Honor View 20 long-term review

Conclusion

Honor's numerically numbered phone (Honor 8, Honor 9, Honor 10) used to be the company's global flagship. Then it decided to shift direction with its portfolio and put a higher-end device that would be even closer to Huawei's currently reigning premium flagships ever since the View 10 with its similarities to the Mate 10 Pro at that time.

Honor knows what it's doing. It has all the resources it needs to really push the limits of what to expect in the price range that the View 20 competes in. It sits between the $500 and $600 price range but could easily push $600 if it offered a couple more features like waterproofing and wireless charging.

The Honor View 20 has a slightly smaller battery (still 4,000 mAh), it has a lower-resolution display (still just as large), it doesn't have wireless charging (still supports Super Charge), and it doesn't have the triple camera for zoom or wide angles (but a higher resolution sensor with comparable performance and night mode).

Our point here is that Huawei could have trimmed even more of the Mate 20 Pro features like Night Mode, Desktop mode, and NFC but they didn't. We're amazed that the View 20 Pro has full desktop interface support like the Mate 20 Pro which can even be performed over a Miracast connection.

Those extra features don't matter to most people, which is why this is a great phone for those who don't care about the more unnecessary (arguably luxury) features. As we've said throughout this long-term review: this phone is a far more affordable version of the Mate 20 Pro without the features that most people don't need.

The Mate 20 Pro comparison aside, this phone is an excellent competitor to the OnePlus 6T. After all, it's priced identically and has similar features. Each one has different software experiences, but the camera sets the View 20 apart with more versatility and a superior selfie camera.

As for the phone's predecessor, the View 10, this one was more difficult to be excited about due to its bland looks. But Honor and other lower-cost Chinese phone companies have begun to address the boring metal jacket design in favor of a flashy glass sandwich design, which we aren't complaining about, but it's possible the market might become bored of flashy glass, which will set off a new design trend set over the next few years.

We test a lot of phones, and as a result, our attention span of excitement between devices has diminished. The View 20 changes this. Although it's a cheaper phone, it didn't feel like one, it felt like it was right up there with the more expensive flagship phones.

Are there places where the View 20 could have improved? Yeah, but not too many. Is the View 20 going to satisfy everyone? Perhaps not. Magic UI isn't everyone's favorite UI whether it's because of its appearance or more specific UI behaviors. But if you are coming from an iPhone, Magic UI/EMUI is a great Android skin to start with since it somewhat feels like iOS and yet, it is very much Android in most other aspects. The likeness to iOS is much less apparent now than in previous versions of EMUI.

Those who buy the View 20 will not be disappointed. If the View 20 isn't your cup of joe, check out the OnePlus 6T or the Xiaomi Mi 9. If you're after something that isn't Chinese, then you can perhaps take a look between Samsung and Apple's major offerings like most people in the US already do. The United States market doesn't know what it's missing.