Honor View 20 will go down in history as the first smartphone, or one of the first, to have a hole in the screen. Yes, because this is its main feature: no notch, but a selfie camera set in the upper left corner. Will this feature be enough to make it a competitive terminal in this landscape where competitors don't waste time?
Design
Honor View 20 is undeniably a very interesting phone from a design point of view. As already mentioned, in fact, it does not offer any notch, and the front is entirely reserved for the screen. Not only on the front Honor View 20 is among the cleanest phones, but also on the back it tries to be absolutely original. Net of personal tastes, he succeeds, if only for a different plot from many other competitors. In fact, it proposes a glossy body, with a reflective pattern in the shape of a “V” upside down. 
If on the front the real protagonist is the hole of the selfie camera, we must not forget the presence of a small LED behind the ear capsule grille, which acts as an RGB LED, although it is not very easy to see in daylight conditions.
The hole in the chamber is certainly the point of greatest interest when you pick up the terminal for the first time. The cropping looks pretty neat, and you have to go with the magnifying glass to see microscopic imperfections, such as a few colored pixels inside the photo. In everyday life you don't even notice it, and the glance is certainly pleasant. No more than, however, a drop-shaped notch positioned in the center of the display, such as Xiaomi Mi 9 or OnePlus 6T, is.
Honor View 20 adopts, as an unlocking solution, the classic fingerprint sensor on the back. It is fast and responsive, as per Honor and Huawei tradition, positioned on the back. Although the solution is traditional and less futuristic than what is appreciated in some current top of the range, with under-screen sensor, it is still the most effective solution, which in everyday life does not miss a beat. Moreover, Honor View 20 also offers a second unlocking system, a two-dimensional Face ID, which works fairly well, but only in good light conditions. It's fast and responsive, but not the best on the market.
To conclude with the aesthetics, on the back, above the fingerprint scanner, there is the dual camera consisting of a ToF sensor and a 48MP sensor, which takes amazing photos at 12MP with pixel binning technology.
Honor View 20 is a well-designed, solid device that does not go unnoticed. It has dimensions of 56.9 mm x 75.4 mm x 8.1 mm, with a weight of 180 grams.
Honor View 20 has a 6.4-inch wide diagonal display with IPS LCD technology. At first comparison with the AMOLED displays it seems to lose, but it is still a good panel, with excellent visibility even in direct sunlight, despite only 479 nits. This is achieved through software optimization, which shifts the intensity of the colors to make characters more visible in direct sunlight.
On a technical level, the Honor View 20 shows deeply saturated colors with very cold whites. It is possible to calibrate them to your liking, certain that everyone will find the preferable shade. A few small uncertainties regarding the automatic brightness adjustment: sometimes you don't get the right degree of brightness, sometimes you have to adjust it manually, especially when you go out in the sun.
Obviously, we cannot talk about displays without an examination of the “hole”. Is this better or the classic notch? Net of personal tastes, we can certainly say that live is less annoying than in photos. Seeing it in the picture the hole seemed more intrusive, but after a while it gets used to it and almost disappears from sight. In this sense, the display is a joy for video players, who will have an entire screen at their disposal, with a hole that almost always tends to blend in perfectly.
Ultimately you are satisfied with the display of this terminal. It is certainly above average, but nothing exceptional, and falls behind the AMOLED displays appreciated on Xiaomi's OnePlus 6T and Mi 9.
Performance
Honor View 20, as a good top of the range, is fluid and responsive in everyday life. It is able to perform any operation without hesitation and without any lag. Even at the end of the day, after performing numerous operations, the terminal remains responsive. It will certainly be thanks to the Kirin 980, 7nm CPU, or the 8 GB of RAM, the fact is that in your hand you will have a device that is always ready and snappy. Even from a gaming point of view, this Honor View 20 is always ready and reactive, thanks to the Mali G76-MP10 deca-core GPU.
Although it is not a gaming smartphone, Honor View 20 can really represent a valid alternative for all those who play a lot with the mobile phone, but who do not want to put a purely gaming smartphone in their pocket, which usually has a design that is too flashy and not very versatile. .
There is not much more to say about performance, because of course the Honor View 20 does everything it needs to at lightning speed, and so it could not be without considering the very respectable data sheet.
From this point of view there are no objections that can be raised to the terminal.
