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Introduction
It's a fast-paced industry, and six months sounds like a long time for a phone to go without a successor. So Honor is following up on the 9X Lite with the 10X Lite. Hardly a groundbreaking update, but the new model, which we have for review now, brings a few meaningful improvements over the 9X Lite.
Among those are a couple of extra cameras on the back - the 10X Lite now gets an ultra wide-angle module to complement the carried over 48MP main unit, and a 2MP 'macro' camera joins the already available depth sensor.
Another step in the right direction is switching to a USB-C port. On a semi-related note, the 10X Lite charges much faster at up to 22.5W (as opposed to the basic 10 watts of the 9X Lite), which is great because it can also hold more charge - the new battery has a 5000mAh capacity, up from 3,750mAh.
Huawei Y7a/P smart 2021 (left) next to Honor 10X Lite
That's how the 10X Lite sits in the Honor X Lite lineage, but we should also mention that the phone is almost identical to the Huawei P smart 2021 we had over just last week, itself a differently named Y7a. If it weren't for the rearranged cameras on the back, we'd have sworn that the Honor 10X Lite is the same phone.
Three identical phones: Honor 10X Lite • Huawei Y7a • Huawei P smart 2021
Honor 10X lite specs at a glance:
- Body: 165.7x76.9x9.3mm, 206g; Colors: Icelandic Frost, Midnight Black, Emerald Green.
- Display: 6.67" IPS LCD, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
- Chipset: Kirin 710A (14 nm): Octa-core (4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53); Mali-G51 MP4.
- Memory: 128GB 4GB RAM; microSDXC.
- OS/Software: Android 10, Magic UI 3.1, no Google Play Services.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.4, 120˚; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4; LED flash, HDR, panorama.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0; HDR.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1080@60/30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 22.5W.
- Misc: Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass, FM radio, NFC.
Honor 10X Lite unboxing
The Honor 10X Lite arrives in a plain cardboard box, but this one has a bit more color on it than the P smart 2021's - blue sides, a couple of pictures of the phone on top.
The box contents are the same - you get a USB-A-to-C cable and a power adapter aside from the phone. The adapter itself isn't too shabby as it supports Huawei SuperCharge at up to 22.5 watts and will be much appreciated when having to fill up that big 5,000mAh battery.
Design and build quality
The Honor 10X Lite has a relatively generic design, though it is not out of touch with the current trends. Its plastic back and midframe don't scream 'premium,' but the phone doesn't give off a cheap feeling either.
Over on the front, the 6.67-inch display is surrounded by a black border that's thicker than what you'd find on a flagship yet entirely in line with competing efforts in the 10X Lite's segment. In fact, the 6.67-inch Poco X3 NFC and Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro have virtually identical bezels and footprints to the Honor handset. The smaller 6.5-inch Realme 6 and 7 are understandably ever so slightly more compact in footprint, but as bezels go, the Honor is like every other phone in its price range.
There's a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera centered at the top end of the display, as notches remain favored by only a single premium manufacturer with a notch in its logo. It's a reasonably large cutout, and much like on the P smart 2021, the slightly off-center screen protector application is bugging us a bit.
There's no mention of the type of protective glass used on the Honor 10X Lite, and with the US-China trade clash, it's probably not coming from Corning anyway. A screen protector is a good idea on any display regardless of trade name or price, however.
Our review unit is the Emerald Green colorway while two more options are available - Icelandic Frost and Midnight Black. This particular green is a different hue from the one we saw on the P smart 2021, and this one has a fine satin sheen as opposed to the P smart's full gloss attire.
Huawei Y7a/P smart 2021 (left) next to Honor 10X Lite
Another minor difference when comparing the two is the camera arrangement. The P smart 2021 has all four modules stacked on top of each other, while the Honor has them 3+1 in an upside-down L shape. The LED flash is a different spot, too.
The assembly sticks out only a little, and while the phone will wobble a bit, it's the slightest of wobbles and likely wouldn't bother anyone but the most extreme wobble haters. We wind it negligible.
The plastic frame is colored to match the back hue and has a similar satin finish. The frame itself doesn't pick up fingerprints, but the back is a lot more prone to smudging, even though it's not quite glossy.
