Honor 20e test: the entry level still under Androidif(typeof __ez_fad_position!='undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-charlestech_fr-box-3-0')};

Honor and Huawei have had their Android license removed from their new smartphones for a few months because of Donald Trump. However, the two brands of the Chinese giant can still use the free version of Android, without Google services. But the Honor 20e does not eat this bread there, Honor has found a simple solution to once again exploit Google services freely and offer you the PlayStore, for our greatest happiness.

In the end, the Honor 20e is a small reproduction of the Honor 20 Lite in discretion on the part of Honor. This new version comes with a Kirin 710F and 4 GB of RAM, like the previous version. However, some features have been slightly improved and the smartphone has a new name, enough to breathe life back into it almost a year after the release of the first Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro. This version is used to refresh the range with a new Android smartphone with Google services and therefore without many new features.

This Honor 20e finds a format which could seem old to us when we see the models of our days which almost all have the fingerprint sensor under the screen, here it is on the back. However, we must not remain unaware that it is an entry-level smartphone. At less than 200€, he will therefore be satisfied with little and do everything he knows how to do well. At least he tries because we will see that on some points the smartphone is really disappointing.

Design

The Honor 20e keeps a fairly simple design that we had already seen on the 20 Lite, with a black front and a blue back. On the front of the device, we find at the very top of the smartphone, the call speaker which is located just above the front camera. This front camera forms a notch in the shape of a drop of water, like many smartphones before the fashion of the pierced screen to house a camera in all discretion. this notch is not a problem, we got used to it over the years. Moreover, when you come from an iPhone, you can only be satisfied with a small notch.

The Honor 20e from the front.

The edges are quite thick and the smartphone is not borderless, it is clearly not its playground. We find on the lower part of the screen, a fairly thick chin and symptomatic of entry-level smartphones. Nothing is very embarrassing in use, it is above all an aesthetic side.

On the edges of the Honor 20e we find the buttons to lock the smartphone as well as to adjust the volume. The latter have a little play but remain solid and have a certain advantage. Indeed, we feel good when we press on it, which is a big plus. Some smartphones have very discreet buttons and we tend to force them a little. Normally, this will not be the case with this Honor 20e. On the upper edge of the smartphone there is a SIM drawer to accommodate either two SIM cards, or a SIM card and a micro-SD card, depending on your needs.

The left slice finds itself devoid of anything. On the lower part, we find the speaker on the right, followed by a Micro-USB port, the microphone and a jack. You will be able to continue to use your old headphones as a jack, which is good news. However, you will not have fast charging with this smartphone, since it does not have USB-C connectivity. It's a bit of a shame, especially since this connection has become quite democratized, adding it would not have been very expensive instead of using Micro-USB. We are still completely satisfied to note the presence of the jack, however, allowing you to use the headphones supplied with the smartphone.

The back of the Honor 20e.

On the back of the Honor 20e, we find the fingerprint sensor, always on the back on this model to save as much as possible and offer you an interesting entry-level smartphone. A little higher are the 3 photo sensors accompanied by a flash. These sensors have the advantage of not being too big and therefore not protruding too much from the smartphone, unlike what we saw on the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. The back is blue and adopts a pretty light gradient, commonplace at Honor. However here, no special effects with original shapes, we keep it simple.

Honor 20e Features

Performance

The Honor 20e is not in the high-end smartphones, so performance will be reduced. When you buy an entry-level smartphone like this, you obviously don't expect exceptional performance. As for the processor, we find a Kirin 710F, again it's almost the same chip as that of the 20 Lite. The processor is an octa-core clocked at 1.9 GHz. It does the job well but don't expect too much either. We tried two flagship games, PUBG Mobile and Jetpack Joyride, namely a demanding 3D game and a fairly light 2D game.

The processor is not that bad, for the price it does the job well, however the RAM is a little lighter with latencies of 90ns against around 25 ns on a high-end smartphone, nothing too serious here because we appreciates the write speed of 1653 MB/s, which is quite good in its field. However, the reading speed is 1974 MB/s, which is lower but still correct.