Camera
Consider the data on the card. Honor View 20 offers a 25MP front camera, with F / 2.0 aperture, while on the rear the terminal houses a 48MP main sensor, with F / 1.8 aperture. Surely the multimedia department does not disappoint, and if we were to make a comparison, in terms of prices, it is a step higher than that of OnePlus 6T, a competitor in the same range.
The camera uses a new type of depth sensor, the ToF, which in principle is able to synthesize a better bokeh effect, but which in practice does not seem to make a difference. Instead, what this sensor is able to do is map and shape the body. This means that the camera will be able to make subjects appear slimmer, but this is a function only available in Portrait mode: even in this case it is not a feature that alone tipped the scales for this terminal.
Honor View 20 allows you to shoot in two modes: 48MP, when at full resolution, and 12 megapixels, which uses the pixel binning technique. There is also a “48 MP AI Ultra Clarity” mode, which stitches several photos together for higher resolution, but which takes a few seconds to shoot, as well as requiring the subject to be completely still.
Ultimately, the one you will use the most on a daily basis will be the default 12 MP mode. This offers the best dynamic range and the best shots. Even the full resolution images at 48MP are still appreciable.
In particular, the 48MP shots make the images softer, while in some shots the AI particularly helps, which emphasizes the colors and, in general, makes them much more vivid and saturated.
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Also present is the night mode, a mode that allows you to manually select the shutter speed and ISO. Although appreciable, this mode is often a little too aggressive and makes photos not too realistic. Better, then, to play with the ISO level when shooting in night mode, for a better result.
Portrait
The selfie camera is satisfactory, which manages to capture a good amount of details thanks to the 25MP sensor, with always enjoyable sharpness and contrast. The focal distance captured by the selfie camera is good, but when using the studio effects, especially the one with a black background, there is some uncertainty in the hair clipping.
Honor View 20's is also equipped with an AR shooting mode, c 
he offers filters, backgrounds and QMoji 3D, which are effectively the answer to Apple's Anomoji. They work well when in a well-lit room, and will allow you to play around with the Camera app a bit, at least during the first few days of use.
As always, we leave you with a rich gallery of images taken directly with the terminal.
Software
Honor View 20 is among the first devices to mount the “Magic UI” interface, which actually seems to us particularly similar to EMUI. Those who have used a Huawei terminal in the recent past will find the software of this Honor familiar. It is possible to completely eliminate the keys on the screen to benefit from the gestures for navigating the UI. It is appreciable that, even in this mode, the possibility of using the one-handed interface remains safe, with a slide starting from the right or left corner of the screen towards the center.
Among the peculiarities, which may please most, the presence of the Google Feed to the left of the Home, while there is no quick gesture for switching between two applications.
The Magic UI offers numerous battery settings, but the option that deserves the most interest is probably the one titled “App launch”, which allows you to manage the launches and background runs of individual apps, in order to save energy.
The included Remote Control app deserves particular interest, which allows you to transform the terminal into a traditional IR remote control. Although it may seem an anachronistic function, in reality it is of particular use: considering that the smartphone is increasingly the multimedia control center of your living room, which can send video to the TV through the cast, it is useful to be able to use it also to turn the TV, as well as to control volumes and sources.
Battery
Honor View 20 is the champion of autonomy. It is true that this varies depending on the use of the terminal, but in general it is certainly among the best smartphones for autonomy. With a full charge of the battery we didn't need to worry about recharging for at least 24 hours.On average it is a smartphone that ensures a day and a half of use, with an average screen on between 5 and 6 hours. .
Moreover, the terminal supports the Huawei Super Charge standard and Qualcomm fast charging. With the Super Charger, a charge of just 10 or 20 minutes can be enough to spend half a day with the terminal.
From 10% to 30% it takes just over 10 minutes, but if you have the goodness to wait another 10 minutes you will even reach 45%.
Conclusions
It is useless to deny it. Even before the technical characteristics Honor View 20 is purchased, or not purchased, for the fron camera hole such. This is the first feature that catches the eye. If in the photos the hole seemed even annoying, in everyday life it is instead discreet and hardly noticeable. For this Honor View 20 will make the players happy, also because of an excellent autonomy. Good camera, excellent responsiveness in everyday life. The list price of 699 euros is probably high, but if you look at the street price it is also less than 500 euros. At this price it is a valid purchase.
On Amazon, it is currently at € 519, seen and shipped by Amazon.
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