Honor 20: tips, tricks and hidden features

Honor 9X

• smartphone with Android 9.0
• screen 6.59″, resolution 2340×1080
• dual camera 48 MP/2 MP, autofocus
• memory 128 GB, memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 4 GB
• battery 4000 mAh

The rating of Honor smartphones opens with a gadget whose main highlight is the presence of a retractable camera. It runs on the Kirin 710 chipset, and the Mali-G51 MP4 video accelerator with Turbo 3.0 allows players to play the most popular games such as PUBG Mobile, Vainglory, Arena of Valor, NBA 2K18, at low and medium graphics settings.

The screen with an IPS matrix has a high contrast ratio of 1285:1 and good white balance. Graininess and dullness, which are often the fault of inexpensive mobile phones, were not noticed in this model.

On the back of the device there is a dual camera (48 MP main sensor + sensor for creating bokeh effect) with AIS Super Night mode, designed to improve the quality of shooting in low light. Hidden on the front panel is a 16-megapixel pop-up camera with an f/2.2 aperture, which pops up automatically when you use portrait or selfie mode.

Honor 9X is equipped with a 4000 mAh battery with standard charging of 5 V / 2 A. According to reviews from smartphone owners, with the most active use, its autonomy lasts for a whole day.

Pros : there is a standard headphone jack, a case is included, you can make contactless payments, which the older Premium model cannot boast of.

Cons : no notification LED, no fast charging.

Huawei Honor 8 results in AnTutu Benchmark

In the popular AnTuTu benchmark, the Huawei Honor 8 smartphone scores an average of about 125,512 points. This figure, like all those given below, was taken from the official website of the developer of this software.

Comparison with other smartphones from the ratings of different years

The rating of devices on the official AnTuTu website is updated once a month. Old data is available via Web Archive.

Top

Honor 9A

• smartphone with Android 10
• screen 6.3″, resolution 1600×720
• three cameras 13 MP/5 MP/2 MP, autofocus
• memory 64 GB, memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 3 GB
• battery 5000 mAh

One of the new Honor smartphones has three important advantages:

1. Availability of an NFC chip for making contactless payments.
2. An excellent battery, the capacity of which can be the envy of many smartphones with a good camera and battery.
3. Low price.

However, for the sake of cost, the manufacturer still had to sacrifice something. Namely:

1. Fast charging.
2. Complete set. There is no case, it’s good that at least they put a protective film on the screen.
3. The quality of the screen, which has only 278 ppi, and the resolution is not impressive. But at the same time, it is quite bright and without any ugly “unibrows”, but only with a small droplet in which the front camera is hidden.

An important point: this model does not support Google Play, instead there is a branded App Gallery store.

The inexpensive but good Honor smartphone works smoothly and quickly thanks to the MediaTek Helio P22 processor. Not the best option for heavy gaming, but for casual gaming sessions and everyday tasks it is an excellent choice.

As for the photo and video capabilities, this model pleasantly surprises in this regard. It received a triple rear camera with a wide-angle module and an auxiliary sensor to create a high-quality bokeh effect. So choose good lighting conditions and your photo will be beautifully detailed, without annoying oversharpening or artifacts.

Pros : fast fingerprint scanner, face unlock, separate memory card slot, you can connect wired headphones via a 3.5 mm audio jack.

Cons : outdated charging connector.

Preparation

Before proceeding with the Honor 8A firmware directly, it is highly advisable to complete some preparatory steps. This will allow you to correctly choose the method of reinstalling the EMUI operating system that controls the device, and carry out the procedure as quickly and safely as possible with respect to the device, as well as the user data stored in it.

Modifications of Honor 8A

To determine the applicability of a particular method of reinstalling a mobile OS to your existing copy of Honor 8A, you need to find out its modification. There are four variants of the model in question: JAT-LX1 , JAT-L21 , JAT-L41 , JAT-L29 . The easiest way to find out what index the device is characterized by is perhaps by looking at its back panel - the data we are interested in is indicated here in small print and designated “Model”.

Among other things, the modification of the device is displayed in the “Settings” of the mobile OS that controls its operation. Open EMUI settings, go to System section

and tap “About phone”. On the screen that opens, you will find the necessary information - this is the value of the “Model” item.

