Honor 20 Pro first impressions: Improved design with better camera features

Honor 20 Pro will launch in India on June 11. The latest Honor phone comes with Kirin 980 processor, quad-cameras, and improved design.

Honor 20 Pro is priced at EUR 599 (Rs 47,000 approximately) (HT Photo)

Honor is betting big on its design and camera prowess with the new Honor 20 series. The most premium of the new lineup, Honor 20 Pro, brings a more refined glass back panel while the number of camera sensors has increased to four. At starting price of EUR 599 (₹47,000 approximately), Honor 20 Pro also undercuts the premium phones such as Apple iPhone XS and Samsung Galaxy S10.

Honor 20 Pro doesn't look very different from the predecessor, Honor 10. The smartphone comes wrapped in a glass body maintaining the premium look and feel. It's quite light as well despite a 6.26-inch screen size. There's also a punch-hole camera on the front, which we last saw on HonorView 20. Honor 20 Pro comes in newer colour options such as Phantom Black and Phantom Blue.

Another important change in Honor 20 Pro is the placement of fingerprint sensor. Instead of opting for the trending in-display fingerprint sensor, Honor 20 Pro houses a side-mounted one. Popular on Samsung phones, the fingerprint sensor is placed on the right side and doubles as the power button as well. This feature appears to be nifty but can often be a nuisance, as we experienced on the Galaxy S10e.

A man takes a picture of an Honor 20 Pro smartphone at a launch event for the Honor 20 Series smartphones at Battersea Evolution in London. (AFP)

A man takes a picture of an Honor 20 Pro smartphone at a launch event for the Honor 20 Series smartphones at Battersea Evolution in London. (AFP)

Highlight of Honor 20 Pro is the new quad-camera setup which features 48-megapixel sensor (Sony IMX586), 16-megapixel wide-angle sensor, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The setup is a combination of the best camera features from Honor View20 and Huawei P30 Pro. For instance, Honor 20 Pro features super night mode and 30X digital zoom. It also has P30 Pro's moon mode.

Honor in its demo tried to prove that its camera is better than the competition, especially in lowlight. To back its bold claims, Honor 20 Pro has bagged 111 rating from DxOMark. It is worth noting that OnePlus 7 Pro also has the same camera rating from DxOMark.

Honor 20 series features Honor 20, Honor 20 Pro and Honor 20 Lite. (AFP)

Honor 20 series features Honor 20, Honor 20 Pro and Honor 20 Lite. (AFP)

Quad-cameras and triple-cameras are certainly not new. Higher number of camera sensors gives more flexibility to mobile photography enthusiast. The implementation of the sensors and how well it's baked into the system is also quite important. Considering Honor's good record of camera performance, Honor 20 Pro could be another solid camera phone.

Summing up,

Honor 20 Pro is a good looking phone loaded with high-end camera features. Running on the flagship Kirin 980 chipset, Honor 20 Pro is a promising premium phone. The smartphone will make its way to India on June 11. Here, the Honor 20 Pro will compete with another affordable flagship, OnePlus 7 Pro.