Honor 200 review: A strong mid-range contender with a capable camera

Honor returned to India after a brief hiatus and is looking to re-establish its presence with the launch of smartphones that are specifically aimed for the users in the country. The company has been steadily gaining traction with its focus on innovative technology and stylish designs in its smartphones – and one such offering is the Honor 200.
With an emphasis on design, photography and performance, Honor 200 aims to capture the attention of Indian consumers – as the mid-range performer that intensifies competition in the already crowded smartphone market that has seen strong contenders like the OnePlus Nord CE 4.
The Honor 200 is priced starting at Rs 34,999 for the 8GB+256GB variant and Rs 39,999 for the 12GB+512GB model. The smartphone is available in Moonlight White and Black colour options. We’ve used the phone for a few weeks and let’s find out whether it has the mettle to challenge established players in the Indian smartphone market.

The design of Honor 200 is nothing extraordinary as we have seen similar profiles in other smartphones as well. What makes the phone different is its luxurious and refined build with curvy sides. There are some elegant details such as a wave pattern on the back. It has a matte finish with soft touch complemented by a huge oval-shaped camera island with a silver frame on the top left corner.
The phone gets a shiny plastic frame, stereo speakers and does not have an official IP rating. The Honor 200 is slim at 7.7mm thin and weighs 187g so it easily slid into pockets without adding too much bulk even when wearing tight trousers.

On the front is a 6.7-inch OLED screen with FHD+ resolution (2664×1200 pixels). Its Hyper-dynamic Color Display Technology and 4000 nits peak brightness ensure clear and crisp visuals, even in outdoor conditions.
For example, we did not have any problem when scrolling through photos and videos and reading text online while outside or even near a glass window under bright sun. The Honor 200 display has a 120Hz refresh rate, meaning the scrolling on social media felt smooth.
The display wraps around the sides of the phone and it sports slim bezels that make the screen look a bit taller and have a tad extra space. The hole-punch-style front camera is in the middle at the top. The display also gets Wet Touch Enhancement, which is to help unlock the phone even if your hands are wet. We tested it by unlocking the phone using the built-in fingerprint sensor and the feature worked fine.

Honor says that the display of the Honor 200 has Netflix (pre-installed app) and Amazon HDR Certification. The content on the phone display looked great. For example, while watching Interstellar on Netflix, we found that various scenes in space where objects had darker tones did not merge into the background.
The screen also has Touch Enhancer and Mistouch Prevention feature in Game Manager that popped up while we were gaming on the phone. Honor says there are a bunch of other display-related features, which include Eye Comfort and AI-powered scree temperature tuning.

Honor 200 is powered by Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage. There’s Cooling System 2.0 that has a large stainless steel biomimetic VC and a total heat dissipation area of 34696mm. All this translates to better cooling efficiency and no stutter.
The Honor 200 demonstrated strong performance during our testing phase. It effortlessly handled multitasking, and games like FC Mobile without experiencing noticeable heating or slowdown. This indicates efficient thermal management and robust processing power.
However, when it comes to demanding games like Call of Duty: Mobile, its capabilities are somewhat limited. The device's GPU seemed to struggle with high graphical settings in fast-paced shooters, leading to noticeable frame rate drops.
While the phone can handle casual and mid-tier games with ease, users seeking high-end performance for demanding titles may want to explore other options. The device offers Game and Balanced modes to adjust performance settings, prioritizing either speed or battery life.
Casual gamers and those who prioritise battery life over graphics, the Honor 200 offers a decent gaming experience.
Coming to the software, the Honor 200 runs MagicOS 8 which is based on Android 14. It is a relatively clean UI but comes with a bunch of pre-installed apps, including an app store, music player, video player, file manager and themes, among others. We were either able to uninstall or disable them. Honor promises three years of software update and four years of security patches.

The best part of the HONOR 200 is its camera prowess, which encompasses a 50MP primary camera, a 50MP telephoto sensor, and a 12MP ultrawide shooter. The primary camera offers decent outputs in daylight and also captures quality photos in low-light conditions, with good details. The photos are natural with minimal noise. The telephoto sensor maintains the colour quality along with its 2.5x optical zoom capability. When it comes to portrait photography, the camera gives excellent results in all three modes available. The ultrawide camera also performs satisfactorily, though it leaves some noise under low-light setups. The selfie camera, a 50MP sensor, also performs brilliantly, capturing skin tones efficiently.
The Honor 200 USP is its camera setup and the company is also bringin AI-powered processing to deliver impressive clicks. The smartphone comes with a 50MP Sony IMX906 main sensor with f/1.95 aperture and OIS, a 50MP Sony IMX856 sensor (f/2.4 aperture, OIS) for the Telephoto lens and 12MP sensor (f/2.2 aperture) for the ultra wide camera. On the front is a 50MP sensor with f/2.1 aperture.

The camera island is inspired by the form of "Casa Mila" by Antoni Gaudí, a Catalan architect and designer in Spain whose most notable work is Sagrada Família in Barcelona. The camera has a quick shutter speed that helped us take photos of some moving objects like cars, flying birds with minimum effort during our review.
The Honor 200 delivers impressive photography capabilities, producing vibrant and detailed images in favourable lighting conditions. The post-processing, however, may sometimes oversaturate some photos that looked promising for social media but those who appreciate natural tones will have to edit them to more natural looking shots.
The easier way is to use the camera app’s Natural, Vibrant and Authentic Modes. You can enable the HDR for more dramatic shots and AI Photography which automatically adjusts the photo in post processing in the best possible way. For example, an image clicked with normal mode completely ‘blew out’ the lamp shade while AI Photography mode made it an acceptable click.

The device excels in capturing portraits, with the AI-powered Harcourt mode producing studio-quality results. Not only the portraits of humans but of animals like dogs had a professional look. The phone comes with Harcourt portrait modes – Harcourt Classic, Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt Colour – which can be turned off. There are beauty modes and options to click a studio like photo with different lighting.

Another feature is the 2.5x optical zoom, a rarity in this price range. While the capability may not impress much, it's okay to have an additional camera as it enhances versatility and allows for more creative photography options. One thing we noticed is quick transition between the main and telephoto camera, however, there’s a notable colour shift when zooming in.

Overall, the Honor 200's camera performance is a strong selling point, offering a compelling blend of features and image quality.
The front camera works just fine and the screen glows up when it senses low-light conditions. This helps in less grainy images in dim-lit areas. Just like the main camera, we also had an option to add beauty filters. It can take images in 1x and 0.8x which at times may be just enough to fit in an extra person in selfies.

The Honor 200 supports Honor 100W SuperCharge and it can fully charge the 5,200mAh battery in about 45 minutes. If you are in a hurry, you can get enough juice in 10-15 minutes charging to run for about 5-6 hours. The phone lasted for an entire day and we usually charged it the next morning.

The Honor 200 aims to deliver a premium experience without the hefty price tag. A standout feature of the Honor 200 is its camera system, which has been fine-tuned in collaboration with renowned photography studio, Studio Harcourt.
Beyond its camera prowess, the Honor 200 boasts a stylish design, a decent display and a range of features that compete directly with some flagship models. While the performance is adequate for most users, those seeking a top-tier gaming experience may be slightly disappointed. The Honor 200's competitive pricing (starting at Rs 34,999) and inclusion of features like fast charging and good battery life make it a compelling option in the mid-range segment.