Top 5 HONOR 10 features

HONOR has unveiled the latest device in its N-series range, the HONOR 10. It’s priced at just 399 pounds in the U.K. and 399 euros in mainland Europe, and Amazon sells the international unlocked GSN version in the U.S. for $384.45. The HONOR 10 bears all the hallmarks of yet another affordable sub-flagship from the HUAWEI sub-brand.

For a more in-depth look at the HONOR 10 you can check out our full review linked below. But right now we’re counting down our top five favorite HONOR 10 features from this mid-range masterpiece.

Read more: HONOR 10 review|HONOR 10 specs

Reflective glass design

You can’t talk about the HONOR 10 without mentioning its design and the stunning phantom blue colorway. The HONOR 10’s reflective rear panel is built from a 15-layer 3D glass with nano-scale optical coating. The end result is an eye-catching prismatic effect that switches from blue to purple from different viewing angles.

We’ve seen HONOR play around with reflective glass aesthetics before — even HUAWEI got in on the practice with the similarly-styled Twilight HUAWEI P20 — but the HONOR 10 takes the N-series’ design to a whole new level.

For the flashiest experience, you’ll want to pick up either the phantom blue or phantom green models, although availability will vary depending on your region.

AI camera

The HONOR 10 packs a dual-lens rear camera with a 24MP color and 16MP monochrome sensor combo. That setup alone would’ve been enough to ensure a solid photography experience, but HONOR, like so many other OEMs, has been bitten by the AI bug.

Thanks to the magic of the Kirin 970’s neural processing unit, the HONOR 10 can identify over 500 different objects from across 22 categories and adjust the camera settings automatically to best capture multiple scenes within a single shot. This works especially well for snaps of landscapes, although you’ll see richer colors in any photos with the AI mode enabled.

While not quite as in-depth as similar systems found on the Mate 10 Pro and P20 series, the results are still very impressive.

Kirin 970 processor

Speaking of the HONOR 10’s processor, the HiSilicon Kirin 970 has already proven itself as one of the best SoCs in the business, having powered various HUAWEI and HONOR flagships since the launch of the Mate 10 series in late 2017.

In addition to the NPU’s AI smarts, the Kirin 970 ensures the HONOR 10 maintains a silky smooth performance at all times that’s capable of rivaling devices that retail for hundreds of dollars more.

Solid Full HD+ display

The HONOR 10 may not have the biggest display you can find, but for the price it is certainly solid. It has a Full HD+ LCD 5.84-inch screen with a resolution of 2,280 x 1,080 and 432ppi, and a 19:9 aspect ratio. In our review of the phone, we liked the display’s crisp colors and how it was bright enough to use in direct sunlight. Even the viewing angles were fairly consistent.

When you first launch the phone, the HONOR 10 defaults to Vivid mode in its display to boost up and oversaturate the colors, butyou can dial that back down to Normal mode when you go into the phone’s display settings. A nice toggleable option also automatically drops the resolution of the screen down to 1,520 x 720 if the HONOR 10’s battery is running low. All in all, the display on the HONOR 10 is about as good as you can get for the price you are paying, even with its notch design.

Notch toggle

We said back during the launch of the P20 that every notched phone should include an option to “turn off” the cutout entirely like the one found on HUAWEI’s device. While other OEMs are also catching on, HONOR has been quick to borrow the feature from its sister brand.

All notch-haters need to do is head to the phone’s display settings menu and tap the notch toggle. This turns the extra pixels on either side of the notch black, effectively camouflaging its presence (or at least, as well as an LCD panel can). You’ll still get the notification icons in the same place, the notch just won’t be as visible anymore.

Under-glass ultrasonic fingerprint reader

There’s a lot of noise being made about in-display fingerprint sensors across the wider mobile industry. Samsung and Apple have been repeatedly reported to have been testing the technology for use in future phones, while vivo delivered on that promise ahead of the competition with the Apex concept phone.

Many OEMs adopting elongated displays have shifted the fingerprint sensor to the rear of their devices. HONOR, however, has taken a slightly different approach with an ultrasonic fingerprint reader positioned underneath the front glass panel.

That means that, with the exception of a small speaker grille positioned in the middle of the notch, the front panel of the phone is completely flat and flows nicely into the rest of the unibody design. It also means that the sensor can read your fingerprints even if there’s water between your prints and the scanner (just don’t get the rest of the phone wet, as there’s no official IP rating).

Those are just five of the best features of the HONOR 10. What do you make of HONOR’s latest ‘flagship killer’? Let us know in the comments.

Read more:

• HONOR 10 review
• HONOR 10 specs
• HONOR 10 vs the competition
• HONOR 10 vs OnePlus 6
• HONOR 10 vs Nokia 7 Plus