HONOR 200 Review: A Bespoke Atelier

On the sides, the phone has a volume rocker on the right joined by the power button while the left has nada. It has two stereo speakers: one on top and the other on the bottom. The IR Blaster is located on the top of the phone, and the bottom is joined by the microSD slot and the USB Type-C port with the mic in between.

The HONOR imprint on the back of the HONOR 200. | Image credit: Brahm Daniel Verano / androidist

The bottom of the phone features the imprinted HONOR logo on the lower left alongside the "AI Matrix Camera" text. There's also the CE, UKCA, and WEEE marking symbols on the lower right, which indicates that the phone has passed several product compliances and assessments. For the unaware, the WEEE marking is the crossed-out trash bin symbol.

The bliss and the curved aesthetic.

The display of the HONOR 200. | Image credit: Brahm Daniel Verano / androidist

Inert-but-enough performance and the battery.

Powering underneath the HONOR 200 is the 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset at the helm, aided by 12GB of RAM and a whopping 512GB of internal storage — that's a lot of storage for a sub-PHP 25K phone. The phone only peaks at the said configuration because it's only available in one variant. As for the performance, it may be inert for some as the phone is not cut out for hardware-extensive gaming (you can get the POCO F6 for less with a better Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset) but the phone is as bespoke as it is — it's for the camera people.

In terms of gaming, we played Wuthering Waves in the game's default settings. Thanks to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 backed by 12GB of RAM, the HONOR 200 holds up pretty well to deliver a stable 30 FPS for half an hour. The temperature rose from 40° C to 43° C and consumed 8-percent of the battery when playing in 30 minutes: the test was done in a warm environment. It heats but not much. There were barely any FPS drops as we played the game in its default settings — the latter automatically adjusts on its own depending on the type of the game and the type of the phone — the same thing can be achieved by playing similar games in a similar setting.

Meanwhile, casual use would consume 4-percent of the battery in around 30 minutes — that's browsing the web, scrolling through social media, doing casual tasks with a little bit of multitasking, and watching videos on YouTube. It's a great phone for long-term entertainment, as the phone's AMOLED screen — as vivid as it is — is on good terms with the phone's 5,200mAh battery.

Speaking of the 5,200mAh battery, it juices up in an instant from zero to full thanks to its 100W fast-charging tech, which the brand calls the SuperCharge, it gets fully charged in less than an hour. It takes one charge to last a day, even with Always On enabled.

MagicOS: A facsimile of Apple's iOS.

The HONOR 200 in its lock screen state. | Image credit: Brahm Daniel Verano / androidist

The HONOR 200's MagicOS 8.0, based on Android 14, is clean and easy to maneuver — it is uncluttered, especially the bloatware. Although it may share similarities with Apple's iOS, what makes HONOR's MagicOS special is its take on the features that were popularized by the former, especially the depth effect on the lock screen and the Magic Capsule, the brand's version of Dynamic Island. Albeit, the latter is elusive, as it is not a native part of the software yet — it acts more as an extra rather than an important part of the system. For instance, it only appears when you get notifications and when you're playing music.

Moreover, the phone has several AI features that make and will make the most of the device's capabilities, especially for photo editing and multi-tasking, as the phone is also said to come with Magic Eraser in a later update. Magic Eraser is a feature known for removing photobombers on photos.

Other than that, the 120Hz panel complements the software's fluid animations throughout the use. Some features will take you time to get used to, especially the Swiftkey, the phone's in-built keyboard. Although adjustable in settings, Swiftkey, being a replacement for Gboard, is unusual, as phones normally come with the latter. Nevertheless, it's a matter of personal preference.

The Harcourt imprint.

The cameras of the HONOR 200. | Image credit: Brahm Daniel Verano / androidist

As for the cameras, the HONOR 200 has a triple-camera setup with dual OIS consisting of 50MP main, 50 MP telephoto, and 12MP ultra-wide lenses. It also has a 50MP sensor on the front. A consistent set of high mega-pixel sensors, paired with Harcourt capabilities, HONOR really did great with utilizing the in-built color tuning features — the feature was underutilized up until now. It may be present on older phones but was underutilized due to the lack of accessibility, and HONOR takes the cake for having the color filters accessible on the front page.

HONOR's camera supports up to 50x zoom with three color filters in normal mode: Natural, Vibrant, and Authentic. The Natural mode, as the name suggests, uses natural colors in the processing of the image, followed by Vibrant which uses a lighter tone, and Authentic which gives emphasis to the subject by using a stronger, darker tone with a soft vignette around the edges. Below are the photos we took with the following modes:

Natural: Photo 1

Natural: Photo 2

Natural: Photo 3

Vibrant: Photo 1

Authentic: Photo 1

Meanwhile, the portrait mode, developed jointly with Studio Harcourt, comes with three color filters which are named after the studio: Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt colour, and its signature black-and-white Harcourt Classic. This is where the collab between HONOR and the Paris-based Harcourt Studio kicks in — it's the studio's expertise to take portraits, hence the names. The images are presumably adjacent to the studio's output. Below are the photos we took with the following modes:

Harcourt Vibrant: Photo 1

Harcourt colour: Photo 1

Harcourt Classic: Photo 1

The Verdict: androidist Meter - 4/5: Editor's Choice

A bespoke in beauty, the HONOR 200 is a pocket photo studio on the go. The phone's avant-garde imaging capabilities, partnered with Studio Harcourt's expertise in portraits, make the HONOR 200 the phone for awe-struck mobile photographers. The camera-centric phone from the renowned tech brand is an ambitious atelier with visceral, versatile camera features in a sophisticated, luxurious appearance.

Why we gave it a 4?

The Good.

• The curved display adds another layer of elegance.
• The 7.7mm thickness makes the phone light and easy to grip.
• It comes with the charging brick and a free jelly case out of the box.
• It has a luxurious, sophisticated design.
• It has an uncluttered software experience despite being heavily influenced by Apple's iOS.
• It has three 50MP sensors: two on the back (main and telephoto) and one on the front.
• It has avant-garde camera capabilities.
• The 5,200mAh battery with 100W fast-charging tech is more than enough.

The Bad.

• The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset may irk some but not all.
• The Apple-like software is not its first rodeo — it can be better.

Specifications

Pricing & Availability