Some of the most commendable devices of the last few years have been mid-range devices. In such a competitive market, manufacturers have delivered some incredible value smartphones to capture their share of the populist buck. And, after some months with Honor 200, we feel the handset can, at least, match Google Pixel 8a as the high bar for the value-conscious mid-range buyer.
Honor 200 does a lot for its price of €649 sim-free from Harvey Norman and from free on Billpay with Three Ireland. The versatile camera set-up, the flagship-level display, the svelte and subtle design all add much to the package. In many respects, Honor 200 offers a premium smartphone experience for about half the price of a premium device.
Built Quality
Honor 200 is superbly crafted. The machining and engineering feel tight, and the materials have a premium feel. Honor 200 is also very slim at 7.7mm, and despite its sizeable 6.7-inch display, it doesn’t feel like a big phone. At 187grams, it’s quite light for its size.
Honor 200 is also easy to use in one hand. The textured rear and gently curved sides give a nice grip in the hand. There is a narrow bezel around Honor 200’s Quad-Curve display that helps prevent accidental touches with the palms.
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Honor 200 features a well-thought-out design that only becomes more apparent over time – it’s more sleek and easier-to-use than almost any device of its size, and even some devices with smaller screen.
Flagship Party
Honor 200 wears an elegant and minimal look that uses macro detailing and textures to create visual interest. Our Black review model is demure and business-like with lightly frosted rear and aluminium frame contrasting nicely with the glossy black of the powered-off display.
The rear of Honor 200 is dominated visually by the triple-lens camera island. The deep black of the lenses bound with with a metallic gloss in a near-ovoid shape is a pleasing symmetric detail.
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Honor 200 is available in three other colours in other regions, the chatoyant or pearlescent Moonlight White, Emerald Green and Coral Pink. But, our Black review model offers a professional look that never goes out of style.
Segment-Leading Display
The 6.7-inch AMOLED panel of Honor 200 is about as good as premium devices in most respects. The SuperDynamicVivid engine coupled with the AMOLED display hardware gives the device perhaps the very best screen of any smartphone at this price.
Honor 200’s 1200 x 2664 pixels give the 6.7-inch display a pin-sharpness. The device can also handle the brightest, sunniest days with 4,000nits peak brightness. This high brightness, coupled with 10-bit colour, give the display of Honor 200 excellent contrast and colour. HDR content is stunning on the display.
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Another display detail that we liked is that the AMOLED panel is almost painted on the inside of Quad-Curve glass. And this makes the sharp, deep and vibrant image quality pop all the more.
Magic Personalised
The MagicOS 8 package based on Android 14 features a wide array of personalisation options, including some imaginative cards, widgets and buttons for your home screen. While Pixel devices have also bolstered their widget and card offerings, Honor 200 did it first.
And, Honor 200 probably does it better with a greater array of non-app specific applets, widgets, cards and buttons on top of the wide selection of app-specific options that Pixels now offer.
Magic, AI and U
MagicOS 8 offers its own AI suite on top of the artificial intelligence offered with Android 14. The device uses its homemade artificial intelligence to enhance photo and video, improve battery life and reduce battery wear, but it also offers three front-facing AI suites.
Magic Portal grabs images, links, text etc.,dragging them to the right reveals a hot menu of appropriate AI assistant functions as well as user-selected ‘favourite’ apps.
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Magic Text asks the AI for more information, a translation, to rephrase, or summarise on any piece of highlighted text. The features automatically offers the user appropriate actions, depending on whether its a phone number, piece of text in a foreign language, a form, or whatever alphanumericals are highlighted.
Top Self
The third front-facing AI feature is the AI Portrait Engine, which works in tandem with the triple-lens camera system to deliver striking images of living subjects. Two large 50MP sensors do the heavy lifting. One 50MP lens is a 2.5x optical zoom, the other 50MP is a wide, and these offer great versatility.