Since the handset uses an LCD, an under-display fingerprint sensor is out of the question. Rear-mounted capacitive sensors, on the other hand, have fallen out of fashion, and this leaves the Honor 10X Lite with a side-mounted reader built into the power button on the right.
It's placed in a flattened portion of the frame, so it's easy to find by feel, but it's also where your right thumb falls naturally, so there won't be much searching for it anyway. It also works with a left index finger - and we'd say it's about as reliable as the other way around, which isn't always the case with these side-mounted solutions.
The volume rocker above is plastic too, but clicks positively, no complaints.
On the opposite side of the phone is where you'll find the card tray. It's a triple slot that can accommodate two nano SIMs and a microSD cards. So you're getting a dedicated memory expansion slot, and it's the right kind of memory, as opposed to the NM Huawei tries to push with its high-end phones.
The USB-C port is centered on the bottom of the phone with the trio of audio bits around it. The loudspeaker is on the one side, the primary mic, and the 3.5mm headphone jack on the other. Up top, there's just a secondary mic - sadly, no IR blaster on the 10X Lite.
6.67-inch LCD is adequate for the money
The 10X Lite packs a fairly large 6.67-inch display - a minor bump from the 9X Lite's 6.5-inch panel. It's an LCD with 1080x2400px resolution in a 20:9 aspect ratio for a pixel density of 395ppi.
We measured a maximum brightness of 426nits on the 10X Lite, a few nits less than what we got on the seemingly identical P smart 2021 and a relatively modest number, particularly for an LCD. We also didn't see any boost with adaptive brightness enabled.
Black levels are reasonably well contained, and this results in a contrast of around 1200:1 - about average for a modern-day LCD.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0.338 | 426 | 1260:1 | |
| 0.361 | 464 | 1285:1 | |
| 0.353 | 442 | 1252:1 | |
| 0.425 | 461 | 1085:1 | |
| 0.501 | 515 | 1028:1 | |
| 0.354 | 460 | 1299:1 | |
| 0.515 | 631 | 1225:1 | |
| 0 | 423 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 635 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 413 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 636 | ∞ | |
| 0.343 | 451 | 1315:1 | |
| 0.31 | 457 | 1474:1 | |
| 0.374 | 526 | 1406:1 | |
| 0.341 | 500 | 1466:1 | |
| 0.53 | 741 | 1398:1 | |
Color reproduction is handled in a way familiar from previous Huaweis and Honors. There are two modes - Natural and Vivid, each with a Default/Warm/Cool selector and a color wheel for custom settings.
The 10X Lite comes with Vivid mode pre-set out of the box. With the 'Default' setting for color temperature, we measured an average dE2000 of 5.4 for our set of DCI-P3 test swatches, and a noticeable blue shift - white was about 8 units off the target, so slightly better than the P smart. The 'Warm' setting actually made things worse for white (dE2000 of 15 and a strong green tint), and the average deviation increased to 5.9. However, playing around with the color wheel got us a very accurate white point (dE2000 less than 2) and a reasonable 2.9 average.
Normal mode is the one for sRGB content, and it's good enough with the 'Default' color temperature - 2.1 average dE2000 and only slightly reddish whites. 'Warm' was markedly worse, yielding a 7.8 average and a very yellow white point. However, with a custom setting on the color wheel, things got as close to perfect as we can hope for - a close-to-ideal white point and an average dE2000 of 1.6.
Custom setting for DCI-P3 • Custom setting for sRGB
The Honor 10X Lite makes no HDR claims, and its display has no HDR capability.
Honor 10X Lite battery life
The 10X Lite has a 5,000mAh battery inside, a generous capacity in general, and more or less the standard for the segment - the Poco X3 NFC has a marginally bigger 5,160mAh cell, the Galaxy A31, and the Realme 7 match Honor's number.
