Honor P20 Pro is a top-of-the-line smartphone with the Kirin 980 on board, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. It will arrive in July at 599 euros.
To the list of companies that have presented their top of the range in this early 2019 is also added Honor. The Chinese company, owned by Huawei, launched today in London the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro, two smartphones with excellent technical features and a very competitive price. The presentation of the new smartphones comes in a very delicate moment: just yesterday has deflagrated the news that U.S. companies (Google, Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom) have interrupted any business relationship with Huawei, with serious repercussions especially on the smartphone sector.
In the issue also Honor, which to all intents and purposes is a sub-brand of Huawei, although in recent years has tried to become an independent company. Honor's new smartphones won't be able to use the evolved version of Android, nor Big G's services. And the Honor 20 Pro is proof of that. The smartphone, in fact, has not received Google certification, at least for the time being. The release is scheduled for July and Honor hopes to receive the certification in time.
Leaving aside the bureaucratic issues, let's focus on the smartphone. Honor 20 Pro is a very interesting device, with a true top-of-the-line spec sheet. On board we find the Kirin 980 chipset with an impressive 8GB of RAM. To complete the picture, there are four rear cameras with 48-megapixel main sensor. Honor P20 Pro is expected to hit the market in July at a price of 599 euros.
Honor 20 Pro, data sheet
If reading the Honor 20 Pro data sheet seems to have a déjà vu you're not wrong: this is the twin of the Huawei P30 Pro, with which it shares the same hardware platform and the same photographic compartment. On board the Honor 20 Pro we find the Kirin 980 chipset (made with 7-nanometer architecture), with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal memory, not expandable.
The design echoes that of the View 20: there is no notch, but a hole on the screen in the top left where the 32-megapixel front camera is inserted. The bezels are very thin, with a screen-to-body ratio of over 90%. The LCD display has a diagonal of 6.26 inches with FullHD+ resolution.
As anticipated, very interesting the rear photo compartment, where we find as many as four sensors placed vertically. The main sensor is 48 Megapixels with a focal aperture of 1.4; the wide-angle sensor is 16 Megapixels with a 117-degree viewing angle, while the telezoom is 8 Megapixels with 3x loseless optical zoom, 5x hybrid and 30x digital. Finally, the fourth sensor is a 2 Megapixel ToF (Time of Flight) used to collect depth of field data.
The battery is 4000mAh with fast charging support. On board we find the MagicUI 2.1 user interface very similar to Huawei's EMUI. There is no fingerprint sensor under the screen, nor the audio jack for headphones.
Honor 20 Pro, price and release date
Honor 20 Pro should be available on the market from July at a price of 599 euros. But there is no certainty about it. The Chinese company, in fact, has communicated that the smartphone has not received certification from Google and in theory could not use the services of Big G, nor receive software updates. The smartphone, however, could be certified in extremis thanks to the 90-day suspension of Huawei's ban decided by the U.S. Department of Commerce. We'll see how the matter will evolve.
Huawei Google, what's going on with Honor smartphones
The Honor 20 Pro could be the first victim of the ban imposed by the U.S. government towards Huawei products. The smartphone, in fact, has not received Google certification and cannot be sold with Big G's apps. But that's not all. It can't even use the advanced version of Android.
Why Honor smartphones also fall under the blockade decided by the United States? Honor is owned by Huawei and despite being a company in its own right, it is fully dependent on the Chinese giant. What will happen to Honor smartphones on the market? They will continue to receive Google updates and you will be able to continue using the Play Store. The problem will only affect new smartphones coming in the next few months.