HONOR 200 Review

HONOR has set themselves apart from other brands by providing devices worldwide with a ton of value for money. Their latest line, the 200 series, offer a range of stylish yet aptly priced smartphones that focus on photography.

The series was developed in collaboration with Studio Harcourt, a famous photography studio from France. The partnership had a goal of delivering a modestly priced smartphone that could take professional-level portrait shots.

With that, we’re here to show readers what the HONOR 200 can do. This is a midrange offering that comes with specs and features that aren’t too far off from its Pro variant.

For readers interested in the HONOR 200 Pro, we have a separate written review and video available. Also, for reference, our review unit has a configuration with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Design and Construction

The HONOR 200 has a premium feel, highlighted by its sleek curves and thin 7-millimeter form factor weighing 187 grams.

Our review unit came in black, which has a metallic back, smooth frame, and a glossy camera enclosure. It’s good to note that a transparent jelly case comes with the device too.

At first glance, I assumed the phone would be easy to flip around and carry. I wasn’t wrong! It felt slim in my hand, slid easily into my pockets, and didn’t feel like it added that much weight.

On the back of the phone, you can find the HONOR 200’s camera sensors situated on the top left. I must say, it definitely stands out. The enclosure comes with an oval or capsule-like shape, with the sensors positioned like a cross.

Up front, the phone has a fairly sizable display. It has thin asymmetrical bezels and a camera situated on top in a punch hole. We’ll dive deeper into these later in the review.

On to buttons and ports, where you can find the power button and volume rocker on the right side. Meanwhile, the left side is clean from anything on it.

At the bottom, you can find one of two loudspeakers, a Type-C charging port, and the dual nano-SIM card slot. On top, we have the other loudspeaker, an IR blaster, and the device’s microphone.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with the effort put into the HONOR 200’s design and construction. It’s a refined modern design, with the brand’s personal touches exuding from the device.

However, it seems like the phone doesn’t have an official IP rating. Readers should take note of this! Be careful, as it’s simply the best way to avoid any mishaps against dust or water.

Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics

Going back to display, this phone sports a 6.7-inch quad-curved AMOLED panel with an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz. It has a crisp resolution of 2664 by 1200 and a max brightness level of 4,000 nits. In addition, the screen has a TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free certification.

For the actual display experience, the high pixel density (435ppi) is evident with the HONOR 200. Like most people, I have a habit of enjoying YouTube binges while bed-rotting. I was able to watch videos from OfflineTV in high resolution for about three hours on the device.

I can vouch that images are very sharp, crisp, and colorful. This is complemented by the thin asymmetrical bezels, which added to an immersive multimedia experience.

I should also mention that the dual stereo speakers situated on the top and bottom ends are much appreciated. While I do spend most of my day with earbuds on, watching videos on the HONOR 200 can do without.

I’d say the speakers were great, offering sound clarity even at max volume. I also liked how neither of the speakers get blocked when holding the phone horizontally when watching videos.

For biometrics, we have standard means for unlocking the device. This is inclusive of pattern, numeric, and alphanumeric codes. There’s also modern security features like the HONOR 200’s in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock.

The fingerprint sensor can be found at the bottom of the screen, and is relatively quick to recognize my print. Its facial recognition feature also works well.

But notably, the phone offers to scan your face with a mask on. I don’t think I’ve encountered this yet for biometrics, and I can’t really determine if it’s a nice touch or not.

Like, what if it recognizes someone else with a mask on your device? Apologies for the paranoia, I’m just doubtful if it’s an okay feature.

Cameras

Moving on, we have the HONOR 200’s most defining feature—its camera system. It blends quality hardware with AI post-processing to take nice shots.

The rear cameras consist of a 50-megapixel main shooter, a 50-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. At the front, it’s equipped with a 50-megapixel shooter for selfies.

From specs alone, it’s not too far from its Pro model. When I started using it though, I did notice that it takes a second to load. But when it’s ready, the shutter speed’s pretty quick.

Frankly, I deem the photos taken with the device Instagram-worthy to an extent. They’re bright and don’t skimp on detail, but oversaturation can’t be overlooked in some scenarios. However, I do love how the subject stands out against the backdrop when taking portrait shots.

Speaking of, portrait shots are where the phone shines. Users can cycle through the Harcourt portrait modes with options for vibrant, colour, and classic.

Unfortunately, the Harcourt portrait art style selection is only available on the rear camera. Selfies with their filters are exclusive to the HONOR 200 Pro. But anyway, here’s some of our sample shots for your viewing pleasure.

I turned off beauty mode prior to taking shots. It’s surely a personal preference, but I’m not a fan of aggressive HDR and dollified skin. Plus, the cameras offer a combination of optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS), which is nice.

For video recording, the HONOR 200 can shoot videos at 4K at 30fps. Just keep in mind, you won’t be able to use this setting if you have AI video toggled on. It’s turned on by design, so just remember to turn it off if you want to take higher resolution clips.

Bottom line, I think the HONOR 200 could definitely throw hands when it comes to competing with flagship-level smartphone cameras.

Admittedly, how good photos are depend mostly on a user’s skill. But also, cameras capable of taking clear shots with color accuracy are great to start with.

OS, Apps, and UI

The phone runs on MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14 out of the box. The HONOR 200 is set for three (3) Android updates and four (4) years of security updates.

The software is easy to navigate, providing users an option to use the system with gestures or three buttons. Apps folders can be found in folders on the home screen. It stores your recently used apps under the AI Essentials folder too.

At first, I thought that it didn’t provide a drawer where you can find all the installed apps when you scroll up. Apparently, users have to tinker around with this under settings first.

