Honor 200 Review: A Premium Camera Phone with a Mid-Range Price Tag
Honor has been making a comeback in India with a string of exciting launches. The Honor 200 series, aimed at capturing both mid-range and premium smartphone segments, has garnered considerable attention. While the Honor 200 Pro targets the premium market, the Honor 200 stands out as the model that’s likely to face the most competition in the Indian smartphone landscape. Priced at Rs 34,999 for the 8GB + 256GB variant and Rs 39,999 for the 12GB + 512GB variant, the Honor 200 promises intriguing features and a premium design. However, in a market teeming with alternatives, does it truly have what it takes to stand out? Let’s dive into this review to uncover the Honor 200’s strengths, weaknesses, and whether it’s a worthy contender in the competitive Indian smartphone market.
Honor 200 Design: Sleek and Stylish
- Dimensions: 161.5 x 74.6 x 7.7mm
- Weight: 187g
- Colours: Moonlight White and Black
Honor has always been a brand that prioritizes design, even during its previous stint in India. This focus is evident in the Honor 200. The smartphone boasts a unique and stylish appearance for its price segment. Our Moonlight White review unit radiated elegance, a rare trait in this price range.
The Honor 200 features a wave design pattern on its rear panel, adding a distinct aesthetic appeal. The oval-shaped camera module, while visually pleasing, does make the phone wobble on flat surfaces. In terms of feel, the Honor 200 is comfortable to hold. However, a disappointing aspect is the plastic frame, which might not live up to the premium feel of its design.
At 7.7mm thick and weighing 187 grams, the Honor 200 is on par with the competition in terms of size and weight. However, its sleek design comes with a caveat – it’s quite slippery. This makes a protective case essential, particularly because the phone lacks any official Gorilla Glass protection. Furthermore, the absence of an official IP rating is a significant drawback at this price point.
Honor 200 Display: Crisp and Vibrant
- Display: 6.7-inch 1.5K AMOLED curved display
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz screen refresh rate
- Other Features: 3840Hz PWM Dimming, 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut, 4,000nits peak brightness
The Honor 200 boasts a quad-curved display that delivers crisp and vibrant visuals. With a peak brightness of 4,000nits, the display offers excellent readability even in outdoor conditions.
The 120Hz screen refresh rate makes scrolling exceptionally smooth and fluid. The quad-curved screen adds to the premium design while minimizing accidental touches. When it comes to content consumption, the Honor 200 shines. Watching "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" on Apple TV+ revealed a satisfying color saturation and exceptional handling of dark scenes.
The phone supports Widevine L1 and HDR10+, enabling smooth and immersive viewing of HDR content on platforms like Netflix. The display offers two modes, Normal and Vivid, to tailor the experience to user preferences. However, we recommend staying with Vivid mode to maximize the visual impact.
The Always-On Display (AoD) offers two options: Full screen and Partial screen. While the full-screen mode dims the lock screen to show a full-screen AoD, adding a touch of fun to the experience.
The phone features an in-display fingerprint sensor that works reliably, but its placement is a bit lower than ideal. You can choose from various animations for a more personalized interaction.
Honor 200 Software: Bloatware-Heavy
- Software: MagicOS 8.0
- Version: Android 14
- Updates Promised: 3 Years of OS updates and 4 years of security patches
The Honor 200 ships with MagicOS 8.0, based on Android 14. The user interface is intuitive and offers a good level of customization features. Honor has integrated AI-driven features like Magic Capsule, Magic Portal, and Magic Ring. While some of these features are helpful, others feel more like gimmicks.
The Magic Portal proves incredibly useful, enabling seamless drag-and-drop functionality for text, photos, and videos between apps. Simply long-press content like text on Instagram, and a blue hue will appear. Now, drag the content to apps like Notes, Gmail, WhatsApp, and more. The Favourite Space function allows users to store and access screenshots and videos easily.
Conversely, the Magic Capsule feels more like an attempt to mimic Apple’s Dynamic Island without fully embracing its potential. It displays music playback and timer information, but its capabilities are limited compared to Dynamic Island.
On the positive side, MagicOS 8.0 offers extensive customization options. However, the persistent issue of bloatware remains. You’ll find duplicate apps for Email, Gallery, app market, calculator, docs, and so on. Thankfully, these apps don’t spam users with notifications, making the experience less disruptive.