In our testing, the Honor posted excellent numbers, with small differences here and there compared to the P smart 2021. Half an hour longer in the video test but an hour less in web-browsing is what we got on Honor, and voice call longevity is ever so slightly worse. Overall, the Honor 10X Lite posted an Endurance rating of 114 hours.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Honor 10X Lite for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Battery charging
The Honor 10X Lite comes bundled with a Huawei SuperCharge 22.5W adapter, a reasonable middle ground for a phone in this price bracket. Oddly enough, it was a few minutes slower from zero to full than the P smart 2021, yet it had 5% more at the half-hour mark. Realmes are champs at charging speeds, particularly in this segment, though Xiaomi competitors are also quicker to top up than the Honor. Samsung's entries in the class are nowhere as fast, though.
30min charging test (from 0%)
- Realme 6
70% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
63% - Realme 7
58% - Poco X3 NFC
55% - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
54% - Honor 10X Lite
47% - Huawei P Smart 2021
42% - Samsung Galaxy A41
38% - Samsung Galaxy A51
35% - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
31% - Motorola Moto G9 Play
31% - Samsung Galaxy A31
30% - Motorola Moto G8 Power
29%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Realme 6
0:51h - Realme 7
1:05h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
1:11h - Poco X3 NFC
1:15h - Motorola Moto G9 Plus
1:15h - Huawei P Smart 2021
1:42h - Honor 10X Lite
1:47h - Samsung Galaxy A41
2:00h - Samsung Galaxy A51
2:14h - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
2:33h - Motorola Moto G9 Play
2:39h - Samsung Galaxy A31
2:48h
The Honor 10X Lite has a couple of features to prolong the battery's health over time. One of these is Smart Charge that will delay topping up to 100% depending on your charging habits. Unlike Sony or Asus, there are no settings for this one where you can dial in full charge target times or tie it to your morning alarm - it's just a simple on/off toggle (on by default, by the way). But if the flagship Mate 40 Pro doesn't let you customize that, we wouldn't expect it from the P smart, right?
Smart Battery Capacity is also here - it limits full charges to just short of the battery's top capacity so that your lithium-ion battery doesn't stay at maximum charge, which is detrimental to its long-term health.
Speaker test
The Honor 10X Lite has a single speaker firing out of the bottom of the handset - the default setup for the segment, though the Poco X3 NFC and some Motos in this price ballpark have stereo speakers.
The phone posted an 'Average' score for loudness in our speaker test, much like it's cousin P smart 2021, only marginally quieter. Quality is nothing special either, and if speaker performance is important to you, you should probably look at the Moto G8 Power and G Pro or the Poco X3 NFC.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Audio output quality
We've recently discontinued our audio output quality test.
The reason for that is that most phones that arrived for testing were already excellent in this regard. Whatever difference there was, it was marginal and probably indistinguishable to anything but our lab equipment.
Magic UI 3.1 over Android 10
The Honor 10X Lite too falls in the same unfortunate group of phones that don't get Google's blessing as a result of the US-China trade dispute. So this Honor ships with Android, but not with Google Play Services, and apps dependent on them won't run. The Android version is 10, and there's an extra layer of EMUI over it, itself in version 3.1.
While available, the face unlock on the 10X Lite is only camera-based, so it's not all that secure but will do fine for convenience purposes. Fingerprint recognition is the more secure option, and it's based on the side-mounted capacitive reader we already mentioned on the design page. It's the usual multi-tap process for print enrollment and then smooth sailing for operation with either hand - be it right thumb unlocks or left index finger use.
Like all EMUI and Magic UI devices, there's a magazine lockscreen style that changes the picture every time you wake up the screen. Sliding from the bottom on the lockscreen will bring out quick shortcuts to some commonly used utilities.
Biometric security • Fingerprint authentication • Face unlock • Wallpaper settings • Tools
On the homescreen, you will find all of the installed and system apps, but there's a toggle in the settings menu that lets you choose between the standard layout or a homescreen with an app drawer. It's a personal preference, and it's good to have the choice.
There is a replacement for the Google Feed in this version of Magic UI, and it's called Today. On this leftmost page, you will find a Search field, shortcuts to favorite contacts, photos, etc., and a News Feed filled with local news through a service provided by Huawei.
Homescreen • Homescreen style • Folder view • Today
Much like other Honors and Huaweis, with big selfie cam cutouts or small ones, the Honor 10X Lite gets an option in the software to mask it with a black status bar, though that could make for a way thicker status bar that you'd like. A good alternative is to just switch to Dark mode.
