Honor has launched another midranger with a fast Kirin 710 chip inside and a selfie camera of 24 MP that won’t disappoint you. Apart from its performance and camera, it’s based off on a new glass finish gradient design that looks stunning at first glance, not to mention, it’s also a phone with the least notch onboard. Here’s our Honor 10 Lite review.
What’s In The Box
- Honor 10 Lite with built-in battery
- Micro USB Cable
- Charger (5V, 2A)
- Flexible Silicon Clear Case
- SIM Tray Ejector Pin
- User Manuals and Warranty Card
Here’s our unboxing video of the Honor 10 Lite below.
Honor 10 Lite Specifications
- Display: 6.21-inch IPS LCD display, Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels, 415 ppi), 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 2.5D curved glass
- Software: EMUI 9.0.1 based on Android 9 Pie
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, at the back
- Face Unlock: Yes
- CPU: Up to 2.2 GHz octa-core (4x Cortex-A53 + 4x Cortex-A73) 64-bit processor, Kirin 710 SoC, 12nm
- GPU: Mali-G51 MP4 (~650 MHz), GPU Turbo, 4D Gaming
- Memory: 4 GB OR 6 GB RAM, LPDDR4X
- Storage: 64 GB, expandable via microSD card up to 512 GB (dedicated slot)
- Main Camera: Dual Cameras 13 MP (f/1.8) + 2 MP, AIS, Portrait Mode, 3D Portrait Lighting, AR Lens, AI Beauty, AI Scene Recognition, LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 24 MP f/2.0, AI Groupfie, AI Beauty, 3D Portrait Lighting, Scene Recognition
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, 3.5 mm headphone jack, micro USB
- Cellular: 4G LTE, dual nano SIM (GSM), dual-VoLTE
- SAR: 0.74W/kg
- Other: HiVision
- Battery: 3,400 mAh, 10W (5V, 2A) charging
- Colors: Sapphire Blue, Sky Blue, Midnight Black
- Price: Rs 13,999 (4 GB RAM), Rs 17,999 (6 GB RAM)
- Availability: 20th January 2019, Flipkart exclusive, HiHonor India website
- Offers: Rs 2,200 cashback from Reliance Jio
Design, Build, & Ergonomics
It is not just about the notch, it’s also about how much screen the phone has to offer with least bezels, the Honor 10 Lite has a new notched design with a tiny notch atop that shows a higher screen-to-body ratio of about 91%.
The back of the phone has a coating of eight layers refracting light and creating an iridescent multi-colored shine. You can see the gradient colors mainly the Sky Blue slowly fading to a different color. Other variants of the phone include Sapphire Blue and Midnight Black.
You will also find a verticle dual camera setup and a fingerprint scanner on flipping the phone. The design is sort of plastic, no it’s not metallic. The edges are tapered, the bezels are smaller, the screen looks quite amazing on the front.
The Honor 10 lite comes with a triple slot SIM tray out of which one slot is for the microSD card while the rest two are utilized for the two nano 4G SIMs that also features dual VoLTE.
The bottom offers a micro USB port, not the type-C port while the competitors such as the Samsung Galaxy M20 has it. The right side has the usual power and volume control, the left area is empty.
Display
The display on the Honor 10 Lite is 6.21-inch IPS LCD with a Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels) and wider screen 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The main highlight of the screen is that it now offers a full-screen design with the least notch, unlike the predecessor – Honor 9 Lite.
You can hide the notch in the settings if you prefer a notchless screen. You may also find display enhancements in the display settings if you want to change the resolution, optimize the apps for full-screen, color temperature, and more
The IPS panel seems stable, the viewing angles are good, the brightness is sufficient to be able to read the content well outdoors especially shady places, as otherwise, reflections may obstruct the view.
Software & User Interface
The Honor 10 Lite provides users with a state-of-the-art Android Pie 9.0 with EMUI 9.0.1 out-of-the-box with a security patch of 1 November 2018. The interface is similar to the recent Honor phones like the Honor 8X and it packs the nearly the same features you see on most Honor phones with the current EMUI 9.
You will find the usual bloatware on the phone that can be removed if not required. The software feels much identical, you’ll find the Party mode, Ride mode, as well as the gesture-based system navigation. Features like GPU Turbo is a great addition for gamers that boost the performance of the games while playing.
Another great addition in the software is the Digital Balance which seems to be a rip off of the Digital Wellbeing found on the Google Pixel 3 XL with pure Android. This feature will monitor your daily activity on the phone and lets you control the amount of time you spend on the phone.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
Honor 10 Lite is equipped with an octa-core Kirin 710 SoC and it includes the four Cortex-A73 high-performance cores clocked at maximum 2.2 GHz while the other four Cortex-A53 cores are more of a battery friendly cores clocked at 1.7 GHz. The Kirin 710 is a new chip from HUAWEI and it has more power compared to the midrange Kirin 659 found on the Honor 9 Lite.
Furthermore, the chip consists of up to 6 GB RAM with 64 GB of onboard eMMC storage that expands up to 512 GB on a dedicated microSD card slot. While there two available RAM variants of the phone, no other storage variants exist you are all with the 64 GB internal storage. We received a 6 GB RAM variant which is the top variant of the Honor 10 Lite.
