#on account of the actual colouring being incredibly incredibly unattractive

[hollygl125]

Gil Grissom + summing it all up after 8+ years.

“I mostly do a lot of thinking.”

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

This going to sound harsher than I mean it to but...I think there is a certain subset (and I really do think it is a subset and NOT the majority, far from it) of female fans who are in their own way as guilty in regards to Peter’s character as they are of what a subset (albeit a way more vocal and currently in charge subset) of male fans are guilty of in regards to MJ’s character.

  They are very quick to throw the shade at the character (even throw him under a bus at times) without either properly contextualizing the specifics of a situation they are talking about or else not bothering to place themselves in his shoes and try to imagine realistically how me might feel.

  Or else they simply don’t try to ask “Okay Spider-Man is doing this thing that seemingly makes him look bad. Let me consider if there is a believable enough justification for his actions before I commit to condemning the character.”

  On tumblr I’ve seen that more and more among some posters in particular female ones (far from all of them though, like I said I believe them to be a minority) who clearly do LIKE Spider-Man, both as a series and as a character, nevertheless throw out shade along the lines of:

 -          Well he just makes such poor life decisions

-          He’s such a MESS, God get your life together Peter

-          What an asshole he was for not wanting to meet Mj because he didn’t realize she was pretty

-          Peter has such an EGO, look at whenever he used to interact with other heroes

-          Peter is so self-centred wow

-          MJ and Felicia and Gwen are too good for Peter

   Saying Peter makes poor life choices is untrue half the time and only true the other half of the time within the context of a dramatic entertainment series wherein it’d be boring if certain concessions were not made.

  Saying his life is a mess is intrinsically idiotic for the same reasons saying MJ sucked for worrying about Peter and complaining about his life as Spider-Man the way she did in the 90s. If YOU were in either of their positions and had the same histories, the same emotional attachments would YOU be much different? Would YOUR life be totally in order when you spend a large chunk of your time being a superhero both to financially support yourself and you know for ENTIRELY ALTRUISTIC REASONS? Would YOU honestly NOT act the way MJ did in the 90s?

 These sorts of attitudes to me demonstrate a really, really weird dismissal of the (relative) realities of life as or with a superhero. It’s like Peter being Spider-Man somehow ‘doesn’t count’, like he’s going out to play sports or something as opposed to actually being something important that should be taken into account when analyzing his life. Like...the entire premise of Spider-Man very much hinged upon the notion of showcasing the realities of life as a hero, how it came with a cost and didn’t fix everything. Like Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man No More literally SHOW you that NOT being Spider-Man WOULD allow his life to NOT be a mess, but that’s the price he pays for making sure nobody else loses THEIR Uncle Ben.

  Did Peter used to have an ego? Yeah...as did you know...EVERY Marvel hero under Stan Lee. Shit Silver age Superman had a humungous ego. It’s a trope something you don’t take 100% at face value. That smoothed out with his maturation and whilst he still had an ego at times, that was a debilitating flaw, just something that happened every once in a while as it would for a lot of people.

  Not to mention after what he has lived through and how hard he is on himself most of the time SOME ego is surely forgivable, healthy even. Which brings me to the whole ‘he thinks everything revolves around him’ argument.

  No...he doesn’t. He just holds himself to an incredibly high standard due to an obviously highly traumatic event he went thorugh growing up compounded by a few other similar events (Gwen’s death) as well as threats to his life and those around him by individuals specifically out to get him (Betty Brant was targeted at least 3 times in the Ditko run).

 Is it any wonder he’d be somewhat self-centred? And not even self-centred in a selfish way, self-centred in a ‘I suck, I let everyone down, I should have done better.’ Kind of way which is a million miles away from say pre-heart injury Tony Stark kind of self-centred.

 And finally the thing about not wanting to meet MJ...I’m sorry...how many male and female teenagers would NOT have been apprehensive over a blind date their old fashioned Mom set up for them out of fear that the date will be unattractive. Especially when in canon the qualities mostly pushed about her was that she would allegedly ‘make a good housewife’. 

 That isn’t a ‘Peter Parker is shallow’ thing or a ‘men are shallow’ thing. That’s a ‘teenagers who’re naturally immature and inexperienced with dating, romance, sex, etc tend to be shallow’ thing. 

