Honor 600 Pro review: Near‑flagship performance and build in a mid-range price tag
The Honor 600 Pro in its warm white finish. Picture: Noel Campion
At €799, the Honor 600 Pro looks every bit like a flagship device, yet its price feels too low for what you see on the screen and in its internals. With RAM and storage costs at an all‑time high, the price of flagship handsets continues to rise; the 600 Pro is an attractive offering.
The warm white version of the 600 Pro, which I received for this review, reminds me a lot of one of my favourite designs on the Oppo Find X9 Pro. It’s fair to say it feels very iPhone‑esque, but visually it is stunning, and I love how it sits in my hand. The chassis feels sturdy, with an aluminium frame wrapped around a single‑piece glass back that has a matte finish. All the buttons are on the right side, including a dedicated side button that serves as both a quick AI shortcut launchpad and a camera shutter.
The device sports IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings. The “6” means dust‑tight, while “9 K” indicates it can survive a high‑pressure jet of hot water, something that most consumers never think about until it actually happens. It also carries an SGS drop and crush resistance, which is very reassuring.
A 6.57‑inch OLED panel delivers punchy colours across a 2728 × 1264 resolution. The bezels are minimal, giving the phone an almost bezel‑free look while retaining a comfortable grip. It supports a peak brightness of 8,000nits and I had no issues reading the display in bright sunlight.
The panel uses an adaptive 60-120 Hz refresh rate, but it doesn’t have LTPO technology to save power at lower rates. This means the phone keeps a consistent performance curve but loses some efficiency in battery‑conscious situations. Still, colour accuracy remains stable even when you push the screen into HDR mode.
Under the hood sits Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, last year's top silicon. Not surprisingly, benchmarks place it below newer flagship chipsets, but real‑world tests show that everyday multitasking feels snappy, and gaming performance is stellar. With 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, the phone delivers ample power and plenty of room for apps, media, and files.
A 6,400 mAh battery (7,000 mAh on the Chinese model) delivers a full day under mixed usage. Although there’s no charger in the box, it’s excellent to see that it supports up to 80 W wired charging, bringing the phone from zero to 70 % in half an hour, topping it off in just under 50 minutes.
Wireless charging tops out at an impressive 50W if you use Honor’s compatible charger, and the reverse feature charges accessories on the go. In practice
The Honor 600 Pro runs Magic OS 10 on top of Android 16. Its UI favours translucent bubbles and a liquid‑glass aesthetic that feels polished and familiar to iOS users. A black bar around the selfie hole houses quick shortcuts, while a long press reveals a contextual sidebar populated with suggested apps.
Magic Portal provides a copy‑paste helper; tapping an image opens a menu of relevant actions. The device also offers AI Memories, a scrapbook where photos, videos, and notes can be stored for later retrieval. Real‑time translation and subtitle generation work well during conversations with foreign speakers.
The device offers AI‑powered editing within the gallery, as well as a dedicated AI photo agent that accepts natural language commands for manipulation. An "image to video" function can turn a still into an animated clip, adding creative options beyond traditional edits.
Honor pledges six OS upgrades and a full six‑year security patch schedule. In practice, that means the phone will remain current for at least three years, with major revisions arriving roughly once a year.
The main camera has a 200MP sensor (1/1.4-inch) that captures detail with near-photographic fidelity. Colour rendition feels natural, especially for skin tones, and the dynamic range handles mid‑tone shadows without clipping. In low light, the main camera still retains sharpness and colour accuracy, though it can be slightly over‑exposed.
The 50MP periscope telephoto camera offers 3.5× optical zoom and respectable image quality. I found that colours stay vibrant, contrast is decent, and detail holds up even at the upper end of the zoom range. A two‑fold digital crop still delivers acceptable results, although noise starts to creep in past four times the native resolution.
The 12 MP ultra‑wide sensor provides sharp, well‑exposed images in good light. Under dim conditions it can appear a bit too contrasty, but overall dynamic range remains respectable.
The 50 MP front camera gives clean selfies; the lack of autofocus means you need to tap precisely to lock focus.
All four cameras can record up to 4K at 60 fps, but the main and telephoto deliver sharper frames than the ultra‑wide or front cameras. Electronic stabilisation is adequate in daylight, but for things like walking it shows a mild wobble that becomes noticeable against fast motion. In low light, the video still maintains decent sharpness and dynamic range.
Connectivity follows the usual Android package. A USB‑C port supports data transfer up to 10 Gbps and fast charging via the included charger. The device supports dual-band Wi‑Fi with optional 6E support and Bluetooth 5.2 for peripherals. NFC is present for contactless payments. Speaker output comes from two front‑firing drivers that deliver a clean, balanced sound; bass is respectable while mids stay crisp during music playback.
With its bright display, excellent battery life and versatile camera kit, the Honor 600 Pro delivers flagship‑level performance at a mid‑range price. If you’re thinking of switching from iOS to Android, the 600 Pro will feel very familiar. For those upgrading from an older device built a few years back, it offers a massive step up.
€799 Harvey Norman
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