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Honor 10 Smartphone Review

Challenge to fight. The Honor 10 represents this year's flagship smartphone of the Huawei subsidiary, offering high-end specifications with a strong dual camera at a mid-range price. Moreover, the smartphone is offered in new and unusual colors. A lower price is fine, but we evaluate in our test, which shortcomings you have to accept in exchange.
Update: Update with new camera features and GPU Turbo.

With the Honor 10, the Chinese manufacturer presents its flagship smartphone for this year. While it cannot deny its relationship to the Huawei P20 in terms of its data sheet, Honor is trying to differentiate itself visually from the parent company by using glass and unusual color options. The Honor 10 is driven by a Kirin 970 and offers 4 GB of working memory. The internal storage can be either 64 or 128 GB, but in contrast to the Chinese version, the larger model does not have more RAM. Unfortunately, the manufacturer has removed the option to expand the storage from its smartphone. The dual camera was improved and is now supported by AI algorithms and the NPU. In terms of its price, Honor had a surprise for us. While the Honor 9 did still cost 479 Euros (~$562), defeating the market trend, the price for the smaller storage model drops to 399 Euros (~$468) and that of the larger model to 449 Euros (~$527).

With this, the Honor 10 is considerably more affordable than the rest of all the flagship smartphones and even creates a price distance from the OnePlus 6, coming closer to the prices of the BQ Aquaris X Pro or Nokia 7 Plus. Other competitors in this price range include the Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) or even older top smartphones such as the Sony Xperia XZ1. Due to its similar equipment, we are also adding the Huawei P20 to our comparison, even though it is more expensive at 649 Euros, and also the Huawei P20 Lite whose price of 369 Euros (~$433) is quite close to the Honor 10, and it also has the same display specifications.

We would like to give you a first impression with this live test and will then expand the test little by little.        

Changelog:

  • May 17, 2018: Added sections on Display and Gaming and expanded Performance section.
  • May 18, 2018: Added sections on Power, Speakers, and Temperatures.
  • May 21, 2018: Added Battery Life section.
  • May 23, 2018: Added Software, Communication, GPS, and Input Device sections and completed Camera section.
  • May 23, 2018: Review completed.
  • July 05, 2018: a new firmware with various improvements released. Please see the software section for more details.
  • August 28, 2018: an update was released. See Software section for more details.
Honor 10 (10 Series)
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 970 8 x 2.4 GHz, Cortex-A73/-A53
Graphics adapter
Memory
4 GB 
Display
5.84 inch 19:9, 2280 x 1080 pixel 432 PPI, Capacitive touchscreen, 10 multi-touchpoints, IPS, glossy: yes
Storage
128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash, 128 GB 
, 115 GB free
Connections
1 USB 2.0, Audio Connections: combined headphone and microphone jack (3.5 mm), 1 Fingerprint Reader, NFC, Brightness Sensor, Sensors: Acceleration sensor, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass, BeiDou, IR blaster, USB OTG, USB PD
Networking
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/), Bluetooth 4.2, GSM/GPRS/Edge (850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ (Band 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 19), LTE (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 19, 20 (all FDD), 38, 29, and 40 (TDD)), Dual SIM, LTE, GPS
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 7.7 x 149.6 x 71.2 ( = 0.3 x 5.89 x 2.8 in)
Battery
3400 mAh Lithium-Polymer
Operating System
Android 8.1 Oreo
Camera
Primary Camera: 24 MPix + 16 MPix (f/1.8, EIS, UHD video)
Secondary Camera: 24 MPix (4-in-1 Lightfusion)
Additional features
Speakers: Mono speaker, Keyboard: virtual, Charger, USB cable, Gel cover, SIM tool, quick start instructions, security guide, EMUI 8.1, 24 Months Warranty, Kopf-SAR: 0.79 W/kg, Körper-SAR: 1.15 W/kg, fanless
Weight
153 g ( = 5.4 oz / 0.34 pounds), Power Supply: 103 g ( = 3.63 oz / 0.23 pounds)
Price
449 Euro
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Case - Glass dominates the smartphone

Compared to its predecessor, the Honor 10 is slightly larger in all dimensions, which can primarily be traced back to the larger display. For the first time, a smartphone of this series has a camera bulge which is raised by 1 mm on the back. Furthermore, the glass back is less rounded on the sides than was still the case with the Honor 9.

The workmanship is at a good level, and the gaps are tight and close-fitting. While the Honor smartphone does not react to attempts at twisting it, the back of it can be pressed down relatively far. However, you have to press pretty hard, if you want to see waves forming on the LCD display. The card slot can accept two Nano-SIM cards and is now made from aluminum. There is no particular protection against dust or water.

The Honor 10 is offered in the colors Black, Gray, Phantom Green, and Phantom Blue. Having a slight blue luster, the gray differs from that of the Honor 9. The "Phantom" tones change their colors, depending on the viewing angle. While the green model reminds of the northern lights, the colors in the blue model change from blue to violet. These color effects are accomplished by the so-called "Aurora glass," which is a glass surface having 15 layers, enabling it to reflect the natural light in 36 colors of the spectrum.

All color variations of the Honor 10
All color variations of the Honor 10
Honor 10 and its predecessor, the Honor 9 (left to right)
Honor 10 and its predecessor, the Honor 9 (right to left)
Honor 10 and its predecessor, the Honor 9 (right to left)

Size Comparison

158.4 mm / 6.24 inch 75.64 mm / 2.98 inch 9.55 mm / 0.376 inch 186 g0.4101 lbs155.4 mm / 6.12 inch 75.2 mm / 2.96 inch 7.5 mm / 0.2953 inch 165 g0.3638 lbs153.8 mm / 6.06 inch 72.3 mm / 2.85 inch 8.3 mm / 0.3268 inch 167 g0.3682 lbs149.2 mm / 5.87 inch 70.6 mm / 2.78 inch 8.4 mm / 0.3307 inch 172 g0.3792 lbs149.6 mm / 5.89 inch 71.2 mm / 2.8 inch 7.7 mm / 0.3031 inch 153 g0.3373 lbs149.1 mm / 5.87 inch 70.8 mm / 2.79 inch 7.65 mm / 0.3012 inch 165 g0.3638 lbs148 mm / 5.83 inch 73.4 mm / 2.89 inch 7.4 mm / 0.2913 inch 156 g0.3439 lbs147 mm / 5.79 inch 71 mm / 2.8 inch 7.5 mm / 0.2953 inch 155 g0.3417 lbs148 mm / 5.83 inch 105 mm / 4.13 inch 1 mm / 0.03937 inch 1.5 g0.00331 lbs

Equipment - Honor bans the microSD

There are no real improvements compared to the predecessor of the Honor 10. Bluetooth still runs at version 4.2, and there is an NFC chip. While the USB connection is the the newer Type-C, it still uses the 2.0 transfer standard and does not support image or sound output. However, it does support OTG, so that you can connect external peripherals and storage media to the smartphone.