 Don’t lie to me and pretend like the pre-Parallel Lives 14-18 year old Mary Jane herself would have been all for meeting her aunt’s neighbour’s geeky ass nephew. She wouldn’t have been and we all KNOW she wouldn’t have been. And that’s okay, that’d be realistic and entirely in keeping with how most teens (male or female) would feel in that situation.

 Let me be clear there are MALE readers guilty of this too (especially on CBR) but maybe it’s because I spend more time here in my (admittedly far from comprehensive) observations the fans who say stuff like that tend to be female more often than male.

  It’s nowhere near AS bad as the shit that unjustifiably gets thrown at Mary Jane mostly by male fans, but whilst collectively it might be worse each accusation is as equally unfounded.

  And as someone who truly loves both those characters I loathe seeing either of them unfairly thrown under the bus that way by people who aren’t even bothering to TRY to justify what the characters are doing out of laziness, a desire to be snarky or just enjoying the act of ripping into them.

  In much the same way a lot of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans these days have been defencive and protective of Luke and Frodo in light of the mass shade thrown at both characters, I’ve become more and more like that towards Spider-Man in recent years. I’ve been like that with Mj for ages but only recently have I felt it necessary to extend it to Peter too.

 I don’t know WHY exactly these sort of ill considered, narrowminded, half assed criticisms are emerging more and more these days. I can’t blame it on the existence of other Spider characters because I’ve more frequently seen this stuff stem from people who didn’t even discuss guys like miles or Kaine or Spider-Gwen. Just Peter himself.

  The hard truth is...I think gender might be the biggest factor.

 Like I said I really do think this is a MINORITY of female fans who say the stuff I’ve discussed but I think for them there is a certain lack of empathy or at least attempt to honestly see through the eyes of Spider-Man himself because they are female and he is male.

 Whilst this doesn’t seem to happen much at all in Harry Potter fandom (which might possibly be owed to Harry being a male character written by a woman), critically the HP narrative is mostly utterly dominated by seeing through Harry’s eyes it makes identifying with him less of a leap as compared to Spider-Man where there is more ‘distance’ between the character and the reader.

The Spider-Man series is mostly from Peter’s POV but whilst Harry Potter rarely deviates away from Harry is experiencing at any given moment within his own skin, Spider-Man cuts to other scenes and other characters and even presents scenes with Spider-Man from their POV very frequently. It’s perhaps the natural pay off to the comic book medium vs a novel. You do have to SEE your protagonist from the outside whereas with a novel you can much more easily be on the inside looking out.

 I think because of that relative distance, for some (but far from all) female Spider-Man readers it becomes easier to emotionally/mentally not make the leap into his head and really questioning why he thinks, feels and acts in the ways that he does beyond what is on the surface level presented to us.

 Peter talks back to the Fantastic Four when he first meets them. It must be because he’s an asshole and not because he’s you know, a teenager, who just lost his Dad, is desperate for cash, is somewhat naive and used to being an entertainer and wrestler

  Although I think at the end of the day a character can be relatable and identifiable regardless of what their identity might be (skin colour, gender, etc), I do feel that male readers of Spider-Man are probably going to be more inclined towards empathising with Peter and inclined towards trying to see if there might be an explanation for his actions.

  The reverse holds true as well. It’s painfully obvious that 90% of the garbage criticisms levelled against Mary Jane throughout her history stemmed from mostly (but again not all) male readers who were simply not even trying to put themselves in her shoes or else couldn’t.

  Okay sure, you could argue institutionalized sexism or the larger proportion of male to female Spider-Man readers is the reason there seems to be way more male MJ bashers than female Peter bashers, as well as using that to explain why the female Peter bahsers still seem to like the character on some degree whereas MJ’s loudest bashers tend to just hate on the character.

 However I’d also propose that a big reason for one group’s larger and more intense negative feelings compared to the other stems again from the genders involved.

 Male readers are going to find it comparatively harder to make the jump into MJ’s head and seeing things from her POV than they would Peter’s simply because they are men and she is a female character.

 It’s far from impossible and I think most male fans do make the jump. But it helps to explain why so many do not. The problem is exacerbated by MJ being a supporting cast member and thus her POV and panel time is given far less breathing space than Peter’s, who’s story and POV dominate the narrative. So when MJ is compalaining about Peter’s life as a hero to him in a scene from his POV it’s challenging for male readers to take a step back and consider HER pov.

  I’m not even calling that some kind of soft core misandry or misogyny.

