Review of smartphones Honor 30 and Honor 30S with advantages and disadvantages

Less than two months later, the Chinese brand Honor has updated its collection of "achievements" from the world of wireless networks. Recently, the credo of Honor has changed significantly, because the new items shout “Surprise and shock!”. The new Honor 30 and Honor 30S smartphones, released in mid-April, also have something to interest whimsical users.

From this overview, you will learn:

• Which smartphone should gamers choose? And what kind of lovers of photos and social. networks?
• Why does the high price mean nothing for Honor products?
• How does Honor 30 and Honor 30S work without Google services support?
• Why is the Honor 30 the future for mid-range smartphones?

Appearance and ergonomics

Models Honor 30 and 30S visually do not differ from each other, except for the details, which can only be noticed when comparing the numbers. This concerns the dimensions, as the Honor 30S version has overtaken its brother by only 2 millimeters in height - 162.3 x 75 x 8.6 mm. The naked eye can see that the dimensions of the smartphone allow it to fit comfortably in the hand. The shape does not look overly wide or long. The difference in weight was 5 (not particularly noticeable in practice) grams.

During assembly, both gadgets received materials of unequal quality. The body and front side of Honor 30 is made of tempered glass. It is durable and non-marking, which is why it is more often chosen by middlemarket and luxury brands. The glass is framed by aluminum frames. The Honor 30S is not the case. The back panel is probably made of sturdy plastic, but due to the gloss it can easily be mistaken for glass. The side faces were also changed to plastic. This despite the fact that the difference in price was $ 100!

The main camera is represented by an elongated rectangular block of 4 sensors and a flash. It should be noted right away that the developers' decision did not bring any novelty or aesthetics to the design. The cameras occupy a third of the body, and the rough shapes immediately catch the eye. The same trend was shown on the display. The front-facing camera in the Honor 30 (S) is a ball-shaped notch in the upper left corner that looks more like a peephole.

The brand did not hesitate to take away from the budget and an impressive "chin" on the display, but this only applies to the 30S model.

How are things going with unlocking? In the 30S, the fingerprint has been moved to the side edge, and in the Honor 30 smartphone, unlocking is performed through the display (optical fingerprint). The latter also boasts the presence of NFC, that is, payment by phone.

Colors and equipment

Even during the crisis, the filling of Honor boxes did not undergo any special changes:

• Network adapter;
• Clip for sim slot;
• USB cable (Type C 2.0);
• Coupon and certificates;
• Transparent silicone case.

The surest way to find out which model loves more is to look at the color variations. For example, Honor 30S has 4 basic colors: blue, green, mysterious gradient and black. The last color was warmly received by buyers who were surprised by the saturation and external high cost of the smartphone. In general, the solution is more than successful.

And here is what the similar colors were called in Honor 30: titanium silver, emerald green, midnight black, Icelandic frost and neon purple. Perception changes immediately, doesn't it?

Specifications

Screen

Moving closer and closer to the characteristics of the two devices, it becomes absolutely clear that with these new products the Chinese brand tried to please two categories of the population at once. The screen diagonal is the same - 6.5 inches. However, the same bezel at the bottom of the 30S screen spoils the experience a little, although it can take some getting used to.

The screen resolution in both models is maximum - 1800 x 2400 pixels. The density is 403 and 405 ppi, respectively, the difference is insignificant. The image quality is exemplary. Bright palette, good visibility in sunny weather.

The Honor 30 smartphone, unlike its counterpart, was treated with a special oleophobic coating against microcracks and greasy marks, taking into account the fact that the OLED matrix is ​​quite fragile. The same cannot be said for the IPS built into the 30S. It is better known to users for its color rendering and durability.

Operating System and Google Services

The total refusal of the brand from Google support took place at the end of March this year. Honor 30 / 30S smartphones are the second attempt to migrate to their own system. It is impossible to say for sure if this was nit-picking, or if users actually encountered crashes in Chinese phones, but these are the changes that have been made from the inside:

• Obviously, it is impossible to link the programs you use to your Google account;
• The phone already has a factory calculator, calendar and Honor mail;
• All applications that require linking to a Google account and further payment through the wallet do not work (Netflix, Uber, most well-known games), however, you can download the Chinese platform, where there are also many interesting applications of different categories;
• Google Cloud is down;
• All English-speaking social media networks are working properly (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram);
• There is no QWERTY keyboard and user dictionary.

