HiSilicon Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 845 and 835: tests

The Kirin 970 processor was presented in 2022 at the IFA international exhibition in Berlin. The first phones on the chipset were the autumn flagships Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. In the spring of 2022, two more smartphones based on Kirin 970 were released - Huawei P20 and P20 Pro. Then there was Honor 10, and most recently the Chinese announced a new product for the upper middle segment of the market - Huawei nova 3. At the time of publication of the material, the latest phone based on the K970 was Honor Note 10, the flagship of the subsidiary brand. By the way, the Honor brand gives the Chinese company 55% of sales.

How good is HiSilicon Kirin 970? Can it compete with last year's flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, what will be the balance of power when comparing Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 845? To answer these questions, we will analyze the technical parameters of the processors and then compare phones based on these chips in synthetic tests.

HiSilicon Kirin 970: characteristics

When assessing the potential and efficiency of a processor, we need the following technical parameters: manufacturing process, core architecture and clock frequency, type of graphics accelerator. Other specifications play a role, in particular image processing co-processors (ISP), artificial intelligence, modem category, neural networks, but they affect the speed to a lesser extent, at least at this stage of development of assistive technologies.

Kirin 970: technical process

The Huawei Kirin 970 processor is produced according to 10 nm lithography standards, which puts it on the same level as the Snapdragon 835 and Snapdragon 845. Note that until 2022, Huawei’s flagship processors were produced using a 16 nm process technology, which increased battery consumption, the degree of heating and throttling (reduced clock speeds) under load.

Kirin 970 processor: CPU characteristics

The central processor in the HiSilicon Kirin 970 chip is built using big.LITTLE technology. This means that it combines different cores - powerful and efficient - but belonging to the same generation. In this case we are talking about Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A53 .

Cortex-A73 cores are physically large. They operate at a higher clock speed ( 2.36 GHz ) and perform more operations per clock. Cortex-A53 cores are smaller; The clock frequency is reduced to 1.8 GHz , they perform fewer operations per clock, but they consume the battery more economically. Such a division is justified. It allows you to put more cores into the chipset (8 large ones cannot be physically placed) and increases the autonomy of the phone by reducing energy consumption when solving simple tasks.

Huawei Kirin 970: GPU specifications

The graphics accelerator is represented by an adapter from ARM - Mali-G72 MP12 GPU . This graphics has 12 computing cores and runs at a frequency of 850 MHz. In general, the graphics adapter of the Kirin 970 processor has proven itself well, although it is inferior to the Adreno 630 from the Snapdragon 845. We add that similar graphics are used in the Exynos 9810 - the processor of the flagship Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+, as well as the Galaxy Note 9. The difference is that Samsung puts the Mali-G72 MP18 GPU configuration into its processors, that is, with 18 cores.

Huawei Kirin 970 is equipped with a neural co-processor NPU, which improves the efficiency of artificial intelligence. According to many experts, artificial intelligence in the chipset is implemented successfully, it really improves the performance of smartphones. Since 2022, the Kirin 970 chipset supports GPU Turbo mode, which increases the speed of the graphics adapter. It will be useful for those who actively use their smartphone as a game console.

A little about wireless communication.
The Kirin 970 processor has an LTE modem of category 18/13, which allows you to receive data at a speed of 1.2 Gbit/s. Among the minuses, we note the lack of support for Bluetooth 5. The Wi-Fi standard 802.11ad (60 GHz), which will become more relevant in the next 2-3 years, is not supported. Kirin 970 processor: characteristics

Review of the Honor View 10 smartphone based on Kirin 970 with a neural processing unit (NPU)

At the end of last year, Huawei carried out another expansion of its Honor smartphone family, presenting a new View line in London. The Honor brand now produces the most affordable “Lite” series (budget lines Honor A and C) and the more expensive but well-proven Honor X line, and even higher in the hierarchy are products of the so-called “N” series - they are presented to end customers without any additional letters in the name, these are devices such as Honor 7, 8, 9. And now all this is crowned by the top-end Honor View series, or simply “V”, which we will talk about today.

Most recently, Huawei demonstrated to the world, using the Mate 10 Pro as an example, its new hardware solution in the form of SoC HiSilicon Kirin 970, made according to the latest 10 nm process technology and with a dedicated neural computing unit (NPU). So, almost immediately the manufacturer used this advanced platform for the flagship of the Honor family. The carrier of the latest SoC is the most powerful smartphone in the entire history of Honor called Honor View 10.

