Honor knows summer is here and has the perfect phone to celebrate. The Honor 10 is one of the brightest, sparkliest, and most colorful smartphones we’ve seen in a while. The phone succeeds the very attractive Honor 9 from last year, which impressed with its great combination of specs and style, and is almost identical to the Glory 9 released recently in China. Can the Honor 10 improve on the Honor 9’s winning formula? Here’s everything you need to know about the phone.
Updates
In China on July 3, Honor released a revised version of the Honor 10 called the Honor 10 GT. The phone showcases Huawei’s GPU Turbo technology, which is designed to give gaming a boost. Huawei claims phones with the GPU Turbo software will see a 60 percent improvement in performance when playing games. The Honor 10 GT also has 8GB of RAM, rather than the 4GB or 6GB in the versions released in April.
While the Honor 10 GT hasn’t been announced outside of China, the GPU Turbo software will be available as an update to the Honor 10, although no date has been given for its arrival.
Design
The most striking aspect of the Honor 10 is the beautiful glass body, which Honor calls “Aurora glass,” and is constructed from 15 layers of 3D glass on the back. It’s available in four colors — phantom blue, phantom green, midnight black, and glacier grey. We have been enjoying the phantom blue version in our review. Around the front is a 5.8-inch touchscreen with a 2280 x 1080 pixel resolution and a 432ppi pixel density, all set underneath a 2.5D curved piece of glass, which wraps neatly around the back of the phone.
Although the screen has a notch and a 19:9 aspect ratio, it does still have noticeable bezels and a chin, where a fingerprint sensor sits under the glass itself. The Honor 10 weighs 153 grams and is just 7.7mm thick.
Camera
On the back Honor has put two camera lenses in a camera bump, rather than flush on the Honor 9, which are made up of 24 megapixel and 16 megapixel lenses with an f/1.8 aperture. Artificial intelligence (A.I.) can recognize 22 different scenes, and multiple objects in one picture, allowing it to adjust the settings in real-time based on individual aspects. The selfie camera has 24 megapixels. Other camera features include special lighting scenarios for portrait shots, an aperture mode for bokeh-effect shots, a hybrid 2x zoom, and a dedicated monochrome photo mode.
Specifications
The A.I. and the rest of the phone is powered by Huawei’s Neural Processing Unit, which is paired to the Kirin 970 chip that also powers the Huawei P20 Pro and Honor View 10. It has 4GB of RAM and a choice of 64GB or 128GB of storage space. The battery has a 3,400mAh capacity and fast charging, topping up to 50 percent in 25 minutes. Android 8.1 Oreo is installed with Huawei’s EMUI 8.1 user interface over the top.
Price and availability
Although other Honor phones are sold in the U.S., there are no details on the Honor 10’s release yet. The phone has been given a wide release in the U.K., and is available through Honor’s own online store for 400 British pounds, or about $540. It’s also sold through retailers including John Lewis and Carphone Warehouse.
If you want a contract to go with the Honor 10, it’s an exclusive to the Three network on either a monthly deal, or with a pay-as-you-go option.
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