Users who are not interested in games and have their own transport will definitely not notice the changes (it's another question whether they will buy a phone without Google support). And it was possible to achieve such minimal restrictions by working on one of the Android 10.0 OS updates. The fact that the phone will not be able to arrive in the CIS and European countries without certification finally dispels the panic. This was the case with the Honor 9X smartphone. Therefore, do not worry, in the store, no one will certainly sell 200 grams of useless plastic.

Performance and memory

The biggest differences were found when comparing the Honor 30 and Honor 30S processors. So the first smartphone turned out to be more of a gaming version (Kirin 985 5G), while the second received last year's chipset and took the position of “a phone for everything at once” (Kirin 820 5G).

Please note that both phones support 5G communication!

The processors are based on a 7-nanometer process technology. However, only the Kirin 985 has integrated graphics, which means no additional memory card is required. There are 8 cores in total, and in both chips they are divided into 3 clusters. Maximum clock speeds for Cortex-A76 (2.58 GHz) and Cortex-A76 (2.36 GHz) respectively. The phones don't get stuck with a lot of open apps, but only the Honor 30 is good for heavy 3D gaming.

RAM - 8 GB, that is, no more than 10 complex applications. The user chooses additional memory upon purchase, it is either 128 or 256 GB.

According to the developers, the energy efficiency of the Kirin processors has surpassed the Snapdragon chips by 1.5 times.

Testing

Honor 30 results:

• Antutu v8 - 411.593 points (performance is better than 98% of smartphones).

Honor 30S results:

• Antutu v8 - 373.768 (better than 93% of smartphones).

Autonomy

The brand has endowed new items with non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh batteries. In the case of the Honor 30, the capacity is enough for the whole day, since the OLED matrix, even with large dimensions, consumes little energy, which cannot be said about the Honor 30S. Probably with active use, and even more so during gameplay, the phone will work autonomously for no more than a day.

For this case, the developers have added a 40 Volt Quick Charge option to both gadgets. However, the Honor 30 also comes with a 5 Volt "reverse charge" option. In simple terms, the time to replenish energy will be reduced to 70% in 30 minutes.

Camera

The finest hour of the Honor 30S has arrived! No matter what users say, the brand did a good job on the camera, because it is several times better than the Honor 30 model.

The first sensor received 64 megapixels with an f / 1.8 aperture. Good performance for both night and day shooting. When photographing landscapes, colors do not fade, and with the option of an extended screen (26 mm), the image will turn out as good as the finished picture. In Honor 30, everything is almost identical, only a 40 megapixel lens, not 64.

The rest of the sensors are also almost the same. The second lens is 8 megapixels, with f / 2.4 (not suitable for night photos and videos). The only difference is the 80mm zoom in the Honor 30S and the 125mm zoom in the Honor 30.

The third and fourth lenses are 8 megapixels (for shooting widescreen videos) and 2 megapixels (for adjusting exposure and depth of frame). Also recently, the "manual frame adjustment" function has gained popularity, so users can use the following modes:

• Portrait;
• 3:4;
• Square;
• Individual construction of focus and light.

Interesting to know! The video recording quality of the Honor 30 is 2x better than that of the 30S (2160 x 60fpsvs2160 x 30fps).

The front camera in Honor 30 is better - 32 megapixels. Against 16 megapixels in the Honor 30S. There is not enough light throughput to take a good photo at night. However, most of the selfie cameras are not focused on this.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Large screen;
• Convenient shape and dimensions;
• NFC and memory card slot;
• High-quality color rendering;
• Expensive materials (Honor 30);
• Quick Charge function;
• Silicone case as a gift;
• Beautiful colors;
• 5G networks.
• Powerful processor;
• High performance camera + features.

• No support for Google services;
• Marked materials (Honor 30S);
• A fragile matrix.

Outcome

Concluding this review, it is worth finally revealing the main secret. As you can see, the Honor 30 ($ 380) surpasses its sibling in many ways. The advantages were manifested in the screen area, matrix, performance and autonomy. However, the price for a smartphone is $ 100 (7 thousand rubles) cheaper than the Honor 30S ($ 420).

Sounds unfair? In any case, the 30S is a versatile version with a good camera and processor, which means it will suit absolutely everyone. While the Honor 30 is the choice of gamers and people in need of heavy apps on hand.