Honor 30i review: inexpensive smartphone with AMOLED and screen scanner

Despite all the difficulties associated with American sanctions, Huawei and its subsidiary Honor do not despair and continue to attack the world of smartphones with interesting solutions. Yes, Google Play will be unavailable, as well as some of the applications most closely related to Google, but sometimes the offer in terms of the totality of qualities may be such that such nuances will already seem insignificant.

Honor 30i just claims to be such an offer. The smartphone for 18 thousand rubles (17,990 rubles to be exact) offers an AMOLED display, an under-screen fingerprint scanner, a glass body and a triple camera with a main Quad Bayer sensor. At the very least, the Honor 30i stands out noticeably against the general background—let’s take a closer look.

⇡#Technical characteristics

Honor 8A - powerful sound, colorful screen

Chinese phones with a fingerprint from the Honor brand have the same characteristics as HUAWEI gadgets. The fact is easy to explain. The brand belongs to HUAWEI. But Honors are more technologically advanced. Model 8A confirms this. It supports the option of eye protection.

The technology filters the UV radiation of the monitor, thereby reducing the load on the visual organs. Those who like to read books on their phones, search for data on the Internet, and correspond with each other will appreciate the innovation.

Advantages:

• the working surface of the display is increased by placing sensors in one area;
• face recognition option works in the dark;
• sensitive Touch ID;
• NFC module;
• processor operating at 2.3 GHz;
• battery optimization function.

Buyers noted the design of the smartphone. Double textured back panel. You can feel it in your hand, which prevents it from slipping.

Flaws:

• The fingerprint scanner often does not work;
• The front camera's artificial intelligence feature makes shooting difficult.

The Honor brand produces budget smartphones with a set of auxiliary options, but experts note that 75% of them are superfluous and not working.

⇡#Design, ergonomics and software

If in terms of characteristics the Honor 30i can really surprise, then it does not strive to do so with its design, adhering to the usual Honor values.

The front panel received a “stretched” display (20:9 format) with minimal frames. The issue with the front camera, which needs to be placed somewhere in these conditions, was resolved in the most traditional way - it was placed in a teardrop cutout in the center of the top edge, under the earpiece.

Honor 30i, front panel: at the top there is a front camera in the cutout and an earpiece

The screen is not curved, but the rounded edges create the illusion. And holding it, despite the usual large display, is comfortable. Honor 30i is a thin smartphone: 7.7 mm, which is very rare for today's realities. Please note in the specifications table that none of the competing smartphones are thinner than eight and a half millimeters. Moreover, the rear block of cameras protrudes slightly above the body.

Honor 30i, rear panel: in the upper corner there is a triple camera unit and a single LED flash

The rear panel stands out a little more, but is also quite standard - at least for Honor brand smartphones. It is made of glossy glass, shimmering in different shades depending on the lighting and viewing angle, and the camera block is a thin rectangle with rounded ends - and is located in the corner. The edges are made of plastic in the same color as the back panel.

Honor 30i, left side: slot for SIM cards and memory cards

Honor 30i, right side: power/lock and volume keys

Honor 30i is available in three colors: Shimmering Turquoise, Ultra Violet Sunset and Midnight Black. At least in a turquoise, as in our case, and an “ultraviolet” case, the gadget looks bright and interesting. For lovers of the classics, who, as always, are the majority, there is a black version - also glossy, however. In any case, the smartphone is very slippery, so it makes sense to immediately hide it in a case, since it is included in the package. Made of transparent silicone, it will, of course, make the case visually thicker, but will not hide the color.

Honor 30i, top edge: mini-jack and microphone

Honor 30i, bottom edge: microphone, USB Type-C port, main speaker

All functional elements are in place: two hardware keys on the right side, a mini-jack on the top and a USB Type-C port on the bottom - microUSB is finally being pushed out into the “up to 10 thousand rubles” price segment. There is no dust or moisture protection.