Embrace the notch • Hide the notch • Dark mode
The notification shade features circular toggles with a blue accent color for the On state, very much like on Samsung's One UI and sort of like Google's own Android 10 design. There's a brightness slider (but no auto toggle in immediate reach) and a row of toggles upon the first pull, and you pull down again for more toggles.
Multitasking is handled in a standard way (unlike, say, in Xiaomi's MIUI) - with a horizontally scrollable rolodex. The task switcher allows for split-screen or pop-up mode. Most of the default apps support the pop-up view, but only a few can get into split-screen, and we found that odd. Not to mention, going into split-screen is a bit clunky - you need to open the app in pop-up view, make sure there's the other app you want in split-screen active underneath it (and not the homescreen), and then drag the pop-up view app to the edge of the display.
Notification shade • More toggles • Task switcher • Pop-up view • Split-screen view
The 10X Lite lets you choose between the two main types of navigation available. We'd go for the now-standard swipe-based type where you swipe up for Home, swipe up and stop midway for Task switcher, or swipe from the left or right edge of the screen for Back. You can opt for the classic virtual buttons, of course.
Some bits of custom software in Magic UI / EMUI include the Optimizer app, where you can access shortcuts to storage cleanup, battery settings, blocked numbers, Virus scan powered by Avast, and mobile data usage.
The phone has Huawei's Music app on board. It offers a way to listen to stored MP3s, and it also includes Huawei's own music streaming service, which provides both free and paid subscription tiers.
Same goes for the proprietary Video app - it plays your local videos, but it also includes Huawei's video streaming service similar to YouTube. Huawei has partnered with the BBC to deliver more interesting content.
Huawei's Health app is pre-installed, and it offers step counting, among many other things. There's a file manager app and a note-taking app.
The gallery is an entirely custom job, too, but it has the usual chronological and albums views plus an AI-powered highlights selection.
Optimizer • Music Player • Video • Health • Gallery
The lack of Google services and consequently support for some key apps from Google itself and third parties has been a pain point for Huawei and its phones for a couple of generations.
To get yourself started, you can use the Phone Clone app, which will copy everything from your old phone, including all installed apps except for Google's (and some banking apps). The thing is, going that route means you won't get future updates to these apps automatically.
There are indeed multiple app store options that aren't Google's Play Store. Huawei's App Gallery is the primary one, and it has a lot of the apps you'd want, though obviously not all of them - most messengers and social networks are here, some banking apps, some games.
Third party stores can accommodate your app needs too. APKPure works great for free apps and games while its Store page with paid apps just links to the Play Store, which won't work here. Then there's the Amazon App Store - it has plenty of popular apps - both free and paid. There's the caveat that no matter how you source some apps, they simply won't function without Google Play Services.
Phone Clone • AppGallery • APKPure • Amazon App Store
Alongside the Mate 40 series, Huawei announced the launch of its Google Maps replacement - Petal Maps. Its availability on phones in the company's portfolio can be spotty - we only just got it on the Mate itself, the P40 Pro has it, the P smart we reviewed last week does too, but not the Honor 10X Lite we have here. We're speculating it will eventually make it to all phones in both brands' lineups.
Petal Maps finds businesses and restaurants and whatnot, but its database is not entirely complete. There are outdated business names, and some are missing entirely - at least in our immediate vicinity.
Another issue is that traffic data is incorrect, showing all green everywhere when it's clearly not the case. It's one thing to crowdsource your numbers from everyone with Google Maps on their phones and another to base your info solely on Petal Maps. It's still a very clean interface and a pretty good opening effort from Huawei. We'll give them that.
Petal Maps (from Huawei Y7a/P smart 2021 review)
Synthetic benchmarks
The Kirin 710A that powers the Honor 10X Lite and the P smart 2021 we recently had for review has a very unusual story. An in-house design by Huawei's HiSilicon subsidiary, the regular Kirin 710 debuted in the summer of 2018 on the nova 3i (or P smart +). It later saw a lot of action in numerous other Huawei and Honor branded handsets - it's a somewhat dated SoC already. Until very recently, it was manufactured by Taiwan-based TSMC on a 12nm fab line.
