The interesting thing about the smartphones in India is choice. It is probably after China the most diverse market. In more ways than one, it is more diverse than even China because all global players have a rather level playing ground. Even with biggies like Apple, Samsung, we have a 5-year-old company like OnePlus dominating the premium segment of the market which is typified with products above Rs 30,000. So that brings me to another player — Honor — which by the way is owned by Huawei the parent of the second largest smartphone brand in the world. Its latest phone, the View 20, is unique and possibly the best smartphone you can buy if you’re looking to spend upwards of Rs 30,000, but it is a flawed beast.
Why you should consider it?
- It boasts super fast performance thanks to the Kirin 980 processor. Possibly is the fastest Android smartphone in the market right now.
- It provides a true full-screen experience with the first punch-hole selfie camera in the market. Honor also implements the gesture controls very nicely hence taking full advantage of the full-screen experience.
- Its rear 48-megapixel camera is paired with a secondary camera and the results are superb. Be it daytime or night time, the phone takes great pictures and also good video with clear audio capture.
- The battery life is incredible with the 4,000mAh battery. It is one of the first flagship phones to provide true two-day battery life coupled with fast charging.
- It looks super cool with its glossy metallic finish and light-catching chevron Vs on the back. There is nothing like it.
- Call quality is superb on this phone. Possibly the best on a smartphone in India likewise is the network performance. That could be a tie-in with Huawei’s legacy of building the best network infrastructure and optimising it for its phones which use its own modems.
What are the issues?
- Even though it is very fast, the software is ugly and with heavy-handed animations way further coupled with lots of apps that are basically duplicates of core Google services. This gives phones like the OnePlus 6T an advantage in real-world usage.
- The portrait mode on the camera isn’t great. It doesn’t detect objects and its night mode often takes over-saturated photos.
- The Honor brand isn’t cool like OnePlus so people may not want a rather unknown brand. Huawei’s woes in the US and insinuations of it being a Chinese mole make also a hard-sell for corporate clients. It has a bad PR game.
- Its colour scheme may be too loud for some people who like minimalistic stuff. The finish also makes the phone very slippery to hold and a smudge magnet.
- Haptic feedback isn’t great on this phone. This is a persistent problem with Huawei & Honor phones. If you type a lot on this phone, you’re not going to enjoy doing a lot of work on it.
All in all, this is really impressive phone with a couple of flaws. If those issues are fixed or overlooked, this makes for a fantastic smartphone. It can be purchased from Amazon India starting at Rs 37,999.