There is also an infrared transmitter on board again with which you can control cameras, a TV, and so forth. But you cannot expand the storage via microSD card anymore.

Top: infrared, microphone
Top: infrared, microphone
Left: SIM slot
Left: SIM slot
Right: volume, power
Right: volume, power
Bottom: speaker, microphone, USB, audio
Bottom: speaker, microphone, USB, audio

Software - The Honor 10 uses the current Android

At the time of the test, the operating system of the Honor 10 is the most current Google Android 8.1 Oreo. On top of that, Huawei has layered its own EMUI 8.1, which we already know from the Huawei P20 among others.

In addition to the Google apps, other apps and games are already preinstalled, including Instagram and Facebook among others. Anyone who does not need these apps can just uninstall or deactivate them. There is also a Honor app which simply links to the website to the manufacturer.

The user account management that is activated in the Honor 10 is very practical. The Google security patches are on the level of April 1, 2018 and thus current.

Update 07/05/2018: Honor has released a new firmware, version COL-L29 8.1.0.120 (882 MB). It includes a party mode app that is capable of synchronizing music playback over multiple smartphones. It also improved the fingerprint reader algorithms and can now determine a fingerprint’s quality and give tips for improving detectability. The camera app’s AI display has been improved, and the front-facing camera’s color accuracy is supposed to be more natural now. Two more designs have been added in addition to the existing ones that have been further optimized. Power consumption is supposed to have been improved, and last but not least Google security patches have been updated and are now as of 5/5/2018.

Update 08/28/2018: Honor released Firmware COL-L29 8.1.0.143 (1.16 GB), which activates the GPU Turbo (here in review) and optimizes the camera. The latter can now capture hand guided night shots, but Honor also added more picture effects and a super slow-motion at 480 FPS. The security patches are updated to July 1st, 2018. 

Honor 10: Home screen
Honor 10: preinstalled games
Honor 10: preinstalled apps
Honor 10: remote control
Honor 10: system info

Communication and GPS - Good locating, but few LTE bands

The Honor supports the IEEE-802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WLAN standards and correspondingly uses the 2.4 and 5.0 GHz frequencies. The transfer speeds to our Linksys EA8500 reference router are decent, but we would have preferred them to be slightly higher. However, the range is good and gives no reason for complaint.

The modem of the Kirin 970 nominally supports LTE Cat. 18 and with that download speeds up to 1.2 GBit/s. Unfortunately, the selection of supported frequency bands is not as high as in the OnePlus 6 or the P20, which causes us to assume that the transfer speeds also turn out slightly lower. Currently there is no concrete information on that from the manufacturer. We will add this as soon as it becomes available. While there should not be any problems inside Europe, USA travelers will have to make do without LTE. The reception characteristics of the smartphone were inconspicuous.

Networking
iperf3 transmit AX12
Huawei P20
Mali-G72 MP12, Kirin 970, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
397 MBit/s +68%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
Adreno 508, SD 630, 64 GB eMMC Flash
329 MBit/s +39%
Nokia 7 Plus
Adreno 512, SD 660, 64 GB eMMC Flash
307 MBit/s +30%
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
Mali-G71 MP2, Exynos 7885, 32 GB eMMC Flash
269 MBit/s +14%
Honor 10
Mali-G72 MP12, Kirin 970, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
236 MBit/s
Honor 9
Mali-G71 MP8, Kirin 960, 64 GB eMMC Flash
140 MBit/s -41%
Motorola Moto G6
Adreno 506, SD 450, 32 GB eMMC Flash
113 MBit/s -52%
iperf3 receive AX12
Huawei P20
Mali-G72 MP12, Kirin 970, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
637 MBit/s +203%
Average of class Smartphone
  (last 2 years)
376 MBit/s +79%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
Adreno 508, SD 630, 64 GB eMMC Flash
334 MBit/s +59%
Honor 9
Mali-G71 MP8, Kirin 960, 64 GB eMMC Flash
283 MBit/s +35%
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
Mali-G71 MP2, Exynos 7885, 32 GB eMMC Flash
280 MBit/s +33%
Nokia 7 Plus
Adreno 512, SD 660, 64 GB eMMC Flash
247 MBit/s +18%
Honor 10
Mali-G72 MP12, Kirin 970, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
210 MBit/s
Motorola Moto G6
Adreno 506, SD 450, 32 GB eMMC Flash
113 MBit/s -46%
Honor 10: GPS test outdoors
GPS test outdoors
Honor 10: GPS test indoors
GPS test indoors
Honor 10: GNSS
GNSS

The Honor 10 supports the GPS, Glonass, and BeiDou satellite networks. Outdoors, the locating is extremely fast and also accurate at 5 meters (~16.4 ft). Indoors, it takes a few seconds longer, and the accuracy varies strongly, at times being even more than 500 meters (~0.3 miles).

We take the Honor smartphone on a bike ride in order to test how it does in everyday life, comparing it with the Garmin Edge 500 bicycle computer. The Honor 10 succeeds very well and often draws an even slightly more accurate route than the navigation specialist.

Garmin Edge 500
Garmin Edge 500
Garmin Edge 500
Garmin Edge 500
Garmin Edge 500
Garmin Edge 500
Honor 10
Honor 10
Honor 10
Honor 10
Honor 10
Honor 10

Telephone Functions and Voice Quality

Honor 10: Telephone app
Telephone app

The Telephone app of the Honor 10 is structured clearly, and anyone should be able find their way around quickly. The two microphones of the smartphone do a decent job and ensure a good communication. 

However, as we already saw in the Honor 9, the earpiece tends towards slight distortions at higher volumes, and our voice also sounds slightly hollow on the phone. The speaker is acceptable, but has a noticeable echo. 

The Honor smartphone supports VoLTE as well as WLAN calling.

Cameras – The dual camera is strong, but not the top

Picture taken with the front camera of the Honor 10
Picture taken with the front camera

At 24 MP, the front camera of the Honor 10 has a very high resolution. It uses light fusion technology, which combines the information from four pixels into one. An aperture of f/2.0 suggests a decent light sensitivity. In addition to a ten-step Beauty mode, there is also a Portrait mode as we know it from the iPhone X or the P20 Pro. This allows you to immerse the motif in various shades of light, and a spot light can change the light incidence after the fact. Selfies succeed well in daylight, and while the quality drops noticeably in darker surroundings, you can still take acceptable photos. Furthermore, the display can be used as illumination if it is too dark. With the front camera, videos can only be recorded in the low HD resolution (720p). We did not notice an image stabilizer.

