Honor Smart Screen first preview: TV is just a small function, Hongmeng system is the real highlight

On August 10, 2019, the long-awaited Honor Smart Screen was finally officially released. Although the appearance and design of the Honor Smart Screen are no different from those of TVs on the market.

However, after using it for a period of time, it is still very obvious that Honor does not just want to make a "TV", but hopes to bring consumers a big-screen experience that far exceeds just "a TV for watching TV" through linkage with mobile phones, IoT and other devices.

It can be said that Honor has pointed out a different evolutionary direction for large-screen TVs by combining its own advantages. This evolutionary direction is no longer dominated by "picture and sound", but is more centered on "home central control", thus giving rise to an extraordinary user experience.

Full screen with lifting camera

Overall, the Honor Smart Screen Pro adopts the currently popular full-screen design. Due to the extremely narrow bezels on all sides, the screen-to-body ratio of the Honor Smart Screen Pro reaches an astonishing 94%. Therefore, when looking at the Honor Smart Screen Pro from the front, it seems like looking at a piece of suspended glass, which is very sci-fi.

The thinnest part of the Honor Smart Screen Pro is only 6.9mm, and with the frame designed with seamless bending technology, the Honor Smart Screen Pro can be naturally integrated with the wall when hung on the wall, giving a natural feeling.

If you don’t want to hang it on the wall, Honor Smart Screen Pro also provides a desktop tripod. The tripods on both sides are "V"-shaped minimalist designs, which can return the visual center of gravity to the screen body and create an immersive viewing experience.

Different from traditional TVs, the Honor Smart Screen Pro is also equipped with a liftable camera on the top of the body. When needed, the camera can automatically pop up and fall down when not needed, which not only takes into account the high screen-to-body ratio but also avoids privacy leaks.

On the back of the body, the Honor Smart Screen Pro adopts a symmetrical cutting design, and the interface is hidden on the inside of the detachable shell, ensuring a seamless exterior.

It is worth mentioning that Honor has also brought a unique touch remote control for the Honor Smart Screen Pro. Unlike the traditional button remote control, the touch remote control adopts a touch-like operation method, which makes it easier for young people who are used to mobile phones to get started.

In addition, in order to avoid the situation where the battery suddenly runs out of power, the touch remote control also uses a rechargeable battery design, and the charging port is also a Type-C charging port - from various details, you can feel the ingenuity that Honor has poured into this product.

Hongmeng system debuts, determined to become the center of the family

The Honor Smart Screen Pro is equipped with the new self-developed Hongmeng system - HarmonyOS. Since this is the first appearance of Huawei's Hongmeng system, I believe many people are very curious about this system.

After using it for a period of time, I found that the HarmonyOS on the Honor Smart Screen Pro is very complete. Whether it is the UI interface or the interactive animation, it is one level higher than the competitors. I believe this is also the result of Honor's hard work in the mobile phone operating system.

More importantly, the linkage between Honor Smart Screen Pro devices, high-definition video calls, and smart life functions really make us feel that this is a "smart screen" rather than a "TV" as seen from the outside.

Blurred lines between power on and power off

Because I am familiar with the transition method of displaying logos and advertisements when traditional Internet TVs are turned on, when I turned on the Honor Smart Screen Pro for the first time, I thought I was just waking it up from a black screen.

In fact, there are no advertisements at all when the Honor Smart Screen Pro is turned on, and there is not even a brand logo. When we press the power button on the remote control, within 2 seconds, the main interface of the Honor Smart Screen Pro is displayed on the screen, giving a feeling that "the TV is always waiting for you to turn it on."

In addition, press the power off button on the Honor Smart Screen Pro remote control, and two options will pop up on the screen - sleep and shut down. If we need to control IoT devices and communicate with voice assistants at any time, we can choose sleep. In sleep mode, the Honor Smart Screen Pro will turn off high-power consumption functions such as the screen, while low-power consumption functions such as voice assistants remain connected at any time.

Due to special habits, I believe that everyone will choose to turn off the TV when they leave the traditional TV for a while, but the Honor Smart Screen Pro obviously hopes to change this habit of users - to create a home hub that is on standby 24 hours a day.

Make 1080P video calls with Huawei family bucket

As it is equipped with an automatic lifting camera, Honor Smart Screen Pro naturally supports video calls. In terms of hardware, the Honor Smart Screen Pro's lifting camera supports 5m x 180-degree shooting depth of field wide angle, which can include the panoramic view of the living room.

