In a press conference in New Delhi, Honor announced the launch of its latest smartphone, the Honor Play. First unveiled as a gaming smartphone in China a couple of months ago, the Honor Play boasts of top-of-the-line Kirin 970 processor that is made from 10nm manufacturing process and packs in onboard AI capability (via built-in Neural Processing Unit (NPU)) as well as the company’s new GPU Turbo technology to increase processing efficiency and reduce power consumption when playing games. The Honor Play comes in two memory variants – 4GB as well as 6GB RAM – while the internal storage on both variants is the same – 64GB. It sports a large 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio – yes, there’s a notch. Honor Play Specifications Honor Play Display 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD 2340 x 1080 resolution 19.5:9 aspect ratio 2.5D curved glass display SoC Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 970 octa-core (4 x 2.4GHz A73 + 4 x 1.8GHz A53), 10nm Dedicated NPU GPU Mali-G72 MP12 GPU Turbo RAM 4GB/6GB LPDDR4X Storage 64GB (UFS 2.1) Expandable up to 256GB with microSD Cameras Rear cameras: Primary: 16MP with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF Secondary: 2MP secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) Front camera: 16MP, f/2.0 aperture Audio 3.5mm headphone jack Single bottom-firing speaker Battery 3,750mAh IP rating None Sensors Fingerprint sensor Digital compass Ambient light sensor Gravity sensor Gyroscope Proximity sensor Network 4G LTE TDD: B38/B40/B41 4G LTE FDD: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20 3G WCDMA: B1/B2/B5/B8 2G GSM: B2/B3/B5/B8 Connectivity USB Type-C (USB 2.0) Wi-Fi 2.4GHz: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi 5GHz: 802.11 a/n/ac Bluetooth 4.2 GPS/AGPS/Glonass SIM Nano-SIM Software Android 8.1 Oreo EMUI 8.2 Dimensions and weight 157.91 × 74.27 × 7.84mm 176g Colors ultra violet, navy blue, midnight black, player edition red/black GPU Turbo Honor Play is the first smartphone from the company to pack GPU Turbo out of the box. The graphics processing technology is an integrated hardware-software graphics processing acceleration technology that reconstructs the traditional graphics processing framework at the lower layer system, greatly improving the efficiency of GPU graphics processing and user gaming experience. According to the company, it allows improving graphics processing efficiency by 60% and reducing SoC (System on Chip) energy consumption by 30% on Honor Play thereby delivering improved smartphone performance with energy consumption balance. At the launch though, the GPU Turbo supports only PUBG Mobile, the widely popular ‘Player Unknown’s Battlerounds’ game. Pricing and Availability The Honor Play is available in two color variants – Midnight Black and Navy Blue – and includes a 9V/2A fast charger as well as a TPU protective case bundled in the box. Priced at 19,999 rupees ($291) for the 4GB variant and 23,999 rupees ($349) for the 6GB variant, the Honor Play will go on sale exclusively on Amazon.in starting August 6 at 4PM India time. Honor Play packs in flagship-grade specifications in a good looking chassis while sporting a mid-range price-tag. What are your thoughts on Honor’s new device, and would you like to pick one up? Tell us in the comments! Buy Honor Play on Amazon<doc-sep>Close on the heels of the launch of the Nova 3 Series in India, Huawei, the Chinese smartphone giant has decided to launch a new smartphone in India. The new handset will be sold under Huawei’s sub-brand Honor and is known as the Honor Play. The Honor Play is a rather unique handset owing to the price range it finds itself in. The launch of the Honor Play also brings down the cost of a flagship class processor to unbelievable levels. Let us take a closer look at the handset now, shall we? Honor Play: Specifications, Hardware The Honor Play is powered by the powerful Kirin 970 processor from Huawei that is also found doing duty on the likes of the Huawei P20 Pro, the Honor 10 and the Nova 3. The handset ships in two versions – a base 4GB RAM version and a 6GB RAM version. Both the versions come with 64GB of internal storage with the provision to expand the memory further using microSD cards. For graphics, the Kirin 970 SoC integrates the Mali-G72 MP12 GPU. As you might be already aware, the Kirin 970 also integrates a Neural Processing Unit that helps the phone deal with several AI features. The display used on the Honor Play is a large 6.3-inch IPS LCD panel in the 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Prima facie, looks like this is the same panel that the Nova 3 also uses. The phone also gets a large 3750 mAh battery which seems to be identical to the one we saw on the Nova 3. Honor Play: Hands-On, First Impressions Like the Nova 3, the Honor Play also supports the new GPU Turbo technology from Huawei. This feature claims to improve the graphics processing efficiency of the handset by as much as 60% while also reducing the energy consumption of the SoC by over 30%. I will only be able to comment on this after I start using the phone though. Honor Play: Camera and Imaging setup Being a scaled down version of its flagship brethren, the Honor Play expectedly sports a scaled-down camera