The ongoing trade conflict between the US and China has had widespread implications for multiple Huawei businesses, so the company has sought to diversify supply lines. As part of that process, it announced earlier this year that the Kirin 710A is its first chip manufactured locally at Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). In this 'A' version, it's made on SMIC's 14nm fabrication process.
Small differences in the published specs exist between the two versions. Still rocking the same 2x4 octa-core CPU design, the 710A that's inside the 10X Lite has its powerful Cortex-A73 cluster capped at 2.0GHz as opposed to the 2.2GHz in the non-A Kirin 710 while the four Cortex-A53 cores can go as high as 1.7GHz, the same value as on the TSMC-produced version. The GPU remains the same Mali-G51 MP4, as far as we can tell.
The 10X Lite, much like the P smart 2021, was announced in a single 4GB/128GB RAM and storage version, and that's the one we have in our hands.
In the CPU-centric GeekBench, the 10X Lite shares the bottom of the chart with the P smart 2021 in single-core performance. Qualcomm's 66x SoC are a hair above in this test (represented by a couple of Motos and a couple of Realmes), midrange Galaxies with either the Exynos 9611 (A51, M31s) or the modest Helio P65 (A31) are a more noticeable step up, while higher-tier Helios and 700-series Snapdragons are close to twice as potent as the Kirin in the Honor.
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Poco X3 NFC
568 - vivo V20
554 - Realme 6
548 - Realme 7
536 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
517 - Realme Narzo 20
385 - Samsung Galaxy A31
352 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
349 - Samsung Galaxy A51
347 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
314 - Realme Narzo 20A
314 - Realme 7i
312 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
311 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
302 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
301 - Honor 10X Lite
300 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
299
Things don't look quite as bad for the 10X Lite under multi-core load where it manages to outperform the Galaxies, though that's about all the wins it can get.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Poco X3 NFC
1777 - Realme 6
1726 - vivo V20
1686 - Realme 7
1681 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
1666 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
1402 - Realme Narzo 20A
1400 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
1394 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
1346 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
1334 - Realme Narzo 20
1328 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
1321 - Realme 7i
1318 - Honor 10X Lite
1317 - Samsung Galaxy A51
1294 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
1261 - Samsung Galaxy A31
1216
Another small win comes in Antutu, where the 10X Lite inches ahead of the Galaxy A31. 600-series Snapdragon-powered handsets aren't all that much better, though. The Realme 6 (Helio G90T) and the Realme 7 (G95) are miles ahead, as is the Poco X3 NFC with its Snapdragon 732G.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Realme 7
292828 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
291407 - Realme 6
288931 - Poco X3 NFC
283750 - vivo V20
276006 - Realme Narzo 20
193912 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
187863 - Honor 9X
187528 - Samsung Galaxy A51
175363 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
173607 - Realme 7i
172933 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
172910 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
170064 - Realme Narzo 20A
169543 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
169253 - Honor 10X Lite
161375 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
161106 - Samsung Galaxy A31
151815
The GPU is hardly class-leading itself. The Realme 7 and Poco X3 NFC have vastly more powerful GPUs, though the Galaxy A31 is slightly behind the Honor.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Realme 7
54 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
54 - Realme 6
50 - Poco X3 NFC
44 - vivo V20
42 - Realme Narzo 20
25 - Huawei P30 Lite
21 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
21 - Honor 9X
21 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
21 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
21 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
21 - Honor 10X Lite
21 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
19 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
19 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
19 - Realme Narzo 20A
19 - Realme 7i
19 - Samsung Galaxy A31
18 - Samsung Galaxy A51
16
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 6
45 - Realme Narzo 20
44 - Realme 7
42 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
42 - vivo V20
38 - Poco X3 NFC
33 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
33 - Realme Narzo 20A
33 - Realme 7i
32 - Huawei P30 Lite
19 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
19 - Honor 9X
19 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
18 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