 I just think it’s something that naturally occurs for a lot of people as a consequence of life and the style of storytelling weare discussing.

 Doesn’t make it cool to do though.

 Stop bashing MJ AND Peter and try to justify anything they do before you tear into them.

[sweatygardencollectorblr]

Damien McFerran 23/01/2019 - 9:47am

Amazing specs for half the price of an iPhone

£499.00

While the battle began to banish bezels and create the ultimate big-screen smartphone has been rolling on for what seems like forever, we've yet to see a clear winner; sure, Apple's notch would appear to have emerged triumphant in the early rounds – based on the sheer volume of copycat devices that have launched since iPhone X arrived in 2017 – but the past 12 months has seen an impressive array of different solutions to this problem; we've had sliding camera modules, tiny top-and-bottom bezels and – more recently – 'hole punch' screens. The latter design has been hyped by more than one company, but it is Honor (also known as Huawei's budget brand) which has made it to western stores first.

Boasting Huawei's powerful new Kirin 980 processor and a staggering 48-megapixel Sony-made rear camera, the View 20 means business – but it's that eye-catching display which will arguably sell the phone. But does this breakthrough warrant a second glance, or is it just another screen gimmick, like the notch before it? Let's find out.

Honor View 20 Review; Design & Display

When it's switched off, the Honor View 20 looks like pretty much any other smartphone you could think of. It's got rounded, pebble-like edges, it has two cameras on the rear (along with a fingerprint scanner) and features metal and glossy, smudge-prone glass in its construction. Outside of the rather cool laser-etched 'V' pattern (Honor calls it 'Aurora Nanotexture') which is somehow baked into the glass back panel, there's nothing especially noteworthy about how the Honor View 20 looks. That's not to say it's unattractive – it's actually a very smart looking device – but at face value, you'd be pushed to tell it apart from the legions of other smartphones doing the rounds right now. That is, until you power up the screen.

The View 20 really does look stunning from the front. That 6.4-inch screen is remarkable; even when you take into account the potentially divisive hole punch and the tiny chin at the bottom, it's amazing to look at a display which appears to totally fill the phone's face. Over time, you quickly learn to mentally remove the hole punch, and it's striking how little impact it actually has over the UI experience; put it this way, if you lived with the notch then you're going to have zero issues here. It's definitely an improvement.

It's a shame that Honor couldn't have used an OLED screen, though – despite the general quality of the 1080 x 2310 pixel IPS LCD panel, there were times when we longed for the deep blacks, impressive viewing angles and punchy colours of an OLED display. Having said that, the View 20's screen is nonetheless impressive, and when placed alongside the iPhone XR's Liquid Retina LCD screen, it looked utterly fantastic in comparison. On the downside, our pre-production review unit had a small cluster of stuck pixels which were only noticeable when the screen was black. We've been assured by Honor that this is a problem that won't be present on the final production model.

Elsewhere, there's a USB-C port on the bottom, along with a powerful speaker. The View 20 lacks stereo sound which is a shame, but you're unlikely to miss a call or notification when the volume is set to maximum – this phone is seriously loud. The power and volume buttons are found on the right-hand edge of the phone, while the 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the top edge, accompanied by an IR blaster so you can use your View 20 as a remote control for other devices.

Another cool feature is the placement of the notification LED, which is found inside the tiny earpiece at the very top of the screen. It gently pulsates when you have an unread message, but is totally invisible when inactive.

It's worth noting that the View 20 carries no water or dust resistance rating, which may or may not be a big deal, depending on how often you accidentally drop your phone into bodies of water. Still, given that many other phones boast such ratings, it's worth mentioning. Honor includes a rather fetching silicone case in the box which fits snugly and – were it any other handset maker – would no doubt cost £30 separately. It covers up that lovely 'V' design on the back, but it provides a decent degree of protection.

Honor View 20 Review: Software

The View 20 is running Android 9 right out of the box, which is good news if you're sick of flagship phones rocking older variants of Google's OS. It sits beneath the Magic 2.0 UI skin, which looks and feels a lot like Huawei's EMUI – it even references Huawei in some of the app logos and legal messages which pop up the first time you open certain exclusive apps. This isn't an issue as such because EMUI is a fine Android skin, but it does make you wonder why Honor had to create a totally different name for it.