Main characteristics of Honor View 10 (model BKL-L09)

• SoC HiSilicon Kirin 970, 8 cores 4×Cortex A73 2.36 GHz + 4×Cortex A53 1.8 GHz
• GPU Mali-G72 (MP12)
• Operating system Android 8.0, EMUI 8.0
• Touch display IPS 5.99″, 2160×1080, 403 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 6 GB, internal memory 128 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• MicroSD support up to 256 GB
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• WCDMA/HSPA+ networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
• Networks LTE Cat.12/13 FDD (B1/3/5/7/8/20), TD (B38/40/41)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.2, BLE, A2DP
• NFC
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• USB Type-C 2.0, USB OTG
• Main camera 20 + 16 MP, autofocus, f/1.8, 4K video
• Front camera 13 MP, f/2.0, fixed. focus
• Proximity and lighting sensors, magnetic field, accelerometer, gyroscope, step counter
• Fingerprint's scanner
• Battery 3750 mAh
• Dimensions 157×75×6.97 mm
• Weight 172 g

Appearance and ease of use

As for design, in this regard, Honor View 10 is closer to such company products as Huawei P10 and P10 Plus. There is also a completely metal body here, there are no glass panels like the Mate 10 Pro or Honor 9. However, the Honor View 10 also differs in some ways from the P10 series.

Firstly, the body here is not solid, but prefabricated, although both the rim and the lid are made of metal. And yet it is clearly noticeable that the lid is tightly mounted into the frame; the seam between these two parts of the body is clearly visible.

Secondly, there is no solid glass insert on the back side, which has become common in recent years. The cameras and flash are now each separately mounted on the back wall. These two “eyepieces” noticeably protruding outward look, frankly speaking, not very elegant. With a translucent panel, like the P10 Plus, it was clearly prettier, or certainly neater.

As for the dimensions and assembly, there are no complaints here. Everything is assembled with high quality; although the device is large and heavy, it is thin enough to hold well in the hand. The matte metal surfaces of the case cannot be called slippery or easily soiled, fingerprints are almost invisible, and the smartphone does not slip out of your hands.

There is a black frame around the display, but it is very thin and barely noticeable. The screen itself has slightly rounded corners, and the protective glass on top has sloping edges. An LED event indicator is installed above the screen.

Below the screen there is no row of hardware touch buttons, but there is a fingerprint scanner made in the form of an oval, non-mechanical touch pad. The system and application control buttons themselves are traditionally on-screen.

The side keys are both installed on the right side, the buttons are hard and have different surface textures, the sound button is smooth, and the power key is rough to the touch.

The card slot is a familiar hybrid one; it can accept two SIM cards - both Nano-SIM formats, or replace one of them with a memory card. There are no rubberized gaskets on the connector; the housing is not protected from dust and moisture.

At the top end you can find a small hole for an auxiliary microphone and an IR transmitter eye for emulating a remote control.

The main speaker is located at the bottom end, where the microphone hole and the USB Type-C connector are also located. A 3.5 mm audio output for headphones is also installed here.

The Honor View 10 model will be available for sale only in black and blue strict body colors. Moreover, the blue version has a front panel under the glass that is also blue, which visually makes the image complete and complete.

Screen

The Honor View 10 smartphone is equipped with an IPS display (LTPS), covered with 2.5D glass with sloping edges. The physical dimensions of the screen are 68x137 mm with a diagonal of 5.99 inches, aspect ratio 18:9. At the same time, the screen resolution is 2160x1080 with a pixel density of about 403 ppi. The frame around the screen has a thickness of less than 3 mm on the sides, 9 mm on the top, and 10 mm on the bottom.