The rest of the article discusses Honor 8A with model index JAT-LX1 . At the same time, owners of other modifications of the device can use the following instructions “Method 1”, “Method 2” and “Method 3” without any problems or fears. As for “Method 4”, it can be used for modifications of Honor 8A other than JAT-LX1, but you will need to independently find the appropriate firmware package for your device version. “Method 5,” which involves restoring the functionality of devices with seriously damaged software, is suitable exclusively for JAT-LX1!

PC Software

In most cases, using a computer as a tool for flashing the firmware of the phone model in question is not required. Those who prefer this particular option for interacting with the system software of a mobile device, as well as in cases where the tools available on the device itself are not applicable or ineffective, will need to use one of the programs listed below for Windows.

Huawei HiSuite

Software from the manufacturer of Honor 8A, called HiSuite , will allow you to backup the data accumulated in the device’s memory, update the model’s operating system, as well as reinstall it and roll back to an older EMIU build than is currently installed. To obtain the program on your PC and connect a mobile device to it, follow these steps:

1. Go to the software download section of the HUAWEI official website using the following link:
   Download HUAWEI HiSuite APP from the official website
2. Click on the “Download for Windows” button.
3. If necessary, specify the path to save the HighSuit distribution.

   Wait until the archive with the installer is downloaded.

4. Unpack the received package

   HiSuite_10.0.0.510_OVE.exe file contained in it .

5. Click “Next” in the first window of the HiSuite Installation Wizard

   and then "Allow" in the second.

6. Wait until the program files are copied to the PC disk.
7. Click “Start” in the final window of the HiSuit installer.

   Subsequently, you can access the capabilities of the installed software by opening the “HiSuite” shortcut that appears on the Windows Desktop.

8. After opening HiSuite, connect the running Android Honor 8A to the PC. On your mobile device, select the “File Transfer” USB connection mode.
9. In the manager window on your computer, under the request to install the Android version of the program, click “OK”.
10. As a result of pairing the smartphone and computer in the above order, the HiSuite mobile client will be deployed and launched on the first one, tap “NEXT” and then “ACCEPT” on the screens it displays.
11. Give the program access to all Android modules required to perform its functions -
    click “ALLOW” under requests received from the mobile OS.
12. Next, the “Connection confirmation code” will be displayed on the Honor 8A screen:
    This code must be entered into the field of the window displayed by the program on the desktop.
13. Click on the “Connect” button next to the number combination input field.
14. Click “Allow” in the window asking you to provide access to the smartphone’s IMEI so that HiSuite can subsequently easily determine the availability of system software updates for your device.

SP Flash Tool

If serious problems arise with the Honor 8A system software, which are expressed in the fact that the smartphone stops showing any signs of life - “gets bricked” - we can say that the only way available at home to return the device to functionality is to carry out manipulations through a universal program for flashing MTK devices - SP Flash Tool.

Do not rush to equip your PC with the specified software at the preparatory stage - to work with the model in question, you will need a specific and specially configured version of it. To get started, you can get information about the capabilities of the tool and the general features of its functioning by reading the following article:

Honor 8S

• smartphone with Android 9.0
• screen 5.71″, resolution 1520×720
• 13 MP camera, autofocus
• memory 32 GB, memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, LTE-A, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
• RAM capacity 2 GB
• battery 3020 mAh

If you need a backup smartphone, a beautiful and easy-to-handle phone for your child, or just a no-frills device, the Honor 8S is a good choice.

Considering its unpretentious filling: MediaTek Helio P35 chip, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of flash memory, as well as a 3020 mAh battery, this model simply has nothing to surprise us. The single 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera shoot well, as long as you do it in normal lighting. Otherwise, there will be “soap” and artifacts in the photo.

But the Honor 8S can be bought for less than RUB 7,000, so you get exactly what you pay for.

Pros : there is a 3.5 mm audio jack, it fits comfortably even in a small palm, non-staining body, bright screen with good viewing angles.

Cons : no fast charging, no case included, low RAM.

Characteristics of Honor 8S

• Screen: IPS, 5.71″, HD+ (1520×720 px), 295 ppi, 19:9;
• Processor: Helio A22 (12 nm, 4 Cortex-A53 x 2 GHz), PowerVR GE8320 graphics;
• ROM: 32 GB (eMMC 5.1), microSD support up to 512 GB;
• RAM: 2 GB (LPDDR3);
• Main camera: 13 MP (f/1.8), flash, video 1080p/30fps
• Front camera: 5 MP (f/2.2), video 1080p/30fps;
• Battery: 3020 mAh;
• SIM: 2 x Nano-SIM;
• Communications: 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n);
• Connectors: microUSB (2.0, OTG);
• Security: Face Unlock;
• OS: Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9 shell;
• Dimensions: 147.1 × 70.8 × 8.45 mm, weight 146 g;
• Colors: black, blue, gold.

