Honor 20: smartphone review

HONOR 20: smartphone review
Specifications of HONOR 20
HONOR 20 photo review
HONOR 20. Conclusions

Learn the price of Honor 20 The HONOR brand is well known to us. We observed its separation into an independent unit within the HUAWEI company, as well as an unprecedented take-off. The flagships of HONOR have always pleased and surprised us. So, the “eight” turned out to be the brightest smartphone, whose blue color has become a kind of quality mark for the brand. HONOR 9 review is still popular and remains one of the most read on our site, if we talk about smartphones. HONOR 10 with flickering colors also received the title of national flagship, a huge number of readings and views on our YouTube channel . We think it’s clear that we and you are waiting for the new flagship HONOR. Unfortunately, the picture was overshadowed by US sanctions on HUAWEI, but nevertheless smartphones were announced and the start of sales in Russia of the younger model, too. By the way, the HONOR 20 Pro is also expected to be on sale in mid-summer. So what are waiting for the news ... Today we will talk about the smartphone HONOR 20, which is a little easier. The difference between the flagships is small and, in fact, lies in the different configuration of RAM and storage, in addition, the 20 Pro has a larger battery capacity. Another difference is the main camera unit. The HONOR 20 does not have a zoom lens, in its place there is a camera responsible for determining the depth of the scene. Let's explore the HONOR 20 camera in more detail.

The 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 1/2-inch sensor, familiar to us from the flagship Xiaomi and Redmi Note 7, the OPPO Reno line and the HONOR View 20 smartphone, as well as other devices. This camera is equipped with a wide-angle lens with an equivalent focal length of 28 mm and an aperture of F1.8. There is phase detection autofocus, LED flash and no optical image stabilization;
16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with an equivalent focal length of 13 mm. The size of the sensor is 1 / 3.1 inches, and the lens aperture is equal to F2.2;
2-megapixel camera, responsible for determining the depth of the scene and working in the "Aperture" and "Portrait" modes;
2 megapixel camera with a 27 mm macro lens (equiv.). Its aperture is F2.4.

The resolution of the front camera, which is located directly on the screen, is 32 megapixels. Its aperture is equal to F2.0.

Specifications of HONOR 20
Screen	6.26 ?, IPS, 1080 × 2340 pixels, 19.5: 9, 412 ppi
CPU	eight-core Kirin 980, 7 nm, 2.6 GHz
RAM	6 GB
Built-in memory	128 GB
Memory card	not
SIM	dual SIM support
Main camera	48 MP, Sony IMX586, 1/2 ?, F1.8, 28 mm (equiv.) PDAF, LED flash + 16 MP, 1 / 3.1 ”, F2.2, 13 mm (equiv.) + 2 MP , F2.4, sensor for determining the scene depth + 2 MP, F2.4, 27 mm (equiv.), Macro
Front-camera	32 MP, F2.0
The fingerprint scanner	side, in the power button
Communications	Support for 4G LTE networks, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (dual band), Bluetooth 5.0, infrared, NFC, USB-C
Geolocation	A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS
Audio jack	not
Battery	3750 mAh non-removable, fast charging supported

HONOR 20 photo review

Shooting in good light on modern smartphones is a pleasure. Most devices do not experience any problems, and all cameras give a decent result. Note that in this test, pictures with double zoom will appear. The fact is that in the absence of optical zoom, engineers and developers have not forgotten about the technology of hybrid zoom, which is "run in" on several flagships of HONOR. So though hybrid, but there is a zoom. Honestly, it was even a discovery for us that this is not a dedicated zoom camera, but a hybrid zoom. Images are obtained with high quality, with high detail and the correct color reproduction. However, it is worth noting that there is a re-sharpening on one hundred percent crop and even some “gruel”, which is manifested due to processing algorithms. In most cases, it does not affect the overall quality, but sometimes it is quite noticeable.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/3115 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Installations: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/2008 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/469 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/4785 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Installations: ISO 50, F1.8, -294967296/1000000000 s, 52.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/544 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

Both the ordinary lens and the super wide angle worked well in this scenario. The second one shows that there is less detail, and there are distortions at the edges of the frame. It is also worth noting the wide dynamic range of the device. By the way, we always shot with AI turned on, which selected the settings for the scene. The scenes “Clouds”, “Sky”, “Architecture” most often appear in the city.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/327 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Installations: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/2141 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/286 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

As we know, the smartphone has a dedicated camera to determine the depth of the scene. It has been tested in portrait mode and aperture mode. And here, frankly, we were disappointed - after all, from a dedicated camera you expect better work, there are obvious errors in determining the contours of the object. It turns out that past generations of HONOR in the “Aperture” mode managed one or two ordinary cameras at least as well.