Storage level, we can clearly see that the Honor 20e does not have UFS 3.0 storage. With 124MB/s read speed and 102MB/s write speed, it's quite light, it's about worthy of a mechanical hard drive in a computer. However, we are here on flash memory so supposed to be much faster. It's apparently missed but for an entry-level smartphone, even if we would have appreciated a little more punch, we can't really complain.

The 2D and 3D performance of smartphones are the points where the smartphone is already a little weaker. With around 10 fps in Open GL, it really shows that it's a cheap model and clearly not made for gaming. Indeed, if Jetpack Joyride turned out to be fluid and pleasant to play, PUBG Mobile just as much! The smartphone did not exhibit any lag and did not heat up as one would expect in balanced mode with frame rate in medium mode. Impossible to play in HDR here and even less in Ultra HD. However, the HD mode allows you to play just as well, with certainly a little temperature of the processor but nothing alarming, it is ideal for playing all types of games. The smartphone tends to heat up a little, especially on the upper part.

Honor 20e screen

If there is one point on which we cannot really fault this Honor 20e, it is its screen. Indeed, it comes with an IPS LCD panel, classic on entry-level smartphones. If some entry-level models offered an AMOLED panel, they are more expensive than this one. The whole point of this smartphone is to cost as little as possible to save you money, or simply if you don't have a big smartphone budget.

In terms of resolution, we find 2340 x 1080 pixels, which is quite correct. It's a Full HD+ resolution, which is usually found on mid-range smartphones and even earlier, on some high-end models. It is therefore nice to see this on an entry-level mobile phone from Honor. Naturally, we do not see the pixels in view of the density of the latter, which is approximately 415 pixels per inch (DPI). This is a classic definition that goes well beyond 326 DPI, which is the minimum limit above which the human eye can no longer distinguish the pixels on a screen.

The screen of the Honor 20e.

The colors, even if it is not an OLED or AMOLED screen, are beautiful and we can clearly say that this is one of the strengths of the smartphone, its beautiful screen. It is possible to adjust the latter for brighter or softer colors by adjusting the color temperatures. You can also add an “eye comfort” mode which will tend to reduce the blue light on the screen by yellowing it.

This mode can be activated permanently or in automatic mode with programmed schedules. By default, the smartphone offers to activate the mode from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. The only regret is not being able to double tap on the screen to turn it on, we have to go through either the fingerprint sensor on the back or the unlock button. The last option is to raise your smartphone, it will turn on the screen automatically.

EMUI Interface

As always on Huawei and Honor smartphones, we find the EMUI interface. This time in version 9.1.0 equipped with Android 9. A first thing that we can regret in advance about this Honor 20e is the fact that it is uncertain whether it will be updated to Android 10. If it is, it will certainly be without Google services in view of the American embargo. These are only assumptions here, but the Honor 20e has every interest in keeping its software version as long as possible to keep the Google services which are very practical for everyone.

Its fairly well-known EMUI interface still offers interesting functions such as HiSearch, inspired by Spotlight search on iOS for example. There is also a center of Google widgets when you slide to the left. This widget center shows us a search bar, the weather, your profile and some news directly from Google News. Exceptionally, there is also a small insert offering the latest information on the coronavirus.

On the locked screen, a slide from the very bottom of the screen upwards allows you to display some very practical shortcuts such as the voice recorder, the calculator, the flashlight, the timer or even the identification of objects with HiVision. This Made In Huawei feature directly competes with Google Lens with its product search and similar object identification features. HiVision works quite well and offers good relevance in general on product identifications. However, it is strictly commercial, offering you similar products to buy.

We also take advantage of the Huawei AppGallery application store, which allows for example to find applications deleted from the PlayStore by Google. This is the case of AnTuTu Benchmark, which was withdrawn at the beginning of March. It's always a little extra even if this smartphone has Google services, any Huawei / Honor smartphone with Google services will also have the AppGallery.

