Honor recently introduced its latest flagship smartphone, the Honor View 20, in India at a starting price of Rs 37,999. The new smartphone from Honor is a camera marvel, as per the company.
This is the first smartphone from the Honor that is equipped with a 48-megapixel sensor also making a first in India. The company has been known for making some excellent camera-centric smartphones in the past and Honor View 20 is yet another example. However, it still has stiff competition from OnePlus and Asus which have devices in the similar price bracket.We are talking about OnePlus 6T and Asus Zenfone 5Zwhich give you smooth performance, but both of them are also loaded with some top-of-the-line camera hardware.
So, the question arises, can the Honor View 20 beat them? Or can the OnePlus 6T outlast both the Asus Zenfone 5Z and Honor View20? Or will it be Asus Zenfone 5Z destroying the other two smartphones? Let’s find out who is the Ace of Shapes in the camera department in this in-depth comparison.
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Camera specs
To start with let’s first look at the camera specifications of all the three smartphones. To begin with Honor View 20, the smartphone is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with f/1.8 aperture, 960fps slow-motion video recording support, autofocus, AI HDR, and LED flash support. There’s a secondary 3D Time of Flight (ToF) sensor for 3D applications and mapping of objects. The phone features an AI-powered 25-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture and fixed focus support.
The OnePlus 6T is equipped with a dual-camera setup with a combination of a 16-megapixel primary sensor with f/1.7 aperture and a 20-megapixel secondary shooter with f/1.7 aperture. The Sensors support OIS + EIS and 480p slow-mo support. For the front, there is a 20-megapixel shooter with an f/1.7 aperture for selfies and video calling.
Lastly, the Asus Zenfone 5Z is loaded with dual rear cameras with a combination of 12-megapixel primary lens with Sony IMX363 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, 83-degree field of view, 24mm equivalent focal length, and a Softlight LED flash. The secondary sensor is of 8-megapixel with 120-degree Wide-Angle lens, an f/2.2 aperture, and a 12mm equivalent focal length. For selfies, there is an 8-megapixel resolution, with an f/2.0 aperture and 84-degree field of view. So, these were the key camera specifications of all the three smartphones. Now, let’s get started with the comparison.
Broad Daylight
Starting with the first photo, it is clear that the real competition is between Honor View 20 and OnePlus 6T as the Asus Zenfone 5Z is not able to produce that level of finer details, which we have seen in the other smartphones. The photo taken from Zenfone 5Z lacked some detailing when you zoom in, though colours look fine. Coming to the Honor View 20, the phone can produce some well-detailed shot here, though we feel that the colours were a bit more oversaturated as compared to the OnePlus 6T. In terms of clarity, the OnePlus 6T does a better job in getting the details right.
Next up we look the image of the sky from all three smartphones. The Asus Zenfone 5Z misses out a few details as the leaves were not correctly showing and the sky was a bit washed out in nature. The OnePlus 6T was able to get the detailing part absolutely right, though the colour of the sky is not the same visible to the naked eye. Lastly, the Honor View 20 does an excellent job in capturing the colours and AI has rightly added the much-needed details. The colour of the sky was more close to the source.
The photo of this building was taken against the sunlight. Starting with the Asus Zenfone 5Z, the photo came out to be not that impressive as one can easily see a noticeable amount of noises and graininess in the image. Further, the sun is totally overexposed and there is a certain yellowish tone in the image. Coming to the Honor View 20, the phone is able to manage the shadow and highlight the building. The area around the sun is visible, though it is slightly overexposed in nature. The detailing of the building is good, but it does not match the quality of OnePlus 6T. 6T is able to balance the shadow and light in this image and if one zoom in, you can easily see the windows of the top floor( detailing will be a bit off) in OnePlus 6T but the View 20 and 5Z they are blurry.
Next, we took a close up shot of the bushes and the result was quite impressive. All the three smartphones were able to capture the right colour tone of the green leaves and the detailing was on-point on all three smartphones. However, you will notice a difference when you zoom in. The focus area is limited in the OnePlus 6T as only one area of the bush is focused, while other parts are a bit blurred out. The Zenfone 5Z does the same job better, though the area of focus is slightly bigger as compared to the OnePlus 6T. Honor View 20 emerges as a clear winner as it is able to focus on a wider area and the photo looks sharp and crisp even when you zoom in. Hence it is Honor View 20.