It is possible to use automatic brightness adjustment based on the operation of the ambient light sensor. Multi-touch tests diagnose support for 10 simultaneous touches. Supports working with the screen while wearing gloves.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev . Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are slightly better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Honor View 10, then they can be distinguished by size):

The Honor View 10's screen is slightly darker (photo brightness is 106 versus 107 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Honor View 10 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which is even better in efficiency than that of the Nexus 7, so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 465 cd/m², the minimum was 2 cd/m². The maximum brightness is high, and given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment; the user can use it to try to set the required brightness level in the current conditions. We slightly increased the brightness in complete darkness and found that in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 20 cd/m², in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 160 cd/m², in a very bright environment (corresponds to clear lighting during the day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 510 cd/m² (which is even higher than when adjusted manually). We were quite pleased with the result. It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Honor View 10 and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The colors on the Honor View 10 screen are slightly more saturated. The color balance between the Nexus 7 and the screen we tested differed.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Honor View 10 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to a stronger black highlight.

And a white field:

The brightness of the screens at an angle has decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of Honor View 10 the drop in brightness is less. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a purple tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good, but not ideal (here the brightness is increased to maximum):

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1300:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 32 ms (18 ms on + 14 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 50 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.23, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve almost does not deviate from the power-law dependence:

This device has some kind of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. In general, such non-switchable brightness correction does nothing but harm, since constantly changing the screen brightness can at least cause some discomfort. However, its effect is weakly expressed; it remains a mystery for what purpose this brightness adjustment was left turned on at all, especially since the contrast is already high.

Color gamut is slightly wider than sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters separate the green and red components relatively well, which leads to an increase in the color gamut:

As a result, visually the colors on this screen in the case of the target sRGB profile (and this is the case in the vast majority of cases) are slightly more saturated than natural ones. The balance of shades on the gray scale is a compromise, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.

In the graphs above, the curves are Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr. — data obtained after shifting the point to the position indicated in the image above. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature approached the standard value and ΔE increased slightly. There is some benefit from such a correction; moreover, the maximum brightness has decreased to only 440 cd/m². Note that this function is implemented more for show, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction, there is no field for measuring color balance and the correction range is not enough. However, there is no particular point in resorting to such a correction; it is enough to select the Normal - color temperature is about 7000 K, and ΔE is about 3 units (see graphs above) with a maximum brightness of 420 cd/m².

There is a fancy setting that allows you to reduce the intensity of the blue component.

Marketers tried to intimidate the user in order to show the level of care of the manufacturer. Of course, there is no harmful UV radiation (see spectrum above), and there is no eye fatigue caused specifically by blue light. In principle, bright light can lead to disruption of the circadian rhythm (see the article about the iPad Pro with a 9.7-inch display), but everything can be solved by adjusting the brightness to a comfortable level, and there is absolutely no way to distort the color balance, reducing the contribution of blue sense.

To summarize: the screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, an effective oleophobic coating, high contrast, and an acceptable color balance after correction or selection of the correct profile. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane, as well as the non-switchable dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness and a slightly increased color gamut. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Camera

The front camera of Honor View 10 received a sensor with a resolution of 13 megapixels. The lens has an f/2.0 aperture and fixed focus. The shooting quality is good in good lighting, but in indoor conditions the detail drops noticeably and noise appears. It is possible to use not only the beautification mode with 10 degrees, but also the software effect of blurring the background (just a spot of sharpness in the middle of the screen, the object may partially not fall into it).

The main camera is used here without mention of joint developments with Leica. The camera has 16-megapixel RGB and 20-megapixel monochrome sensors, and is equipped with an f/1.8 lens with phase detection autofocus. There is intelligent digital zoom and the usual background blur function (bokeh effect) with emulation of manual aperture control in the range from f/0.95 to f/16. The augmented reality mode adds various funny effects; faces are recognized accurately, even from the monitor screen.

Naturally, there is a separate monochrome mode and a mode for shooting light spots, in place and the intelligent scene recognition technology that has already become familiar to Huawei, when the camera evaluates an object located in the viewfinder, it can understand that it is “food” or “plants”, and automatically set optimal shooting parameters.

The AI ​​technologies mentioned by the developers, supposedly capable of recognizing objects when taking photographs, apparently are really working on this issue. At least, it is clear that some kind of information processing is taking place here, and the usual spot of sharpness is not created, as is the case with the front camera. There are mistakes, but on the whole it usually turns out quite well.

Naturally, there is an advanced manual mode in which you can manually select ISO, shutter speed, focusing method and white balance.