The price of Honor 8S in official Russian retail is 7,990 rubles; online the device can be found for a thousand and a half cheaper.

Honor 10

• smartphone with Android 8.1
• Dual SIM support
• screen 5.84″, resolution 2280×1080
• dual camera 16 MP/24 MP, autofocus
• memory 128 GB, without memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, LTE-A, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 4 GB
• battery 3400 mAh

This smartphone is a real find for those who don’t like shovel phones. It fits like a glove in a small palm. And thanks to the high screen resolution and decent brightness reserve, reading texts on the Honor 10 display is easy and pleasant even outdoors, on a sunny day.

The HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor is a representative of the respectable mid-range performance in the mobile world. It, of course, will not score as many “parrots” in the Antutu test as flagships, but it will run modern games at maximum or, in extreme cases, medium settings.

The main dual camera with AI technology takes excellent pictures even in automatic mode, and has many fine-tuning settings for shooting in manual mode. The front 24 MP camera has several degrees of beauty, so you can always take a beautiful selfie with good color rendition, and if necessary, with manual background blur.

Pros : beautiful design, event indicator light, 3.5 mm jack, fast charging, protective case included.

Cons : no wireless charging, fingerprint scanner does not always work the first time.

Review of the budget smartphone Honor 8C

Honor 8C is one of the most affordable solutions in Huawei's incredibly expanded family of smartphones produced under the Honor brand. The main advantage of this budget device is its excellent autonomy, which is what we rely on. However, in many other aspects this smartphone does not disappoint. We bring to your attention a complete review of one of the cheapest smartphones from the legendary Honor brand, officially presented on the Russian market at the moment.

Main characteristics of Honor 8C (model BKK-L21)

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 632, 8 cores: 4×Kryo 250 Gold @1.8 GHz + 4×Kryo 250 Silver @1.8 GHz
• GPU Adreno 506
• Operating system Android 8.1 (Oreo); EMUI 8.2
• Touch display IPS 6.26″, 1520×720 (19:9), 269 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 32/64 GB
• MicroSD support up to 256 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• GSM/WCDMA networks
• LTE networks (Cat.4) band 1, 3, 5, 8, 38—41
• GPS (A-GPS), Glonass, Galileo, BDS
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX
• No NFC
• Micro-USB 2.0
• 3.5 mm headphone audio output
• Main camera 13 MP (f/1.8) + 2 MP (f/2.4), autofocus, video 1080p (30 fps)
• Front camera 8 MP, f/2.0
• Proximity and lighting sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer
• Fingerprint scanner (rear)
• Battery 4000 mAh
• Dimensions 159×76×8 mm
• Weight 167 g

Appearance and ease of use

The design of Honor 8C is simple, there is no glass or metal here - the body is completely plastic. It is made in the form of a solid trough without a separate side frame.

The rather thin body has strongly rounded side edges, so it is difficult to hold in the hand. In addition, the plastic itself from which the case is made, although matte, is quite slippery. But it is not at all easily soiled: fingerprints on the surface of the case are practically invisible.

The smartphone is quite large in size, but at the same time thin and quite light. With its size and shape, it easily fits into any pockets. As for the coverage, then . And indeed: the matte surface resembles this ornamental stone, it also reflects the sun's rays and shimmers, but not brightly.

The two cameras, located separately from each other on the back side, do not protrude much, so the device lying on the table does not sway when you touch the screen and lies stable.

On the front panel there is an LED event indicator, which, with the current fashion for a small teardrop-shaped or completely absent cutout, many, unfortunately, have already begun to forget about. On the other hand, the cutout at the top of the screen, which also contains the front camera with its own LED flash and the earpiece, is quite wide.

The side keys are large, but tactilely and in texture they do not differ: both are smooth. They are installed on one side.

The card slot is embedded in the opposite side, and it is not hybrid: you can simultaneously install two Nano-SIM cards and one memory card in it. Hot swapping of cards is supported.