The dual camera on the back offers a color and a monochrome sensor, which have a resolution of 24 and 16 MP respectively. Both have an f/1.8 aperture. While there is no optical image stabilizer, there should be an electronic version. However, until now we could not find this anywhere in the camera settings. The Honor 10 offers numerous functions and now also the support of AI. While this is not activated automatically, it visibly improves the pictures and can also be removed later. With the AI function activated, primarily the dynamic range and the richness of detail are improving. On the other hand, it tends to saturate the colors a little to much. Particularly green color can really jump into your notice, so to speak.

The quality of the recordings is very good and convincing. The pictures are comfortably sharp and numerous details are captured. In images recorded during daylight, you can only see a difference to the more expensive competition at full magnification. While the Honor 10 still produces good images in weak surrounding light or taking pictures against the light, in these cases you can clearly see the difference to top-models such as the Galaxy S9+ or the P20 Pro.

The hybrid zoom is also on board again. This digital zoom allows you to take images at 2x magnification with hardly any loss.

Honor 10: standard wide-angle
Honor 10: standard wide-angle
Honor 10: 2x hybrid zoom
Honor 10: 2x hybrid zoom

In our example photos, you can also find faulty images. In image 1, the fault shows in the blue of the sky. Since this did not occur in the rest of the images, we assume that the lens was simply not quite clean. However, this could not have been the case in image 2, which traces the shape of an adjacent building with a glow. In this case, taking the picture against the light might have given the software some trouble. However, since we were unable to reproduce this fault as well, it might have been more of a singular occurrence rather than a general problem.

You can record videos in Ultra HD (2160 @ 30 fps) at most. While these should also be protected from blurriness with an electronic image stabilizer, we cannot find anything on that in the settings. The object tracking is only available at Full HD (1080p @ 30 fps) or lower. 

Image 1
Image 1
Image 2
Image 2

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

Scene 1Scene 2Scene 3
click to load images
ColorChecker: The target color is displayed in the bottom half of each field.
ColorChecker: The target color is displayed in the bottom half of each field.

We perform further tests of the Honor 10 camera under controlled light conditions. When we evaluate the color reproduction of the camera with the ColorChecker Passport, we notice that the colors are brightened quite a lot and particularly blue and green are oversaturated. The white balance is fairly good and only slightly too warm.

The reproduction of the test chart succeeds fairly well with the Honor 10. While the color graduations are reproduced cleanly, the writing on dark background is visibly frayed. The image sharpness in the center is also satisfactory and only decreases minimally towards the edges.

Accessories and Warranty

Included with the Honor 10 are a Gel cover, a modular charger, a USB cable (Type-A to Type-C), a SIM tool, a screen protector as well as a quick-start leaflet, warranty conditions, and a security guide.

The warranty is 24 months. Some vendors such as Otto are offering an increase of the warranty period to three years at the market introduction. Please see our Guarantees, Return policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

Input Devices and Navigation

The capactive touchscreen of the Honor 10 has good sliding characteristics and recognizes up to ten simultaneous touch points. Inputs are recognized quickly and implemented accurately on the screen. In single-handed operation, the screen can be decreased using a swiping gesture, so that you can also comfortably type messages with only one hand, if necessary.

Honor uses the SwiftKey keyboard layout. Those who do not like this can download and install another keyboard from the Play Store without any trouble.

In addition to the usual methods for unlocking the device such as a pattern, PIN, or password, you also have the option to use face recognition or the fingerprint sensor. The latter is located in front below the glass. The recognition rates are good and the unlocking is sufficiently fast, although it was even faster in the Honor 9. Using gestures, the sensor can also replace the onscreen keys of the operating system. While this works fairly well, we noticed that not all of the games would recognize the Back function as such. The face recognition is faster for the unlocking, but was not quite as reliable. Sometimes it refused to work, particularly in low light.

Display - A good IPS panel

Subpixel grid of the Honor 10
Subpixel grid

Compared to the Honor 9 (5.15 in, 73.12 cm²), the display of the Honor 10 was increased to 5.84 in (14.83 cm, 85.13 cm²) and now has a 19:9 format. The bezels are pleasantly narrow, and there is a notch, although you can remove this via software in the settings. 

Nominally, the IPS panel of the Honor 10 has the same specifications as the Huawei P20 Lite. However, Honor has fine-tuned this a little more and primarily offers a better black value, but also a bit more brightness, which is also better distributed. Overall, the brightness is on a quite good level at 537 cd/m² on average. During a measurement with evenly distributed dark and bright areas, the values turn out slightly lower (center: 538 cd/m² maximum, black value: 0.42 cd/m², contrast: 1281:1).

A low minimum brightness, a blue-light filter, and the lack of pulsewidth modulation will primarily please the fans of ebooks, since the eyes are stressed relatively less in the dark. We did not notice any annoying light halos in our Honor smartphone.

543
cd/m²
542
cd/m²
528
cd/m²
534
cd/m²
555
cd/m²
533
cd/m²
532
cd/m²
540
cd/m²
523
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 555 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 536.7 cd/m² Minimum: 2.77 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 94 %
Center on Battery: 555 cd/m²
Contrast: 1423:1 (Black: 0.39 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.3 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 3.9 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
97.2% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.19
Honor 10
IPS, 2280x1080, 5.84
Honor 9
IPS/LTPS, 1920x1080, 5.15
Huawei P20 Lite
IPS, 2280x1080, 5.84
Huawei P20
LTPS, 2240x1080, 5.80
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
Super AMOLED, 2220x1080, 5.60
Nokia 7 Plus
IPS, 2160x1080, 6.00
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
IPS, 1920x1080, 5.50
Screen
-4%
-36%
36%
-24%
-8%
-18%
Brightness middle
555
550
-1%
528
-5%
753
36%
541
-3%
458
-17%
656
18%
Brightness
537
535
0%
525
-2%
748
39%
538
0%
463
-14%
634
18%
Brightness Distribution
94
92
-2%
89
-5%
96
2%
96
2%
92
-2%
93
-1%
Black Level *
0.39
0.42
-8%
0.51
-31%
0.37
5%
0.22
44%
0.4
-3%
Contrast
1423
1310
-8%
1035
-27%
2035
43%
2082
46%
1640
15%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
2.3
3.3
-43%
4.7
-104%
1.3
43%
5.8
-152%
4
-74%
5.3
-130%
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. *
6
4.5
25%
8.9
-48%
2.3
62%
7.4
-23%
7.8
-30%
Greyscale dE 2000 *
3.9
3.6
8%
6.4
-64%
1.7
56%
2.7
31%
4.7
-21%
5.2
-33%
Gamma
2.19 100%
2.38 92%
2.22 99%
2.18 101%
2.07 106%
2.19 100%
2.22 99%
CCT
6212 105%
7226 90%
7987 81%
66.76 9736%
6570 99%
7425 88%
7905 82%

