Review of the Honor 10 Lite smartphone: a budget phone that has everything

The Honor line has many models that can captivate with their excellent performance and pleasant performance. Honor 10 Lite was no exception - the manufacturer tried to do everything to ensure that it repeated the success of the older model Honor 10, equipping the new product with all the necessary functions, including a fashionable design with a gradient body color, an excellent display and a very high-quality dual camera with artificial intelligence function ( AI).

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Specifications

• Display: 6.21″, IPS, 2340×1080, 19.5:9, 2.5D glass
• Processor: Kirin 710 (4 x 2.2 GHz Cortex A73 + 4 x 1.7 GHz Cortex A53), Mali G51 MP4 graphics
• RAM: 3 GB
• Built-in memory: 32/64 GB
• Main camera: dual, 13 MP (f/1.8) + 2 MP
• Front camera: 24 MP (f/2.0)
• Battery: 3400 mAh
• Connectivity: 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, GLONASS, NFC
• Connectors: 3.5 mm, micro-USB
• Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9.0 interface
• Security: fingerprint scanner, face scanner
• Dimensions: 154.8 x 73.64 x 7.95 mm
• Weight: 162 g.

Attractiveness is in the details

How can this newcomer win your heart? Let's take a closer look at it. The developers have incorporated the most fashionable and attractive features into the image of Honor 10 Lite. All the charm lies in the details: the thin case with a lacquered back surface has an impressive gradient shimmer. The brand name, the AI ​​camera inscription, the hole for the flash LED and the compact portholes of the lenses of the two cameras, lined up in a vertical line in mirror silver, create the feeling of an expensive and high-tech toy. And you want to admire and own this toy.

If you take the Honor 10 Lite in your hands, it does not feel lightweight, but on the contrary, it feels like a durable and reliable device. The device has a plastic body, which, in our opinion, is rather an advantage compared to its metal counterparts: it has the temperature of your body and does not create discomfort with an unpleasant chill, especially in the winter months. And during gaming battles, the back cover practically does not heat up, providing a comfortable temperature for the fingertips.

By the way, speaking of fingers, they can also be useful for unlocking a smartphone. The fingerprint sensor in Honor 10 Lite is located in the old fashioned way - on the back cover and serves not only to gain access to the device, but also to control applications using gestures, which is very convenient - a kind of additional touchpad.

The arrangement of the main elements and control buttons is classic: on the right side of the smartphone, just under the thumb, there is a power button, and above it is a volume rocker. Both have a narrow shape and protrude enough from the body to quickly feel them.

On the bottom edge there are holes for the speaker, a microUSB charging slot, a microphone hole and a headphone jack for a 3.5 mm plug.

On the top edge, the manufacturer, traditionally for its new models, has placed a slot for two SIM cards of the nano form factor, one of which can be replaced with microSD with a capacity of up to 512 GB. Nearby you can see a microphone hole for filtering background sounds.

Note that inattentive users may mistake it for a hole for removing the SIM card tray. You have to be careful here.

Huawei Honor 10 Lite results in AnTutu Benchmark

In the popular AnTuTu benchmark, the Huawei Honor 10 Lite smartphone scores an average of about 138,500 points. This figure, like all those given below, was taken from the official website of the developer of this software. Unfortunately, we currently do not have detailed data on the device's performance in AnTutu.

Comparison with other smartphones from the ratings of different years

The rating of devices on the official AnTuTu website is updated once a month. Old data is available via Web Archive.

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Attention to the screen!

Having difficulty tearing ourselves away from the pretty appearance of the Honor 10 Lite, we smoothly move on to the inside of the device, namely its main component - the screen. It is made according to the most modern canons: a frameless design with 2.5D curved edges, and in the upper part there is a teardrop-shaped cutout for a selfie camera. The fashion for it has replaced bangs, which were once so popular among manufacturers. The author of these lines liked the bangs from the point of view of the correct structural arrangement of the necessary organs of the smartphone - the speaker, sensors, cameras and indicators.

Next to the thinnest cutout for the earpiece is a microscopic proximity and light sensor, which can only be detected when shooting with another smartphone.

In addition to the absence of frames at the top and along the edges, the manufacturer tried to rid the screen of a wide chin. He really succeeded in this - the thickness of the frame here is the same as at the top of the screen - about 4 mm. What deserves special praise is that the manufacturer did not forget about the charge and notification indicator and placed it precisely in the lower frame of the screen to the left of the microUSB port.

A few words about the quality of the display. Honor 10 Lite has an excellent IPS matrix with Full HD+ resolution (2340x1080 pixels) and a diagonal of 6.21 inches. Despite such an impressive screen size, the smartphone feels compact and fits comfortably in the hand. Thin bezels and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio play a part in this, making the device narrow enough to fit with your fingers.