As well as featuring the usual suite of essential Google apps – like YouTube, Gmail, Drive, Google Photos and Google Maps – the View 20 also ships with several bespoke applications, such as its own music, video and app store. As ever, these apps needlessly duplicate functionality and are, by and large, a complete waste of time. Not only do you have to log into Huawei's own user account service to use many of them, some pre-installed apps cannot be disabled or uninstalled. While we understand that handset makers want to push you towards their own app stores in order to generate revenue, you almost always get a second-rate experience when compared to Google's own built-in Android services. Unless you're a seasoned Honor or Huawei fan, you're unlikely to bother.

That said, there are some nice touches on offer here. App Twin – the ability to have two different instances of the same application on the same device – isn't new, but it's handy if you need to keep different social media accounts separate. HiTouch is also quite cool – you hold down two fingers on an image and it will tell you where you can buy that item online – and Digital Balance is basically the View 20's version of Apple's screen time reports, so you can manage how much time you spend gawping at your phone's display. Oh, and Party Mode – which is also available on other Huawei devices – is present and correct, so if you want to hold an impromptu shindig by simultaneously sharing the same song with other people via their handsets, you can (although we're still not entirely sure why you'd want to).

Honor View 20 Review: Performance

Despite being a mid-range phone, the View 20 has the same Kirin 980 processor seen in Huawei's Mate 20 Pro, a phone which costs considerably more. Given that Huawei is keen to stress the 980's power when compared to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, it's obvious that we're dealing with cutting-edge silicon here; the first Kirin chipset to be manufactured using the 7nm process, the 980 is one of the most powerful chips on the market, and benchmarks prove that.

In Antutu Benchmark, the View 20 scores 277,827, which just beats the likes of the Google Pixel 3 (269,901) and Samsung Galaxy S9+ (266,871) but is behind the likes of the OnePlus 6T (295,942) and Xiaomi Mi 8 (291,329). In Geekbench 4, it ranks 3312 in the single-core test and 9745 in the multi-core test. Those ratings compare very favourably with many Android rivals which cost the same or more, which proves that the 980's power – although it goes without saying that the Snapdragon 855, due this year, will most likely smoke the competition.

Still, the 980 is inside the View 20, a phone which costs £500, and it delivers incredible performance when you consider it costs half the price of an iPhone XS. Navigating the UI is silky-smooth, and there's little in the way of delay when you move between open applications. 3D games – always a solid test of a phone's internals – run without issue; even intensive titles like Mortal Kombat X gave no cause for concern. However, the weaker GPU does mean that there's a slight performance drop when compared to the Snapdragon 845, although Huawei's GPU Turbo system – which enhances things but has to be patched into games by the developer – resolves this to a degree.

While in-screen fingerprint scanners are likely to be one of 2019's most talked-about features, the View 20 doesn't have one – which shouldn't be too surprising, given that it's a mid-range device. The rear-mounted scanner is fast and accurate though, even if it feels a little high and hard to reach at times. The View 20 also supports face unlock, although as far as we could tell, it's just using a 2D image of your face rather than a 3D map, like the iPhone X, XS and XR. That means it could potentially be fooled by a photo of your face so it's not as secure, but on the plus side, the phone was quick to recognise and unlock using this system – quicker than the iPhone XR, in fact. However, in low light situations it struggles and we had to rely on the fingerprint scanner instead.

Honor View 20 Review: Camera

The headline news with the View 20's camera is that it's brand-new Sony IMX586, which has a 48-megapixel sensor and an f1.8 aperture. There's a second sensor on the back, but it's not used for x2 optical zoom – instead, it's a 3D 'Time of Flight' sensor which, in theory, should allow for some seriously impressive photo effects, including good AR functions, such as making a 3D model of an object you've snapped. The trouble is, at the moment these features aren't good-to-go as the View 20 is not officially supported by Google's all-important ARCore app and the ToF lens is pretty much redundant – but it's there, and when Honor does eventually turn it on, it could provide something pretty special to the mix.

Back to the main Sony-made camera, then. With all those lovely pixels to make use of, detail is pretty striking and Honor's advanced 'AI Vision' software does a good job of making even the most casual of snaps seem like a masterpiece. There are some pretty deep 'pro' settings as well, which is good news for photography nerds. The f1.8 aperture is good enough for low-light shooting, but Honor also puts the 48-megapixel sensor to good use by employing a technique known as 'pixel-binning', where multiple pixels are combined to allow more light into the sensor. The View 20's night mode shows this off to good effect, capturing decent shots that require you to hold the camera steady during the snap. They're not in the same league as the low-light snaps seen on Google's Pixel 3, but they're still impressive.