* ... smaller is better

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.
Screen flickering / PWM not detected

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18110 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

We evaluate the color accuracy of the display using a photo spectrometer and the CalMAN analysis software. In the standard settings, the display colors are slightly too cool. For the trained eye, the deviations are primarily visible in light gray and white tones, but they are not disturbing. Things look similar in the colors, and the skin tones in particular deviate relatively far from the target. We achieve the most natural reproduction, if we select the Standard color profile together with a cool white balance. Although then the display is still slightly too warm, it is very pleasing and you can hardly see the color deviations with your bare eyes anymore. Only cyan is displayed slightly too greenish. Those deciding for the optimal color reproduction will have to be content with the smaller sRGB color space. In summary, the Honor 10 also delivers a good performance in this area and is superior to the competitors in this price range. Even in the high-end segment, there are some devices that cannot achieve such an accurate reproduction.

Grayscales (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Grayscales (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Mixed colors (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Mixed colors (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Color space (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Color space (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Saturation (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Saturation (Profile: Vivid, White Balance: Standard, Target Color Space: DCI-P3)
Grayscales (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Grayscales (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Mixed colors (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Mixed colors (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Color space (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Color space (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Saturation (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)
Saturation (Profile: Normal, White Balance: Cold, Target Color Space: sRGB)

Display Response Times

Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.
       Response Time Black to White
29.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined↗ 15.2 ms rise
↘ 14.4 ms fall
The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers.
In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 76 % of all devices are better.
This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.6 ms).
       Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
43.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined↗ 18.8 ms rise
↘ 24.4 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers.
In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 68 % of all devices are better.
This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (33.9 ms).

Outdoors, the Honor 10 leaves a solid impression. The screen is sufficiently bright for most light conditions, and the brightness sensor works reliably. However, the display of the Honor smartphone is very reflective and could therefore use even more brightness.

Honor 10 in the bright sun
Honor 10 in the bright sun
Honor 10 in the bright sun (shaded)

The viewing angle stability of the Honor 10 ranges on the expected level for an IPS panel. The viewing angles are very stable and there are no color inversions at any time. From very steep viewing angles diagonally across the display, the display appears warmer and the brightness slightly reduced. While we can also see an IPS glow effect in dark environments, this is not impacting everyday usage.

Viewing angle stability of the Honor 10
Viewing angle stability of the Honor 10

Performance – The Kirin 970 ensures a strong performance

The HiSilicon Kirin 970 ensures the necessary computing power in the Honor 10. We are already familiar with it from some Huawei smartphones such as the Mate 10 Pro and the P20. The chip is produced in the modern 10-nm processes and uses the big.LITTLE principle. There are two clusters with four cores each. The performance cluster runs with Cortex-A73 cores which have a clock speed of up to 2.4 GHz. The A53 cores take on lighter computing tasks and reach up to 1.8 GHz. As graphics unit, an ARM Mali-G72 MP12 is used, and the system offers 4 GB of working memory.

The benchmarks are on the expected level, and the Honor 10 does not allow itself any real outliers. The system performance of the current Android 8.1 Oreo in particular knows how to please. This subjective impression is confirmed by the system benchmarks such as AnTuTu or PCMark. The competition of the 400-Euro (~$470) devices in general has a hard time to keep up with the speed of the Honor 10, and even the Xperia XZ1, which also has a high-end SoC, is slower in parts.