At the bottom end, the USB port is represented by an outdated and asymmetrical Micro-USB. The loudspeaker and conversational microphone are also located here.

The manufacturer also retained the 3.5 mm headphone output, located at the top end. Nearby you can find an additional microphone for the noise reduction system.

Honor 8C is available for sale in several color options: gold, blue, black, as well as purple, which is not available in Russian retail. The smartphone did not receive full protection from water and dust.

Screen

Honor 8C is equipped with an IPS display with dimensions of 68x143 mm with a diagonal of 6.26 inches, resolution - 1520x720 (aspect ratio 19:9), which gives a pixel density of about 269 ppi. The width of the frame on the sides is 3.5 mm, the margin at the bottom is 10 mm, at the top is 5 mm (not counting, of course, the “bangs”).

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Honor 8C, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Honor 8C is darker (brightness according to photographs is 118 versus 128 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Honor 8C screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. There is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen, but its effectiveness is worse than that of the Nexus 7. Still, fingerprints are easier to remove and do not appear as quickly as in the case of regular glass.

With manual brightness control and when the white field was displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 440 cd/m², the minimum was 3 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, something on the screen can be seen even on a sunny day outdoors. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment: with it the user can try to set the required brightness level in the current conditions. By default, in complete darkness, the screen brightness becomes too low (6 cd/m²). We slightly increased the brightness in complete darkness, as a result, for such conditions, the auto-brightness function began to reduce the brightness to 20 cd/m², in an artificially lit office (approximately 550 lux) it was set to 150 cd/m², in a very bright environment (corresponding to clear lighting during the day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increased to 440 cd/m². We were quite pleased with the result. It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shifts even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades (except for the darkest ones when deviating along one diagonal). For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Honor 8C and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

The smartphone has a slight decrease in brightness and a change in color tone towards the bottom edge of the screen (on the right in the photo).

And a test picture:

The colors on the Honor 8C screen are slightly more saturated. Further tests showed that this is due to slightly increased color contrast. The color balance between the Nexus 7 and our test screen is slightly different.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Honor 8C the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong highlighting of blacks. He also began to show signs of inverting dark shades.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed) and decreased approximately equally. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a slightly reddish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is formally poor:

But in fact, the black field is perceived as quite uniform due to the high contrast, which reaches about 1900:1. (In the photo above, for clarity, the backlight brightness of the Honor 8C is set to maximum.) The response time for the black-white-black transition is 24 ms (13 ms on + 11 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 43 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.25, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve slightly deviates from the power-law dependence:

We did not detect the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

Color gamut is close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

As a result, visually the colors on this screen would not differ from natural ones, but the result is slightly spoiled by a slight increase in color contrast. The balance of shades on the gray scale is a compromise, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) on part of the gray scale only slightly exceeds 10 units, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.

In the graphs above, the curves are Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr. — data obtained after shifting the point to the position indicated in the image above. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature approached the standard value and ΔE decreased. There is some benefit from such a correction, but the maximum brightness has decreased to 390 cd/m², and it is not an excess anyway; in addition, the nature of the obtained dependencies shows that the correction is performed digitally, which can lead to a decrease in the number of displayed shades. Note that this function is implemented as a tick option, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction, and the range is not enough to correct both ΔE and color temperature. It’s good that in this case there is a field for measuring color balance, and even then, it’s here by chance, since in this case there is no choice of color profile.

There is a fancy setting that allows you to reduce the intensity of the blue component.

Marketers tried to intimidate users in order to show the level of care of the manufacturer. Of course, the screen does not have any UV radiation (see spectrum above), and there is no eye fatigue caused specifically by blue light. In principle, bright light can lead to disruption of the circadian rhythm (see the article about the iPad Pro with a 9.7-inch display), but everything can be solved by adjusting the brightness to a comfortable level, and there is absolutely no way to distort the color balance, reducing the contribution of blue sense.

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, acceptable color balance and a color gamut close to sRGB. The disadvantages are a very weak oleophobic coating, low black stability to deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane, and slightly too high color contrast. In general, the screen is an inexpensive option on an IPS matrix.

Cameras

On the front panel, Honor 8C has a single camera with an 8-megapixel sensor resolution and an f/2.0 aperture lens. The shooting quality is very decent for a selfie camera. Perhaps the images lack rich colors and a wide dynamic range, but they are excellent in terms of detail and sharpness; there are no distortions that are unpleasant to the eye, even if you look at the pictures at full size.