18 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
18 - Honor 10X Lite
18 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
18 - Samsung Galaxy A31
17 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
17 - Samsung Galaxy A51
15
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Realme 7
34 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
34 - Poco X3 NFC
33 - vivo V20
31 - Realme 6
31 - Realme Narzo 20
16 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
15 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
15 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
15 - Honor 10X Lite
15 - Huawei P30 Lite
14 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
14 - Honor 9X
14 - Samsung Galaxy A31
13 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
13 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
13 - Realme Narzo 20A
13 - Realme 7i
13 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
12 - Samsung Galaxy A51
10
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme Narzo 20
32 - Realme 7
28 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
28 - Poco X3 NFC
27 - vivo V20
27 - Realme 6
27 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
26 - Realme Narzo 20A
26 - Realme 7i
25 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
14 - Huawei P30 Lite
13 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
13 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
13 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
13 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
13 - Honor 10X Lite
13 - Honor 9X
12 - Samsung Galaxy A31
12 - Motorola Moto G8 Power
12 - Samsung Galaxy A51
8.9
3DMark SSE ES 3.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme 7
2709 - Poco X3 NFC
2689 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
2683 - vivo V20
2593 - Realme 6
2570 - Samsung Galaxy A51
1574 - Realme Narzo 20
1400 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
1169 - Samsung Galaxy A31
1150 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
1093 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
1092 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
1090 - Honor 10X Lite
1089 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
1088 - Realme Narzo 20A
1065 - Huawei P30 Lite
969 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
969
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1.0 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme 7
2772 - Realme Narzo 20 Pro
2735 - Realme 6
2619 - Poco X3 NFC
2495 - vivo V20
2451 - Samsung Galaxy A51
1554 - Realme Narzo 20
1382 - Huawei P30 Lite
1374 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
1374 - Realme Narzo 20A
1111 - Motorola Moto G9 Play
1103 - Huawei P smart 2021 (perf. mode)
1062 - Huawei Y7a / P smart 2021
1060 - Honor 10X Lite (perf. mode)
1059 - Honor 10X Lite
1057 - Samsung Galaxy M31s
1013 - Samsung Galaxy A31
894
As we observed on the similarly equipped P smart 2021, the Honor 10X Lite doesn't throttle much under sustained load, and we saw no real degradation in its performance with repeated benchmark runs. Once again, every now and then, the phone had us waiting a split second before doing this or that - but it's not something we couldn't live with.
2+2 cameras on the back
The Honor 10X Lite comes with a quad-camera setup on its back, though as is common practice in the lower market segments, only two of them are 'real' cameras.
The main module uses a 48MP Quad Bayer sensor - what has become the go-to option for even the lower mid-tier devices. A non-stabilized 26mm equivalent lens with an f/1.8 aperture sits in front of it.
The ultra wide-angle cam has an 8MP sensor with a lens that has the field of view of a 17mm lens on a 35mm film camera. The aperture on this one is f/2.4.
Then there's the 2MP fixed-focus 'macro' camera that works best at a focusing distance of 4cm. Another 2MP unit for depth detection completes the list.
The Honor uses Huawei's camera app that is more or less the same among all lineup models. The zoom selector complaint we've been having with it is less of an issue on this one, simply because of the phone having fewer cameras, but its placement remains sub-optimal.
UI navigation is otherwise standard - you change modes by sliding the mode selector to the side (but not by swiping in the viewfinder). There's a toggle for changing between the front and rear cameras (but not by swiping in the viewfinder).
There's a Pro mode too, which is also the same as on the flagships - you don't get that approach with every brand. Here you can adjust parameters yourself - ISO (50 to 3200), shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s), exposure compensation (-4 to +4EV in 1/3 stop increments), and white balance (presets and specific light temperature). You can also choose the metering mode (matrix, center-weighted, and spot) and the focus mode (single, continuous, and manual). If the phone thinks you messed up the exposure, an icon will pop up to warn you.
Huawei/Honor's approach to faux bokeh has been two-fold for years - there's both a Portrait mode and an Aperture mode. In Aperture, you can choose the simulated aperture in the range from f/0.95 to f/16. Post shot, you can change the aperture and the desired focus point within the Gallery.