AnTuTu v6 - Total Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
174272 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
83284 Points -52%
Nokia 7 Plus
117165 Points -33%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
68282 Points -61%
Sony Xperia XZ1
167748 Points -4%
Huawei P20
179393 Points +3%
Motorola Moto G6
59454 Points -66%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (173653 - 181973, n=8)
177915 Points +2%
AnTuTu v7 - Total Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
205297 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
116746 Points -43%
Nokia 7 Plus
141701 Points -31%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
87300 Points -57%
Huawei P20
200756 Points -2%
Motorola Moto G6
71352 Points -65%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (152773 - 212278, n=6)
197811 Points -4%
PCMark for Android
Work performance score (sort by value)
Honor 10
8530 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
5916 Points -31%
Nokia 7 Plus
6825 Points -20%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
6264 Points -27%
Sony Xperia XZ1
7056 Points -17%
Huawei P20
8700 Points +2%
Motorola Moto G6
5321 Points -38%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (8115 - 9326, n=8)
8537 Points 0%
Average of class Smartphone (10884 - 19297, n=2, last 2 years)
15091 Points +77%
Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value)
Honor 10
7046 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
5214 Points -26%
Nokia 7 Plus
6077 Points -14%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
5085 Points -28%
Sony Xperia XZ1
6443 Points -9%
Huawei P20
7002 Points -1%
Motorola Moto G6
4552 Points -35%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (6293 - 7046, n=8)
6860 Points -3%
Average of class Smartphone (9101 - 12871, n=4, last 2 years)
10872 Points +54%
BaseMark OS II
Overall (sort by value)
Honor 10
3374 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1993 Points -41%
Nokia 7 Plus
2369 Points -30%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1513 Points -55%
Sony Xperia XZ1
2909 Points -14%
Huawei P20
3288 Points -3%
Motorola Moto G6
1069 Points -68%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (2174 - 3374, n=8)
3125 Points -7%
Average of class Smartphone (411 - 11438, n=158, last 2 years)
5704 Points +69%
System (sort by value)
Honor 10
5882 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
4358 Points -26%
Nokia 7 Plus
4976 Points -15%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
3319 Points -44%
Sony Xperia XZ1
5840 Points -1%
Huawei P20
5797 Points -1%
Motorola Moto G6
2560 Points -56%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (3795 - 5987, n=8)
5387 Points -8%
Average of class Smartphone (2376 - 16475, n=158, last 2 years)
9621 Points +64%
Memory (sort by value)
Honor 10
3808 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
2275 Points -40%
Nokia 7 Plus
2503 Points -34%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1380 Points -64%
Sony Xperia XZ1
1752 Points -54%
Huawei P20
4154 Points +9%
Motorola Moto G6
770 Points -80%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (2417 - 4578, n=8)
3946 Points +4%
Average of class Smartphone (670 - 12306, n=158, last 2 years)
6230 Points +64%
Graphics (sort by value)
Honor 10
4397 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1331 Points -70%
Nokia 7 Plus
2298 Points -48%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1496 Points -66%
Sony Xperia XZ1
5923 Points +35%
Huawei P20
3697 Points -16%
Motorola Moto G6
965 Points -78%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (2231 - 4397, n=8)
3638 Points -17%
Average of class Smartphone (697 - 58651, n=158, last 2 years)
13900 Points +216%
Web (sort by value)
Honor 10
1316 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1195 Points -9%
Nokia 7 Plus
1101 Points -16%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
766 Points -42%
Sony Xperia XZ1
1181 Points -10%
Huawei P20
1313 Points 0%
Motorola Moto G6
688 Points -48%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (1091 - 1316, n=8)
1245 Points -5%
Average of class Smartphone (10 - 2145, n=158, last 2 years)
1487 Points +13%
Geekbench 4.4
64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
1890 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1526 Points -19%
Nokia 7 Plus
1646 Points -13%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
865 Points -54%
Sony Xperia XZ1
1856 Points -2%
Huawei P20
1886 Points 0%
Motorola Moto G6
743 Points -61%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (1883 - 1922, n=8)
1901 Points +1%
Average of class Smartphone (800 - 9574, n=90, last 2 years)
5063 Points +168%
64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
6610 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
4431 Points -33%
Nokia 7 Plus
5867 Points -11%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
4172 Points -37%
Sony Xperia XZ1
6493 Points -2%
Huawei P20
6557 Points -1%
Motorola Moto G6
3868 Points -41%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (6557 - 6792, n=8)
6697 Points +1%
Average of class Smartphone (2630 - 26990, n=90, last 2 years)
13549 Points +105%
Compute RenderScript Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
8634 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
3680 Points -57%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
3942 Points -54%
Sony Xperia XZ1
7979 Points -8%
Motorola Moto G6
2777 Points -68%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (5779 - 9015, n=6)
8080 Points -6%
Average of class Smartphone (2053 - 18432, n=70, last 2 years)
10590 Points +23%
3DMark
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
29111 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
14779 Points -49%
Nokia 7 Plus
26610 Points -9%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
16841 Points -42%
Sony Xperia XZ1
31618 Points +9%
Huawei P20
30845 Points +6%
Motorola Moto G6
12756 Points -56%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (20022 - 31605, n=8)
29035 Points 0%
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value)
Honor 10
32674 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
15262 Points -53%
Nokia 7 Plus
29333 Points -10%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
18386 Points -44%
Sony Xperia XZ1
47857 Points +46%
Huawei P20
34146 Points +5%
Motorola Moto G6
12441 Points -62%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (22429 - 36231, n=8)
32596 Points 0%
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value)
Honor 10
21070 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
13306 Points -37%
Nokia 7 Plus
20085 Points -5%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
13014 Points -38%
Sony Xperia XZ1
23046 Points +9%
Huawei P20
23046 Points +9%
Motorola Moto G6
13997 Points -34%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (14556 - 23046, n=8)
21027 Points 0%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 (sort by value)
Honor 10
3358 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1001 Points -70%
Nokia 7 Plus
2035 Points -39%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1374 Points -59%
Sony Xperia XZ1
4649 Points +38%
Huawei P20
3354 Points 0%
Motorola Moto G6
800 Points -76%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (1943 - 3487, n=8)
3155 Points -6%
Average of class Smartphone (712 - 7285, n=52, last 2 years)
3548 Points +6%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Graphics (sort by value)
Honor 10
3573 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
879 Points -75%
Nokia 7 Plus
1895 Points -47%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1289 Points -64%
Sony Xperia XZ1
6057 Points +70%
Huawei P20
3550 Points -1%
Motorola Moto G6
690 Points -81%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (1954 - 3734, n=8)
3305 Points -8%
Average of class Smartphone (618 - 9451, n=52, last 2 years)
3905 Points +9%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Physics (sort by value)
Honor 10
2773 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1946 Points -30%
Nokia 7 Plus
2734 Points -1%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1785 Points -36%
Sony Xperia XZ1
2564 Points -8%
Huawei P20
2811 Points +1%
Motorola Moto G6
1803 Points -35%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (1906 - 2902, n=8)
2732 Points -1%
Average of class Smartphone (1093 - 4525, n=52, last 2 years)
3005 Points +8%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) (sort by value)
Honor 10
2891 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
729 Points -75%
Nokia 7 Plus
1332 Points -54%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
835 Points -71%
Sony Xperia XZ1
3673 Points +27%
Huawei P20
2982 Points +3%
Motorola Moto G6
442 Points -85%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (2850 - 2999, n=8)
2958 Points +2%
Average of class Smartphone (286 - 7890, n=102, last 2 years)
2685 Points -7%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Graphics (sort by value)
Honor 10
2993 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
618 Points -79%
Nokia 7 Plus
1161 Points -61%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
726 Points -76%
Sony Xperia XZ1
3961 Points +32%
Huawei P20
3040 Points +2%
Motorola Moto G6
363 Points -88%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (2844 - 3040, n=8)
2994 Points 0%
Average of class Smartphone (240 - 9814, n=102, last 2 years)
2675 Points -11%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Physics (sort by value)
Honor 10
2582 Points
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
1950 Points -24%
Nokia 7 Plus
2749 Points +6%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
1751 Points -32%
Sony Xperia XZ1
2928 Points +13%
Huawei P20
2795 Points +8%
Motorola Moto G6
1834 Points -29%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (2582 - 2931, n=8)
2842 Points +10%
Average of class Smartphone (858 - 4679, n=102, last 2 years)
3127 Points +21%
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7
T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
59 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
31 fps -47%
Nokia 7 Plus
48 fps -19%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
29 fps -51%
Sony Xperia XZ1
60 fps +2%
Huawei P20
59 fps 0%
Motorola Moto G6
20 fps -66%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (42 - 60, n=8)
57.4 fps -3%
Average of class Smartphone (22 - 165, n=177, last 2 years)
83.6 fps +42%
1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
124 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
34 fps -73%
Nokia 7 Plus
50 fps -60%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
30 fps -76%
Sony Xperia XZ1
111 fps -10%
Huawei P20
125 fps +1%
Motorola Moto G6
22 fps -82%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (45 - 125, n=8)
108 fps -13%
Average of class Smartphone (19 - 791, n=177, last 2 years)
243 fps +96%
GFXBench 3.0
on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value)
Honor 10
50 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
15 fps -70%
Nokia 7 Plus
22 fps -56%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
14 fps -72%
Sony Xperia XZ1
52 fps +4%
Huawei P20
56 fps +12%
Motorola Moto G6
8.9 fps -82%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (26 - 56, n=8)
50.4 fps +1%
Average of class Smartphone (6.8 - 165, n=178, last 2 years)
71.3 fps +43%
1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
59 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
16 fps -73%
Nokia 7 Plus
23 fps -61%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
14 fps -76%
Sony Xperia XZ1
56 fps -5%
Huawei P20
59 fps 0%
Motorola Moto G6
9.4 fps -84%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (23 - 66, n=8)
54.6 fps -7%
Average of class Smartphone (9.2 - 363, n=178, last 2 years)
137.9 fps +134%
GFXBench 3.1
on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
34 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
9.6 fps -72%
Nokia 7 Plus
15 fps -56%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
9.5 fps -72%
Sony Xperia XZ1
42 fps +24%
Huawei P20
39 fps +15%
Motorola Moto G6
5.8 fps -83%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (18 - 39, n=8)
33.6 fps -1%
Average of class Smartphone (3.7 - 158, n=178, last 2 years)
60.2 fps +77%
1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
39 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
9.9 fps -75%
Nokia 7 Plus
14 fps -64%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
9.7 fps -75%
Sony Xperia XZ1
41 fps +5%
Huawei P20
39 fps 0%
Motorola Moto G6
6.1 fps -84%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (19 - 39, n=8)
33.9 fps -13%
Average of class Smartphone (6.2 - 279, n=178, last 2 years)
97 fps +149%
GFXBench
on screen Car Chase Onscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
20 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
5.8 fps -71%
Nokia 7 Plus
9.1 fps -54%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
5.3 fps -73%
Sony Xperia XZ1
25 fps +25%
Huawei P20
23 fps +15%
Motorola Moto G6
3.3 fps -83%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (10 - 23, n=8)
19.8 fps -1%
Average of class Smartphone (5 - 117, n=178, last 2 years)
42.9 fps +115%
1920x1080 Car Chase Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor 10
23 fps
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
6 fps -74%
Nokia 7 Plus
8.3 fps -64%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
5.3 fps -77%
Sony Xperia XZ1
24 fps +4%
Huawei P20
23 fps 0%
Motorola Moto G6
3.4 fps -85%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (11 - 23, n=8)
20.4 fps -11%
Average of class Smartphone (2.9 - 166, n=178, last 2 years)
58.6 fps +155%
Lightmark - 1920x1080 1080p (sort by value)
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
3.052 fps
Nokia 7 Plus
15.07 fps
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
9.81 fps
Motorola Moto G6
5.38 fps
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (21.5 - 25.9, n=2)
23.7 fps
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal - offscreen Overall Score (sort by value)
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
355 Points
Nokia 7 Plus
349 Points
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
190 Points
Motorola Moto G6
129 Points
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (788 - 887, n=2)
838 Points
Average of class Smartphone (177 - 6114, n=61, last 2 years)
2145 Points

