When a major shift in smartphone design happens, we typically get to see one trailblazer well before any of the others. It’s Honor’s turn now — starting 2019 with a solid punch! A hole punch, to be more precise. We’re referring to the new kind of display it has, with a small (4.5mm diameter) cutout in a corner of the display for the front camera.
A hole punch (like a notch) is not very easy to do. That it’s a complex manufacturing process for the display is more evident when you consider that the display has to work around the cutout, not just near it. The hole punch is the next logical step in the race to get rid of the smartphone notch & bezel. And we’re going to see a lot more Android phones like this in 2019.
Like many people, our initial reaction to the corner hole was not all positive — it’s not in the centre so looks weird to anyone who likes symmetry (which, as it turns out, is a lot of people). It’s why a notch is always in the top centre of the display. But use the phone for a short while and the hole punch just disappears. You stop noticing it quite quickly, which is more than you can say of a notch. When held in landscape view to watch a video or play a game, your thumb covers the hole anyway. It’s brilliant! The interface works around the hole punch and you can hide it with a black bar if you don’t like it. The display itself is a FHD+ IPS LCD with excellent colour and contrast.
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That being said, there’s a lot more to the View 20 than the display. It’s the first 48MP camera (sony IMX 586 sensor) we’ve seen and the camera quality is fantastic. The chevron pattern on the back is unique and dazzling, created by nanotexture materials under the back glass. Performance is top class, thanks to the 7nm Kirin 980 chip, GPU Turbo (game optimised mode) and liquid cooling system. It has a premium feel with aluminium + glass, fingerprint scanner, face unlock, 3.5mm out, infrared blaster and numerous AI features. Battery life is a stellar day and a half (7hrs + screen on time) with fast charge included. And finally, there’s a PC mode that drives a secondary desktop-style interface on a monitor over HDMI while you continue to use your phone.
Razer 2, Honor Magic 2 & Other Amazing Phones That Never Made It To India In 2018
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Big tech players like Honor, Xiaomi, LG & Sony, among others, have launched a series of smartphone this year, but some game-changing devices never made it to the Indian market.
Here are all the splendid smartphones that may or may not release in India next year.
Big tech players like Honor, Xiaomi, LG & Sony, among others, have launched a series of smartphone this year, but some game-changing devices never made it to the Indian market.
Here are all the sple..
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The Magic 2 is Honor’s new smartphone with a mechanical slider and six cameras. It has a triple camera setup on the back (16MP + 16MP + 24MP) and a triple camera setup in front (16MP + 2MP + 2MP). You get a 6.39-inch amoled display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio sans any notch and slim bezels on all sides. Inside is Huawei’s top-ofthe-line Kirin 980 processor, 6 or 8GB RAM, 128 or 256GB SSD and a 3,500mAh battery. Other features include infrared face unlock, indisplay fingerprint scanner and 40W fast charge with the USB-C port.
The Magic 2 is Honor’s new smartphone with a mechanical slider and six cameras. It has a triple camera setup on the back (16MP + 16MP + 24MP) and a triple camera setup in front (16MP + 2MP + 2MP). Y..
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Xiaomi launched the Mi MIX2 in India but never launched the Mi MIX2s. We were hoping for the launch of Mi MIX3 in India but the company seems content with the more mass market segments. MIX3 is Xiaomi’s first phone with a mechanical slider mechanism that hides the front dual camera setup. Up front it has a beautiful, 6.39-inch super amoled display with minimal bezels and no irritating notch anywhere. Hardware includes a Snapdragon 845, up to 10GB RAM, up to 256GB storage and a 3,200mAh battery. You get a dual 12MP rear camera, dual 24 + 2MP front camera, rear fingerprint scanner and wireless charging.
Xiaomi launched the Mi MIX2 in India but never launched the Mi MIX2s. We were hoping for the launch of Mi MIX3 in India but the company seems content with the more mass market segments. MIX3 is Xiao..
