Early Verdict
Honor’s Vision Pro 4K TV is the first of Huawei’s products to launch with the HarmonyOS. The OS is interesting, but the display is bad.
Pros
- +
Pop-up webcam
- +
HarmonyOS packed with features
- +
Slim design
Cons
- -
Dull display
- -
Weird NFC-based phone casting
- -
Exclusive to China
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BERLIN — We've finally seen it in action: Huawei's HarmonyOS, powering the Honor Vision Pro 55-inch 4K TV. And it's pretty wacky.
Unfortunately, the Honor Vision Pro is also exclusive to China at the moment, and we're not sure if it'll ever come to the U.S. Right now there are two versions, the Honor Vision (3,799 RMB, or about $530) and the Honor Vision Pro (4,799 RMB, or $630). The latter has a pop up webcam and the former does not.
Honor Vision Pro specs
Honor packed the Vision Pro with a Honghu 818 chipset, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The regular Honor Vision cuts back the storage to 16GB.
Design
With a 94% screen to body ratio, the Honor Vision Pro’s display is nearly bezel-less.
The top corners behind the TV are incredibly thin as well, until you get to the center, where the Honor Vision Pro is thick as hell due to the components buried underneath.
One interesting feature is the AI pop-up 1080p webcam at the very top of the TV. This is designed for video calls with family members, but you can also use it for conference calls as well. The quality of the webcam was pretty solid when Honor demoed it. I could see some decent detail in everyone’s hair that gathered around, and the camera covered a wide angle, capturing all the press (including me in the corner).
The Honor Vision Pro also boasts 6 10W speakers, and while we didn’t get to hear them in person, that is pretty decent for a TV at this price point.
When it comes to ports, the AC adapter is located on the right side, while the left side holds room for one USB 3.0 port, three HDMI ports (one with ARC), an SPDIF port, an RJ45 Ethernet port and a TV Tuner port.
Display
The Honor Vision Pro's display is actually not good, despite it being a 4K screen.
One of the PR reps pulled up a trailer for Hobbs & Shaw, and when one of the supercars pulled in front of a building with red lights, the color looked drained. The blue sensors from the freaky machine that was scanning Idris Elba’s body were slightly muted. Even when the TV was on the homescreen of the HarmonyOS, the banners of several TV shows looked washed out.
It’s not much of a surprise, as Honor revealed that the TV emits a mere 400 nits of brightness and covers only 87% of the color gamut. However, the display does boast a 178 degree viewing angle.
HarmonyOS
The home screen of Huawei’s HarmonyOS looks incredibly similar to a streaming service, as there are several stubs for movies and TV shows. The HarmonyOS does actually have a few neat features.
In one of the built-in apps, you can actually control all of your smart home products. You can also cast your phone to the Vision Pro by tapping the NFC chip on the TV’s remote with your phone. This seems a little much, though. Why do you need to tap your phone to the remote just to cast?
Regardless, you can cast your phone in either portrait mode or desktop mode. The Vision Pro also lets you use your smartphone as a remote to control your TV, and if you’re in desktop mode, you can use your phone like a trackpad.
The entire OS was in Chinese, as you might imagine, so it was difficult to suss out what was where. But I that there is a dedicated Huawei app in the Vision Pro.
Outlook
Overall, the Honor Vision Pro is an interesting concept, but it has a long way to go with its display.
Unfortunately, we won’t get a chance to review this product ourselves, considering that it’s available only in China. If you’re interested in products actually coming to the U.S., take a look at our current IFA 2019 coverage.