YAL-L21 Installations: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/502 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F0.95, 1/126 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

Having dealt with this scenario, we went to shoot in rooms with artificial lighting (metro stations and shopping centers). The camera continued to work confidently, but we again noted oversharp, noticeable on one hundred percent crop and “pulp” on complex textures. In addition, the shopping center has problems with white balance.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/1458 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/855 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 100, F1.8, 1/120 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F1.8, 1/185 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 200, F2.2, 1/50 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 100, F2.2, 1/60 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Installations: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/216 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 50, F2.2, 1/278 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

Indoors, we continued to switch to double hybrid zoom; Still, this particular lens is not enough in the configuration of many modern smartphones. We noted this in the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom review, which also has a hybrid 2x zoom.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 160, F1.8, 1/120 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 200, F1.8, 1/120 s, 52.0 mm equiv.

A few words are worth saying about the macro camera that appeared here. It allows you to make high-quality images from a distance of just a few centimeters. True, its resolution is not very high, and it is not entirely clear how popular such a use case is.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 500, F2.4, 1/26 s, 27.0 mm equiv.

In the dark, the smartphone also behaved very confidently, despite the lack of optical image stabilization. Here it should be remembered that it was HUAWEI that was one of the first to introduce night mode, or multi-exposure shooting. Artificial intelligence, electronic stabilization - everything works fine here, the pictures are obtained at a very high level. Moreover, as in the case of the HUAWEI P30 Pro, you can switch to night mode, getting a high-quality result in a few seconds, or trust the artificial intelligence of the device. In this case, the camera will either switch to night mode automatically, which will inform you, or take at least a high-quality photo in an instant.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 640, F1.8, 1/50 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

Unfortunately, it was not without oversharpening and “pulp”. But it would be strange to expect a different result, because we noted similar shortcomings in all scenarios. By the way, an ultra-wide-angle lens does its job worse at night: spurious glare appears here, lower aperture and resolution of the matrix affect it.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 640, F1.8, 1/33 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 640, F2.2, 1/25 s, 17.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 250, F1.8, -1294967296/500000000 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 500, F1.8, 1/50 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

YAL-L21 Settings: ISO 250, F1.8, 1/50 s, 26.0 mm equiv.

It is worth noting that here you can shoot with manual settings in RAW format on both a conventional camera and an ultra wide angle. Thus, the post-processing capabilities are even greater. Let us briefly say about the front camera, which is hidden right on the screen, in a special recess. Its resolution is 32 megapixels, and the lens aperture is equal to F2.0. This camera does an excellent job. Here, by default, even in portrait mode, background blur is disabled and beauty is twisted to zero. At the same time, it seems to really turn off, which was not previously. But to be sure, you can switch to auto mode.

HONOR 20. Conclusions

HONOR 20 is another example of a national flagship from a brand we know. However, he does not surprise at all. That is, everything is fine, but there is no WOW effect, and this makes us a little sad. On the other hand, is it possible to expect shock from a smartphone whose main goal and mission are great opportunities for a reasonable price? The camera in the hole on the display does not look very original, and the main chip can most likely be called an ultrafast fingerprint scanner on the side. It works accurately and lightning fast, sometimes it even seems that the smartphone just did not have time to lock. So, for the first time, the flagship of HONOR does not cause shock, while remaining an excellent solution for its money: a case made of glass and metal, a top processor and a large amount of memory, support for all modern communication standards, a large battery, high-quality screen and a universal camera. Among the obvious disadvantages, it is worth noting the lack of a 3.5 mm audio jack and wireless charging. Well, we again received a truly national flagship with all the consequences. Yes, he is too ordinary, but good enough! It is well assembled, firmly knocked down, powerful and lives long, and it also has an excellent camera.

Pros:

large and high-quality display;
universal camera;
excellent night work;
high-quality selfie camera in the hole in the screen;
top-end and modern power;
high autonomy;
lightning fast operation of the fingerprint scanner on the side;
high-quality assembly and good design.

Minuses:

digital zoom only;
no optical image stabilization;
low resolution macro;
peresharp and "gruel" on one hundred percent crop;
no stereo speakers;
there is no 3.5 mm audio jack;
there is no way to put a microSD memory card;
there is no oleophobic coating on the display, protected by the factory film (can be removed);
no wireless charging.

Learn the price of Honor 20