Overall, considering all the images we clicked under broad daylight condition, the OnePlus 6T was able to capture better shots as compared to the Honor View 20 and Asus Zenfone 5Z. The Honor View 20 was pretty close to the OnePlus 6T, while the Asus Zenfone 5Z was not able to properly match the performance of both the smartphones.
Winner: OnePlus 6T
First Runner-Up: Honor View 20
Second Runner-Up: Asus Zenfone 5Z
Macro
The first image we look was of the flower and this is where things got really interesting. We noticed that Honor View 20 was not able to properly focus the flower and the oversaturation level was quite high on this smartphone. OnePlus 6T was able to focus on the device and the detailing was better as compared to Honor View 20, but the image was slightly oversaturated. To our surprise, the Asus Zenfone 5Z was the clear winner as the image quite crisp and the focus was on point. The colour was the closest to the source.
Next shot for the macro test was the food. All the three smartphones do a really amazing job in capturing the details and the photo was crisp and full of colours. However, we did notice that the OnePlus 6T was slightly showing yellowish tint, while the Honor View 20 and Zenfone 5Z gave an almost similar result.
Lastly, we took a macro shot in low light and the result was pretty shocking. The OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20 was pretty hard to focus and one really need to keep your hand steady to avoid blurring. In our testing, we tried to take a macro shot in low light and both the devices blurred out the subject. However, the Asus Zenfone 5Z managed to click the subject with proper focus. Although there were noises, the detailing was way better than the other two phones.
Overall, the result is pretty much clear. The Asus Zenfone 5Z did a superb job in capturing the macro subject as compared to the OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20.
Winner: Asus Zenfone 5Z
First Runner-Up: Honor View 20
Second Runner-Up: OnePlus 6T
Landscape
Starting with the first photo of the building. All the three pictures look good to the naked eyes as the detailing seems to be decent and the image appeared to be crisp. However, when you zoom it in, things got interesting. We noticed some noise and the detailing was not that great with the Asus Zenfone 5Z. The Honor View 20 delivered some good detailing and noise was minimum, it was OnePlus 6T that delivered impressive output. The photo came out to really good and one can clearly see the pattern printed on bedsheet laying on the balcony of the building.
In the second image, we noticed that the Honor View 20 was showing a warmer colour tone, while the OnePlus 6T and Asus Zenfone 5Z were showing colours close to the source. That said, the detailing of the Asus Zenfone 5Z was least impressive and there was a tough between the OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20. However, the OnePlus 6T was able to capture better colours as compared to the Honor View 20.
Lastly, in the photo for the parking lot, we noticed that all the three smartphones were showing some sign of noises and the detailing was not that great, to be honest. The Asus Zenfone 5Z was not able to capture crisp photos as we have seen in Honor View 20 and OnePlus 6T. However, once again we noticed some warmer colour temperature in Honor View 20, while OnePlus 6T was able to showcase natural colours.
Overall, we consider all the three images, it is certain that both OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20 gives a neck-and-neck competition to each other. Both the phones were able to capture good details, though we noticed some warmer colour tones in the Honor View 20, hence, the winner of this round is OnePlus 6T.
Winner: OnePlus 6T
First Runner-Up: Honor View 20
Second Runner-Up: Asus Zenfone 5Z
Night
Coming to the night shots or low light photography, the first photo we took was of a building. Starting with the Asus Zenfone 5Z, the quality of the image was really bad as the sensor was not able to take the desired light to make it look a bit bright in nature. Further, the grains and noises were quite prominent in the image. Coming to the Honor View 20, the phone took a good shot with decent lights and colours being close to the source, but we felt that the detailing was not that great. OnePlus 6T took a better shot as compared to the other two smartphones and the details were impressive, though we still feel that the phone was showing a warmer colour tone.