The fingerprint scanner is located under the screen - an optical sensor is used, which does not allow you to unlock the device with a wet or greasy finger, but in general it works quite at the level of flagship smartphones, like the Honor 30 Pro+. It still doesn’t match the accuracy and response speed of a capacitive sensor, but it’s really good in its category. If desired, you can duplicate the scanner with a face recognition system that uses the front camera without any additional sensors. This system is much less reliable than a fingerprint scanner, but it works instantly.

Screenshot gallery

Honor 30i runs Android 10 with the proprietary Magic UI 3.1 shell (a variation on EMUI 10 with some additional applications for Honor). Of course, there are no Google services. The manufacturer proposes to cope with this problem both with the help of the really quickly growing AppGallery branded store (in it, for example, Mail and Yandex services are fully represented), and with the help of the pre-installed Petal Search service, available on the main screen - in it you can search for any application on the Internet and download it right there. Applications are searched both on the official websites of the authors and in apk file directories like APK Pure. To be honest, it doesn’t always work - I ended up downloading the APK Pure app to download directly from there. Not all applications will work on the smartphone either - Huawei/Honor are trying to correct the situation by regularly updating the catalog, including the AppGallery, but you won’t be able to play any game from Google Play, even after downloading and installing it through third-party services. But the problem with contactless payment has been solved - the inaccessible Google Pay has been completely replaced by the Wallet and SberPay applications (there is also Huawei Pay, but it so far only works with a couple of banks and UnionPay cards); Of course, there is NFC in the smartphone.

Setting up a fingerprint scanner on Honor phones

Each person's fingerprints are unique and have a high degree of security. They are used to lock/unlock devices and apps without having to remember passwords. They are easier, cheaper and faster to set up. Online transactions become more convenient, because to confirm them you just need to swipe your finger across the screen.

Benefits of Biometric Scanning

The fingerprint scanner provides very high accuracy. This is the most cost-effective method of biometric user authentication, one of the most studied biometric systems. The biometric template requires a small amount of memory.

The advantages of a biometric scanner are obvious. It is quite easy to copy the key or write down the PIN code and give it to strangers. It is virtually impossible to duplicate another person's fingerprint in a form that the scanner can recognize.

Other types of access control have the disadvantage of relying on something that can easily be lost, transferred, or duplicated. Fingerprints have none of these disadvantages, which is why smartphone manufacturers recommend installing biometric scanning on your phone to protect your personal information.

Samsung Pay vs Android Pay - how they differ and which is better

How to set up a fingerprint on Honor

Fingerprint scanning is a new screen lock option that allows you to unlock your device with your finger. Honor 7c / 9 / 7x phones have modern technology - a sensor that scans biometric data when setting the screen lock, and then recognizes it again to unlock the display.

To set up a fingerprint lock, you need to follow these steps:

• On the Home screen, swipe left to open more icons.
• Click Settings .
• Click Security & Privacy .

• Select Manage Fingerprints .

• If you don't already have a screen lock set up, you'll need to do so before using your biometric ID.
• Select New Fingerprint .

• Place your pinky, index, or middle finger (optional) on the scanner several times.
• Once scanning is complete, click OK .

You can unlock the screen this way on almost all new Honor models with a fingerprint.

Fingerprint scanner for a personal computer - installation and configuration

New Huawei Honor with fingerprint

Typically, the sensor on a smartphone is located on the Home button on the front, where it is easiest to access. But manufacturers are going to great lengths to make room for new screenless designs—no buttons, no edges.

That is why Huawei subsidiary Honor has equipped its new Honor 10 smartphone with an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under the display glass.

Honor 10 has a 5.84-inch display (2280 x 1080 pixels) with an aspect ratio of 19:9, almost bezel-less, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space. The case is 7.7mm thick and has multiple layers of glass on the back.

Adding a new feature that Apple and Samsung smartphone users can still only dream of, Honor allows you to securely unlock your phone by simply touching the screen with your finger.

Despite such an innovative innovation, the principle of how to install and configure biometric data scanning is similar to older models, for example, Lite.

