First looks
The first impression of the Honor 20 Lite is that it is sleek and slim. Fitting perfectly in my hand, I’m amazed at how ergonomic it is. Despite its slim body, it doesn’t feel cheap or tacky. Instead, it feels premium and it could be due to the hardware made of 3D optical effect with eight layers of processing. The layers consist of high pressure molding, ink base layer, electroplating, grate texture transfer printing, colorization, silkscreen printing, 3D composite and UV curtain coating.
Although it is slim, the phone is powerful and it’s hardy. At the top of the phone, you have the hybrid SIM card slot. At the bottom there is a 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB port. The right side comes with a volume rocker and power button. The model we got was the Phantom Blue. The back of the phone is shiny with gradient purple to blue. This part of the phone is a fingerprint magnet which can be a pain. Other than that, the gleaming back is quite common for Android phones nowadays and it is a preference for some people.
Screen
The Honor 20 Lite features a 6.21-inch dewdrop display with wider field of view on the 19.5:9 screen and narrower bezels achieved with COF technology. With a Full HD resolution of 2340 x 1080, multimedia can be enjoyed with this ultra clear screen. Watching videos or playing video games on the Honor 20 lite is a great experience due to the beautiful graphics. Playing PUBG at medium settings proved to be doing alright for this workhorse. There was only a bit of reflection when watching Netflix in the dark. Compared to other phones, it has less reflection and movies appear bright and easy to view. The Honor 20 Lite is best to experience in the dark as it gives a cinematic experience when watching movies or playing video games. There is a teardrop notch in the top middle of the phone for the front camera and it’s hardly a bother.
Under the hood
Running Android Pie 9.0 on EMUI 9.0 interface, the operating system is smooth and easy to navigate around. The phone is powered by Kirin 710 Chips with Quasi-Flagship performance using 12nm process technology and four A73 big cores. One thing to note is that the phone came with some bloatware. Having bloatware takes up storage and it can be quite annoying. Some apps in the Honor 20 Lite cannot be deleted. That being said, the user interface of the Honor 20 Lite is intuitive and easy to use. For beginners to Android, it’s easy to make the change.
Camera
The main highlight of the phone is definitely the camera. The Honor 20 Lite comes with a triple camera setup: 24MP+8MP+2MP. The 24MP camera is the main lens while the 8MP is the wide angle lens. The 2MP is for hard level bokeh effect. Features include AI portrait segmentation, handheld night photography and 22 Scene identification. Photos taken outdoors of flowers and greenery is vivid and bright. Even in low light, the camera performs well. The nightline looked beautiful without even having to edit the photos or use flash. However, compared to cameras on other phones such as Huawei nova 3, the low light performance is average. For selfie lovers, the 32MP front camera can capture selfies and be magnified and produced as 2.3m x 1.7m posters. One thing I disliked about the front camera is that it smooths out flaws on the skin to the point that it looks fake and unnatural. If you like ‘photoshopped’ photos then it’s okay for you.
Additional info
Battery life on the Honor 20 Lite is good with the phone lasting up to two days on average usage. Running on multiple apps did not slow the phone down. Performance wise it was impressive for a 3400mAh battery. There was no overheating up problem but the phone did get slightly warm from overusing. There is a temperature monitor app that lets you know the temperature of the battery and CPU.
Based on Antutu benchmark test, the phone scored 131746 which is lower than the Huawei nova 4 at 197042. As for Geekbench, Honor 20 Lite scored 1529 for single-core score and 5409 multi-core score compared to the Huawei nova 4 clocking at 1775 for single-core score and 6309 multi-core score.
Another thing about the design is that I didn’t like the fact that the fingerprint sensor is at the back. It feels unnatural and it’s definitely not a one-handed operation.
Final verdict
The Honor 20 Lite is a good phone for photography as well as day-to-day function. However, it doesn’t stand out from the sea of Android phones with similar specs.
Specs
Processor: Huawei Kirin 710, octa-core (4 x Cortex A73 2.2 GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 1.7 GHz)
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 128GB ROM
Battery: 3400mAh
Colour: Phantom Blue, Phantom Red
Operating System: EMUI 9.0 (based on Android 9.0)
Screen:6.21-inch 2340 x 1080 FHD display with 16.7M colours
Resolution: 1080×2340
Camera: Front: 32MP, Rear: 24MP +8MP + 2MP
Aperture: F/1.8 + F/2.4 + F/2.4