The rear camera in the smartphone is double, but the second module is only a scene depth sensor, it is needed in order to implement the bokeh effect with blurring the background behind the object, and the camera does this perfectly. The main module has a sensor with a resolution of 13 megapixels and a lens with an f/1.8 aperture. There is no optical stabilization, the flash is very bright, and PDAF phase detection autofocus is not very fast, but adequate.

There is no optical zoom, but there is a button with a zoom icon on the viewfinder screen (without indicating the zoom factor).

regular 1×

maximum digital zoom normal 1×

maximum digital zoom

The camera is clearly not cutting-edge, its fight against noise ends in a draw at best, and when moving out of the sun into even a slight shade, the distortions become too noticeable. Because of this noise, the images have relatively low detail. On the other hand, when shooting flowers and other genres that allow you to have porridge instead of a background, the smartphone shows its best side.

The camera can shoot video at a maximum resolution of 1080p at 30 fps; there are no higher modes. There is, of course, no optical stabilization. The shooting quality is average. The only strong point is the bright picture, but oversharpening makes the picture crumbly, and the detailing is not as good as we would like. And under any conditions, the lack of stabilization has a negative impact. There are no complaints about the sound recording, the sound is bright and clear, without distortion.

Video examples:

• Video No. 1 (35 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 2 (51 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 3 (55 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

Telephone and communications

The Snapdragon 632 chipset that powers the smartphone includes an X9 LTE ​​modem, which theoretically provides data download speeds of up to 300 Mbps. However, the Honor 8C specifications indicate lower parameters: LTE Cat.4 150/50 Mbit/s. In most cases, this does not cause problems: even such a maximum speed is almost impossible to achieve. All the most common frequency ranges in Russia are supported. Within the city limits of the Moscow region, the device behaves confidently, maintains a 4G network, and quickly restores communication after a forced interruption.

The rest of the smartphone's communication capabilities are modest: only one Wi-Fi band is supported (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth is only version 4.2, and, what is especially unpleasant, there is no NFC module.

The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), Glonass, Galileo, and Chinese Beidou. During a cold start, the first satellites are detected instantly, and the positioning accuracy does not cause any complaints. The device has a magnetic compass, which is necessary for the operation of navigation programs.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. Methods for sorting and displaying contacts are standard for the Android interface.

In terms of telephone capabilities, the smartphone is excellent. In the conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor is recognizable, the sound is clear and intelligible, and the volume margin is maximum. It is also worth noting that the vibration alert is more powerful than most models. VoLTE supported.

The platform supports active standby of both SIM cards in 3G/4G simultaneously. That is, the SIM card can be in active standby on a 3G/4G network, and not just on 2G, even if another card is assigned to transmit data on 4G. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem.

Software and multimedia

The software platform uses Google Android version 8.1 and Huawei's own fast and well-optimized shell EMUI version 8.2. All these are not the latest versions, but the smartphone has not yet received any updates.

There is the possibility of face unlocking, but it is based on the front camera alone, which cannot provide the maximum level of protection. Recognition occurs even in complete darkness, albeit a little slower. To do this, the screen raises the brightness to the maximum level, illuminating the face when unlocking.

There is nothing special to say about the sound: there are no stereo speakers, but the only speaker sounds more or less clear and loud, although monotonous due to the lack of low frequencies. The situation is better with headphones; you can adjust the sound to suit your needs, but overall the sound is still average. There is a built-in FM radio.

Performance

Honor 8C received the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 SoC platform, which has 8 Kryo 250 processor cores (4 more productive and 4 less productive) with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz. The Adreno 506 GPU is responsible for processing graphics. The amount of RAM is 3 GB, and the built-in flash memory is 32 or 64 GB (initially about 25 GB is free in the case of 32 GB).

It is possible to expand the memory by installing microSD cards; you can also connect external flash drives in USB OTG mode.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 is a mid-range platform for mobile devices, made using a 14 nm process technology. This SoC does not belong to the upper middle segment and is noticeably inferior to the 700 series processors. This is an average level in every sense. In AnTuTu, the platform does not score more than 100 thousand points, but with high-quality Adreno 506 graphics and Vulkan API support, it can handle demanding games, although not at high graphics settings. This affects the visual comfort of games, but there are practically no complaints about performance.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Heat

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 15 minutes of fighting with a gorilla in the game Injustice 2 (this test is also used to determine autonomy in 3D games):

The heating is localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 43 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is slightly higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.