⇡#Display and sound

One of the key advantages of the Honor 30i over the vast majority of competitors (with the exception of the Samsung Galaxy A50/A51) is the screen. There is an AMOLED matrix with a diagonal of 6.3 inches and a resolution of 2400 × 1080 pixels. The pixel density is normal – 418 ppi.

The very fact of using an OLED screen in a smartphone in this price range can, in theory, be a double-edged sword, but the Honor 30i has a very decent matrix. If the term PenTile is not worth taking out of the dusty closet of consciousness in any case, then concerns about high PWM might not be groundless - it is present here. But if you are sensitive to this (for example, I am not), you can activate a special parameter in the settings, and the PWM will go away. This does not noticeably affect the picture. But there are still no modes for increased screen refresh rates - and this is logical for a device costing less than 20 thousand rubles.

The very list of smartphones presented in the graph above signals the special status of the Honor 30i. Compared to the background of two to three times more expensive devices, the Honor 30i screen looks great. The measured maximum brightness level without software enhancement during auto-adjustment is 475 cd/m2 - a good level for an OLED display; not all inexpensive LCDs are capable of this. You can use your smartphone in the sun without any problems.

The screen settings are well known from devices running Magic UI 3.1 - there is an Always-On Display mode (in this case not configurable, you can only turn it on or off), and a dark theme, you can adjust the font size, resolution, and activate the already mentioned reduction mode flicker and UV filtering (adjustable). Color reproduction can be adjusted by choosing from two presets (“vivid” and “normal”), with color temperature adjustable to suit your taste. I measured color rendering with the "Vivid" and "Normal" presets at the default color temperature.

Honor 30i, bright mode, gamma. Yellow line – Honor 30i performance, dotted line – reference range

Honor 30i, bright mode, color temperature. Blue line – Honor 30i performance, dotted line – reference temperature

Honor 30i, bright mode, color gamut. Gray triangle – DCI-P3 coverage, white triangle – Honor 30i coverage

In Vivid mode, the color gamut is approximately the same as the DCI-P3 standard, but slightly shifted. Gamma, in fact, is the standard - 2.25 with stable curves. The color temperature is increased - the curve smoothly rises from 7,000 to 7,500 K. The average deviation DeltaE for the expanded Color Checker palette (shades of gray + a wide range of color shades) is 4.71 with a norm of 3.00.

Honor 30i, normal mode, gamma. Yellow line – Honor 30i performance, dotted line – reference range

Honor 30i, normal mode, color temperature. Blue line – Honor 30i performance, dotted line – reference temperature

Honor 30i, normal mode, color gamut. Gray triangle – sRGB coverage, white triangle – Honor 30i coverage

In the “normal” color rendering mode, the color gamut corresponds to the sRGB standard, the average gamut is approximately the same (2.27), the color temperature practically does not exceed the standard - it remains at 6,600 K. And the average deviation DeltaE on the Color Checker scale is already almost normal - 3.04. The Honor 30i display not only has a high-quality matrix, but is also well configured.

Honor 30i has both a mini-jack and Bluetooth version 5.1 - but the aptX profile is not supported. So, despite the possibility of a free wired connection, the sound capabilities of the device must be considered somewhat limited. The not-so-best mono speaker also contributes to this.

⇡#Hardware and performance

If the screen is definitely the strongest point of the Honor 30i, then the hardware platform should be classified as relatively weak. It uses last year's HiSilicon Kirin 710F - a 12-nanometer system-on-chip with four 2.2-GHz ARM Cortex-A73 cores and four ARM Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.7 GHz. Graphics subsystem - ARM Mali-G51 MP4.

The same hardware platform was installed in last year’s smartphones of this class like Honor 9X – and even then it did not allow them to be considered the fastest in this category. However, there was no serious leap in performance in the middle class this year, and in general the lag (where it exists) of the Honor 30i is not critical. This smartphone, of course, cannot be classified as a gaming gadget; its capabilities in this regard are strictly limited, but it copes with its main responsibilities confidently.

The operating system runs smoothly, applications open even faster than you would expect from such a phone, and processes run reliably. During the week of testing, the smartphone never froze.

