The smartphone competition is quite tense for OEMs, which face stiff challenges from rivals regardless of how competitive they get. OnePlus made quite an impression with its OnePlus 5T recently, and Huawei's sub-brand is taking on the challenge to offer a suitable alternative with its V10 smartphone.
After a series of rumours and speculations, Honor V10 has finally made an official debut in China on Tuesday. The global launch of the handset is set for December 5, but the India launch is not expected until January next year.
Honor V10 comes in three variants, differentiated by their storage and RAM configurations. The base model with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage is priced at ¥2,699 (about Rs 26,400), the 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM variant costs ¥3,499 (around Rs 29,300) and the high-end 6GB RAM with 128GB storage comes at ¥3,499 (approx. Rs 34,200). Since the pricing is close to what OnePlus 5T is right now, it is hard to determine whether it will be priced lower than OnePlus flagship in India.
The specifications of the Honor V10 makes it an interesting product in the crowded smartphone market. This is the first Honor smartphone to come with an AI and machine learning-enabled HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset, which we have seen in the mighty Huawei Mate 10 series. The handset runs the latest Android 8.0 Oreo-based EMUI 8.0.
Honor V10 strikes an appeal with its 5.99-inch Full HD+ bezel-less FullView display with 18:9 aspect ratio, which has become the new industry standard for premium smartphones. Wrapped with metal unibody, the handset boasts two camera sensors on the back – one is a 16MP RGB sensor and the other a 20MP monochrome sensor – with f/1.8 aperture, PDAF and dual-LED flash.
If you're a fan of selfies, the ultra-thin top bezel has a 13MP selfie snapper right next to the speaker and ambient sensor. The bezel at the bottom has a physical home button with fingerprint sensor, which OnePlus chose to ditch in the 5T model.
The premium flagship also has a microSD card slot, which supports up to 256GB, something that's obsolete in OnePlus smartphones. The USB Type-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, dual SIM card support puts Honor V10 at par with OnePlus 5T.
Finally, the smartphone has a 3,750mAh battery, supported by 5V/4.5A fast charging support. We are too impressed by OnePlus' Dash Charge fast charging solution, and it remains to be seen if Honor manages to come close to OnePlus on this front.