What's rather less impressive is the way the phone's portrait mode works; it often blurs out the wrong part of the image, but this is something that – theoretically, at least – should improve once the power of that 3D ToF camera is fully harnessed. Honor's clumsy attempt at Animoji effects is also forgettable; the 3D faces lack the charm of those seen on Apple's phones, and because that 25-megapixel front-facing camera doesn't have 3D-mapping capabilities, animations look jerky and imprecise. The final disappointment is that the phone's cameras lack optical image stabilisation – something we'd expect to see on a flagship handset, but perhaps not one that costs £500.

For video, the View 20 can shoot 1080p at 60fps, or 4K video at 30fps. It also has slow-motion effects which are backed up by intelligent software which automatically decides when to shoot in slow-mo.

Honor View 20 Review: Battery Life & Storage

With a roomy 4000mAh battery, the View 20 has plenty of stamina. Even when we were putting it through its paces with web surfing, game playing and video recording, it always made it to the end of the day with plenty of juice left in the tank. Huawei’s SuperCharge Fast-charging system helps top the battery up swiftly, but there's sadly no wireless charging, despite that eye-catching glass back.

While the phone has space for two Nano SIM cards, there's sadly no room for a MicroSD card, so you'll need to choose wisely when it comes to picking your on-board storage. The base model has 128GB, but a 256GB version is also on offer.

Honor View 20 Review: Verdict

The View 20 doesn't get everything right – there's no wireless charging or water resistance, and the absence of an OLED panel might annoy some mobile purists – but for £500, it's something of a marvel. The hole-punch screen design might seem like a gimmick but once we grew accustomed to it, we had trouble going back to a device with a notch or pronounced bezels. The screen is something of a show-stopper then, but the camera setup is almost as impressive, and if Honor can do some meaningful stuff with that 3D ToF camera, then this could shape up to be pretty special as far as image capture is concerned. Add in a powerful chipset and likeable software, and you've got an early contender for 2019's best mid-price handset. We're sure that the View 20 will have plenty of competition over the next 12 months, but for now, this is arguably the best way to spend £500 in the Android sector – yes, even better than the OnePlus 6T.

from Featured Articles http://bit.ly/2UcnPF9

[sweatygardencollectorblr]

Damien McFerran 23/01/2019 - 9:47am

Amazing specs for half the price of an iPhone

£499.00

While the battle began to banish bezels and create the ultimate big-screen smartphone has been rolling on for what seems like forever, we've yet to see a clear winner; sure, Apple's notch would appear to have emerged triumphant in the early rounds – based on the sheer volume of copycat devices that have launched since iPhone X arrived in 2017 – but the past 12 months has seen an impressive array of different solutions to this problem; we've had sliding camera modules, tiny top-and-bottom bezels and – more recently – 'hole punch' screens. The latter design has been hyped by more than one company, but it is Honor (also known as Huawei's budget brand) which has made it to western stores first.

Boasting Huawei's powerful new Kirin 980 processor and a staggering 48-megapixel Sony-made rear camera, the View 20 means business – but it's that eye-catching display which will arguably sell the phone. But does this breakthrough warrant a second glance, or is it just another screen gimmick, like the notch before it? Let's find out.

Honor View 20 Review; Design & Display

When it's switched off, the Honor View 20 looks like pretty much any other smartphone you could think of. It's got rounded, pebble-like edges, it has two cameras on the rear (along with a fingerprint scanner) and features metal and glossy, smudge-prone glass in its construction. Outside of the rather cool laser-etched 'V' pattern (Honor calls it 'Aurora Nanotexture') which is somehow baked into the glass back panel, there's nothing especially noteworthy about how the Honor View 20 looks. That's not to say it's unattractive – it's actually a very smart looking device – but at face value, you'd be pushed to tell it apart from the legions of other smartphones doing the rounds right now. That is, until you power up the screen.

The View 20 really does look stunning from the front. That 6.4-inch screen is remarkable; even when you take into account the potentially divisive hole punch and the tiny chin at the bottom, it's amazing to look at a display which appears to totally fill the phone's face. Over time, you quickly learn to mentally remove the hole punch, and it's striking how little impact it actually has over the UI experience; put it this way, if you lived with the notch then you're going to have zero issues here. It's definitely an improvement.