Prior to this, I had to scroll down on the home screen to search for the app I needed. Alternatively, you could still swipe around to dig for it.

The software also comes with a handful of bloatware. I don’t think it’s enough to irk any user though. However, Google’s suite of apps on the phone gives users two of each app.

To elaborate, there’s Play Store versus HONOR’s App Market. Users will have both Google Photos and the dedicated photo gallery. There’s even pre-installed-apps for Booking.com and Trip.com.

TikTok, Netflix, and Facebook also came pre-installed. While not everyone uses these, I guess these are fine in comparison.

The user interface, on the other hand, feels like your standard Android makeup. Interestingly though, the drop down button offers HONOR Share and Android’s Quick Share. Presumably, the IR blaster can also be found here but renamed into Device Control.

Considering how the HONOR 200 does overall, I’d say it’s okay under these segments. These quirks aren’t too off-putting, but hard to ignore at the same time.

Performance and Benchmarks

The HONOR 200 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset paired with an Adreno 720 GPU. Again, our review unit comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.

From experience, the phone handled games without any trouble. I mostly played Teamfight Tactics for the most part, which isn’t too graphic intensive.

However, I did try games like PUBG Mobile to check frame stability and it didn’t disappoint. In addition, it only heated up during a big update for Genshin Impact. I found this very strange, since it didn’t even act up during benchmark testing.

For those interested, we’re leaving readers with our synthetic benchmark scores below.

General consensus? The HONOR 200 is quite capable under this segment. It’s only a bit shy of a million for its Antutu v10 score, so this is a fair claim.

It also offers high read and write speeds for storage. In other words, users will surely find that this is a phone that performs well.

Battery and Connectivity

This phone packs a large 5,200mAh silicon-carbon battery with 100W of HONOR SuperCharge support via USB Type-C. Even the 100W adapter that comes with the box feels premium.

With my time using the phone, I can attest that it’s good enough to be your next daily driver. We took a number of tests to help readers estimate how long the HONOR 200’s uptime is.

In PC Mark’s Work 3.0 Battery Test, our unit lasted 12 hours and 55 minutes. The test was taken with the phone set to 50% brightness, volume muted, and in airplane mode.

In our video loop test, the HONOR 200 gave us 27 hours and 17 minutes of video playback. For this test, we played a full HD movie with the same variables mentioned in our test above.

We took the liberty to take a gaming test for the device as well. We found that this phone offers users up to an insane 12 hours and 30 minutes of gameplay. The test was taken with the phone set to 50% brightness and volume over a Wi-Fi connection.

Finally, we took the device on a charging test. This test was taken with the phone’s smart charging toggled off and with the 100W adapter that came with the box.

We found that the HONOR 200 has 37% of power at 15 minutes and 72% at half an hour. Overall, it takes 44 minutes and 40 seconds to charge from empty to full.

Generally speaking, the HONOR 200 does quite well under this segment.

For connectivity, the phone features 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC. It also supports dual nano-SIM cards, and has an infrared (IR) blaster for smart home appliances.

The phone offers standard call quality, and the WiFi connection is stable as well. Honestly, there’s not much to write home about for this segment. I’d be surprised if a modern smartphone can’t take a call or use Wi-Fi in the digital age.

Conclusion

Wrapping things up, the HONOR 200 proves that you don’t need to break the bank to get a good smartphone. Priced at PHP 24,999USD 426INR 36,114EUR 406CNY 3,102, it doesn’t have too many downsides.

My gripes with the device were mainly with its counterintuitive software. The phone has a ton of bloatware with MagicOS providing two of each app with one function.

There’s also the matter of its missing IP rating. Personally, I felt like I could’ve looked past this if we weren’t under the rainy season right now.

Aside from these issues, the HONOR 200 excels under design, display, cameras, performance, and battery. These are a ton of strengths for a midrange offering, no?

If readers are looking for an all-around, solid, budget-friendly smartphone in 2024—the HONOR 200 needs to be on your list. Pre-order the device today until July 26, 2024 to get a free pair of JBL Soundgear Frames with PHP 9,499USD 162INR 13,722EUR 154CNY 1,179.

What do you guys think of the HONOR 200? Let us know what you think below.

What we liked:
* Premium, refined design
* Thin bezels, smooth display
* Biometrics responsiveness
* Cameras
* Battery life
* Performance
* Price (value-for-money)

What we didn’t like:
* OS (needs polishing)
* Lack of IP rating

HONOR 200 specs:
6.7-inch quad-curved AMOLED display
2664 x 1200 resolution @ 435ppi
120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 4,000 nits (peak brightness)
TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free Certification
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3
1x Cortex-A715 @ 2.63GHz
3x Cortex-A715 @ 2.4GHz
4x Cortex-A510 @ 1.8GHz
Adreno 720 GPU
8GB, 12GB RAM
256GB, 512GB internal storage
50MP (f/1.59) Sony IMX906 main camera (OIS)
50MP (f/2.4) Sony IMX856 telephoto camera (OIS + EIS)
12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide and macro camera
50MP front portrait camera
Dual stereo speakers
Dual nano-SIM
5G
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.3
NFC
USB Type-C
Fingerprint sensor (in-display)
AI face unlock
IR blaster
MagicOS 8.0 (Android 14)
5,200mAh silicon-carbon battery
100W HONOR SuperCharge (wired, in-box charger)
161.5mm x 74.6mm x 7.7mm (dimensions)
187 grams (weight)
Coral Pink, Moonlight White, Emerald Green, Black (colors)