Playing video

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in a table (the device does not play 4K files):

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips have green ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect comfort viewing. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. True, something interferes with the smartphone when playing 720p and 1080p files at 60 frames per second - about once a second one frame is skipped and one is output with an increased duration. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly at the height of the screen (in landscape orientation), one to one pixel by pixel, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: all gradations of shades are distinguished in shadows and highlights. Note that this smartphone does not support hardware decoding of H.265 files with a color depth of 10 bits per color and HDR files.

Battery life

The battery installed in Honor 8C has a large capacity of 4000 mAh. A capacious battery, coupled with a low screen resolution and not the most powerful platform, provide the smartphone with maximum battery life in tests. However, in real life the device behaves the same way as most modern smartphones: it survives until evening charging, but you shouldn’t count on more.

Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted more than a day for more than a day until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device operates for up to 20 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work up to 6 hours, depending on the specific game.

From the included network adapter, the battery is filled within 3 hours with a current of 2 A at a voltage of 5 V (10 W). Wireless charging is not supported.

Bottom line

Honor 8C is sold in official Russian retail for 11 thousand rubles. A plastic body, an average screen, an average Qualcomm platform, average cameras, but excellent battery life - these are the main features of this affordable smartphone. In its budget segment, this is a rather interesting solution, but, of course, not without its drawbacks.

Honor 30

• smartphone with Android 10
• screen 6.53″, resolution 2400×1080
• four cameras 40 MP/8 MP/8 MP/2 MP, autofocus
• memory 128 GB, without memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 8 GB
• battery 4000 mAh

One of the most powerful Honor smartphones runs on the eight-core Hisilicon Kirin 985 chipset with support for fifth-generation networks and is equipped with a long-lasting battery with fast charging function. So this is definitely a top-tier phone in terms of core specs, and you shouldn't have any problems with day-to-day productivity and modern gaming.

The main camera shoots at 10 MP by default. To activate the 40 MP mode, you need to select the Hi-Res option in the camera settings. It has optical stabilization, and even in automatic mode it can take fairly clear and bright pictures even in poor lighting conditions thanks to the night mode. For advanced users, there is a Pro mode with many settings to improve the quality of photos.

However, there are no Google services in this smartphone.

Pros : juicy, very bright and contrasting OLED screen with a built-in fingerprint scanner, AOD available, high performance, beautiful design, case included.

Cons : no 3.5mm audio jack, no stereo speakers, no wireless charging.

Camera

The main camera in the smartphone is represented by a 13MP matrix, F/1.8 aperture and there is only one camera. I think perfectionists will appreciate this step! The camera settings are very simple and will not be difficult to figure out.

It is worth noting the fast and accurate autofocus and a fairly effective LED flash. The final images come out with slightly oversaturated colors, and there is also a lack of sharpness in the frame. But overall, for a budget smartphone, the camera takes pretty good pictures.

Panoramic shot

Video from the main camera can be recorded in FullHD at 30 frames per second. But it is worth considering that there is no optical stabilization. During shooting, there are problems with white balance, autofocus often jumps.

Night shots are more or less normal if there is a light source in the frame.

Front camera 8MP. There is no portrait mode at the software level. As you understand, there is no need to talk about the quality of night selfies. Videos can also be shot in FullHD format. The face unlock function is also available, it works quite accurately and quickly.

Honor 30 Pro+

• smartphone with Android 10
• screen 6.57″, resolution 2340×1080
• three cameras 50 MP/8 MP/16 MP, autofocus
• memory 256 GB, memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 8 GB
• battery 4000 mAh

Yes, this is not the cheapest Honor smartphone, but its price is justified by its capabilities. The screen with a fashionable cutout for a dual front camera (32MP + 8MP) and a high-quality OLED matrix has a refresh rate of 90 Hz. So watching movies and playing games on it is a complete visual pleasure.

The flagship HiSilicon Kirin 990 processor supports 5G networks and supports “performance mode,” which is said to be 8% faster. All games and heavy applications on the Honor 30 Pro+ run at maximum speed, without freezing or stuttering.

