by default in the native camera app.
This time, they did the experiment on Honor product line to add one macro camera to enhance the result. It could be used for a very closed-up shot for anything, expect to see more creative use of this macro camera!
PS. Macro photography means you take photos in an extreme close-up distance, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects or some footages we see often in Discovery Channel.
(Honor 20 Pro gets a 2.0 MP macro camera which allows you to take photos in an extreme close-up distance.)
Dxomark
Shortcut by Dxomark review:
-Photo-
- Pros: accurate autofocus, good dynamic range in most conditions,
- Cons: soft image edges, lack of fine detail in bright light
-Video-
- Pros: efficient stabilization, good detail in bright light and indoor scenes
- Cons: loss of detail in low light
Check out the real test from Dxomark:
Fingerprint unlock
In the era of on-screen fingerprint sensor or you call it scanner, three Honor 20 phones only equip with the traditional fingerprint scanner on the back(Honor 20 Lite) & side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the power button.
I like they still keep this traditional fingerprint sensor instead of the latest under-display fingerprint scanner.
I feel sometimes this traditional of unlocking process is faster than the current latest on-screen fingerprint scanner with more accuracy and hard to hack.
(Honor 20 Lite gets the rear fingerprint scanner while the other two have side-mounted fingerprint sensors.)
Performance & Battery
GPU Turbo 2.0 takes Honor 20 Lite to improve its gaming experience for a better graphic processing and smoother speed while GPU Turbo 3.0 takes both Honor 20 and 20 Pro up to the next level.
This is mainly due to the very first 7nm Mobile AI Chipset – Kirin 980 chip made by Huawei! It upgrades 46% the overall GPU performance and 178% power efficiency.
For the battery, 3,400 mAh for Honor 20 Lite. 3,750 mAh for Honor 20. 4,000 mAh for Honor 20 Pro. I cannot help but to mention the best battery so far in 2019 I see in the market is ASUS zenfone 6’s 5,000 mAh battery.
Highly recommend other competitors to catch up for this huge battery, then we finally could leave powerbank or charger at home.
Downsides
Top#01 Huawei Ban in the USA
As we know that Huawei is banned by USA president earlier this year as the victim of the trade war between USA and China, then it gets loose based on the words from Donald Trump Jul’19.
Donald Trump might cancel it soon and allow major semiconductor and chip company continue to support Huawei, but it’s still on the blacklist. It has a high risk that we cannot use Android and Google services if we buy a Huawei or Honor phones in the near future or tomorrow onward.
So, it might be useless once the ban is officially executed in the USA. If it happens, I assume you need other budget phones again!
But if you are in China, you could still try Huawei’s new operating system called “Harmony OS”, it’s just the beginning that an OS connects all internet of things at our home.
check out this introduction:
Top#02 Personal Privacy Issue
I know it’s a cliche that all Chinese smartphone companies will eventually work for its country, to expose all the users’ data to the government. But, there is no proof that could show any pieces of evidence on this concern so far.
Just keep this in mind, Honor’s mother company is Huawei which is the Top 2 smartphone manufacturer in the world. If you care about personal privacy so much, I suggest you go for iPhones or Google Pixels.
Top#03 Bulge
There are noticeable bulges of the camera on all the Honor 20 family, I don’t blame it since we always want a better camera than the previous year. Just buy a beautiful case should be ok to cover this!
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Conclusion
I love the innovation that Honor brings to the world – a new macro camera. It’s something that we don’t see quite often in the industry led by Apple, Samsung, and Google so far.
The concept for an entry phone gets a triple camera set will be implemented in Samsung’s next A series next year. It looks like Honor and Huawei run one year earlier than Samsung.
I hope Google, Samsung or Apple could run faster for the competition and introduce more amazing features which will blow our minds again like Steve Jobs used to do in the launch event.
I hope you enjoyed this review and if you have any questions about Honor 20 or want to leave your own personal review, leave a comment below.
(All Photos: Honor)
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Honor 20 Pro
USD$549.99
They look like really good looking phones from what I can see from the images – very modern in appearance and design.