Legend

 
Honor 10 HiSilicon Kirin 970, ARM Mali-G72 MP12, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
 
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 Samsung Exynos 7885, ARM Mali-G71 MP2, 32 GB eMMC Flash
 
Nokia 7 Plus Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, Qualcomm Adreno 512, 64 GB eMMC Flash
 
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL Qualcomm Snapdragon 630, Qualcomm Adreno 508, 64 GB eMMC Flash
 
Sony Xperia XZ1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (8998), Qualcomm Adreno 540, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
 
Huawei P20 HiSilicon Kirin 970, ARM Mali-G72 MP12, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
 
Motorola Moto G6 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450, Qualcomm Adreno 506, 32 GB eMMC Flash

We analyze the browser performance of the Honor 10 using the preinstalled Google Chrome 66. The smartphone leaves a very good impression in the benchmarks and can always be found in the top third of the comparison field. Subjectively, the pages are also loaded quickly and rendered cleanly.

JetStream 1.1 - Total Score
Average of class Smartphone (66.1 - 104.3, n=2, last 2 years)
85.2 Points +51%
Sony Xperia XZ1 (Chrome 61)
61.3 Points +8%
Honor 9 (Chrome 59)
58.6 Points +4%
Honor 10 (Chrome 66)
56.5 Points
Huawei P20 (Chrome 66.0.3359.126)
56.2 Points -1%
Nokia 7 Plus (Chrome 60)
53.9 Points -5%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (33.1 - 58.6, n=8)
51.4 Points -9%
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 (Chrome 64.0.3282.137)
49.07 Points -13%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL (Chrome 62)
28.09 Points -50%
Huawei P20 Lite (Chrome 63)
23.42 Points -59%
Motorola Moto G6 (Chrome 66)
22.56 Points -60%
Octane V2 - Total Score
Average of class Smartphone (4633 - 89112, n=202, last 2 years)
33355 Points +204%
Huawei P20 (Chrome 66.0.3359.126)
11468 Points +5%
Honor 10 (Chrome 66)
10965 Points
Nokia 7 Plus (Chrome 60)
10945 Points 0%
Honor 9 (Chrome 59)
10208 Points -7%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (6692 - 11838, n=8)
10111 Points -8%
Sony Xperia XZ1 (Chrome 61)
10096 Points -8%
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 (Chrome 64.0.3282.137)
9350 Points -15%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL (Chrome 62)
4398 Points -60%
Huawei P20 Lite
4191 Points -62%
Motorola Moto G6 (Chrome 66)
3943 Points -64%
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total
Motorola Moto G6 (Chrome 66)
11751 ms * -201%
Huawei P20 Lite (Chrome 63)
10788 ms * -177%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL (Chrome 62)
9425 ms * -142%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (3591 - 6221, n=8)
4378 ms * -12%
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 (Chrome 64.0.3282.137)
4275 ms * -10%
Huawei P20 (Chrome 66.0.3359.126)
3979 ms * -2%
Nokia 7 Plus (Chrome 60)
3937 ms * -1%
Honor 10 (Chrome 66)
3899 ms *
Sony Xperia XZ1 (Chrome 61)
3268 ms * +16%
Honor 9 (Chrome 59)
3149 ms * +19%
Average of class Smartphone (388 - 9999, n=165, last 2 years)
1658 ms * +57%
WebXPRT 2015 - Overall
Huawei P20 (Chrome 66.0.3359.126)
182 Points 0%
Honor 10 (Chrome 66)
182 Points
Sony Xperia XZ1 (Chrome 61)
170 Points -7%
Nokia 7 Plus (Chrome 60)
168 Points -8%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (119 - 187, n=8)
165.4 Points -9%
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 (Chrome 64.0.3282.137)
156 Points -14%
Honor 9 (Chrome 59)
107 Points -41%
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL (Chrome 62)
95 Points -48%
Motorola Moto G6 (Chrome 66)
90 Points -51%
Huawei P20 Lite (Chrome 63)
86 Points -53%
WebXPRT 3 - Overall
Average of class Smartphone (37 - 304, n=118, last 2 years)
130.7 Points +89%
Huawei P20
69 Points 0%
Honor 10 (Chrome 66)
69 Points
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970 (69 - 69, n=3)
69 Points 0%
Nokia 7 Plus (Chrome 60)
63 Points -9%
Huawei P20 Lite (Chrome 63)
34 Points -51%
Motorola Moto G6 (Chrome 66)
31 Points -55%

* ... smaller is better

The Honor 10 is delivered with 64 of the 128 GB in Germany, and in China a 256 GB version is also available. Our test unit is equipped with an ample 128 GB of UFS-2.1 storage, which can convince with a fast performance in all areas. At this point, such a fast storage module is unique in this price range.

