Honor smartphones made a comeback in India in 2023 with the launch of the Honor 90, followed by the Honor X9b this year. With the Honor 200 series, the brand is targeting the upper mid-range segment. Although the Honor 200 series has already launched in select countries, including China, this year, the India launch has happened today.
The Honor 200 looks absolutely stunning, and the in-hand feel is perfect. It comes with a triple camera setup on the back, a smooth display, and promising performance. While the full review is still in progress, here are my initial thoughts.
Honor 200 First Impressions: Design and Display
The Honor 200 is available in two colours: Moonlight White and Black. I got the Moonlight White colourway for the review. The back panel of this phone is quite attractive, with a design that reminds me of a matte finish floor tile. It looks as if it has been hand-painted. The phone features a pill-shaped camera module, similar to the Oppo Reno 11 Pro and its elder sibling, the Honor 200 Pro (Review). The back finish is a mix of matte and glossy, which prevents fingerprint smudges but makes it slippery.
The phone is quite slim but it feels and looks much chunkier than its sibling, the Honor 200 Pro.
Now, let’s talk about the display—the Honor 200 has a 6.7-inch Quad Curved display that supports a 120Hz refresh rate. The display features a DCI-P3 wide colour gamut and offers 4000 nits of HDR peak brightness. This phone also comes with dual stereo speakers.
In my brief time using the phone, I found the colours to be vivid. However, I’m not a big fan of the keyboard’s appearance, as it looks vintage in a way that doesn’t appeal to me. As for brightness, the phone is very bright indoors; I’ll talk more about this in my review, so stay tuned.
Honor 200 First Impressions: Cameras
The Honor 200 features a triple camera setup: a 50-megapixel Sony IMX906 primary camera with OIS and an f/1.95 aperture, a 50-megapixel Sony IMX856 portrait telephoto camera, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture. On the front, there is a 50-megapixel portrait selfie camera with an f/2.1 aperture.
The colours appear very bright in daylight conditions, which can make them slightly inaccurate. When I asked my friend to choose between a photo taken with the Honor 200 and one taken with the iPhone 14, she chose the Honor 200 because the photo looked brighter, and better, and gave the place a more lively appearance. I will know more about its camera performance in my review, so, do check that out.
Honor 200 First Impressions: Hardware and Software
The Honor 200 is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC, which uses a 4nm fabrication process. This same chipset is also found in the Motorola Edge 50 Pro and the Vivo V30, both priced under Rs 35,000.
In the Antutu v10 benchmark, this phone scored 699,959 points. While the Oppo Reno 12 and the CMF Phone 1 have also surpassed the 600,000 mark, they still fall short of the Honor 200’s performance.
The Honor 200 comes with a 5200mAh battery but skips out on including a charger in the box, which is a bit disappointing. In my detailed review, I’ll assess its performance in the PCMark battery test and determine how long it takes for a full charge.
The phone runs MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14. The brand claims this software is AI-powered and offers features like the Magic Capsule, Magic Lock Screen, Honor Magic Ring and more. Unfortunately, it comes with some pre-installed bloatware apps.
Final Thoughts…
The Honor 200 boasts a premium design and display, captures good photos, and has a chunky battery. It performs well in everyday tasks such as calling, messaging, and regular multimedia consumption. For a starting price of Rs 34,999, the phone seems like an interesting option, but it also faces fierce competition against the likes of performance-focussed phones such as the iQOO Neo 9 Pro, Realme GT 6T, Poco F6, and more.
To find out how it compares to its competitors, stay tuned for our detailed review of the Honor 200.
