The ‘Notched display’. That might soon be a thing of the past and in record time. Honor had teased us with its all-new display but it’s another thing when you see this device up close. The View 20 sits at the top of the Honor line-up in India and it rides heavily on its brilliant display. Honor’s premium smartphones have often found themselves in the same price league as OnePlus devices and the View 20’s price point (Rs 37,999) clearly suggests that this device has its sights on the OnePlus 6T. Comparisons with OnePlus’ current flagship are therefore inevitable.
In 2018 we saw Honor unleash the View 10 and the Honor 10, two devices that really scored with their aesthetics. Especially the Honor 10 with its standout, iridescent design where blue and purple come together. The View 20 builds on it with a gorgeous glass back with a psychedelic V pattern and is bound by a premium aluminium frame. The new Honor logo occupies pride of place in the bottom of the rear. Aside from Honor’s favourite shades of blue, the device also comes in a choice of a sedate Midnight Black. The device is all premium and the display grabs your attention almost instantly. While the 6T and the newer Vivo P15 Pro are among the sub Rs 40,000 devices that boast of in-display fingerprint sensors, the View 20 sticks with a rear fingerprint sensor. It’s responsive and easy to locate though. We’re also relieved to see the 3.5mm headphone jack at a time when it is fast disappearing from premium smartphones
Honor’s hole-punch display uses up a tiny dot that’s easy to ignore for the front-facing camera and that’s it. What you get is a mighty impressive screen: body ratio that betters competing devices like the OnePlus 6T with its tiny, teardrop style bezel. While the 6T boasts of deep blacks and vibrant colours in its Super AMOLED display, the 6.4-inch display (1080 x 2310 pixels / 398 PPI) of the View 20 is no slouch with vivid colours. The device’s all-screen form factor is a joy for Videos or gaming. It feels quite good in your hand and you can reach all corners of the screen effortlessly with one hand.
At the heart of the View 20 is the HiSilicon Kirin 980, the same processor that we experienced on Huawei’s current flagship (the Mate 20 Pro). There’s 6GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal storage, specs it shares with the base variant of the OnePlus 6T. It’s enough firepower for everyday tasks and power users. The View 20 blazed through our tests, while the 4000 mAh battery is quite impressive too. Honor has sweetened the battery deal with fast charging that should get you up to 50% in 30 minutes flat.
One Plus’ 2018 devices also succeeded thanks to big leaps in the camera department. The View 20 takes a different approach with a 48MP rear cam that combines with a Time of Flight (TOF) sensor that offers 3D capabilities and enhancements for portrait mode. This also impacts low light photography. The 25MP selfie cam should please most selfie fiends especially those who don’t mind AI corrections on days when they’re not looking their best. Honor’s new Magic 2.0 UI has some useful tweaks but is quite heavily skinned. It’s clearly not for those who like a pureplay version of Android,
The Rs 35,000 – 40,000 price band that lies below the premium flagship space is getting more fiercely competitive by the day. The Honor View 20 makes a strong case in this segment with a premium build, a stunning display and a camera that does well in most scenarios. It has the hardware and the battery power to get stuff done.
The Honor View 20 costs Rs 37,999 and comes in Sapphire Blue, Midnight Black and Phantom Blue.