The already not very serious gaming potential of the Honor 30i is affected by difficulties with throttling - when setting the performance mode in the CPU Throttling Test, the peak clock frequency dropped to 68% of the maximum, and this drop occurred linearly. The average performance level was 129 GIPS. The company, however, claims that the problem is related to the non-final copy that came to us for testing, and Honor specialists managed to achieve different results.

Honor 30i is offered in a single version of built-in memory: 4 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and - amazing generosity - 128 GB of UFS 2.1 flash memory. Moreover, the volume can be expanded using a proprietary NM card (capacity up to 256 GB); it is installed instead of a second SIM card.

Samsung Galaxy A50 - premium design and performance

And the 50 Samsung with a fingerprint surprises with its screen size (6.4 inches) and 3D rear panel. The phone is made of fiberglass with rounded corners. The body is reduced, thinned to the limit. But experts say it's not just the screen, which has FHD+ resolution (sAMOLED color characteristics).

The gadget is equipped with a wide-angle camera with a view of 1230 and a 25 megapixel camera with f/1.7 aperture. The photographs are distinguished by their clarity, sharpness, detail, and natural reproduction of colors and shades.

Pros of a smartphone:

• nothing extra;
• nimble, powerful;
• extreme design;
• slot for an additional 512 GB card;
• NFC, GPS, good network signal;
• Taking photos is a pleasure.

When actively using the device, the battery lasts for a day. This is also considered by consumers to be an advantage of the model.

Flaws:

• The screen size is not for small hands, it is inconvenient;
• fragile case material, scratches, fades;
• eyes get very tired after working with the phone for 2-3 hours;
• cameras overpraise;
• Bad Touch ID, scans every other time.

A50 users warn about the need to use the smartphone carefully because it slips out of their hands. The case breaks easily.

⇡#Communications and wireless communications

The smartphone works with LTE from both SIM cards. The speed at which the modem can operate is not specified; all bands necessary for the correct operation of networks are available.

Slot for two nano-SIM cards or one nano-SIM and an NM card

The wireless modules are in order: dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), the already mentioned Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, navigation module with GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS and BeiDou.

⇡#Camera

Honor smartphones have always been famous for having some of the best cameras compared to competitors, and Honor 30i with its triple module tries to keep up.

The main camera has a 48-megapixel Quad Bayer sensor (physical dimensions - 1/2.0 inch) with an ƒ/1.8 aperture lens, phase detection autofocus and an equivalent focal length of 28 mm. Despite the presence of 64-megapixel and 108-megapixel solutions on the market, this module remains more than relevant and competitive - as practice confirms.

You can quite confidently shoot with the main camera not only in good light, when almost any modern smartphone can produce a high-quality picture, but also in low light (it’s more difficult at night). I note both good color rendition and well-set white balance. Sharpness is balanced, saturation is within normal limits. The second camera is responsible for an expanded viewing angle - it is an 8-megapixel module with an ƒ/2.4 aperture lens, giving a coverage angle of 120 degrees. In good light, it also gives a decent picture - with geometric distortions (correction is not provided), but quite sharp for most of the frame. The only thing I have to complain about is that the white balance is poor, especially in comparison with the main module; the image turns out to be too cold.

In the dark, it is no longer possible to get a detailed picture with a wide-angle camera - the noise reduction system more or less copes with grain, but at the cost of details; dynamic range also drops. The proprietary night mode, which combines several images into one with increased clarity and expanded dynamic range, is available only for a standard viewing angle - it works well, but it overdoes the contour sharpness.

The Honor 30i camera can shoot with both a 12 megapixel resolution (offered by default) and a 48 megapixel resolution - to do this, you need to go to the “professional” mode and select the appropriate option. What’s surprising is the absence of a “hybrid” 2x zoom, which is common for all smartphones with a Quad Bayer sensor (a 48-megapixel crop with slight loss of quality).

Yes - using machine learning technologies, the smartphone recognizes many scenes and adapts the picture taking into account this knowledge. As a rule, the same operations are performed - contrast and saturation are raised.