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Sony’s XZ2 was launched in India this July at a ridiculous price. The phone was not bad but it seemed like Sony has almost given up on promoting the Xperia range. No other Sony phone has been launched in India since then even though the XZ3 was showcased globally in August. The XZ3 has a 6-inch P-oled display with a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels and HDR BT2020 compatibility. This is the same standard used in UHD TVs for HDR. Specifications include a Snapdragon 845, 4 or 6GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 3,300mAh battery. There is a 19MP rear camera with laser autofocus and it is amongst the few phones capable of recording 960fps slow motion video in full HD resolution. Other features include a 13MP front camera with HDR and EIS, USB Type-C port, wireless charging, expandable storage and rear fingerprint scanner.
Sony’s XZ2 was launched in India this July at a ridiculous price. The phone was not bad but it seemed like Sony has almost given up on promoting the Xperia range. No other Sony phone has been launch..
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We have seen three phones from LG’s V series and have come away impressed with all three. The latest in the series is the V40 ThinQ and it offers a unique proposition: notch type full screen plus IP68 rating plus MIL-STD-810G compliant for ruggedness (can work in extreme environment conditions, survive drops etc.). It has a 6.4-inch P-oled display with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels and a notch that hides an 8MP + 5MP dual camera setup. Around the back is a triple camera (12MP f1.5 + 12MP telephoto + 16MP ultra-wide lens). It is powered by Snapdragon 845, 6GB RAM, has 64 or 128GB internal storage (expandable) and a 3,300mAh battery. The phone has a 32-bit Hi-Fi quad DAC and is the first phone in the world to have sound tuned by Meridian Audio.
We have seen three phones from LG’s V series and have come away impressed with all three. The latest in the series is the V40 ThinQ and it offers a unique proposition: notch type full screen plus IP6..
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Razer is an established name when it comes to gaming PCs and accessories. The company entered the gaming smartphone segment with the Razer phone in 2017 (even that never came to India). In 2018, Razer launched the Razer Phone 2 with a 5.73-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio IPS display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixelsand 120Hz screen refresh rate. Specifications include a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 4,000mAh battery. The phone offers an illuminated Razer logo, vapour chamber cooling, wireless charging, IP67 water resistance, dual front facing speakers and a 24-bit DAC. For camera, it has a dual rear camera setup (12MP f.175 wide-angle + 12MP telephoto) along with an 8MP front camera.
Razer is an established name when it comes to gaming PCs and accessories. The company entered the gaming smartphone segment with the Razer phone in 2017 (even that never came to India). In 2018, Raz..
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Black Shark Technology is one of the many Xiaomi ecosystem companies. It’s a gaming company that launched a gaming phone in April and followed it up with the Black Shark Helo smartphone in November. The Black Shark Helo is powered by a Snapdragon 845, has up to 10GB RAM and 128 or 256GB storage. The phone has a 6.01-inch 18:9 display along with front stereo speakers. It also has a new liquid cooling system to prevent overheating. Other features include a 4,000mAh battery, 12MP + 20MP dual rear camera, 20MP front camera and USB Type-C port. The box includes a left side gamepad while the right side gamepad is an optional extra.
Black Shark Technology is one of the many Xiaomi ecosystem companies. It’s a gaming company that launched a gaming phone in April and followed it up with the Black Shark Helo smartphone in November. ..
The 48MP camera uses pixel binning to give you optimised 12MP photos. Artificially combining pixels give you large pixels that are resistant to noise & have a higher light sensitivity (so night shots are great too). It doesn’t have optical image stabilisation but EIS does the trick for video, even in 4K. We found the photos to have excellent detail and colour. There are many AI features, object recognition, modes and options to play with.
The software interface is Magic UI (built on Android 9.0). It’s a heavy interface with several pre-loaded apps but is also heavy on customisation and extra features. Literally any software feature you want is available: call recording, party mode (audio sync across multiple devices), simple mode, display colour adjustment, digital balance, ride mode (auto respond to calls), universal remote, theme engine, compass, blacklist, virus scan and cleanup/optimisation to name a few!
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At this price, Honor is clearly pitting their flagship against the popular OnePlus 6T. OnePlus is an established player and they clearly have the edge when it comes to the display (they use Samsung OLED displays) and software (their Oxygen OS is the smoothest, fastest and best Android implementation). But one has to give kudos to Honor for doing very interesting things with the design, camera and performance. If you want in on the latest hole punch trend, the View 20 is a powerful and feature-rich option that will delight you with excellent camera quality and great battery life.