The smartphone comes with fast 40W charging, which powers the battery to 100% in one hour. There is also 7.5W wireless reverse charging and 27W wireless charging.

The main module of the rear camera has a maximum resolution of 50 MP, but when shooting it interpolates 4 in 1 pixels. The photos are as detailed as possible, without overexposure and with correct color rendition. Note that there is an excellent night mode, although the side effect of its aggressive “brightening” is a yellow tint.

Pros : 5x optical and 50x software zoom on the main camera, lightning-fast fingerprint scanner, case and Type-C-3.5 mm adapter included.

Cons : no Google services.

Honor View 30 Pro

• smartphone with Android 10
• screen 6.57″, resolution 2400×1080
• three cameras 40 MP/12 MP/8 MP, autofocus
• memory 256 GB, without memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 8 GB
• battery 4100 mAh

The Honor View 30 series is probably the closest to Huawei's flagship lineup. Its representatives are equipped with the “heart of flagships” - the Kirin 990 chipset with 5G connectivity and large batteries with 40 W fast charging.

The Honor View 30 Pro also offers a 40-megapixel camera for excellent low-light performance, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a dual selfie camera (32-megapixel and 8-megapixel ultra-wide).

There is one caveat, however: these devices lack Google Play Services. This means that without “dancing with tambourines” and reading specialized forums such as 4pda.ru, you will not be able to install the Play Store. However, the Honor View 30 Pro is one of the best Honor phones in terms of specifications.

Pros : there is wireless charging, long battery life, does not heat up during long-term photo or video shooting, instant unlocking using a fingerprint or face, one of the best cameras on a smartphone.

Cons : lack of Google services (including Google Pay, but you can set up contactless payment through Pay Wallet).

Honor 20 Lite

• smartphone with Android 9.0
• screen 6.15″, resolution 2312×1080
• three cameras 48 MP/8 MP/2 MP, autofocus
• memory 128 GB, memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, LTE-A, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 4 GB
• battery 3340 mAh

The top 3 best Honor smartphones of 2020 are opened by an inexpensive model with very attractive characteristics. It shares some of the features of its predecessor, the Honor 10 Lite, such as the 6.2-inch IPS LCD screen with a teardrop notch or thin bezels around the screen. But on the back side, an important difference from the 10 Lite is immediately noticeable - three photo sensors located vertically.

This model is far from the level of the best camera phone demonstrated in 2020 by the Huawei P40 Pro, but it takes quite high-quality photographs in terms of detail and color reproduction. However, in photographs taken in bright light, overexposure is sometimes noticeable.

Compared to the Honor 10 Lite, the specifications of the Honor 20 Lite are slightly improved. On the front side we will find an excellent 24 megapixel front camera, and under the hood there is a mid-range Kirin 710 processor, supported by 4 GB of RAM (hence 1 GB more than the 10 Lite), as well as a 3400 mAh battery with function fast charging.

Pros : availability of Google services, the ability to make contactless payments, fast and smooth interface.

Cons : no wireless charging, small battery capacity, camera module sticks out - but this is the problem with most modern models.

Huawei Honor 8C review: design, ergonomics

It's no secret that budget smartphones are often “dressed” in glass and metal. So, for example, Honor 6C, and even Honor 7C, had an aluminum body. But the back panel of the Honor 8C is made of plastic. Three colors were provided for her - black, golden and blue (which is what we got for the test).

Thanks to a new type of coating with a nanopattern that reflects light rays and shimmers, the artistic effect in the latest color is called “cat’s eye”. Alas, such plastic gets stained no worse than glass. If at first the device even looks elegant and doesn’t look like a budget employee, then, after some time, it looks rather unkempt (however, this is also the case with “glass” top models). During operation, the plastic surface will inevitably become covered with scratches, so this is unlikely to add any attractiveness to the Honor 8C.

Among the design features of the new product, which generally inherited the “family” design of Honor, it is worth noting that in a case less than 8 mm thick (7.98 mm) they managed to place a high-capacity battery (4,000 mAh). At the same time, the device weighs 167 g. In addition, thanks to the 19:9 aspect ratio and thinner frames than its predecessor, the display already occupies about 80% of the front surface of the smartphone.

Moreover, it is all covered with glass with a 2.5D effect (the manufacturer is not specified), on which a protective film is also applied.

