Huawei Honor 10

While they’re not quite a household name, Honor is making a name for itself as a brand that offers flagship performance at mid-tier prices. The Honor 10 is their latest release and in many ways identical to the Huawei P20 except for one major consideration — it’s half the price. 

The phone features a metal frame and glass back — something common in today’s flagships. But the glass features a multicolored treatment that reviewers found stunning. Every reviewer gushed about the interesting color shifting effect and the people who noticed their phone on the street.

That said, scratches and fingerprints are always an issue with glass backs. Fortunately, Honor included a slim, clear gel case to help keep it looking good.

Around front, you’re greeted by a 5.84-inch 1080p IPS display with a notch for the front-facing camera and sensors. The front of the phone is nearly all screen, with minimal side bezels and a tiny chin for the fingerprint sensor. This sounds good on paper, but many reviewers found that the fingerprint sensor was hard to hit accurately due to its placement.

Otherwise, the screen offers excellent contrast, vivid colors, and a slightly cool color balance. If you’re not a fan of the notch, there’s also a setting to hide it using a black bar across the top of the screen.

Pushing all those pixels, you’ll find an octa-core 2.36 Kirin 970 processor with 4 to 6GB of RAM depending on the variant you choose. Reviewers had no trouble with gaming or multitasking — even with the 4GB model. That said, opting for the 6GB model will add more future proofing to your investment. 

You’ll also find 64GB or 128GB of internal storage depending on the variant you choose. If you have any storage space concerns, opting for the 128GB is likely the best idea as there is no microSD support. 

You can, however, use two SIM cards complete with 4G on both SIMs.

The phone ships with Android 8.1 Oreo running EMUI 8.1.0. Unlike earlier versions of EMUI, Honor has trimmed down the bloat and streamlined performance. Reviewers have no issues with stuttering, lockups, or crashing. 

The cameras on the Honor 10 were the biggest area of contention among reviewers. The phone includes a dual-lens rear camera with a 16MP color sensor and 24MP monochrome sensor. It also offers an AI-assisted mode to tweak color balance, exposure, and other settings and optimize your images.

Some reviewers loved the added AI touches while others hated them. With good lighting, the camera offers snappy response time, fast focusing, and an effective portrait/bokeh mode. In low-light, the camera performs admirably, but can’t keep up with higher-priced competitors.

Reviews were similar for the 24MP front-facing selfie shooter…

With a 3400mAh battery, reviewers had zero issues with lasting a full day on a single charge. Some reviewers hit close to two days with moderate to light usage. Honor includes a USB Type-C fast charge adapter for top offs in about 1.5 hours should you find yourself in need power mid-day.

Simply put, reviews for the phone were phenomenal. Cool Smartphone said, “Don’t think, don’t think for a minute or a second that you’re short-changing yourself by getting a phone from a company you may not be aware of, because this rocks. This phone rocks. Get this phone. Get this phone right now. Buy one. Go.”