This new camera setup also looks pretty impressive, and I’m wondering if there are any separate apps recommended for editing purposes with this macro camera lens – do you know of any that will enhance this new camera setting?
Hi Chris,
Yeah, I use VivaVideo 7.0 for video editing, and it offers some purchase in apps which are pretty awesome!
Hello, Matt Lin :),
This is a nice review on the honor 20 Pro and I am glad I came across it as I am looking to change my phone and I am currently researching options.
I love the Honor 20 Pro as you really wrote on every single question I had in mind. I am most impressed by the battery capacity on this phone.
Hi there,
Glad you like it, I hope you enjoyed it.
Honor 20 Pro is such a great phone that ranks top#4 in the Dxomark’s smartphone list.
I love that Huawei also did some interesting experiments on Honor and use all the feedback on Huawei’s flagship. 🙂 🙂 🙂
This is one very nice phone I must say.
The specs are very much beyond what anyone would expect. I’ve often had eyes on just iPhones and Samsung but my interest is shifting already at the sight of this phone.
I’m already in love with it. Such camera would be as good as someone’s eyes. A real great phone!
Hi Dane,
Since 2018, Huawei chased iPhone & Samsung at a light-year pace, now it’s the number 2 smartphone manufacturer in the world.
You could also check my review on Huawei P20 family too, it’s also a great phone too.
Hi, your review on honor 20 Huawei product is an honest review I really love the description of the camera and the side fingerprint unlocking features, your post also discuss everything I need to know before buying a phone and this makes your post educating.
My next phone will be this phone and am going to share your post in the phone technology group that I belong for everyone to learn from your post.
Hi AmDetermined,
Thanks for the feedback on my review of Honor 20 Pro, I think it’s a really good phone with a powerful camera. You might check here for more details. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I love the design of the camera! Luckily I’m living in Europe where the phones are still welcome to be sold.
And about the probability of the information being leaked to others… I’m quite sure they already know who you are in numerous countries. Look at Facebook who has been selling our information for years. So not too worried about it with the phone to be honest.
I will definitely keep this one in mind for my next one. Although I’m not always so fond of Chinese manufacturing…
Hi Virendra,
Yeah, I am glad you live in Europe, it’s great that you still could purchase a Honor phone in your region.
If you are fond of Chinese, maybe you could check my other review on Huawei P20 or Mate 20 series, they are both great too.
With the growth in social media activities especially Instagram, the camera specs are the first thing one would check when buying a phone.
Honor 20 Pro has nailed it on that side and I hope the features I read wouldn’t be different from what the real phone is.
The specs have however gotten my attention…will add it to my list of phones. In fact, this is going to push the competitors to release new models with insane features…
Hope to see how they also respond to this new technology packed in Honor 20 Pro. Very helpful information for my decision making…..thank you!
Hi DerrAd,
Yes, you got the point. I think most people buy a phone for the camera performance since Facegram are getting so popular these years.
That’s also my first attention on a smartphone in recent years. I am glad you like my review on Honor 20 Pro, and I suggest you also read my review on Huawei P20 & Mate 20 family too.
These new generation phones are very good to look at, and having a lot of innovations, and features that we have not seen before.
It is interesting to see, that the four Chinese phone companies have come to the fore, to challenge the old leaders. Apple and Samsung, to sharpen up the competition in this new era.
It is a shame for Huawei that their phones are banned in the United States, which will reduce its market share, but it will still have a good, slice of the market with china, will this ban extend to other Chinese phones, as well?
Hi Robert,
Thanks for stopping by and leave your feedback on Honor 20 Pro, and I believe Huawei ban in the USA is because of its involvement for 5G development in many countries of the world.
As for the rest Chinese smartphone companies like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo, I think currently they won’t be affected. But, who knows tomorrow?
For the old leaders like Samsung & Apple, I am still a huge fan for their flagship. You are welcome to read more on my review on Samsung Galaxy Note 10. 🙂 🙂 🙂