The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 4K at 30 fps and 1080p at 60 fps; for 4K the H.265 (HEVC) codec is used, for other modes - H264. Unfortunately, there is no optical image stabilization when shooting video, and this ruins everything. Otherwise, the quality at maximum resolution is decent, and at 1080p at 60 fps the detail and sharpness are quite good. The sound is also recorded clearly, the noise reduction system works adequately and does not produce distortion.

• Video No. 1 (44 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.265, AAC)
• Video No. 2 (27 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.265, AAC)
• Video No. 3 (42 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.265, AAC)
• Video No. 4 (41 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 5 (58 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 6 (23 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

Below are examples of photographs with our comments on quality. Our specialist Anton Solovyov .

The camera turned out to be quite good. She is equally good at shooting in daylight and in low light. Despite the many artifacts of software processing, the detail of the images is decent. Excessive sharpening is also noticeable, but the camera boasts good sharpness across the frame. As a result, it can be fully recommended for documentary and even art photography.

Telephone and communications

Honor View 10 supports high-speed LTE Cat. 12/13. These include all three LTE FDD bands used in Russia (Band 3, 7, 20). In practice, within the city limits of the Moscow region, the device demonstrates reliable operation in wireless networks, does not lose connection, and quickly restores connection after a forced interruption.

The device works adequately in both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), there are no complaints about the operation of the Wi-Fi module. You can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. This Huawei smartphone has an NFC module installed, which works perfectly with Troika travel cards and the My Travel Card application, which is good news.

The data transfer speed over the cable from the computer's USB 3.1 port is about 31 MB/s.

The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), and with the domestic Glonass, and the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites, even during a cold start, are detected quickly, within the first seconds, and the positioning accuracy does not cause any complaints. The magnetic compass, necessary for navigation programs, is also in place.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. Methods for setting up the sorting and display of contacts are standard for the Android interface; there is a blacklist for unwanted contacts. There is a function for automatically recording telephone conversations from the line. VoLTE supported. Medium power vibration alert.

Honor View 10 is one of the few smartphones so far that can support both SIM cards in 4G mode simultaneously in active standby mode, which has not previously been seen in mobile devices (4G + 3G at best). Here the SIM card will work idle in 4G for voice even if another card is assigned for 4G data. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem.

Software and multimedia

The Honor View 10 uses Google Android version 8.0 with EMUI 8.0 shell as its software platform. There are no noticeable differences in design and organization from older versions of the interface. As with the first-born Kirin 970, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, the new features include AI algorithms that take full advantage of the latest Kirin 970 platform with Neural Computing Unit (NPU). The intelligent processor supports a range of new AI applications that can recognize objects when taking photos, translate texts into multiple languages ​​in real time without an Internet connection, and predict user requests, optimizing performance according to smartphone usage scenarios.

This applies, for example, to the built-in translator, which, it should be noted, actually copes with its tasks in practice perfectly, recognizes voice speech in Russian, and produces and voices the translation without errors.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the currently popular user authentication function by face. This function is also present here and generally works well. However, in terms of convenience, it still cannot be compared with fingerprint identification (which is also left here). In bright daylight everything is fine, but as soon as you go into a room with poor lighting, put on a hood, glasses, or just look more “rumpled” in the morning, the facial recognition system fails. In general, we often had to restart facial recognition or even resort to an alternative method using a fingerprint scanner during testing. Although, we repeat, under ideal conditions recognition always takes place the first time and quite clearly.

To listen to music, you usually use your own audio player with a set of Huawei Histen audio effects. They can turn on the 3D sound effect and choose from equalizer presets - but all this becomes available only with connected headphones, the type of which can also be selected. In any case, both in headphones and through the speaker, the smartphone sounds satisfactory: the sound is loud and clear, but not as powerful, thick and rich as that of the same Mate 10 Pro, everything is simpler here. Yes, and there is only one calling speaker.

There are no complaints about the sensitivity of the voice recorder; it can be safely used for any purpose, but the built-in FM radio was again not brought into the Huawei smartphone.

Performance

The Honor View 10 hardware platform is built on the newest and most powerful Huawei mobile platform at the moment - the HiSilicon Kirin 970 single-chip system. The chip is manufactured using a 10-nanometer process technology. The SoC configuration includes two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A73 with a maximum frequency of up to 2.36 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz. The amount of RAM is 6 GB, the storage capacity is 128 GB. Of these, 3.5 GB of RAM and 116 GB of flash memory are free.