The third camera, as you might guess, is a depth sensor used in portrait mode. It works a little strangely here - there is only one focal length available, which encourages shooting full-length portraits, but in this case, the separation of plans is unstable, and there may be errors with the creation of “artificial bokeh”. With half-length and close-ups, there are no such problems, especially since numerous bokeh effects are available (from circles to hearts), a switchable and customizable beautifier. But the focal length is poorly suited for close-up portraits - noticeable geometric distortions interfere.

The camera application is standard for smartphones with MagicUI: horizontal navigation, a set of familiar settings. A “professional” mode with manual settings is available, but without the ability to shoot in RAW.

There is HDR (you need to turn it on forcibly; in the basic format it is disabled, but when you activate the AI ​​assistant, the smartphone will in any case stitch together pictures from several frames with extended dynamic range), panorama stitching, “live photos” (when a small piece is recorded along with the photograph video.

Gallery of pictures

In video shooting, the Honor 30i's capabilities are limited to Full HD resolution with a frequency of only up to 30 frames per second. There is digital stabilization, it is not too brilliant.

The front camera has a 16-megapixel sensor and ƒ/2.0 aperture optics. There is no autofocus or flash, the module is quite ordinary - the shooting quality is normal, even in artificial lighting it is possible to get a good selfie, there is a portrait mode and a beautifier, just like on the main camera. But the focal length is again not optimal, geometric distortions are noticeable.

⇡#Autonomous work

Honor 30i received a battery with a capacity of 15.2 Wh (4000 mAh, 3.8 V), and it is enough for the smartphone to work fully without recharging for a whole day, or even more. In fact, I had to charge it on average once every one and a half to two days, but I also used the gadget quite moderately. In any case, the combination of an OLED display and a not too powerful (and, therefore, power-hungry) platform looks advantageous.

In our traditional test with Full HD video playback at maximum brightness, with Wi-Fi turned on and notifications turned on, the Honor 30i showed a remarkable result - exactly 14 hours. Expected considering the OLED screen, but still cool.

The current USB Type-C port is used for charging, but fast charging is not provided. Using the included 10 W charger, the smartphone charges in more than two hours.

Appearance and equipment of Honor 30 Pro+

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• Dimensions : 160.3 ×73.6 ×8.4 mm
• Weight : 190 grams
• Case colors: midnight black, titanium silver
• Case material : glass, aluminum frame
• Connector : Type-C
• SIM card slot : NanoSIM, combined
• Headphone jack : no

Honor 30 Pro+ creates an impression of elegance and elegance due to its fairly thin body, low weight (only 190 grams), premium body materials and sophisticated colors. The color of our test model is silver, but the back of the device shimmers with a delicate lilac shade, which is not lost under the silicone case. The phone does not collect fingerprints on the cover and looks fresh after a day of use.

The location of the control buttons is classically designed. On the right side of the aluminum frame are the volume and power buttons, the buttons can be easily felt with your finger, they are convex and slightly pointed. The left side is empty. The IR port and speaker are located on top. Please note that the speaker is shifted up onto the frame and is separated from the glass of the screen. On the bottom edge there was room for a Type-C connector, another speaker and a SIM card slot.

The box contains not only a charging block and an adapter for the Type-C for wired headphones, but also a case made of thin transparent silicone with a recess for the top speaker . It is easy to put on, it does not cover the beauty, but the screen does not protect, it does not have protruding sides.

The advantages of the Honor 30 Pro+ appearance turn into disadvantages . The phone is slippery and not at all “gripable” due to its low weight and thickness. Using a cover saves the situation.

The rectangular protruding block of cameras protrudes noticeably above the surface , and the large five letters HONOR, occupying almost half of the back space, are not an amateur solution.

The card slot is combined, and the memory card is not in the most common format - NanoSD . By the way, to install a SIM card, you need to apply some force when installing it in the tray.

The microphone is located so close to the SIM cards that it could easily be mistaken for a slot for opening the tray , which is actually located directly on the sliding panel.

Headphones are not included in the Honor 30 Pro+ package.