A front camera lens with LED backlight, as well as proximity and light sensors, were assembled on a dark “bang” around the “talk” speaker. But the LED status indicator is hidden behind the decorative grille of the speaker.

On the “chin” under the display there was enough space for the chrome Honor logo. On-screen touch control buttons “Back”, “Home” and “Recent applications” are represented by “triangle”, “circle” and “square” icons. In the settings you can replace them with a virtual navigation key, and also add a navigation button.

The right edge traditionally features equally thin, but significantly different in size, volume rocker and power/lock button.

On the left edge there is a closed slot with a tray for three places, two of which are intended for nanoSIM subscriber identification modules, and one specifically for a microSD memory card.

At the top end there is a 3.5 mm connector for an audio headset and a hole for an additional microphone.

But at the bottom end, along with the microUSB connector, there was a decorative grille for the “multimedia” speaker, a hole for the “talk” microphone and a 3.5 mm audio headset connector.

The lenses of the rear photo module, together with the LED flash, are placed vertically at the top of the rear panel, closer to the left edge. At the same time, next to the photo module there is an inscription - “AI Camera”.

From another inscription, now at the bottom of the back panel, decorated with another Honor logo, you can find out the model number, company name and country of production.

Despite the relatively compact size of the Honor 8C with a “tall” 6.26-inch screen, the settings include a set of proprietary controls that allow you to more comfortably operate the smartphone with one hand.

Honor 20

• smartphone with Android 9.0
• screen 6.26″, resolution 2340×1080
• four cameras 48 MP/16 MP/2 MP/2 MP, autofocus
• memory 128 GB, without memory card slot
• 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• RAM capacity 6 GB
• battery 3750 mAh

The golden mean in price and performance among the best Honor smartphones. The model is quite compact thanks to the 6.24-inch IPS screen. As usual, the manufacturer has added stylized effects on the back to attract the attention of the audience. Whether you like it or not, the design of the Honor 20 clearly leaves no one indifferent.

The main camera of this device provides the versatility that its predecessor lacked. An ultra-wide-angle lens, a macro lens, a portrait mode and even an effective night mode are all included in the Honor 20 to meet the needs of users who love mobile photography.

Finally, it is based on the Kirin 980 platform with 6 or 8 GB of RAM depending on the model. This combination is highly effective for daily enjoyment of a perfectly smooth user interface, as well as for immersing yourself in the world of the most demanding mobile games.

Pros : with average load it works up to 2 days without recharging, there is SuperCharge fast charging 22.5 W.

Cons : no wireless charging, no 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Performance

In terms of performance, Honor 8 can compete with more famous gadgets. A powerful processor, fast graphics accelerator and four gigabytes of RAM will allow you to comfortably use your smartphone not only for its intended purpose, but also for entertainment.

When launching modern games, you will not feel any discomfort due to the frantic adjustment of the appropriate graphic settings of modern games to the capabilities of the device. At the moment, all toys can be run on Honor 8 with maximum parameters, which will please fans of beautiful graphics and detailed gameplay.

The Honor 8 synthetic benchmark results are shown below.

Also, any user will be pleased to have LTE Cat support on board. 6, with which you can forget about the existence of Wi-Fi. The latter, by the way, has pleasant features in this device. A function called “Wi-Fi+” automatically monitors the signal level of both Wi-Fi and mobile Internet for data transfer and selects the most optimal one for stable Internet access. Thus, by connecting Wi-Fi+, the smartphone will always use the fastest Internet line available.

As for navigation capabilities, the smartphone is equipped with all available means of communication with satellites. The device determines its location almost instantly, so you won’t have to wander around looking for a way out of the maze of the urban jungle.

Returning to the main function of a smartphone, namely telephony, it is worth mentioning the fact that it supports two SIM cards simultaneously.

And all because the device uses two separate radio modules.

This function is implemented very conveniently: during parallel conversations, you can quickly switch from one interlocutor to another by pressing one key.

The connection itself has no complaints, the signal is stable, and the noise reduction works well. Both interlocutors will communicate comfortably without much interference. In addition, there are additional tricks to improve communication with the simple name “Signal+”. The function allows you to receive signals in all directions, thereby improving the quality of voice communications and reducing the percentage of network connection interruptions.

As with all multi-SIM phones, Honor 8 has the ability to distribute calls, data transfers and SMS messages between SIM cards in accordance with personal preferences.