HiSilicon Kirin 970 is currently Huawei's top platform. Its creators call their chip “the first neural computing processor with a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU) with support for artificial intelligence.” Judging by the tests, in comprehensive benchmarks the Kirin 970 is quite comparable in performance to the top platforms Samsung Exynos 8895 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, but in graphics they are still both ahead of the heroine of the review.

In real use scenarios, there are no obstacles for this SoC; it confidently copes with any tasks assigned to it. In particular, there are no problems with games: all the games we tested, including Modern Combat 5 and Mortal Kombat X, run confidently at maximum settings without the slightest slowdown. Lineage 2 is also quite possible to play, although there are slowdowns, you will have to lower the settings.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

Heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 41 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees). This is average heating for this test among modern smartphones.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

Further testing of video playback was performed by Alexey Kudryavtsev .

This unit does not appear to support DisplayPort Alt Mode for USB Type-C—outputting image and sound to an external device when connected to a USB port—as determined by using a USB Type-C to HDMI adapter (Choetech). Therefore, we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips have green ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect comfort viewing. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. However, there is no ideal smoothness in the case of 60 fps files, since the screen refresh rate is 59 Hz, so at least one frame per second is skipped. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-to-one pixel by pixel, exactly at the height of the screen (in landscape orientation) and in true Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights, which is required for correct playback of typical video files. Note that this smartphone has support for hardware decoding of H.265 files with a color depth of 10 bits per color, while displaying on the screen is also carried out in 10-bit mode (at least there are more shade gradations than in the case of an 8-bit file) .

Battery life

The Honor View 10 battery demonstrates a good level of autonomy, however, in demanding games, the system quickly overheats and the battery is discharged literally before our eyes. A powerful hardware platform, a large screen, and probably also not yet fully refined optimization of a completely new SoC have an effect. In real-life conditions of use under normal, average operating conditions, the hero of the review survives until the evening charge, but nothing more.

Testing has traditionally been carried out at the usual level of power consumption without using power saving functions, although the device has them. An intelligent energy management system can learn user habits and preferences to proactively allocate the necessary resources to extend battery life.

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted about 17.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) with At the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device operates for almost 12.5 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work for 3 hours, depending on the specific game.

Honor SuperCharge fast charging is supported, but the test sample arrived without the included proprietary charger. Using a standard AC adapter, the smartphone is fully charged within 2 hours 10 minutes with a current of 1.85 A at a voltage of 5 V. Wireless charging is not supported.

Bottom line

Honor View 10 is already presented in official Russian retail at a price of 35 thousand rubles. View 10 also appeared on January 8, 2018 in the markets of Western Europe (including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), as well as India, Malaysia and the USA. The cost of Honor View 10 in European countries will be 500 euros. This is significantly less than they are asking for the same Mate 10 Pro, but, as it turned out, these devices are not directly comparable. Yes, they have the same SoC, but there are currently fewer complaints about the performance of almost any smartphone. But in terms of the quality of cameras, sound, possibly screen, and even autonomy, the flagship of the Mate line noticeably outperforms the flagship of Honor, which is not surprising. However, even at its own level, the hero of the review has a formidable competitor in the form of OnePlus 5T. At a comparable price, it probably has a better camera, noticeably higher battery life and, of course, the Snapdragon 835 hardware platform of the market leader, Qualcomm, is more powerful in terms of graphics processing and more predictable in its actions. Honor View 10 is quite interesting in its own way, but there is an impression that the smartphone is a little overpriced. However, Huawei usually resolves such issues quite quickly, and it is quite possible that we will soon see a gradual reduction in the price of Honor View 10.

Kirin 970: comparison with Snapdragon

In the publication, we compare the Kirin 970 processor with the Snapdragon 845 and 835. Many users are interested in the balance of power in the pairs Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 636, Kirin 970 vs S660, Kirin 970 vs S710. (Snapdragon 710 versus flagships in Antutu.) In order not to complicate the material with an obvious excess of information, we decided to refuse comparison with these chips. If you think it is relevant, write in the comments, we will make a separate article.