Honor 20e camera

The Honor 20e's camera has quite a few different modes. We find the following:

The classic photo mode is quite good and produces beautiful photos. For the price, we clearly can't complain. As on all Honor and Huawei smartphones, the latter is assisted by an artificial intelligence which is responsible for improving the quality of the photo and making the colors more vibrant. An interesting feature that we find is the ability to say "Cheese" to the camera to take pictures. After trying over and over again, it doesn't work... However, another feature is to speak loudly to the camera to take a picture. A simple “Hey oh! a bit loud (don't yell either) works! There is also the possibility of automatically taking a picture of people when they smile, a practical feature. Again, it works very well.

However, you should know one thing when you activate the AI ​​mode of the camera, only the resolution of 12 MP is available. Despite having a 24 MP camera, you'll forget about that resolution to take photos with AI assistance.

In video mode, the videos are clearly not the most stable but it's pretty good for an entry level. Again, this smartphone is not doomed to have the latest technology but to do things right. Even if the videos are not at the top of what one would expect, they are quite good. Here, no 4K, however we are limited to Full HD 60 fps. Again, better to do things right and offer less than to do wrong what you can't do.

The "aperture" mode allows you to adjust the blur and create nice bokeh effects. I tested this with my camera one afternoon, it's quite successful but be careful not to take pictures of a subject too close. Everything will depend on the depth of your image field. If you have a few meters behind the photographed subject, no worries. However, don't get too close to the latter. Here the photo is successful and everything around the camera is quite blurry. Even the camera at the lens hood.

Big angle

x1

x2

x5

x6

The Honor 20e does not offer a 10x zoom, but an ultra-wide angle is there. The zoom goes up to x6, which is correct for a smartphone of this type. Normal view photos are good. In x2 mode, they start to deteriorate a little and in x5 mode, they are not terrible. we can only admit that the blur is pretty, that's all.

Big angle

x1

x2

x5

x6

As for the front camera, it is of good quality with pre-configured and obviously adjustable beauty effects. Even if its definition is not exceptional, it remains quite correct. It also allows you to shoot in Full HD 30 fps, with fairly average stabilization.

Honor 20e front camera.

As for the night photo quality, it is just fine but does not work wonders. Below, a photo taken at the end of the evening where we can notice that we have a lot of imperfections on the photo.

Night photo quality of the Honor 20e.

Audio quality

What we can generally expect from a smartphone is its audio quality. This is the point that not everyone thinks about and yet the quality of the loudspeaker is very important, as much as the quality of the screen for example. As for the loudspeaker for calls, it is relatively good, far from being excellent, but it is sufficient on its own to offer quite audible sound quality.

As for the speaker at the bottom of the smartphone, the main one, it turns out to be quite passable. Indeed, if the sound it produces is quite powerful, which is appreciable and relatively clear, without crackling, it pulls too much towards the treble and gives a small impression of a little muffled sound. All in all, it's not really the most pleasant speaker to use. However, if the sound is crystal clear and powerful enough, we do not have stereo sound either.

This system using the two speakers of smartphones is above all reserved for high-end models for the moment. It's a shame because it would have certainly improved the audio quality of this Honor 20e. Either way, your ears will come out safe and sound.

Network and communication

In terms of connectivity, the smartphone has 4G and Wi-Fi ac connectivity in addition to Bluetooth. In terms of standards, we have the satisfaction of seeing that we are on Bluetooth 5.0, which is significant. The Honor 20e's Bluetooth works well and allows you to listen to music with any compatible audio device, on your car, your TV soundbar or even Bluetooth headphones.

As for Wi-Fi, however, it's quite disappointing. The smartphone is supposed to connect to 5 GHz but does not connect to it, while the Freebox is well configured, however, to send Wi-Fi on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Meanwhile, the iPhone next to it connects without a hitch. You would think that the Honor 20e remains stuck on Wi-Fi g, effectively limiting the speeds quite a bit.

The results are however a little better when connecting to a Wi-Fi router like the Netgear Nighthawk RAX40 Wi-Fi 6 that we used, however, it is still very weak.