The display brightness at maximum is 441 cd/m2, and the contrast is 1282, which is higher than that of the once popular Honor 8X model. At the same time, the color rendering error Delta E in normal mode for this screen reaches 2.7 and is almost as good as the flagship models.

In addition to special technology to protect your eyes, the device has many other settings that save battery power. For example, by default, the function of automatically changing the screen resolution from Full HD+ to HD+ is already activated to save energy, while the image clarity practically does not suffer.

The display has a thin protective film applied at the factory, which will protect the glass from scratches for a while, but of course it will not avoid this fate. There is no need to talk about any oleophobic coating. Our test sample did an excellent job of picking up fingerprints that weren't easily erased. The same can be said about the lacquered case back. If you care about the neat appearance of your gadgets, you will have to be prepared to regularly wipe the surfaces of your smartphone. It is worth considering that the varnish coating of the case is easily scratched.

What does he look like?

Honor 10 Lite is packaged in a non-slip plastic case, easily soiled on the back and perfectly protected from fingerprints on the display side. The frames around the display are minimal, thanks to this, rounded body and thickness of only 8 mm, the model fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, even in a case.

We had a blue smartphone for review. And it seems to me that saturation and hue have already become a recognizable feature for the brand (both Honor and Huawei). In any case, I cannot offhand name a single “brother” in color for this device from the lines of other manufacturers.

In terms of appearance, the model has surpassed the usual “ten” - the frames are thinner, the cutout on the display is smaller. It is much more convenient to live with a “drop” than with a “unibrow”. Firstly, finally applications have really adapted to the cutout, and secondly, it practically does not fall into the field of view on the screen and does not cover significant parts of the interface. And it doesn’t irritate with its uselessness. Definitely, the move to waterdrop notches is one of the best changes in smartphone design in recent times.

An LED indicating missed events is located at the bottom of the device. It's tiny - and that's super convenient too. Because on the one hand, you can see it when necessary, on the other hand, it does not disturb you at night with its triumphant glow.

On the back of the Honor 10 Lite there are two cameras and a fingerprint scanner. In good places. The finger hits the sensor directly, as soon as you take the smartphone in your hand (it even seemed to me that because of this, I used this unlocking method much more often than facial recognition, which, by the way, also works decently). The cameras are not blocked by your fingers when shooting, and in normal life your fingers can’t reach them either, so you don’t have to wipe fingerprints off the lenses. The volume and screen lock keys are on the right, at a comfortable height.

The Honor 10 Lite still has an audio output. And the manufacturer also did not change the microUSB connector to USB Type C. On the one hand, the latter is somehow outdated. On the other hand, if you haven’t had time to switch to smartphones with Type C, then your zoo of cables with this model will still remain relevant.

The device is well assembled. I don’t know what will happen to the plastic when worn without a case, I haven’t tried it. But usually the glossy finish gets scratched quickly, so I don’t advise the potential owner of a smartphone to wear it without a case.

Interface and performance

Honor 10 Lite comes with Android 9.0 OS and EMUI 9.01 proprietary shell. The device works with it quickly and smoothly. The user has many settings for both system tools and security. You can change the composition of the icons in the top curtain and change the control method by activating the gesture system. In the latter case, you will get additional screen real estate, but at the same time you will have to get used to different types of swipes and swipes.

In addition, for those who don't really like the notch at the top of the screen, there is an option to hide it by turning on a black area at the top where all the indicators will remain. By the way, they are very informative and varied here, which is certainly a huge advantage of the EMUI shell.

In addition to very fast operation in the menu and everyday applications, we also note the fairly high performance of the device in heavy games. We didn’t notice any lags in popular projects such as PUBG or World of Tanks Blitz - everything runs smoothly even at high detail, and the number of frames rarely drops below 50. The powerful 8-core Hisilicon Kirin 710 processor plays a significant role in this ( made using 12 nm technology) and an auto-overclocking function for the Mali-G51 graphics called GPU Turbo, which adds agility to the system when needed.

Speaking of games, the teardrop notch screen tends to adjust: in games, the notch remains in a dark area, and the rounded edges of the screen do not hide interface elements.

Security: Fingerprint and Face Unlock

Even here, Honor 10 Lite does not deviate from generally accepted practice. In addition to the classic one in the form of a pin code or gesture, you can place a fingerprint or face sensor on the reader. The fingerprint scanner is on the back exactly where our finger would naturally look for it, and we also liked its speed and accuracy.

However, the face sensor is already slower to recognize and less accurate in the dark or backlit. On the other hand, unlocking the device is extremely convenient.