In Portrait mode, you can enable and disable the background blur, but you can also choose the bokeh shapes - circles, hearts, or discs. You can add some beautification on a scale from 0 to 10, but the simulated lighting we last saw on the Mate 40 Pro isn't available on the P smart 2021.
Camera UI
Image quality
While we weren't impressed with the P smart 2021's picture quality, we noted it took okay photos with its main camera. The Honor 10X Lite, despite packing seemingly identical hardware, doesn't produce the same level of output.
Even in daylight, Honor 10X Lite's photos disappoint in terms of sharpness and detail, though noise performance is fairly decent if that's any consolation. On a positive note, colors are more vivid than the relatively dull reproduction the P smart 2021 delivered. We wouldn't go as far as calling them pleasing. Dynamic range is limited, though it's perhaps a minor improvement over the P smart 2021's.
Daylight samples, main camera
Master AI works subtly. We found it to deepen the blue in the skies when it detects a 'blue sky' scene. On the other hand, ' Greenery' didn't make much difference with the greenery in our test scenes.
Daylight samples, main camera, Master AI
The native 48MP resolution is accessed from the 'More' pane in the mode selector, so it's a few swipes and a couple of taps away. That's where it belongs on the Honor 10 Lite, as the mode produces fuzzy and noisy shots without practical benefits in terms of detail.
Daylight samples, main camera, 48MP
The ultra-wide cam of the Honor 10X Lite is an unpretentious 8MP unit. Surprisingly, it delivers slightly better pictures than what we got out of the P smart 2021's ultra-wide. We see a bit more detail here, and improved sharpness and dynamic range are actually decent for a camera in this class. Having said that, the 13MP ultra-wide camera of the Poco X3 NFC remains vastly superior.
Daylight samples, ultra wide angle camera
In low light, the Honor 10X Lite again falls short of the not-particularly-high standard already set by the P smart 2021. While with similarly limited dynamic range, Honor's shots are softer and less detailed.
Low-light samples, main camera
Things do improve in Night mode. That's where you want to be when shooting in low-light to get a wide dynamic range and good development in both shadows and highlights. You'll also get much-improved color saturation. The trade-offs include increased noise levels and the fact that Night mode images are captured at 8MP - trade-offs we'd easily live with.
Low-light samples, main camera, Night mode
There's no Night mode for the ultra wide-angle cam, however, and that's close to unusable in the dark. It produces soft images with a very narrow dynamic range that are more often than not underexposed.
Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera
Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Honor 10X Lite stacks up against the competition.
Honor 10X Lite against the Poco X3 NFC and the Realme 7 (Global) in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
As we mentioned, 10X Lite has a Portrait mode for people only and an Aperture mode for people and other subjects. In both modes, the phone does reasonably well in terms of subject separation, though you could spot imperfections in the border areas when looking up close. The f/2.0 simulated aperture we picked for our Aperture mode samples makes for a bit of an exaggerated bokeh effect, while the default blur level in Portrait mode looks more natural. Dynamic range is similarly narrow in both modes - there's not enough computing power for bokeh and HDR calcs at the same time, we gather.
Portrait samples
Aperture samples
You can shoot non-humans in Aperture mode too, to a mixed level of success. We see different behavior on the Honor compared to what we got out of the P smart - for example, where the Huawei-branded phone did a very natural-looking blurred rendition of the building outline in the background, the Honor draws in a more fake way with almost sharp edges. Also, we couldn't get one sharp photo of the trash can in the third sample.
Aperture samples, non-human subjects
The Honor 10X Lite's macro cam takes low-res 2MP close-ups that still manage to capture decent detail. On this particular phone, where the main can doesn't impress with sharpness in either 12MP or 48MP mode, the macro might actually be useful.
Close-up samples
Selfies
While we were quite pleased with the unassuming 8MP selfie shooter of the P smart 2021, the Honor's 8MP front-facing camera isn't quite as good. Its images are not as sharp and quite noisy, and the colors are somewhat anemic. Dynamic range, on the other hand, is relatively wide - nice.
Selfie samples
It's not so in portrait mode. HDR goes out the window, so backlit shots will inevitably result in blown highlights as the phone tends to expose for the subject - generally a good thing since that's you, after all. Subject separation is hit or miss - we did lose a cheek in the last sample.
