Honor 200 Review: Perfect Balance of Style and Camera

Honor has been spreading its wings in India with a slew of launches. The company recently introduced the Honor 200 series in the country to expand its portfolio in the mid-range and premium segments. Although the Honor 200 Pro caters for the premium segment, it is the Honor 200 that will face the real heat in the Indian smartphone landscape. The latest smartphone from the company is priced at Rs 34,999 for 8GB + 256GB and Rs 39,999 for the 12GB + 512GB option.

The Honor 200 offers some interesting features and a premium design. This time, the special focus is on the cameras, which are co-engineered with Studio Harcourt, a photography studio known for its portraits. That said, is it enough to entice users to bypass the competition and go for this one? Let’s find out in this review.

Honor 200 Design: Sleek and Stylish

• Dimensions – 161.5 x 74.6 x 7.7mm
• Weight – 187g
• Colours – Moonlight White and Black

Honor was one of the few brands that took the designing of the phones quite seriously, even when they were previously active in India before the ban fiasco. Fast forward to today, and you will see the fragments of the same design philosophy in Honor 200. The smartphone looks unique and stylish in this price segment. I got the Moonlight White colour option for the review, and right off the bat, it looks elegant, which is a rarity in this price segment.

The Honor 200 is available in two colour options: Moonlight White and Black.

The wave design pattern at the rear panel looks quite attractive, and the oval-shaped camera module adds some cherry to the top. However, the camera module also makes it wobble on flat surfaces. The in-hand feel is quite comfortable, though the frame is made of plastic, which is a bummer.

The handset is slim with 7.7mm thickness and weighs 187 grams, which is at par with the competition. The only downside of the design is it is quite slippery, so you will need a case with it, especially as it does not come with any official Gorilla Glass protection. Also, you don’t get any official IP rating, which is kind of a deal breaker for me 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 latest handset from Honor comes loaded with a quad-curved display and offers crisp and colourful visuals. Moreover, you get 4,000nits of peak brightness, making it a bright display for use in outdoor conditions.

The Honor 200 features an AMOLED display that delivers vibrant colours.

The phone offers a 120Hz screen refresh rate, making the whole scrolling experience fluid. The quad-curved screen looks like a premium design while minimising accidental touches. Coming to content consumption, you will surely love this device. While watching ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ on Apple TV+, the colour saturation was on point and faced no problem for the darker part of the show.

The phone also supports Widevine L1 support along with HDR10+, meaning that you can comfortably watch HDR content on Netflix on this device. You can get two different modes, Normal and Vivid, to meet your desired taste. However, I would suggest to keep it at Vivid mode to get the best output.

The handset offers different options to customise the display settings.

Another interesting thing here is the Always-On display. The phone comes with two options for this mode: Full screen and Partial screen. The full-screen mode dims the version of the lock screen, and you get a full-screen AoD, which is a fun feature.

The handset also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor that works well, though the position is a bit lower than my liking. However, you can choose between animations, which are always fun to use.

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 comes loaded with MagicOS 8.0, based on the Android 14 operating system. The user interface is easy to get used to and offers some good levels of customisations and features. The company claims to have added some AI features like Magic Capsule, Magic Portal, Magic Ring, and more. Some of these features are useful, while some look more like a gimmick.

The Magic Portal is one useful feature. The feature basically allows you to drag and drop text, photos, and videos from one app to the other. For example, you can copy the text you like on Instagram by simply long-pressing the text until you see a blue hue in the corner. Now, simply drag the content to Notes or other apps like Gmail, WhatsApp, Notes, and more. You also have a Favourite Space that allows you to store all the screenshots and videos and access them anytime.

On the other hand, the Magic Capsule seems to be more of a gimmick here. The company has drawn its inspiration from Apple’s Dynamic Island but forgot to be inspired by all the features it offers. At the time, you can also see the music playback and timer. Hopefully, the brand will add more features in the future.

