Honor 10 Lite review

Design, build and 360-degree spin

Naturally, the Honor 10 Lite borrows some design traits from its more expensive sibling - the Honor 10 - while offering some unique details. Also, as one would expect, the Honor 10 Lite misses on the premium materials and instead relies only on plastic for the body. That doesn't take away anything from the looks, though.

On the front, the smartphone surprises with great screen-to-body ratio with considerably more screen real estate thanks to the move of the fingerprint reader at the back and the narrower notch at the front. While the Honor 10 has a wide, standard-looking notch, the Lite has a matching "Lite" notch. Some may call it a waterdrop and it does look like one to some extent. The side and upper bezels are thin and symmetrical but the bottom one surprised us the most. It's one of the smallest ones we've seen, especially at this price point and also houses a subtle LED notification light. It looks awesome when it lights up.

As we go around the sides, we can see the power key and the volume rocker on the right side - both easy to reach. They have some wobble but compensate with a tactile clicky feedback.

Honor 10 Lite from the sides

The SIM card tray and the noise-canceling microphone reside on the top while the bottom houses the 3.5mm audio jack, the loudspeaker grille and the microUSB connector for charging and data transfer. We can't think of a reason why they would choose a microUSB instead of USB-C.

We hope there was actual technical reasoning behind this decision and not mere market segmentation. We've said it many times before, manufacturers should all move towards a single power and connectivity port for the benefit of the consumers and this can't come soon enough so releasing a brand new phone with microUSB ports is clearly not a move in the right direction.

As we already stated, the back panel of the phone is made of plastic and houses the rear-mounted fingerprint reader and the dual-camera setup. However, the plastic doesn't take away from the looks and the silver/blue gradient color looks pretty cool. Also, fingerprints are visible only at an angle.

The back panel isn't curved but it's not protruding either so no sharp edges press against your palm when holding the device. Speaking of handling, the smartphone is pretty easy to use with one hand - it feels quite compact and lightweight and for some reason, it's not slippery. In fact, the side frame feels a bit rubberized to some extent making it even easier to hold. The phone handles really well for a 6.2-inch device.

To be honest, you can't expect high-end build materials from a such an affordable device and plastic was expected to be the main order of the day. Nevertheless, Honor managed to focus on what's important here - usability. The plastic sides and back are more likely to withstand drops as the plastic is more shock-absorbent than glass and metal.

Honor 10 Lite from the front and back

And by skipping on the glass, the phone is even lighter and grippier. Keep in mind, though, that the plastic is easier to scratch than glass so keep that case on or be careful where you put it.

Here's our customary interactive 360 view of the phone so you can have a good look at it from all angles.