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Honor, a smartphone brand owned by Huawei, today unveiled its newest device, the Honor View 20. The device launched at an event in Paris, and several tech publications were able to go hands-on with it.

A mid-range device, the Honor View 20 is the first Honor-branded smartphone that features a hole-punch notch in the display, maximizing view area with a single cutout just for the camera. This isn't the first device under the Huawei umbrella to have a hole-punch cutout - the Nova 4 also has a similar design.


The Honor View 20 is a 6.4-inch LCD display with rounded corners, the aforementioned camera cutout (which houses a 25-megapixel camera), a small bezel at the bottom of the device, and a speaker grille at the top of the casing. There's a rear-facing fingerprint sensor, a 48-megapixel rear camera paired with a second camera sensor for detecting objects in 3D, a 4,000mAh battery, and a Kirin 980 system-on-a-chip.

honorview20-800x736.jpg

TechCrunch's Romain Dillet said the hole-punch cutout "definitely feels different" from an iPhone notch, but it looks weird located on the left side of the device. Still, it "looks great" when viewing photos and videos, and after just a few minutes, "you barely notice it."

"I hope more companies are going to follow this trend," writes Dillet.

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CNET's Jessica Dolcourt was also able to give the new smartphone a try, calling it "visually mesmerizing." The display, according to Dolcourt, "feels as close to an edge-to-edge screen as we're likely to get right now."
You might have opinions about the hole-punch camera, just as you might have strong feelings about the notch. But it never got in my way. It either fits into an unoccupied corner of whichever app you open, or falls into the navigation bar of that app. It all depends on how the app maker laid everything out in the first place.
The Honor View 20 launches in Europe and Asia and is priced starting at 569 euros or 499 pounds for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. Huawei's devices are banned in the U.S. and so the new smartphone will be difficult to obtain in countries like the United States, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

honorview203-800x392.jpg

While hole-punch camera cutouts are a growing trend, with even Samsung set to use the technology, it's not clear if it's something Apple is aiming for. Most front-facing camera setups are not as complicated as the TrueDepth camera system, which, in addition to a standard camera, incorporates a dot projector and infrared camera for facial scans.

honorview204-800x425.jpg

Rumors have suggested Apple will cut down on the size of the notch in 2019, and Apple's ultimate goal is said to be an uninterrupted edge-to-edge display with no compromises like a notch, but it's not known if and when the company will reach that goal.

Article Link: Huawei Launches New 'Honor View 20' Smartphone With 'Hole-Punch' Camera Cutout
 
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Premal212

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2017
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The notch will eventually go, just small stepping stones, there was no way a firm could refuse to release something in the interim. Just like the hybrid car engines, 2-3 years and we should have a notch free, hole free phone.

I think Huawei did a good job of this, with Apples new phone probably already 85% designed, it will be very interesting to see what they have thought of come September 2019.
 

4jasontv

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Jul 31, 2011
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That’s cool. Now I can look over my shoulder without moving my head.

I feel the off center camera would drive me crazy. Imagine using a web cam clipped all the way on the left side of your monitor.
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
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I actually kinda like the hole punch. Don't like the chin. If Apple could fully integrate Face ID into a single camera module, perhaps with a dot projector around the outside of the camera and an IR filter that can flip out of the way for scanning, then perhaps they could put the speaker in the slim bezel at the top alongside narrow ambient light/proximity and true tone sensors on either side of that.
 
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kiensoy

macrumors 6502
Feb 6, 2008
480
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That’s cool. Now I can look over my shoulder without moving my head.

I feel the off center camera would drive me crazy. Imagine using a web cam clipped all the way on the left side of your monitor.
You don’t hold your laptop on the palm of your hand. A phone is not as wide as a monitor. You are just looking to complain.
When you launch the front camera on any phone your brain automatically moves/rotates your palm to adjust yourself in the center of the screen. I mean the camera is like 2cm away from the center, that’s not a huge difference. If it was on the bottom chin like some other phones tried to do, then that would be a bigger difference.
 

Cosmosent

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Apr 20, 2016
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It's a good looking design !

Add a Hardware Home Button + Touch ID @ the bottom, & it would be perfect !

The Image Sensor resolutions are way over-kill, however, IMO.

Would be better to have 10-12 Mpx ALL-around, with the BIGGEST pixels possible !
 

341328

Suspended
Jul 18, 2009
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Well done to Apple for fully removing the chin... something everyone else seems to be struggling with or not caring about.
 
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Porco

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Mar 28, 2005
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My order of preference (from what exists):
- Forehead bezel with the camera/sensors/speaker and chin bezel with the TouchID Home button.
- camera hole but with a thin equal forehead and chin bezels
- notch 'solutions'
- camera hole with unbalanced chin or forehead bezel (so yeah, I'm not a fan of the phone in the article's design because of the unbalanced chin).

And I'd prefer squared display corners before rounded corners regardless. Eventually I think they'll get everything under the display and all these compromises will seem quaint.
 
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danckwerts

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2008
147
102
Richmond upon Thames
I don't know why the article says that the new phone 'will be difficult to obtain in countries like the United States, UK, Australia, and New Zealand because the US has banned Huawei phones. None of the mentioned countries is a colony of the US and Huawei phones are readily available in the UK. I have a Huawei P20 bought in the UK and it is excellent!
 
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