When comparing Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 845/835, we will not dwell on the manufacturing process again. All chips featured in the article are made using 10 nm lithography. Yes, the transition to 7 nm has, in fact, already taken place. The first 7 nm chip will be presented to us at IFA; according to rumors, it will be the Kirin 980. But at the time of publication, 10 nm is still the thinnest process technology, and in this regard, all compared chips are equal.

Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 835

Let's start with a comparison of the Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 835. First of all, let's pay attention to the identical CPU architecture. If you read the technical specifications of the Snapdragon 835, you will see 8 Kryo 280 CPU cores. But the custom Qualcomm Kryo cores are built on the ARM Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A53 reference cores. The same ones are found in the Kirin 970, the Snapdragon 835 in terms of CPU organization differs from the Huawei processor to a minimal extent, and this difference can be neglected.

The test results are below. A comparison of Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 835 in the GeekBench and Antutu benchmarks shows that in terms of CPU processing power and overall operating speed, the processors can be compared. Yes, there are small deviations, but it is physically impossible to notice them when using the phone every day.

Kirin 970 vs 835 in GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Kirin 970 vs 835 in GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Snapdragon 835 and Kirin 970 in AnTuTu 7

The Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 835 graphics accelerators differ to a greater extent. If you like, you can even call this difference (or opposition) ideological. The Snapdragon 835 chip has Adreno 540 graphics, which many gamers consider unsurpassed. Even if the results in synthetic benchmarks show equality between Mali and Adreno, the gamer will still choose Adreno, citing the fact that this graphics chip is less susceptible to throttling and is better optimized.

Is this true or not? We will not engage in ideological debates, but instead will simply evaluate the test results. Synthetics show that the Mali-G72 MP12 graphics are not much inferior to the Adreno graphics, and in some places they even surpass them.

Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 835 in GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Kirin 970 vs S835 in GFX 3.1 Car Scene (1080p offscreen)

Kirin 970 vs S835 in Basemark X

In the final part of the comparison between Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 835, let's look at wireless technologies.
The Snapdragon 835 has a previous generation LTE modem that supports data reception at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s. We note support for the Bluetooth 5 wireless protocol. Another important point is that the Snapdragon 835 supports the Wi-Fi 802.11ad (60 GHz) standard. For flagship smartphones, it will become a mandatory attribute in the next couple of years, although to date it has only been implemented in the Asus ROG Phone. Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 835 processor: characteristics

Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 845

If in the last subsection we talked about the identical CPU architecture, then in this we need to focus on the fundamental difference between the Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 845 cores. The S845 processor has eight Kryo 385 CPU cores. These are custom Qualcomm Kryo cores, but they are built on ARM Cortex-A75 and Cortex-A55. In terms of CPU architecture, the Huawei Kirin 970 processor is noticeably inferior to the Snapdragon 845.

It is also inferior in terms of operating frequencies of a powerful cluster. Kryo 385 Gold (Cortex-A75) cores can operate at 2.8 GHz, although smartphone manufacturers often limit the peak frequency to 2.7 GHz.

Only due to this frequency, the Kirin 970 would lose to the Snapdragon 845 in terms of pure CPU processing power and overall operating speed. But since the S845 also has more powerful cores, the difference between the processors becomes so significant (around 25-32%) that a sophisticated user will notice it even when using the phone every day, even in complex tasks.

Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 845 in GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 845 in GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Snapdragon 845 vs Kirin 970 in AnTuTu 7

The most difficult tasks are drawing 3D graphics in modern games. This is where another variable comes into the equation - the type of graphics accelerator. The Snapdragon 845 comes with Adreno 630. It’s tempting to say that Adreno puts Mali to shame, but that’s not entirely true. The CPU also affects the results, so it is more correct to talk about the overall superiority of the Snapdragon 845 over the Kirin 970, which becomes even more pronounced in synthetic graphics tests (around 49-53%).

Kirin 970 vs 845 in GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Kirin 970 vs 845 in GFX 3.1 Car Scene (1080p offscreen)

Kirin 970 vs 845 in Basemark X

With wireless technology we see almost the same picture.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor supports Wi-Fi 802.11ad and Bluetooth 5 wireless standards (about the benefits of Bluetooth 5). By the way, it was Wi-Fi 802.11ad support that allowed developers to implement many ideas in the Asus ROG Phone gaming smartphone. The LTE modem in the Kirin 970 and 845 processors is the same - category 18/13. Kirin 970 vs 845: characteristics

Yesterday, Huawei presented its new flagships Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, together with which the new Kirin 970 processor debuted. The top chipset is built on four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53 cores. It is complemented by an updated Mali-G72 graphics video accelerator. All this is seasoned with 4GB of RAM (Mate 10) or 6GB (Huawei Mate 10 Pro).