Apart from this, the user interface offers a good level of customisation. On the downside, the issue of bloatware persists. So, you have double apps for Email, Gallery, app market, calculator, docs, and so on. Thankfully, you don’t get spammy notifications from these apps, which is a blessing in disguise.

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 decent hardware at this price point. The handset comes loaded with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor also seen in the Vivo V30, OnePlus Nord CE4, Motorola Edge 50 Pro, and more. However, considering the competition at this price point, the phone’s performance is slightly sub-par, and you can check it out in this synthetic benchmark comparisons:

In day-to-day use, you will not face any problems or lag. Even with demanding tasks, the phone doesn’t throttle much, which is a good thing.

As far as gaming is concerned, you can do most of the usual gaming on this device without much stress. Playing Call of Duty: Mobile with default settings at High and Very High graphics and frame rates, respectively, you get a smooth experience. Even with Very High Quality and maximum frame rate, I didn’t notice any frame drop. However, the phone got slightly warm around the camera module. But it was not at an alarming level.

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

The cameras are perhaps its biggest strong suit. The Honor 200 features an interesting camera setup that packs everything you need in a good camera-centric smartphone.

Honor 200 2x daylight (top), ultra-wide (middle), and normal (bottom) camera samples. (Tap to Expand)

During daylight conditions, the phone captures excellent shots with good dynamic range and vibrant colours. The photos were crisp and full of details, though the colours were slightly oversaturated in some cases. However, the ultra-wide angle lens was a miss, as the quality was often not at par. You can see some loss of detail in the corners in daylight shots.

Honor 200 portrait camera sample using Harcourt Colour (bottom), Harcourt Vibrant (Middle), and Harcourt Classic (Top). (Tap to expand image)

However, the star of the show is the portrait sensor. The phone has a Sony IMX856 2.5x portrait sensor that captures really good photos in different conditions. The skin tone was natural, and the bokeh effect worked well. You also get three different Harcourt portrait modes: Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt Colour, and Harcourt Classic. My favourite was the Classic mode, which delivered some really good output in different lighting conditions.

Honor 200 low-light camera samples. (Tap image to expand)

Coming to the low light performance of Honor 200, the primary sensor does a good job again. The noises are kept to a minimum, and the phone is able to preserve the colours when the light is low. The ultra-wide angle was again not up to the mark as the photos came out to be less detailed and full of noises.

Honor 200 Battery: Impressive Battery Life

• Battery Capacity – 5,200mAh (Silicon-carbon)
• Wired Charging – 100W SuperCharge
• Charger – 100W (Not Included)

The Honor 200 is one of the few smartphones in the market that offers a silicon-carbon battery. The silicon-carbon batteries tend to hold higher energy density and take less space as compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries. This results in a slimmer form factor while still maintaining high battery backup, which is the case with this device.

The Honor 200 features a 5,200mAh battery with 100W fast charging support.

Under normal usage, the phone easily lasted one full day with an average screen time of 6 hours. The phone lasted 28 hours and 27 minutes in our battery loop test, which was quite impressive. It also supports 100W fast charging support. However, you need to buy the charger separately. We tested the charging speed with a 68W fast charger. The phone was charged 37 percent in 15 minutes, 70 percent in 30 minutes, and fully charged in 49 minutes.

Honor 200 Verdict

The Honor 200 is a good package if you are inclined towards a premium camera phone at a mid-range price segment. The phone features a sleek and lightweight design that looks unique. The display is crisp and is deal for content consumption. However, the camera takes centre stage here and delivers some good results with its primary sensor and portrait camera, though the same cannot be said for the wide-angle sensor. The performance is decent, and you will not face any problems during day-to-day usage.

However, the phone faces stiff competition with the likes of Realme GT 6T (Review), Motorola Edge 50 Pro (Review), OnePlus Nord 4 (Review), Oppo Reno 12 Pro (Review), and more. So, if you are considering buying a camera-centric smartphone that delivers consistent performance, then you can consider the Honor 200 device.