Honor 10 Lite Key Specifications
- Display: 6.21-inch IPS LCD display, Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels, 415 ppi), 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 2.5D curved glass
- Software: EMUI 9.0.1 based on Android 9 Pie
- CPU: Up to 2.2 GHz octa-core (4x Cortex-A53 + 4x Cortex-A73) 64-bit processor, Kirin 710 SoC, 12nm
- GPU: Mali-G51 MP4 (~650 MHz), GPU Turbo, 4D Gaming
- Memory: 4 GB OR 6 GB RAM, LPDDR4X
- Storage: 64 GB, expandable via microSD card up to 512 GB (dedicated slot)
- Battery: 3,400 mAh, 10W (5V, 2A) charging
Talking about the performance on the device, the Kirin 710 is on par with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660. Hence, devices with the Snapdragon 636 should be slightly weaker in the benchmarks as compared to the Kirin 710. AnTuTu benchmark scored 125,871 points and Geekbench 4 scored 1,521 points in single-core, points in 5,358 multi-core, and 3,225 points in GPU benchmark.
In the similar price range, smartphones like Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro, Nokia 6.1, Motorola One Power are equipped with the Snapdragon 636 while the phones with the Snapdragon 660 are ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2, Realme 2 Pro, and Vivo V9 Pro.
Gaming shouldn’t be a problem for those who are casual gamers with medium settings, but those who want to play games on full graphics should take a better GPU phone. The Mali-G51 MP4 is a quad-core graphics and is slightly below the Adreno 512 (Snapdragon 660), with the GPU Turbo feature, the phone should give a performance boost in the games. We played PUBG Mobile and it runs on medium graphics without any problems. Other games we ran are Asphalt 9: Legends, and Sky Force Reloaded.
Games Tested on Honor 10 Lite
- PUBG MOBILE
- Asphalt 9: Legends
- Sky Force Reloaded
Cameras
One of the main highlights on the phone are its cameras, the back has a dual camera setup (13 MP + 2 MP) while the front has a whopping 24 MP camera for selfie needs. Guess what, the cameras are also powered by AI, the back of the phone has AI Camera moniker that shows the cameras support AI features.
Honor 10 Lite Camera Specifications
- Main Camera: Dual Cameras 13 MP (f/1.8) + 2 MP
- Optical Image Stabilization (OIS): N/A
- Rear Flash: Single LED flash
- Features: AI Multi-Scene Recognition, Portrait Mode, 3D Portrait Lighting, Aperture Mode, Live Photos, AR Lens (Effects, Background), Panorama, Stickers, Pro mode, Beauty Photo, Beauty Video, Night Mode, Light painting, Time-lapse, HDR, Filter, Burst Shot, Geo-tagging, Tap to focus
- Video Recording: Up to 1080p video @60fps
- Front Camera: 24 MP f/2.0, AI-backed
- Video Recording: 1080p video @30fps
- Front Flash: Screen flash
The AI mode can recognize over 200 scenes across 8 different categories, you will see a small icon with text that shows which scene you are shooting. Other features include Portrait Mode, 3D Portrait Lighting, Aperture Mode, Live Photos, AR Lens (Effects, Background), Pro mode, Night Mode, and more.
The rear side uses a 13 MP with a 2 MP secondary sensor right beside it for depth measuring. The cameras are good in daylight with a good amount of details. Selfies come out better than its predecessor, the front camera is good when there is enough light.
Do note that the phone is capable of shooting up to 1080p video, you will miss the 4K recording. Also, there’s no slow-motion video recording either on the phone. The overall camera performance is quite fair for its price unless you want these video capabilities. Take a look at the shots we took from the Honor 10 Lite camera.
Honor 10 Lite Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
There’s a 3,400 mAh battery with a 10W charger inside the box. After a full charge, the battery should be able to survive a full day on heavy usage, our test indicates the battery runs 1.5 days on moderate usage and more than 2 days on average usage.
Take a look at the screenshots, it shows that the Honor 10 Lite last longer based on how frequently you use the phone. EMUI software has some nice battery optimizations, you can also enable the battery saving features under the Battery settings to add more hours to the battery life.
The only disappointment is the charging time, 2.5 hours of time isn’t too quick for a 3,400 mAh battery. The phone ships a 5V and 2A charger i.e. 10W and it takes a while to charge from 0% to 100%. However, the good thing is the battery stays longer which should be a problem for many.
Honor 10 Lite Battery Test Results
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Verdict
The Honor 10 Lite offers solid performance, a good selfie camera, and Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box in the midrange segment. The Honor 10 Lite has an edge over its competitors with its glass-like design, Android 9 Pie with EMUI based features, and a battery that runs well. At this price, the Honor 10 Lite is a recommended buy. Consider other options if you want 4K and slow-motion video recording.
Rivals
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro – Rs 13,999
- Realme 2 Pro – Rs 13,990
- ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 – Rs 12,999
Strength
- Glass Finish Design
- Smaller Notch
- Decent Rear Cameras
- Stunning Selfies & Portraits
- Decent Battery Life
- Dedicated MicroSD Card Slot
Weakness
- Charging Takes Time
- No 4K Video & Slow Motion Recording