Selfie portrait samples
Video recording
The Honor 10X Lite isn't too well equipped to record video. It maxes out at 1080p resolution, where it can capture at 60fps or 30fps on the main cam and only 30fps on the ultra-wide. There's no 4K recording capability. There's also no video stabilization, which feels properly pre-historic. You do get to choose between the default h.264 codec or the more storage-efficient h.265, for what that's worth.
Video quality is barely okay in 1080p at 30fps from the main cam - we're talking relatively nice colors, average detail, and limited dynamic range. 1080p at 60fps suffers from poor focus - it will hunt to acquire, miss, and stay out of focus.
Ultra wide footage is soft and comes with dull colors and an additional drop in dynamic range.
With no EIS available, hand-held footage is quite shaky. We'd go ahead and say that shooting while walking is a no-go.
Here's a glimpse of how the Honor 10X Lite compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
Honor 10X Lite against the Poco X3 NFC and the Realme 7 (Global) in our Video compare tool
Competition
Much like the P smart 2021 we had last week, the Honor 10X Lite is in a pretty crowded market segment with a lot of intense competition. On top of our shortlist would be the Realme 7, which comes with a vastly more powerful chipset and a 90Hz display that's also brighter and more contrasty than Honor's 60Hz one. The Realme can record 4K video and has stabilization in 1080p, neither to be found on the Honor. With battery life similarly great between the two and a tie for the I/O basics (headphone jack and dedicated microSD slot), the Realme is looking like a much better package.
Most of the above applies to the Poco X3 NFC, and then some. The Poco, too, has an HRR screen, and this one goes all the way to 120Hz. It also delivers an overall superior camera experience to what the 10X Lite can muster - better main cam, better ultra-wide, 4K video with stabilization. It then adds stereo speakers and IP53-rated splash proofing. The aluminum frame adds a touch of 'premium.' In its base trim level, it comes with half the Honor's storage, not to mention it uses a shared memory slot, while the 10X Lite counters with a dedicated one. The X3 NFC is about 10%-15% more expensive, but even so, we'd pick the Poco out of these two.
If you're after a more familiar brand name, Samsung has the Galaxy A31 for you at a modest premium over the Honor 10X Lite's asking price. The Galaxy's display may not be HRR, but this one has a different advantage - it's AMOLED next to the P smart's LCD, and it's also brighter on top of that. The Galaxy outlasts the Honor in an endurance race, but those are about the only things it does better, really. It's mostly a tie in performance, and image quality is barely better, which shows that the brand name itself commands a premium.
Another brand with a famed past, Motorola doesn't charge all that much of a premium. In fact, the Moto G8 Power can be had for less than the Honor. That will net you a proper tri-set of cameras, including a tele, and even if they're not amazing, they're still superior to the setup found on the 10X Lite. The Moto also has even longer battery life and brighter and contrastier display, plus stereo speakers, though it too isn't a computing powerhouse.
Realme 7 (Global) • Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC • Samsung Galaxy A31 • Motorola Moto G8 Power
Verdict
If you read our Huawei P smart 2021 review, you know by now that the Honor 10X Lite isn't getting a recommendation. It's an okay phone and has a few strong-ish points like battery life and an extensive feature set.
It does, however, miss the mark in key areas. The camera turns out average or below average results, the chipset ranks at the bottom in the phone's price bracket, the display is neither impressively bright nor has a high refresh rate. None of these is a dealbreaker, but competitors outclass the Honor in some or all of these areas without breaking the bank.
Pros
- Excellent battery life, reasonably fast charging.
- Potentially super color-accurate display.
- Nice night mode on the main cam, good selfies.
- 3.5mm jack, FM radio, NFC, standalone microSD slot.
Cons
- No Google services on board - even if there are workarounds and most apps will work, some won't.
- Display doesn't get very bright, it's 60Hz, too, in the face of high refresh rate competition.
- Dated chipset, underpowered compared to rivals.
- Main camera is particularly underwhelming.
- Poor video recording capabilities - no 4K, no stabilization.
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