It's a shame that Honor couldn't have used an OLED screen, though – despite the general quality of the 1080 x 2310 pixel IPS LCD panel, there were times when we longed for the deep blacks, impressive viewing angles and punchy colours of an OLED display. Having said that, the View 20's screen is nonetheless impressive, and when placed alongside the iPhone XR's Liquid Retina LCD screen, it looked utterly fantastic in comparison. On the downside, our pre-production review unit had a small cluster of stuck pixels which were only noticeable when the screen was black. We've been assured by Honor that this is a problem that won't be present on the final production model.

Elsewhere, there's a USB-C port on the bottom, along with a powerful speaker. The View 20 lacks stereo sound which is a shame, but you're unlikely to miss a call or notification when the volume is set to maximum – this phone is seriously loud. The power and volume buttons are found on the right-hand edge of the phone, while the 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the top edge, accompanied by an IR blaster so you can use your View 20 as a remote control for other devices.

Another cool feature is the placement of the notification LED, which is found inside the tiny earpiece at the very top of the screen. It gently pulsates when you have an unread message, but is totally invisible when inactive.

It's worth noting that the View 20 carries no water or dust resistance rating, which may or may not be a big deal, depending on how often you accidentally drop your phone into bodies of water. Still, given that many other phones boast such ratings, it's worth mentioning. Honor includes a rather fetching silicone case in the box which fits snugly and – were it any other handset maker – would no doubt cost £30 separately. It covers up that lovely 'V' design on the back, but it provides a decent degree of protection.

Honor View 20 Review: Software

The View 20 is running Android 9 right out of the box, which is good news if you're sick of flagship phones rocking older variants of Google's OS. It sits beneath the Magic 2.0 UI skin, which looks and feels a lot like Huawei's EMUI – it even references Huawei in some of the app logos and legal messages which pop up the first time you open certain exclusive apps. This isn't an issue as such because EMUI is a fine Android skin, but it does make you wonder why Honor had to create a totally different name for it.

As well as featuring the usual suite of essential Google apps – like YouTube, Gmail, Drive, Google Photos and Google Maps – the View 20 also ships with several bespoke applications, such as its own music, video and app store. As ever, these apps needlessly duplicate functionality and are, by and large, a complete waste of time. Not only do you have to log into Huawei's own user account service to use many of them, some pre-installed apps cannot be disabled or uninstalled. While we understand that handset makers want to push you towards their own app stores in order to generate revenue, you almost always get a second-rate experience when compared to Google's own built-in Android services. Unless you're a seasoned Honor or Huawei fan, you're unlikely to bother.

That said, there are some nice touches on offer here. App Twin – the ability to have two different instances of the same application on the same device – isn't new, but it's handy if you need to keep different social media accounts separate. HiTouch is also quite cool – you hold down two fingers on an image and it will tell you where you can buy that item online – and Digital Balance is basically the View 20's version of Apple's screen time reports, so you can manage how much time you spend gawping at your phone's display. Oh, and Party Mode – which is also available on other Huawei devices – is present and correct, so if you want to hold an impromptu shindig by simultaneously sharing the same song with other people via their handsets, you can (although we're still not entirely sure why you'd want to).

Honor View 20 Review: Performance

Despite being a mid-range phone, the View 20 has the same Kirin 980 processor seen in Huawei's Mate 20 Pro, a phone which costs considerably more. Given that Huawei is keen to stress the 980's power when compared to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, it's obvious that we're dealing with cutting-edge silicon here; the first Kirin chipset to be manufactured using the 7nm process, the 980 is one of the most powerful chips on the market, and benchmarks prove that.

In Antutu Benchmark, the View 20 scores 277,827, which just beats the likes of the Google Pixel 3 (269,901) and Samsung Galaxy S9+ (266,871) but is behind the likes of the OnePlus 6T (295,942) and Xiaomi Mi 8 (291,329). In Geekbench 4, it ranks 3312 in the single-core test and 9745 in the multi-core test. Those ratings compare very favourably with many Android rivals which cost the same or more, which proves that the 980's power – although it goes without saying that the Snapdragon 855, due this year, will most likely smoke the competition.

