Huawei Honor View 20 review

Regardless of how you feel about the looks, the glass back makes for a slippery phone.

Express.co.uk noted, “... during our time with the View 20 it habitually fell off completely flat surfaces when placed on them for a significant period of time.”

You’ll want to use the clear case the phone ships with or plan to pick one up.

Display

Heading around front, you’re greeted with minimal bezels and a large 6.4-inch, 1080-by-2310 pixel IPS display. Instead of the now-trendy notch at the top, the screen uses a “hole-punch” design with the front camera embedded in the upper-left corner of the screen.

The hole-punch design received praise from most reviewers with many noting that they barely noticed the camera was there after a few minutes.

The viewing experience pleased by did not wow most reviewers. The IPS display cannot complete with OLED panels in terms of contrast and the 1080p resolution was sharp enough to highlight details but wasn’t anything special or innovative. Otherwise, colors, brightness, and viewing angles all received high marks.

Performance

Powered by Huawei’s own 2.6GHz Kirin 980 processor with 6 or 8GB of RAM, the phone blew benchmarks out of the water. Even the 6GB model ran silky smooth for reviewers. Multitasking, heavy gaming, and other resource-intensive tasks shouldn’t be a problem.

Mashable says, “... the View 20 is like a bullet train compared to other Android phones, which are like the slow subway.”

Software

Reviews dipped when talking about the phone’s software. While reviewers like that the phone ships with Android 9.0 Pie, some weren’t as impressed with Huawei’s Magic UI. They felt customizations were heavy-handed. And while you can install most of the pre-loaded apps, reviewers thought the phone shipped with too much bloatware.

Storage

Depending on the variant on the phone you choose, you’ll enjoy either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage -- more than enough for most. And that’s good considering the phone doesn’t support microSD cards, unlike many other Android devices.

Cameras

On paper, the Honor View 20’s 48MP rear camera with a 3D TOF sensor sounds like an absolute beast. But in reviews, results are less impressive. While it’s not a bad camera, it didn’t blow reviewers away. Some found the camera interface frustrating while others noticed the phone struggled to capture fine details.

While the AI-assisted 48MP mode took stunning shots, it required holding the phone still for 2 or more seconds -- a limitation that will prevent you from using the feature often.

Around front, the phone features a 24MP lens. The detail of selfies and portraits impressed reviewers but many found low-light performance lacking.

Neowin highlights this mixed opinion, saying, “The Honor View 20 really has a phenomenal camera, especially considering the price, but I'll still take the Huawei Mate 20 Pro given the choice.”

Battery Life

Fortunately, opinions improve for battery life. The phone includes a 4,000mAh battery with USB Type C fast charging. While there is no wireless charging, the phone offers two days of light-to-moderate usage on a single charge.

Audio

If you’re planning to play games, watch movies, or stream music, the single speaker provides a basic experience while the 3.5mm headphone jack makes it easy to slip on your favorite headphones and immerse yourself in the experience.

The Takeaway

Overall, the phone receives mostly positive marks from reviewers. Many consider it a legitimate rival to the best mid-tier phones on the market -- including the OnePlus 6T.

Mashable sums up opinions well, saying, “... the surprisingly good View 20 is the phone with the potential to put the company on the global map and let it stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other mobile giants.”