Honor 200 Performance: Decent for Day-to-Day Usage
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3
- Memory: Up to 12GB (LPDDR5)
- Storage: Up to 512GB (UFS 2.2)
The Honor 200 packs a decent hardware combination for its price range. Powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, which is also found in devices like Vivo V30, OnePlus Nord CE4, and Motorola Edge 50 Pro, the Honor 200 delivers decent performance. However, when compared to competitors at similar price points, the phone’s performance falls slightly short.
Synthetic benchmark comparisons highlight the performance gap:
| Benchmark | Honor 200 | Motorola Edge 50 Pro | Oppo Reno 12 Pro | Realme GT 6T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 1145 | 1142 | 1013 | 1843 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 3304 | 3124 | 2938 | 4756 |
| AnTuTu v10 | 821,670 | 818,387 | 619,149 | 1,462,980 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 12,723 | 13,730 | 12,806 | 19,517 |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL | Maxed Out | Maxed Out | 5180 | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Slingshot | Maxed Out | 8393 | 6606 | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life | 5917 | 5394 | 3170 | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 6043 | 5457 | 3162 | 11481 |
| GFXBench T-Rex | 60 | 116 | 59 | 60 |
| GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 | 59 | 61 | 49 | 60 |
| GFXBench Car Chase | 38 | 32 | 29 | 60 |
In everyday use, the Honor 200 handles most tasks smoothly without noticeable lag. Even under demanding workloads, the phone doesn’t experience significant throttling, which is a positive point.
Gaming performance is decent, allowing users to enjoy most popular games with reasonable settings. Playing Call of Duty: Mobile with default settings at High graphics and Very High frame rates didn’t result in any frame drops. Even at Very High Quality and maximum frame rate, the game ran smoothly, although the phone did become slightly warm around the camera module, but not excessively.
Honor 200 Cameras: Nearly Top Notch
- Rear: 50-megapixel Sony IMX906 sensor with f/1.95 aperture + 12-megapixel Ultra-Wide Camera + 50-megapixel Sony IMX856 2.5x portrait sensor
- Front: 50-megapixel Sony IMX906 sensor with f/2.1 aperture
Camera capabilities are arguably the Honor 200’s strongest feature. The phone boasts an impressive camera setup that delivers everything you need in a camera-centric smartphone.
During daylight, the Honor 200 captures excellent shots with wide dynamic range and vibrant colors. The photos are crisp with plenty of detail, although there might be slight over-saturation in some instances. However, the ultra-wide angle lens falls short, producing photos with reduced detail in the corners, particularly in daylight.
The true star of the show is the dedicated portrait sensor. The Honor 200 features a Sony IMX856 2.5x portrait sensor that consistently delivers excellent images in a variety of lighting conditions. Skin tones appear natural, and the bokeh effect works flawlessly. Users have access to three different Harcourt portrait modes: Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt Colour, and Harcourt Classic. Our personal favorite was Harcourt Classic, which yielded particularly impressive results across diverse lighting scenarios.
In low-light conditions, the primary sensor continues to perform admirably. Noise levels are kept to a minimum, and the phone accurately preserves colors in low-light environments. Again, the ultra-wide angle sensor struggles, producing less detailed photos with noticeable noise.
Honor 200 Battery: Impressive Battery Life
- Battery Capacity: 5,200mAh (Silicon-carbon)
- Wired Charging: 100W SuperCharge
- Charger: 100W (Not Included)
The Honor 200 stands out with its silicon-carbon battery. This type of battery boasts higher energy density and takes up less space compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries. As a result, the phone can maintain a slim form factor while offering extended battery life. In the case of the Honor 200, this translates to an impressive battery life.
Under normal usage, the Honor 200 easily lasted for a full day with an average screen time of 6 hours. In our battery loop test, the phone clocked an impressive 28 hours and 27 minutes. The phone also features 100W fast charging support, though the charger must be purchased separately. In our testing with a 68W fast charger, the phone charged to 37 percent in 15 minutes, 70 percent in 30 minutes, and reached full charge in 49 minutes.
Honor 200 Verdict
The Honor 200 stands as a strong contender if you’re seeking a premium camera phone within the mid-range price segment. Its sleek and lightweight design is unique, and the display provides a crisp and immersive viewing experience. However, it’s the camera that truly steals the show, producing excellent results with its primary sensor and dedicated portrait camera. While the wide-angle lens falls short, the overall camera performance is commendable.
The Honor 200 delivers a smooth and reliable performance that’s sufficient for everyday tasks. However, it faces stiff competition from devices like the Realme GT 6T, Motorola Edge 50 Pro, OnePlus Nord 4, Oppo Reno 12 Pro, and more. If you’re looking for a camera-focused phone that offers consistent performance, the Honor 200 is definitely a worthy consideration.
