Honor View 20: Bucking the trend
The Honor View 20 packs a couple of interesting technologies that sets it apart from the rest.
Some might say that the Honor View 20 is the year’s worst kept secret – but hey, no one is complaining. The latest flagship from Honor was already launched as V20 in China last December – every detail from its size to specifications has since been available online.
Despite this, members of the media and guests were still delighted to see Honor president George Zhao making the big reveal, sharing what the new smartphone has in store for all.
“The View 20 represents our dynamic growth together with the younger audience. We wanted to meet the young people’s requirements. Honor is a brand for the young people,” said Zhao at the global launch at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris.
The main feature of the smartphone is its two rear shooters. One is a 48-megapixel camera with f/1.8 aperture and Sony IMX586 sensor, and the other is a Time-of-Flight (ToF) 3D camera.
The 3D camera sends pulses of light and measures the time it takes for the light to bounce back from different points of an object, allowing it to better gauge distance and depth for the now-popular Bokeh effect.
Not only that, users can connect the phone to a TV and point the 3D camera at themselves so it acts as a real-time motion sensor for games such as Fancy Skiing and Fancy Darts. Think of Microsoft Kinect, but with a smartphone instead.
“When we made the breakthrough with the ToF technology, we thought we must bring it to our users. We had to do something to speed up the technology and now we have made it happen,” he said.
Zhao also shared that Honor has collaborated with Epic Games, and that the popular Fortnite game would soon run at 60fps (frames per second) on the View 20.
Owners of the smartphone will also have access to the specially designed Honor Guard outfit in Fortnite.
The View 20 has a 6.4in (1,080 x 2,310 pixels) display with a screen to body ratio of approximately 85.7%.
It achieved this by moving away from the notch design and instead adopting a pinhole camera which can be “hidden” by adjusting the setting.
The 25-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 wide aperture also has portrait lighting to give selfies a boost.
Like Huawei’s flagship Mate 20 Pro, the View 20 also runs on a 7nm 980 Kirin chipset that is 20% faster than its predecessor.
It can also reportedly recognise 4,500 images per minute, which improves the camera’s face and object recognition capabilities – for example, it can even focus on a moving subject.
The camera can also scan and identify objects so it can direct users to relevant e-commerce sites, offer extra information or show the calories in food items.
The View 20 uses dual frequency (both L1 + L5 bands) to provide better GPS accuracy, and triple WiFi antennas to prevent weak signals even when a user covers the receiver when playing mobile games.
It has a 4,000mAh battery, an increase from the 3,750mAh of the Honor View 10 in 2017, and supports fast charging which supposedly juices the battery up to 55% in just 30 minutes.
The phone also has an eye-catching back – it reflects a chevron pattern that ripples when you move the phone in the light, a feature which Honor refers to as its Aurora Nanotexture Design.
The View 20 runs on Android 9 with the Magic UI 2.0.1 user interface.
Available in two variants, the RM1,999 Honor View 20 has 6GB RAM with 128GB storage and comes in Midnight Black and Sapphire Blue.
Honor also collaborated with Italian fashion brand Moschino to create an exclusive range of products, including a co-designed Moschino Honor View 20, an embossed phone case featuring the iconic Moschino teddy bear and other accessories.
The special edition smartphone is priced at RM2,499 and has 8GB RAM with 256GB storage, and comes in Phantom Blue.
The View 20 went on sale on Jan 26.
Zhao also introduced several wearables, namely the Watch Magic smartwatch, the Band 4 and FlyPods Lite wireless earbuds.
The Watch Magic has a 1.2in (390 x 390 pixels) Amoled touchscreen with activity tracking and fitness coaching features.
It supports a variety of outdoor and indoor activities, including mountain climbing and swimming, and also features a heart rate monitor and sleep tracker.
It is priced at RM599 and comes in Lava Black and also went on sale on Jan 26.
The Band 4 has a touchscreen and comes with multi-sport function that recognises even swim strokes and records swimming speed, and has a heart rate monitor.
It is already available in Malaysia for RM149 in Black.
The FlyPods Lite wireless earbuds which are compatible with Android and iOS devices feature noise cancellation and reportedly a 12-hour playtime.
There is no indication whether this product will make its way to Malaysia anytime soon.
For more information, visit hihonor.com/my.
Source: TheStar