Today, the well-known portal PhoneArena shared with us synthetic tests, in which the eldest smartphone, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, took part. During testing, the Huawei flagship was compared with other high-end smartphones in 2022.

Before we delve into the test results, let's take a closer look at the Hisilicon Kirin 970, which resides inside the Huawei Mate 10 Pro. The four Cortex-A73 cores are considered high-performance, boasting a peak clock speed of 2.4 GHz. The remaining four Cortex-A53 cores are energy efficient. They operate at frequencies up to 1.8 GHz, and are activated when the load on the hardware is minimal. The processor architecture is similar to the 8-core Exynos 8895, which is equipped with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. It also has 4 powerful cores operating at a frequency of 2.3 GHz, and four efficient Cortex-A53 with a frequency of up to 1.7 GHz. Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which is equipped with most of this year's top smartphones (OnePlus 5, Nokia 8 and a number of other flagships), also competes with the Kirin 970.

The graphics capabilities of Huawei Mate 10 Pro are provided by the Mali-G72 video accelerator with 12 cores. Samsung Exynos 8895 is equipped with the older Mali-G71 model, but with 20 cores. The Snapdragon 835 has its own Adreno 540 graphics chip.

So, can the Huawei Mate 10 Pro beat its main competitors? Let's get a look. Keep in mind that PhoneArena tested a pre-release version of the smartphone, so final results may vary slightly.

In the GeekBench 4.1 test, Huawei Mate 10 Pro scored about the same as recent flagships from other companies. But the iPhone 8 Plus, which is built on the new A11 Bionic chip, is significantly inferior. Like, in principle, all other Android smartphones.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core) GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

AnTuTu 6 is a complex benchmark that focuses on 3D performance, as well as memory and processor speed. Here, only OnePlus 5 and Apple iPhone 8 Plus were better than Huawei Mate 10 Pro.

AnTuTu 6

In Basemark OS 2.0, all flagships scored approximately the same number of points - from 3300 to 3600.

Basemark OS 2.0

Moving on to graphics tests, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro beats its Android opponents by a decent margin in the GFXBench 3.1 Manhattan test. Naturally, there is no game that would not run on a new smartphone.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen) GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen) GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Finally, in Basemark X, Huawei Mate 10 Pro was in last place, although the gap from its closest competitors is not too large.

Basemark X

In all tests, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro was on par with its Android counterparts, significantly inferior only to the Apple iPhone 8 Plus. But here it is worth taking into account the difference in platforms, which significantly affects testing.

Source

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Comparison of Kirin 970 and Snapdragon: results

According to the unspoken tradition, general conclusions are needed. They seem obvious to us, but we will not break the accepted format.

The Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 835 processors are comparable in terms of CPU processing power, overall operating speed and GPU results in synthetic (!) tests. In real life, you most likely will not notice the difference between them, unless you are an avid gamer.

Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 845 are on different rungs of the hierarchical ladder. The Qualcomm processor is much more powerful. The difference in operating speed reaches 50%, and this will definitely affect the user experience. We're not talking about launching apps or running Android smoothly, but about more complex tasks - auto focusing, optical stabilization, HDR (how HDR works) and other features of flagship cameras. If you choose a gaming smartphone, it is better to go with the Xiaomi Black Shark than the Honor Play.

We recommend reading about the new Huawei processor: Kirin 710 - 8 cores, 12 nanometers.

Instead of conclusion: all smartphones are based on Kirin 970

Instead of making a conclusion, we decided to select all smartphones powered by the Kirin 970 processor. Most of them are flagships, but there are also relatively affordable models that were released under the Honor brand:

Huawei P20: all specifications and price Huawei P20 Pro: all specifications and price Huawei Mate 10: all specifications and price Huawei Mate 10 Pro: all specifications and price Honor 10: all specifications and price Honor Play: all specifications and price Honor Note 10: all specifications and price Huawei Nova 3: specifications and price