In the second image, it is clear that Asus Zenfone 5Z is clearly lagging behind its competition. The image output was not satisfactory and you can see that the photo is softly focused and the details are clearly missing. The Honor View 20 does a better job than Zenfone 5Z, but details were quite average and noises were particularly visible. Coming to OnePlus 6T, the phone managed to click a good photo with better details, though yellowish tint is still visible.
The third shot is about different colours light in the night. The Asus Zenfone 5Z again disappoint us with below average performance and it was not able to handle glare effectively. The Honor View 20 did a much better job and it got the detailing right this time as all the colours are prominently visible and you can clearly see all the trees. The OnePlus 6T also does a good job in capturing the photo, but we liked the Honor View 20 performance better as compared to the OnePlus 6T. Overall, if we need to pick a winner, it has to OnePlus 6T as the phone captured better details as compared to the other two smartphones.
Winner: OnePlus 6T
First Runner-Up: Honor View 20
Second Runner-Up: Asus Zenfone 5Z
Selfie
Starting with the selfie in broad daylight condition. All three smartphones took a good selfie as the detailing was on point. However, we felt that with Asus Zenfone 5Z, the background colours were a bit washed out and there was a problem of slight overexposure at the background. The OnePlus 6T displayed good details, though there was a warmer colour tone and the background was overexposed. However, the Honor View 20 did a really good job here. The smartphone delivers really good selfie and one can also see the building at the background, which is not visible in other two smartphones.
Next in the line is selfie in dark condition. The Zenfone 5Z did a pretty average job and one can see lots of noises and graininess. The OnePlus 6T did a better job here when it comes to capturing some details, however, it was Honor View 20 that delivered better selfie as it was able to take more light and the details were there as well.
Lastly, comes selfie with flash. Here as well, the Zenfone 5Z gives below standard performance as the photo came out to be softly-focused and noises were quite visible. The OnePlus 6T does a better job in capturing better details, though the image still came out to be softly-focused and there was a yellowish tint. The Honor View 20 does a really good job here as the photo came out to be well-detailed as compared to the other two smartphones and colours were close to the source.
In this round, the Honor View 20 wins with flying colours as it was able to capture better selfies as compared to the Asus Zenfone 5Z and OnePlus 6T.
Winner: Honor View 20
First Runner-Up: OnePlus 6T
Second Runner-Up: Asus Zenfone 5Z
Portrait
Coming to the portrait shots, all three smartphone’s performance was a hit and miss. Starting with the portrait shot in low light condition, all three smartphones were not able to properly blur out the background. Interestingly, the Zenfone 5Z captured much more light and the quality of the image was better than the other two smartphones. Both the OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20 captured softly focused images.
The second photo was taken in outdoor condition. Here, OnePlus 6T is showing a warmer colour tone, though the Honor View 20 and Asus Zenfone 5Z captured images with natural colours. The Honor View 20 did a better job in highlighting the subject and blurring out the background as compared to the other two smartphones. The competition is really tough between the Zenfone 5Z and Honor View 20. However, we will give this round to Asus Zenfone 5Z as it took a better indoor shot and captured the natural shot in broad daylight.
Winner: Asus Zenfone 5Z
First Runner-Up: Honor View 20
Second Runner-Up: OnePlus 6T
Conclusion
All the three smartphones give a stiff competition to each other on paper. However, things are really different in real-life scenarios. The Honor View 20, which is marketed as a camera marvel struggles to beat OnePlus 6T in overall camera performance. The smartphone was behind the OnePlus 6T when it comes to capturing some details in broad daylight or in landscape mode. The low light performance was quite close between the two smartphones, though in macro and portrait, the Asus Zenfone 5Z made a grand comeback and captured some really good shots.
The selfie was one department where the Honor View 20 does a better job as compared to the other competitors in this test. Coming to the OnePlus 6T, the one problem we noticed with the device was the warmer colour tone in the images and level of saturation could have been better. The selfie experience is not that great and the portrait is not that effective with OnePlus 6T. Overall, when it comes to the ‘Ace of Shapes’, the title goes to OnePlus 6T as it performed consistently in all the scenarios, beating Honor View 20 and Asus Zenfone 5Z in the camera game.