In 4G reception, you must first know that the smartphone is not 4G+ compatible. This is clearly noticeable in the speed tests we carried out. Indeed, it is a shame to see such a low speed recorded when we know that 4G can go up to around 150 Mbit / s. However, who says entry-level smartphone also says entry-level components and entry-level performance. We did the test with a SIM card at Orange France, exactly in the same place for the two smartphones, the Honor 20e and the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Admittedly, we are comparing an entry-level and a premium smartphone. However, with a classic 4G chip, the Honor 20e should clearly do better than that. This is a new disappointment which will be partly excused by its very affordable price.

Locking and Security

Like almost all smartphones these days, the Honor 20e has two unlock modes. We first find the fingerprint sensor, present on almost all smartphones, except recent iPhones, but also a facial recognition system.

The fingerprint sensor is located on the Honor 20e on the back. No fingerprint sensor under the screen here, cost reductions oblige in order to stay on a suitable price. Especially since we don't really know what such technology would be worth on a very entry-level smartphone. Honor has therefore made the choice of reason, that of not taking risks and staying on a safe bet, the physical fingerprint sensor on the back of the smartphone. The latter works perfectly well and offers quick unlocking of the smartphone. Even if I'm not really a fan of this type of technology on the back of the phone, I must admit that it's quite interesting and that after so many models tested with it, we got used to it without too much trouble. This is no longer a real problem.

The other technology in addition to unlocking by points or the 4 or 6 digit or letter code is facial recognition. Here, far are the Face ID recognizing your face even in the most total darkness. However, the system works well, as on a large number of Android smartphones equipped with this technology. Be careful though, these systems tend to increase the brightness of the phone to illuminate your face and thus detect it. This can be very unpleasant especially in the middle of the night. In this case, prefer the fingerprint sensor which remains a safe bet.

Autonomy

In this area, the Honor 20e is particularly good! By playing PUBG for a quarter of an hour with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC activated, the smartphone only lost 12% of battery! The phone will largely last the day despite the absence of an AMOLED screen which could have helped early in the morning or in the evening. However, if the autonomy is good and long enough, the recharge is also quite long.

Of course, if all these technologies are useful, avoid leaving everything activated if you want more longevity on your smartphone in terms of autonomy. Cutting the NFC for example if you do not have contactless payments to make can be interesting.

Indeed, without USB-C connectivity, it does not have fast charging as can be seen on other smartphones. You will therefore have to do with a somewhat slow recharge if you use the 10 Watt charger supplied in the box. We note all the same that with 1h55 of recharge time, it remains quite long compared to the 35 minutes necessary to recharge the realme X50 Pro for example.

Of course, there is no wireless charging on this smartphone, sold at a very attractive price, nor could it offer everything. This isn't much of a problem, given its good battery life and relatively economical components overall.

Honor 20e review: Reviews

Despite a few small points that may disappoint, the Honor 20e is doing quite well. It's an entry-level smartphone with clearly entry-level features. For €179 (indicative price given by Honor), the smartphone is doing well. Whether by its performance, its autonomy or in terms of photos, it does not offer too much and tries to do what it offers.

Even if we note some small slowness at the level of 4G or Wi-Fi, the smartphone is catching up with, for example, photo performance which is quite good, accompanied by very interesting and practical small features. In terms of performance, it is also quite good and we can add to this a relatively economical processor, allowing not to draw too much on the fairly large battery of the smartphone.

We therefore have with this Honor 20e, a good entry-level smartphone that we can only recommend if you really have a small budget.

Honor 20e review

Honor 20e review

The Honor 20e seduced us with its beautiful IPS LCD screen. Indeed, this technology increasingly replaced by OLED or AMOLED still has a bright future ahead of it. If nothing is exceptional in this smartphone, Honor has still achieved a great thing, producing a balanced smartphone.

Its performance is what is expected of such a device sold at this price. We can't blame it for much in the end because when we put such a price in a phone, we don't expect anything exceptional. It doesn't want to offer too much and what the Honor 20e does, it does well. It is therefore a good entry-level compromise for anyone who has a fairly tight budget for their smartphone.