Interestingly, Honor has also considered using the Honor Smart Screen Pro on a wall. In this case, the Honor Smart Screen Pro's automatic lifting camera can automatically tilt down 10° after rising, ensuring that the body can capture a panoramic view of the living room even at a high angle.

In actual use, the Honor Smart Screen Pro can directly make 1080P video calls with contacts in the address book of Huawei/Honor mobile phones and Pads with EMUI8.1 and above.

Since the Honor Smart Screen Pro is equipped with automatic bandwidth adjustment technology, it can automatically reduce the picture quality when encountering poor network conditions to ensure a stable and smooth picture.

Home Control Center

As an important part of Huawei's "all-scenario 1+8+N strategy", Honor Smart Screen Pro also carries the mission of central control for multiple devices.

Swipe left on the main interface of the Honor Smart Screen Pro, and you will see an interface similar to the "negative first screen" of a mobile phone, except that the "negative first screen" of a mobile phone carries information, while the "negative first screen" of the Honor Smart Screen Pro carries "family".

Compared with mobile phones, pads, and smart speakers, large screens have inherent advantages such as far-field sound pickup and large-screen information display, making them the most ideal housekeepers for smart homes. More importantly, as mentioned above, Honor is working hard to change users' habit of "turning off the computer", so Honor Smart Screen Pro has a unique advantage in waking up.

For example, when we stop watching TV and put the Honor Smart Screen Pro in standby mode, when someone presses the "video doorbell" outside the door, the Honor Smart Screen Pro will automatically display the picture outside the door, allowing us to see the visitor outside the door clearly at the first time, greatly improving our life efficiency.

TV needs voice assistants

In addition to using the remote control, Honor Smart Screen Pro also supports voice assistant interaction. Since 6 high-sensitivity MIC arrays are arranged on the edge of Honor Smart Screen Pro, it can accurately identify human voices within a range of 5m. In other words, we can wake up the YOYO voice assistant by voice at any position in the living room.

In terms of functions, the YOYO voice assistant on the Honor Smart Screen Pro is basically the same as the YOYO voice assistant on the Honor mobile phone, supporting operations such as querying the weather, playing news, and setting sound effects.

However, when in use, the YOYO voice assistant of Honor Smart Screen Pro is far more meaningful than the YOYO voice assistant on the mobile phone. This is because the mobile phone is our personal tool, and daily operations can basically be completed by hand. However, Honor Smart Screen Pro is far away from us, so we control Honor Smart Screen Pro by voice, which is a very clever operation.

For example, after we get home from get off work, we can say to the Honor Smart Screen Pro: "Hello YOYO, continue playing "The Longest Day in Chang'an"." At this time, the YOYO voice assistant can retrieve the last time we stopped watching the show and jump to that moment in one step, reducing our operation steps.

It's also good to be a "TV"

Having talked about so many functions of Honor Smart Screen Pro, I believe everyone is still paying attention to its "TV" function - after all, Honor Smart Screen Pro should not lose sight of the main point.

Equipped with the Honghu 818 smart chip, the Honor Smart Screen Pro has seven major image quality technologies to optimize the display in all directions. In terms of audio, the Honghu 818 smart chip integrates Histen sound quality optimization technology, which can create an immersive sound quality experience through technologies such as sound field expansion and transient distortion correction.

It can be said that in terms of hardware, Honor Smart Screen Pro is definitely a first-tier player in the TV field.

In terms of resources, Honor Smart Screen Pro aggregates content service providers such as Tencent Aurora TV, Youku KuaiMei, and Mango TV to form a comprehensive video window, allowing users to easily find video content of interest.

In addition, since the Honor Smart Screen Pro is equipped with 4K resolution, Honor has also launched a 4K zone and nearly a thousand HDR 10 films, avoiding the embarrassing situation of traditional 4K TVs having hardware but no content.

Overall, Honor Smart Screen Pro has never limited itself to "TV" in terms of positioning or promotion. It is precisely because it has put aside the "TV thinking" that Honor Smart Screen Pro has achieved a breakthrough in functionality.

Highlights such as cameras, home control centers, touch remote controls, and voice assistants have brought different development ideas and directions to the TV industry.

However, from Honor's perspective, these features are not added arbitrarily, but are the result of an in-depth analysis of its own advantages. For example, Honor's high share of the mobile phone market and chip technology are all achieved through its hard work over the years. Therefore, these can be regarded as "God rewards hard work."

At this point, if we look back at traditional home appliance manufacturers, even if we see Honor's breakthrough in TVs, it will be difficult for them to catch up in a short period of time due to the lack of relevant technical accumulation.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.