Honor 200 5G: A powerhouse mid-range smartphone that exceeds expectations
Honor 200, with what Honor claims is a studio-level portrait camera. Picture: Noel Campion.
The Honor 200, priced at €529, enters the competitive mid-range smartphone market with a compelling package of features. With its premium processor, high-quality camera system, impressive display, and fast charging capabilities, this phone promises a lot for its price.
While functional and sleek, the plastic back doesn’t feel as premium as the glass or metal finishes in smartphones in this price range. The design is still attractive, and the phone is lightweight and easy to hold at 7.7mm thick.
While it’s not the latest and greatest, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset is impressive for a phone in this price range, mainly when competitors often use lower-tier processors like MediaTek’s Dimensity chips.
I noticed a significant performance boost while testing apps and games and multitasking on the Honor 200. It easily handled everything I threw at it, from graphics-heavy games to switching between multiple apps, with no noticeable lag. The gaming optimisation is also worth noting. Games ran smoothly, with reasonable frame rates, and I didn’t experience any overheating issues, which can sometimes plague phones in this price range.
The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 also brings stability and efficiency, ensuring the phone stays responsive even with heavy usage. If performance is a priority for you, especially for gaming or multitasking, this phone won’t disappoint.
Another area where the Honor 200 impresses is its 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. That’s more than enough room to take a lot of photos and videos, and there is still plenty of room for apps.
Honor has made significant strides in the camera department and doesn’t skimp on quality. The primary camera has a 50MP sensor and is complemented by a 50MP 2.5x telephoto lens and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. The tele lens has up to 50x digital zoom, and the ultra-wide has a 2.5cm minimum focus for excellent macro shots.
The selfie camera, which features a 50MP sensor with an f/2.1 aperture, produces excellent portrait shots.
It’s excellent that Honor’s collaboration with Studio Harcourt is not just for the flagship models. The three Harcourt presets, included in the camera app, allow you to capture studio-quality portrait shots right from the phone. I tested the camera in various lighting conditions, and the results were impressive. Portrait mode produced photos with excellent subject-background separation, mimicking the look of professional photography. Skin tones were accurate, and the depth effect was natural without looking artificial.
Even in normal day-to-day photography, the Honor 200 performed admirably. The colour accuracy was on point, capturing a lot of detail in both bright and low-light environments. The ultra-wide lens was perfect for landscape shots, while the telephoto lens added versatility for distant subjects.
The 6.67-inch AMOLED panel delivers punchy colours and deep blacks, making it a joy to watch videos and play games on. With a peak brightness of 4,000 nits, the display is easily viewable even in direct sunlight. I tested it outdoors on a sunny day, and the display remained perfectly visible.
The screen also supports a 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring smooth scrolling and animations. It makes a noticeable difference in day-to-day tasks, such as web browsing and navigating through apps. The slight curvature of the display at the edges adds to the phone’s sleek look without causing accidental touches, a problem that plagues some curved-screen devices.
Eye protection features are built in, making prolonged use easier on the eyes. Honor’s optimisation ensures the display looks great, even compared to more expensive competitors in this price range.
The Honor 200 is powered by a 5,200mAh battery, slightly larger than the batteries found in many competing phones. During my testing, the phone lasted a full day with moderate to heavy usage, including gaming, web browsing, and watching videos. You could easily stretch the battery life to nearly two days with lighter usage.
The Honor 200 can charge the phone to 100% in just over 30 minutes. It’s a feature that adds a lot of convenience, especially if you’re always on the go. However, a charger is not included, and if you want to achieve maximum charge rates, you’ll need to buy one of Honor’s SuperCharge adapters. On the downside, there’s no support for wireless charging, which is a little surprising.
Honor has included many AI features previously reserved for its flagship models in the more affordable Honor 200. MagicOS, the company’s custom software layer on top of Android 14, comes with a host of AI-driven optimisations and features.
One of my favourites is the AI portrait engine, which helps the camera system produce stunning portraits. But it doesn’t stop there. AI features extend into everyday use, such as optimising battery usage based on your habits and enhancing app performance for smoother multitasking. The user interface is clean and easy to navigate.
The Honor 200 punches well above its weight in nearly every category. You’re getting a powerful Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, a versatile camera system, a bright AMOLED display, and super-fast charging. Honor has included many of its flagship AI features in a mid-range device, a win for consumers.
Anyone shopping in this price range should consider the Honor 200. It’s one of the most well-rounded mid-range smartphones available right now.
Honor 200 – €529 SIM-free from Harvey Norman and on Prepay and Bill Pay from Three and Tesco Mobile.
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