Scene selection and improvements to contrast and lighting before shooting are almost always perfect. The AI can also make improvements after the image is taken, which does polish off the majority of images. Honor 200 gives consistently colourful, sharp images with a pleasing depth and sense of artistry.
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The 2.5x optical zoom, adds some distance to the equation. Honor 200 also uses its zoom lens and 50MP sensor to offer hybrid zoom to a maximum of 50x. Images up to around 15x or so can be excellent without a particularly steady hand. Beyond 15x, you’ll need a tripod, or at least somewhere to rest your elbows.
The 12MP ultrawide lens excels at fitting groups into close-up shots or capturing expansive landscapes. While it may not match the two primary lenses in terms of detail or dynamic range, you can happily hop between modes without any jarring disparities.
Premium Everyday Performance
The Snapdragon Gen. 3 with an Adreno 720 found inside Honor 200 is an upper mid-market chipset, that’s more befitting the device’s price than the display, design or capture performance. However, coupled with our review model’s 12GB of RAM, Honor 200 runs perfectly smoothly for everyday work and play.
As we discussed in our original review, as laws of diminishing returns kick in hard at the bleeding edge mid-range chipsets aren’t lagging that far behind anymore. And Honor 200 certainly isn’t lagging in our hands either.
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Honor 200 is slick and responsive when navigating its beautiful UI. All the apps you will ever use open instantly. Switching between 40 tabs is smooth as silk, allowing you to enjoy the neat animations of MagicOS as you glide around its menus.
Charge Dodger
The 5,200mAh silicon-carbon battery combines with AI-powered app and power management to give Honor 200 excellent stamina. Our average workday left us with enough juice to chance Day Two regularly. Moderate users will easily make it bed on Day Two before needing the charger.
Honor 200 can also handle even the hardest workdays of power users, with strong stamina under load.
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100W SuperCharge combined with AI charge management gives Honor 200 premium-level charging performance. Being to charge the device to over 50% in just 15 minutes is something we took for granted after a few months with Honor 200.
There is great peace of mind in knowing that your phone is set for whole day’s use in the time it takes you to get ready to leave your house. The charging performance of Honor 200 is a genuinely life-altering upgrade when coming from lesser devices.
Honor 200 Specifications
| Chipset: | Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 Mobile Platform GPU: Adreno 720 CPU – Octa-core: CPU: 1 × Cortex-A715 2.63GHz + 3 × Cortex-A715 2.4GHz + 4 × Cortex-A510 1.8GHz GPU – Adreno 720 |
| RAM: | 8GB, 12GB (reviewed), 16GB |
| Storage: | 256GB, 512GB (reviewed) |
| Display: | 6.7 inch diagonal, 1200 x 2664 pixels, OLED, 1billion colours, 120Hz, HDR, 4000 nits at peak |
| Camera: | – 50 MP, f/2.0, (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS – 50 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 2.5x optical zoom – 12 MP, f/2.2, 112˚ (ultrawide), AF Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, OIS |
| Selfie Cam: | Photo – 50 MP, f/2.1, (wide) Video – 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| OS: | Android 14, MagicOS 8 |
| Battery: | Si-C, 5,200mAh |
| Water/Dust resistance: | IP67 resistant – up to 1 metre of water for up to 30 minutes |
| Charging: | Wired: Up to 100W with Honor SuperCharge Wireless: 5W |
| Connectivity: | – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct – Bluetooth 5.3, A2DP, LE, aptX HD – GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS, NavIC |
| Dimensions: | 161.5 x 74.6 x 7.7mm |
| Weight: | 187 grams |
| Colours: | Obsidian, Porcelain, Bay, Aloe |
Honor 200 Ireland Pricing and Availability
In Ireland, Honor 200 (12GB RAM/512GB version) is available from Harvey Norman for RRP €649 with a range of Bill Pay options. Honor 200 is also available from free on Three Ireland Billpay and from €479 on Three Ireland Prepay. The device is also available with Tesco Ireland Mobile from €149.99 on a €45p/m plan, or at €249.99 on a €35p/m plan.