High-quality photos with AI function

The smartphone uses a 13 MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture. The shutter release is fantastically fast in all conditions. At the same time, the pictures are very high quality and detailed with correct color rendition. In difficult lighting conditions, the built-in algorithm accurately determines the white balance and “corrects” it in the right direction. However, when the aspect ratio is set to 18:9, the photo is obtained with a resolution of only 8 megapixels. Examples of pictures can be seen in the gallery below.

The video quality was somewhat disappointing. When shooting in cloudy weather, the picture turns out dark and not sharp enough. The camera does not have electronic stabilization, although the processor power and matrix resolution are more than enough for this.

Full HD modes with 30 and 60 FPS are available in the settings, which makes the image quite smooth. Note that you can stabilize the video later in the Google Photo application, but then the already not very detailed picture loses sharpness even more. You can’t ignore the artificial intelligence function used by the cameras. The system is capable of recognizing and processing 22 types of scenes and automatically selecting the optimal parameters for shooting. There is also support for portrait mode with a background blur effect.

As the test showed, when AI mode is turned on, the camera automatically switches to the 4:3 aspect ratio; other sizes are not available. The camera does try to recognize the subject, but in difficult conditions the photos turn out worse than without AI. And the response speed of the identification program is not fast enough. In this regard, this function can only be used for experiments.

The 24-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture uses a background blur algorithm when taking selfies. There is also a fashionable mode of applying different masks to the face.

Great selfie taker

The rear camera of Honor 10 Lite has a resolution of 13 + 2 Mpx, and the second sensor is used to work with depth of field. There is also support for artificial intelligence. She does well - she rarely makes mistakes in recognizing photographed scenes and can often contribute to a more attractive photo. How did the camera work in practice?

In good lighting, the photos are clearly high quality, with nice colors and a nice dynamic range. In low light, the quality and sharpness of photos deteriorate noticeably, but do not deviate from the usual mid-range results.

While the rear camera is around the mid-range, the front selfie sensor is at the top. The 24Mpx resolution gives very decent results, and reality confirms this. It also uses artificial intelligence to adjust the scene optimally, and the manufacturer promises that the AI ​​will be studied and the resulting images will be further improved with more portraits.

Also worth mentioning is video, which can be shot up to Full HD at 60 frames per second. The recording quality is decent, but in the worst conditions you will feel that the phone lacks optical image stabilization.

Communication, NFC and battery

Honor 10 Lite liked the stable connection even in those places where the operator signal is very weak. 4G mode is available for both SIM cards, which is important. Other wireless interfaces also work without problems, including Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS and GLONASS. The built-in compass and gyroscope will delight those who like to navigate not only in the urban jungle, but also on real hikes - it works quickly and accurately. The sound of the calling speaker is ringing and clear; the earpiece is also worthy of praise for conveying all shades of the interlocutor's voice.

It is especially worth noting the presence of an NFC module, the activation of which is visible in the top menu of indicators. The trendy short-range wireless data transmission feature will be useful for advanced users for contactless payments. As for the Wi-Fi module, it is implemented here only in the 2.4 GHz band with the n protocol, providing fairly high Internet access speeds.

The smartphone is equipped with a capacious 3400 mAh Li-Po battery without fast charging function. Our test unit was supplied without an adapter, so we had to charge it with a third-party power supply (from Xiaomi Mi Max) with parameters of 5 V, 2 A. The charging time from 16 to 100% was 2 hours 20 minutes. Test measurements of the smartphone's battery life in different modes showed the following results:

• Talk time on 3G network: 27 hours.
• Web surfing mode (70% brightness): 11 hours.
• Video playback mode (70% brightness): 11h 30m
• Game mode (World of Tanks Blitz) (70% brightness): 4 hours

Conclusion

The Honor 10 Lite smartphone can be safely recommended not only to young people, but also to users who do not want to overpay for excess power and little-demanded functions. It has a fashionable design, good equipment, including a frameless display with a drop-shaped notch, a high-quality dual camera with an f/1.8 aperture and artificial intelligence, NFC for contactless payments, a powerful processor and a fairly capacious battery. The device will cope well not only with everyday tasks, but also with resource-intensive games.

Pros:

• Fashionable design;
• Good performance;
• Frameless display with correct shades;
• Great camera;
• There is NFC for contactless payments;

Minuses:

• The Wi-Fi module does not support the 5 GHz band;

May not like:

• Stained screen and back cover;

Equipment

Honor 10 Lite is sold in a branded cardboard box with the brand logo. Along with the smartphone there are:

• Charger 5V, 2A
• microUSB cable
• silicone protective case
• screen protective film
• paper clip for removing the card tray