Honor X10: review and specifications

Honor decided to be original in 2020. Previously, smartphones in this series were called, for example, 7X or 9X. Now the “x” has moved forward – Honor X10. But this did not affect the positioning – a confident middle peasant. True, everything is the same without Google services. And due to a new round of conflict between Huawei and the US authorities, the phone may be left without components for a high-tech 7nm processor. But this is an apocalyptic scenario – for now, let’s talk about the new product.

Honor X10 review

Release date and prices Honor X10

As insiders vanged, the presentation of the smartphone took place in May. More precisely – May 20. Of course, in China and online. Honor X10 will start selling on May 25, but so far only in the Chinese market. When the gadget will reach the s is still unknown.

The language does not dare to be called a budget smartphone, although it is almost the most affordable among 5G solutions. So, for the basic version they will ask for $267 (19,1 thousand rubles at the exchange rate as of May 20, 2020). A phone with 6/128 GB memory will already cost $309 (22,1 thousand rubles). The maximum version for 8/128 GB will already cost $337 (24,1 thousand rubles). We emphasize that these are domestic prices.

TECH SPECS

Screen

The Honor X10 is a rare smartphone on the market with a motorized selfie camera that pops out from the top of the case. That is, the feature of the predecessor is preserved here, which is good. The IPS-matrix, which is used in the smartphone, also has a lot of fans – not everyone likes OLED panels with their specific features. And if a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels does not surprise anyone, then a picture refresh rate of 90 Hz is cool. Not all even more expensive smartphones can do this.

Chassis

The design of the X series in the top ten has undergone significant changes for the better. Still, the 9X looked and felt cheap, but the Honor X10 can be put next to the flagship Huawei P40 Pro. From him, the novelty got the design of the camera block – a massive black rectangle on the back side. The cover received an unusual gradient. Although this is not even a gradient, but some kind of Suprematism. Looks fresh. The smartphone is available in four colors – blue, orange, black and silver.

Processor, memory, communications

The smartphone, at least for the Chinese market, received one of the latest platforms from Huawei – Kirin 820 5G. The name 5G is no coincidence – the chipset is a direct competitor to the middle peasant from Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G with integrated support for fifth-generation mobile networks. The 7nm processor is capable of operating at frequencies up to 2,35 GHz, and the Mali-G57 video accelerator will provide good gaming performance.

Not to say that there is a lot of memory, but if you remember the class of the device, then it will be enough. The base version has 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. Medium – 6/128 GB. The maximum memory is 8 and 128 GB. It seems that you can expand it using a memory card slot, but this is a proprietary NM, which no one except Huawei uses.

With communications in the Honor X10, everything seems to be fine – here both advanced navigation and the most modern Bluetooth 5.1 protocol. But the version for China is devoid of NFC so loved by many. We hope that short-range contactless communication will appear in the smartphone by the international release.

Camera

By the standards of the Honor X10, it’s impossible to call even an average-level camera phone. Although the main 600MP Sony IMX40 sensor should shoot well, especially with software from Huawei, the Chinese are very fond of using AI algorithms for in-camera photo processing. The second module is a simple 8 megapixel “width”, and the third is a useless bokeh sensor. But the smartphone can record video in fashionable 4K resolution.

That same retractable front camera is a 16-megapixel sensor capable of recording video in 1080p quality.

Battery

Honor X10 got a 4300 mAh battery. The manufacturer guarantees up to 11 hours of battery life in game mode. Charging here is fast at 22,5 watts. The complete power supply, of course, is designed specifically for this power.

What could become a smartphone Honor X10

The past 2019 was not an easy year for the Chinese corporation Huawei. Although device sales have grown, in 2020 even the company itself admits that there will be a recession. There are many reasons for this: from the coronavirus that stopped factories in China, to the conflict between China and the United States, due to which Huawei devices are denied access to Google services. Against this not very rosy background, the Honor sub-brand is preparing to update its very popular line. But how new will it really be?

Honor 10X release date

Network informants already at the beginning of spring started talking about Honor 10X, although the 9X predecessor was presented in June last year. When exactly the premiere of the smartphone will take place, Gizmochina insiders do not specify, but the situation on the market suggests that Honor should not be delayed with the announcement. The fact is that the main competitors Realme and Redmi updated similar smartphones in February-March 2020, which means that Huawei will have to act as a catch-up. The mid-budget segment (or rather, budget mid-budgets) is a class of smartphones, where in recent years the competition for buyers’ wallets has intensified utterly. In addition, the consumer counts money well and weighs literally every characteristic that he receives for a conventional yuan or ruble. Therefore, it is unlikely that Honor will increase the price of 10X compared to the “nine”. The latter at the start of sales in Our Country was offered for 10-17 thousand rubles, depending on the version.

Specifications Honor 10X

Insiders say that the appearance of Honor 10X will not undergo significant changes compared to 9X. So, the screen will remain 6,59-inch at Full HD + resolution (2340 × 1080 pixels). This, according to all the same informants, will be an IPS matrix. It is understandable, for the time being, Samsung, which is almost a monopolist in the production of OLED screens, can afford to install AMOLED on inexpensive smartphones.

Perhaps the 10X will remain almost the only current smartphone on the market without cutouts in the screen. He is promised to keep the selfie camera that emerges from the top of the case. We saw this with the Honor 9X and many other smartphones in 2019, but for a number of reasons, motorized front cameras are being abandoned in favor of “eyes”. But Honor is not going to do this and will hide the 16 megapixel sensor in a sliding block.

The basis of the smartphone should be the yet unannounced Kirin 820 chipset, which will replace the 810th. The characteristics of the processor have not yet been disclosed by the company, but it is known that it will be a platform with an integrated 5G modem that will allow you to work in the latest generation mobile networks. True, it is likely that Honor, called 10X, will launch a smartphone with a different filling on the and European markets, as was done last year. The Chinese went for such a trick for a reason, because the Kirin 710 was the last mid-level chipset of the company to receive Google certification, which means that devices on it can go with the services of the “corporation of goodness”. However, according to Huawei, their own AppGallery app store is gaining momentum, and we hope that the company will abandon the practice of selling frankly outdated solutions.

More memory is expected in the new generation. So, RAM will be from 6 GB, and permanent – from 128 GB. Most likely, a microSD memory card will remain. NFC support is also expected to continue. The work of contactless payments on Huawei / Honor smartphones, although it has become more complicated without GPay, third-party payment systems still allow it to be implemented.

In the new generation, Honor is going to pull up the photo capabilities of its bestseller. The main photomodule will become three-chamber, and the main sensor will increase the resolution to 64 megapixels. They will add, apparently, an 8-megapixel camera with a wide-angle lens.