Honor Vision: First Impressions and Details

Today, we got to be one of the first ones in the Philippines to get a first-hand look and played around with the much-awaited Honor Vision.

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So what’s so special about it? The Honor Vision is the first device (among the many to follow) in the Huawei/Honor ecosystem that already runs on Harmony OS.

We’ve already waxed poetic about Harmony OS here, but here’s a quick rundown—the OS is expected to span across multiple devices, including smart wearables, appliances, and other devices. With it, your devices will be interconnected and controlled across each other.

First Impression

Fresh from its release in China, the Honor Vision Pro that I played around with was all in Chinese and posed certain limitations so we didn’t get to try out its full scope. As of writing, we have date yet on the release of the global version.

At first glance, the Honor Vision looks like your typical flat screen TV—but it hides a secret: the pro version has a 4MP pop-up camera. Whether you want to do a TV selfie (Mirror selfies are so 2018) of your #OOTD or do video calls, the Honor Vision Pro has got your back.

Layout wise, it feels more smartphone than smart TV. Operated by a small bluetooth remote control with a built in microphone (about the size of a Wii controller) without the usual number pad you find in remotes feels new. So I’m not quite sure how watching “normal” cable TV (with channels) would work out here. Honor also included their own AI assistant in the Honor Vision called “YoYo” which you can speak commands to via proximity to the device or through the remote. Considering I rarely use voice commands, the Vision’s YoYo worked pretty well and had no trouble (fine, a little trouble) understanding my botchy Mandarin.

It’s got a full spectrum of Chinese streamables (I was told that the global version would most likely include Netflix). I wasn’t able to look at the Huawei app store (no android app store here) since it required us to create an account from Mainland China, which we obviously couldn’t do here.

While both share the same physical specs, 55-inchers that are only a mere 6.9mm thick (even thinner than some smartphones), and capable of 4K display, the pro version boasts 2 more speakers, more internal memory, and the pop-up camera.

Here’s a full comparison of the two:

The Honor Vision Pro is priced at CN¥4,799 (~Php34,868.17) or around 679 USD and CN¥3,799 (~Php27,602.46) or around 537 USD for the Honor Vision.