Unfortunately you cannot expand the storage via microSD card anymore.

Honor 10Honor 9Samsung Galaxy A8 2018Nokia 7 PlusAsus ZenFone 4 ZE554KLSony Xperia XZ1Average 128 GB UFS 2.1 FlashAverage of class Smartphone
AndroBench 3-5
-50%
-61%
-52%
-52%
-24%
8%
167%
Sequential Read 256KB
828
293
-65%
299.9
-64%
283.1
-66%
287.4
-65%
679
-18%
763 ?(427 - 1011, n=112)
-8%
1468 ?(215 - 4512, n=210, last 2 years)
77%
Sequential Write 256KB
192.1
204
6%
104.2
-46%
211.6
10%
205.3
7%
204.4
6%
295 ?(13.6 - 719, n=112)
54%
1078 ?(57.5 - 3678, n=210, last 2 years)
461%
Random Read 4KB
145.9
55.7
-62%
82.6
-43%
54.7
-63%
68.6
-53%
156.6
7%
152.4 ?(92.6 - 239, n=112)
4%
242 ?(22.2 - 543, n=210, last 2 years)
66%
Random Write 4KB
163
32.7
-80%
14.69
-91%
19.62
-88%
7.59
-95%
14.93
-91%
130.6 ?(18.2 - 290, n=112)
-20%
266 ?(13 - 709, n=210, last 2 years)
63%

Games - No smooth action with the Honor smartphone

The ARM Mali-G72 MP12 in the Honor 10 is a fast, modern graphics unit that supports all the current APIs and also delivers a strong performance. We looked closer at some demanding games with the GameBench app. While you can play "Arena of Valor" continuously in the best display quality at a high 58 FPS, "PUBG Mobile" has more demands on the SoC. Already after about five minutes, the frame rates started to fluctuate a lot and even dropped down to 22 FPS from time to time. So while anyone who wants to enjoy smooth gaming can choose the high settings without hesitation, HFR and the HD settings should be left deactivated.

The sensors and the touchscreen react well, but the speaker can get covered easily by the hand. We also noticed that the Back gesture of the fingerprint sensor did not work in all the games.

PUBG Mobile
PUBG Mobile
Arena of Valor
Arena of Valor
PUBG Mobile
 SettingsValue
 HD32 fps
  Your browser does not support the canvas element!
Arena of Valor
 SettingsValue
 high HD58 fps

Emissions - Honor 10 has a risk of overheating

Temperatures

Honor 10: GFXBench T-Rex battery test (OpenGL ES 2.0)
T-Rex
Honor 10: Overheating in the GFXBench Manhattan battery test (OpenGL ES 3.1)
Overheating

The surface temperatures of the Honor 10 give no reason for concern at any time. While the smartphone warms up noticeably in some parts in front during idle, it does not even get hand warm. Under constant load, this warming spreads out over larger areas, but it does not cross the 36-degree (97 °F) threshold.

We evaluate the temperatures of the SoC using the GFXBench battery test, repeating the corresponding benchmark thirty times in a row while recording the battery level and frame rates. The Honor smartphone masters the T-Rex test with flying colors and delivers high constant frame rates. Things look different in the more intense Manhattan test. The test cannot even run to the end, but is cut short by the system in order to avoid overheating. Even after we let the Honor 10 cool down and repeated the test, we received the same result. 

Max. Load
 35.9 °C
97 F
35.9 °C
97 F
34.2 °C
94 F
 
 35.6 °C
96 F
35.9 °C
97 F
35 °C
95 F
 
 34.5 °C
94 F
34.7 °C
94 F
35.4 °C
96 F
 
Maximum: 35.9 °C = 97 F
Average: 35.2 °C = 95 F
30.7 °C
87 F
32.7 °C
91 F
36.4 °C
98 F
31.1 °C
88 F
33 °C
91 F
35.8 °C
96 F
30.3 °C
87 F
32.4 °C
90 F
34.3 °C
94 F
Maximum: 36.4 °C = 98 F
Average: 33 °C = 91 F
Power Supply (max.)  29.3 °C = 85 F | Room Temperature 22 °C = 72 F | Voltcraft IR-260
(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 35.2 °C / 95 F, compared to the average of 32.7 °C / 91 F for the devices in the class Smartphone.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 35.9 °C / 97 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 56 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 36.4 °C / 98 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 31.8 °C / 89 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.

Speaker

Honor 10: Pink-Noise curve
Honor 10: Pink-Noise curve

The speaker in the Honor 10 remained unchanged compared to the predecessor. It offers a good sound experience and remains free of distortions even at maximum volume. The pink noise measurements show the fairly clean reproduction of the mids. While this is similar for the highs, they are audibly more present, creating a sound image that is not optimal. However, anyone who only wants to occasionally play a song or two, will find a good companion in the Honor 10.

The smartphone still has the 3.5-mm audio port, allowing you to connect external speakers or headphones. 3D-Sound and various equalizers will then be available again. You can use Bluetooth with aptX for wireless sound output. 

dB(A) 0102030405060708090Deep BassMiddle BassHigh BassLower RangeMidsHigher MidsLower HighsMid HighsUpper HighsSuper Highs2035.243.42532.939.93137.238.54031.739.35039.638.96328.332.88027.333.710026.934.412526.730.21602432.820020.946.325020.952.231519.555.840018.558.950017.561.963017.563.880015.762.8100015.867.6125016.669.5160015.871.3200015.474.3250015.574.931501674.3400015.873.450001673.4630016.373.9800016.372.71000016.269.71250016.462.71600016.447.4SPL28.684.2N1.156.9median 16.4median 63.8Delta2.210.735.244.432.941.737.232.531.737.339.641.828.335.827.335.926.934.126.7362439.920.944.820.952.219.550.118.554.117.564.817.561.815.769.215.873.816.675.115.874.115.474.115.574.71675.915.8741672.216.374.316.371.916.268.216.456.416.452.128.685.31.161.3median 16.4median 68.22.211hearing rangehide median Pink NoiseHonor 10Nokia 7 Plus
Frequency diagram (checkboxes can be checked and unchecked to compare devices)
Honor 10 audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (84.2 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 21.8% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.4% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (5.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 9.4% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (2.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (23.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 46% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 46% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 38%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 65% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 28% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Nokia 7 Plus audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (85.3 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 25.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (7.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 6.1% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 4.8% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (3.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.1% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 39% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 54% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 38%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 59% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 35% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Battery Life

Power Consumption

Like the Honor 9, the new Honor smartphone is also relatively power-hungry, showing a quite high consumption even at minimum display brightness. For comparison, the Galaxy A8 barely reaches such a value when its display is at maximum brightness. In this area, the manufacturer has some need of optimizing. 

