Bang for the Buck

The rear of honor 10 has been crafted using 15 layers of 15:30:12 in vivid blue that reflect subtle shades of purple at different angles. Some loved the design, referred to as Aurora Glass, while many hated it. The front is dominated with the 5.84-inch screen with a notch, with 2280x1808 pixel resolution and great colour reproduction. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor placed below the display has been seamlessly merged into the bottom bezel with a very light visible outline. This ultrasonic underglass fingerprint scanner works well, unlocks even with wet hands. The device is pretty much operable using a single hand but the soft finish at the rear makes it slippery.

Just like the other flagship smartphones from Huawei and Honor stable, even the 10 is powered by octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor with a neural processing unit, which brings artificial intelligence features (AI) such as reducing background noise during calls and to the camera. Paired with 6GB of RAM, the phone has 128GB of internal storage. Overall performance (including gaming, streaming videos) was just fine without any lag or loss of frame. But the rear top of the phone (near camera module) started to get warm after a few minutes of camera usage. All the apps were placed across the homescreen - swiping left from the home page showed a Google dashboard page with the search bar, feeds, news and more, and long pressing the home button launched Google Assistant.

The biggest USP of Honor 10 is the stunning camera with loads of modes and settings. The AI option in the default photo mode detected the subject and adjusted camera settings automatically. The dual camera set-up at the rear (24-megapixel and 16-megapixel) captures some great depth images too. There is a dedicated portrait mode for capturing faces (with bokeh, 3D lighting, and beautification mode) and a separate aperture mode for depth images. There are plenty of other modes as well and natural colours. However, low light photography was just about average as some of the images were soft and noisy.

For selfies, there is a 24-megapixel sensor and the Portrait mode gives access to the same options including turning on/off bokeh, beautification and 3D modes. Honor 10 packs in a 3400 mAh battery with support for fast charging, and lasted me a day with extensive use.

For Rs 32,999, the Honor 10 gives tough competition to OnePlus 6 and Vivo X21.