spec sheet as well. The primary camera on the device is a 16-megapixel unit that is mated to the now common 2-megapixel depth sensing secondary camera. At the front, there is a single 16-megapixel unit for selfies and video calls. The primary rear camera can also capture 4K videos at 30fps. The front camera is however restricted to just 720p video capture. The highlight of the camera is, of course, the AI features that it sports and from what I have seen so far, the camera UI and the options are identical to the ones found on more expensive Huawei and Honor products. Honor Play: Price in India, First Sale date The Honor Play as mentioned earlier comes in two versions in India. The base version has been priced at Rs.19,999 while the higher end 6GB RAM version will set you back by Rs.23,990. The handset goes on sale today and will be available via Amazon and the Honor India store.<doc-sep>Honor Play India Launch highlights: The Honor Play will go on sale from 4pm through Amazon and Honor India. Honor Play India Launch highlights: The Honor Play will go on sale from 4pm through Amazon and Honor India. Honor Play launch in India; price, specifications and features highlights: Honor Play has officially launched in India at an event in New Delhi. Honor Play offers many features for smartphone gamers, and packs the company’s high-end Kirin 970 processor, and comes with a new GPU technology as well. Read more: Honor Play first impressions: At price of Rs 19,999 packs some great features Honor Play has a price tag of Rs 19,999 for the base variant which has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, while the 6GB RAM and 64GB storage comes with a price tag of Rs 23,999. Honor Play will go on sale from today itself on the Amazon India website. Sale for Honor Play will start at 4 pm IST.<doc-sep>
Huawei brand Honor on Monday launched the Honor Play smartphone in India, and the event has now ended. The Honor Play price in India has been set at Rs. 19,999 for the 4GB RAM variant, and Rs. 23,999 for the 6GB RAM variant. Sales start today itself at 4pm IST via Amazon India and the HiHonorStore. A Vodafone launch offer will provide 10GB of data additional per month for a year, along with an Amazon Prime subscription, and more. The company at the event detailed the GPU Turbo technology, which was originally unveiled at the China launch of the Honor Play. The company announced that the Honor Play will get an AI Gaming update in the near future, bringing features like 4D Gaming (with intelligent vibrations based on the game being played) and 3D Gaming Audio with surround sound. The Honor Play also features a 'Gaming Suite', which will allow users to manage calls and other notifications to prevent interruptions to their gaming session. Honor is also touting the AI camera features of the Honor Play, including scene and object detection, apart from 3D facial recognition. The smartphone also comes with EIS for video stabilisation, Honor said at the event. The company reiterated that the smartphone's dual rear camera setup has a 16-megapixel primary lens with f/2.2 aperture and PDAF, and a 2-megapixel secondary lens with f/2.4 aperture. At the front, the smartphone has a 16-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture. Honor is also boasting of an AI Gallery app, that can classify and group photos. There is also an AR Mode. The Honor Play bears a 3750mAh battery, the company revealed at the event, while also talking about its AI-based Face Unlock feature and Notification Safety feature. The EMUI 8.2-based smartphone has several AI features, including Hi Touch - an AI-based shopping experience that can find products on Amazon online simply by taking their photo. There is also a Party Mode on board, which allows users to sync music playback across 7 devices. At the launch event, Honor revealed that the Honor Play has a unibody metal design, and despite being quite slim at 7.48mm, still bears a 3.5mm headphone jack. In India, the smartphone will be available in Navy Blue and Midnight Black colour variants. Honor Play specifications The dual-SIM (Nano) Honor Play runs EMUI 8.2 based on Android 8.1. The smartphone sports a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) with 85 percent NTSC colour gamut. It is powered by the octa-core Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC along with Mali-G72 GPU and the built in NPU (neural processor unit). The handset comes in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants. Honor Play First Impressions In terms of optics, the Honor Play sports a dual camera setup with AI features. It has a 16-megapixel primary lens with f/2.2 aperture and PDAF, and a 2-megapixel secondary lens with f/2.4 aperture. At the front, the smartphone has a 16-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture. The Honor Play is equipped with 64GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via microSD card (up to 256GB). Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, and USB Type-C. Sensors onboard the smartphone are an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, and proximity sensor. Meanwhile, the Honor Play is fuelled by a 3750mAh battery with fast charging support. The dimensions of the Honor Play are 157.91x74.27x7.48mm and weighs 176 grams.