Still, the 980 is inside the View 20, a phone which costs £500, and it delivers incredible performance when you consider it costs half the price of an iPhone XS. Navigating the UI is silky-smooth, and there's little in the way of delay when you move between open applications. 3D games – always a solid test of a phone's internals – run without issue; even intensive titles like Mortal Kombat X gave no cause for concern. However, the weaker GPU does mean that there's a slight performance drop when compared to the Snapdragon 845, although Huawei's GPU Turbo system – which enhances things but has to be patched into games by the developer – resolves this to a degree.

While in-screen fingerprint scanners are likely to be one of 2019's most talked-about features, the View 20 doesn't have one – which shouldn't be too surprising, given that it's a mid-range device. The rear-mounted scanner is fast and accurate though, even if it feels a little high and hard to reach at times. The View 20 also supports face unlock, although as far as we could tell, it's just using a 2D image of your face rather than a 3D map, like the iPhone X, XS and XR. That means it could potentially be fooled by a photo of your face so it's not as secure, but on the plus side, the phone was quick to recognise and unlock using this system – quicker than the iPhone XR, in fact. However, in low light situations it struggles and we had to rely on the fingerprint scanner instead.

Honor View 20 Review: Camera

The headline news with the View 20's camera is that it's brand-new Sony IMX586, which has a 48-megapixel sensor and an f1.8 aperture. There's a second sensor on the back, but it's not used for x2 optical zoom – instead, it's a 3D 'Time of Flight' sensor which, in theory, should allow for some seriously impressive photo effects, including good AR functions, such as making a 3D model of an object you've snapped. The trouble is, at the moment these features aren't good-to-go as the View 20 is not officially supported by Google's all-important ARCore app and the ToF lens is pretty much redundant – but it's there, and when Honor does eventually turn it on, it could provide something pretty special to the mix.

Back to the main Sony-made camera, then. With all those lovely pixels to make use of, detail is pretty striking and Honor's advanced 'AI Vision' software does a good job of making even the most casual of snaps seem like a masterpiece. There are some pretty deep 'pro' settings as well, which is good news for photography nerds. The f1.8 aperture is good enough for low-light shooting, but Honor also puts the 48-megapixel sensor to good use by employing a technique known as 'pixel-binning', where multiple pixels are combined to allow more light into the sensor. The View 20's night mode shows this off to good effect, capturing decent shots that require you to hold the camera steady during the snap. They're not in the same league as the low-light snaps seen on Google's Pixel 3, but they're still impressive.

What's rather less impressive is the way the phone's portrait mode works; it often blurs out the wrong part of the image, but this is something that – theoretically, at least – should improve once the power of that 3D ToF camera is fully harnessed. Honor's clumsy attempt at Animoji effects is also forgettable; the 3D faces lack the charm of those seen on Apple's phones, and because that 25-megapixel front-facing camera doesn't have 3D-mapping capabilities, animations look jerky and imprecise. The final disappointment is that the phone's cameras lack optical image stabilisation – something we'd expect to see on a flagship handset, but perhaps not one that costs £500.

For video, the View 20 can shoot 1080p at 60fps, or 4K video at 30fps. It also has slow-motion effects which are backed up by intelligent software which automatically decides when to shoot in slow-mo.

Honor View 20 Review: Battery Life & Storage

With a roomy 4000mAh battery, the View 20 has plenty of stamina. Even when we were putting it through its paces with web surfing, game playing and video recording, it always made it to the end of the day with plenty of juice left in the tank. Huawei’s SuperCharge Fast-charging system helps top the battery up swiftly, but there's sadly no wireless charging, despite that eye-catching glass back.

While the phone has space for two Nano SIM cards, there's sadly no room for a MicroSD card, so you'll need to choose wisely when it comes to picking your on-board storage. The base model has 128GB, but a 256GB version is also on offer.

Honor View 20 Review: Verdict

The View 20 doesn't get everything right – there's no wireless charging or water resistance, and the absence of an OLED panel might annoy some mobile purists – but for £500, it's something of a marvel. The hole-punch screen design might seem like a gimmick but once we grew accustomed to it, we had trouble going back to a device with a notch or pronounced bezels. The screen is something of a show-stopper then, but the camera setup is almost as impressive, and if Honor can do some meaningful stuff with that 3D ToF camera, then this could shape up to be pretty special as far as image capture is concerned. Add in a powerful chipset and likeable software, and you've got an early contender for 2019's best mid-price handset. We're sure that the View 20 will have plenty of competition over the next 12 months, but for now, this is arguably the best way to spend £500 in the Android sector – yes, even better than the OnePlus 6T.

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