As fast charge technology, it uses Huawei's Super Charge, which can fully recharge a completely discharged Honor 10 within 73 minutes. Wireless charging is not available. 

Honor 10: Recharging duration using the Super-Charge charger
Recharging duration
Power Consumption
Off / Standbydarklight 0.02 / 0.26 Watt
Idledarkmidlight 1.12 / 2.26 / 2.3 Watt
Load midlight 5.14 / 7.89 Watt
 color bar
Key: min: dark, med: mid, max: light        Metrahit Energy
Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.
Honor 10
3400 mAh
Honor 9
3200 mAh
Nokia 7 Plus
3800 mAh
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
3000 mAh
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
3300 mAh
Sony Xperia XZ1
2700 mAh
Average HiSilicon Kirin 970
 
Average of class Smartphone
 
Power Consumption
1%
17%
39%
10%
-0%
2%
15%
Idle Minimum *
1.12
1.13
-1%
0.65
42%
0.67
40%
0.84
25%
0.51
54%
0.978 ?(0.67 - 1.4, n=8)
13%
0.894 ?(0.42 - 2.37, n=157, last 2 years)
20%
Idle Average *
2.26
2.25
-0%
1.76
22%
1.02
55%
2.31
-2%
2.16
4%
2.12 ?(1.15 - 2.7, n=8)
6%
1.452 ?(0.69 - 4.26, n=157, last 2 years)
36%
Idle Maximum *
2.3
2.3
-0%
1.78
23%
1.1
52%
2.33
-1%
2.23
3%
2.51 ?(1.23 - 4.3, n=8)
-9%
1.632 ?(0.79 - 4.45, n=157, last 2 years)
29%
Load Average *
5.14
4.89
5%
4.47
13%
3.86
25%
4.76
7%
7.45
-45%
5.01 ?(2.47 - 6.5, n=8)
3%
5.55 ?(2.4 - 16.5, n=157, last 2 years)
-8%
Load Maximum *
7.89
7.99
-1%
9.13
-16%
5.97
24%
6.39
19%
9.28
-18%
8.1 ?(2.49 - 11.5, n=8)
-3%
8.23 ?(4.32 - 20.8, n=157, last 2 years)
-4%

* ... smaller is better

Battery Life

Compared to that of the Honor 9, the battery of the Honor 10 has grown by 200 mAh. Accordingly, the runtimes are also higher. However, we did not expect them to turn out that much higher in some areas, particularly since the power consumption is still relatively high.

The best way to compare the battery life is using a controlled display brightness (150 cd/m²). In the WLAN test, the Honor 10 does well, achieving the same level as the Nokia 7 Plus, but being clearly beaten by the P20. While the Honor smartphone also achieves a good value when playing videos, all the competitors without exception are even better here. 

Generally, the power of the Honor 10 is easily sufficient to last through one day and can be additionally prolonged using various power saving modes. 

Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)
19h 22min
WiFi Websurfing (Chrome 66)
11h 03min
Big Buck Bunny H.264 1080p
11h 02min
Load (maximum brightness)
3h 36min
Honor 10
3400 mAh
Honor 9
3200 mAh
Huawei P20 Lite
3000 mAh
Huawei P20
3400 mAh
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018
3000 mAh
Nokia 7 Plus
3800 mAh
Asus ZenFone 4 ZE554KL
3300 mAh
Battery Runtime
3%
-16%
36%
22%
7%
16%
Reader / Idle
1162
1399
20%
750
-35%
1888
62%
1546
33%
1703
47%
1665
43%
H.264
662
564
-15%
470
-29%
810
22%
908
37%
706
7%
698
5%
WiFi v1.3
663
516
-22%
582
-12%
818
23%
646
-3%
672
1%
562
-15%
Load
216
278
29%
247
14%
295
37%
260
20%
158
-27%
286
32%

Pros

+ strong price-performance ratio
+ good display
+ decent speaker
+ unusual color options
+ accurate GPS
+ Dual-SIM
+ fast SoC
+ good camera

Cons

- few supported LTE bands
- storage expansion not possible anymore
- danger of overheating under constant load
- bloatware
- only Bluetooth 4.2

Verdict

Testing the Honor 10. Test unit provided by Honor Germany.
Testing the Honor 10. Test unit provided by Honor Germany.

With the 10, Honor goes one better and does not only offer a fine-tuned version of last-year's model, but also courageous color variants, shocking the competition with a strong entry price of 399 Euros (~$468).

At this point, the direct comparison to the Huawei P20 is becoming difficult. Although there are many similarities in the data sheet, the much more expensive smartphone from the parent company can do everything at least a little better. Only the system performance is similar. With this, the price difference is quite justified in our opinion.

Anyone looking for an elegant smartphone with a high-end feel can grab the Honor 10 without any concerns.  

The Honor 10 is still a great smartphone. It has a good, bright display which is also quite large, but not as gigantic as some of the competitors. Added to this are a good camera, a great battery life, and a fast smartphone. Looking at its system performance, the visuals, or the haptic, you would not guess that it costs "only" 400 Euros.

It is also positive that it uses fast UFS-2.1 storage now, that dual-SIM is offered, and that the GPS is very accurate. On the other hand, the fact that only few LTE bands are supported will cause some frustrations in the USA. However, we can still offer a clear recommendation for the Honor 10.

Honor 10 - 05/23/2018 v6(old)
Daniel Schmidt

Chassis
90%
Keyboard
68 / 75 → 91%
Pointing Device
93%
Connectivity
45 / 60 → 75%
Weight
92%
Battery
93%
Display
88%
Games Performance
63 / 63 → 100%
Application Performance
70 / 70 → 100%
Temperature
91%
Noise
100%
Audio
64 / 91 → 70%
Camera
78%
Average
80%
89%
Smartphone - Weighted Average

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Daniel Schmidt, 2018-05-26 (Update: 2020-05-19)