Honor Play Gaming Smartphone Running On Kirin 970 Launched

Gaming smartphones are gaining popularity by the day. After Razer, Nubia, Black Shark and Asus, Honor has launched its own gaming smartphone. After weeks of leaks, the Honor Play is now official and will be available in China exclusively for now. One of the highlights of this gaming smartphone is its pricing and should give other gaming Android devices a run for their money. The base model with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage is priced at CNY 1999 (Rs 21000 approx.) and the 6GB RAM model will retail for CNY 2399 (Rs 25000 approx.).

The Honor Play takes design cues from the likes of Honor 10. It follows the notch trend but, unlike the Mi 8, it has a narrower notch which can be hidden using software. The all-glass design with an aluminium frame is something we have seen already in devices like the Honor 10 and Huawei P20 Pro. The Honor Play is no different here. There is a special edition Honor Play with a textured back and two colour options which will be retail for CNY 2499 (Rs 26100 approx.).

The Honor Play has a 6.3 inch IPS LCD display with a 2280 x 1080 px resolution. Like the Honor 10, this translates into a 19:9 aspect ratio which will come in handy when users hide the notch. Once the notch is hidden, the display will revert to a more traditional 18:9 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the device runs on the HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC with a dedicated NPU for AI capabilities. This is the same SoC that powers the Huawei P20 Pro, which is priced at Rs 64999 in India. Honor claims that its new GPU Turbo technology not only improves the performance of the device but, runs games twice as stable as the Xiaomi Mi 8. This can only be tested once we get our hands on the device. Coupled with the flagship chipset is either 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The storage is expandable via microSD card.

The fingerprint sensor is placed on the back of the smartphone at a central and ergonomic location. Powering the Honor Play is a 3750 mAh battery which, according to Honor, will last up to 1.5 days even after heavy usage. Again, we will test this once we get our hands on the device and won’t vouch for any claims the company makes. The Lenovo Z5 has taught us an important lesson here.

To the back is a 16MP primary RGB sensor mated with a 2MP depth sensor. The depth sensor will enable bokeh effect and portrait mode shots. The notch houses a 16MP camera with AI capabilities such as portrait lighting, like the iPhone X and Huawei P20 Pro.

At this price point, the Honor Play, at least on paper, looks like an impressive device. There is no information about whether Honor will make the Honor Play available in other markets like India.