We’re seeing more and more sub-flagship phones in the market, especially in Southeast Asian countries. But it’s not surprising, as they can provide features and performance akin to an actual flagship device, at a much lower price point.
A descendant of the popular midrange HONOR 90, the series has come a long way. Like the Magic6 Pro and a couple of other HONOR phones in the past, this new one promises improved camera features. Plus, it has an appetizing specs list that ticks all the important boxes.
It goes without saying that we’re excited to check this device out. Not just as smartphone enthusiasts, but to also help you decide if it’s the right smartphone for you. Enough talking, here’s our HONOR 200 Pro review.
HONOR 200 Pro Specs
- Android 14, MagicOS 8
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 6.78-inch FHD+ OLED display, 2700 x 1224 pixel resolution, ~437ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate
- HDR, 4000 nits peak brightness
- 3.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 octa-core processor
- Adreno 735 GPU
- 12GB RAM
- 512GB internal storage, non-expandable
- 50-megapixel + 2-megapixel (depth sensor) front cameras
- 50-megapixel (1/1.3-inch, PDAF, OIS) + 50-megapixel (2.5x telephoto, f/2.4, PDAF, OIS) + 12-megapixel (ultra-wide/macro) rear cameras, dual-LED flash
- Under-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
- Stereo speakers
- IP55 dust and water resistant
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 6, dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.3
- GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS
- NFC
- USB-C
- Dimensions: 163.3 x 75.2 x 8.2mm
- Weight: 199g
- Colors: Pink, Green, Silver, Black
- 5,200mAh non-removable battery, 100W wired, 66W wireless, 5W reverse wired, reverse wireless charging
Design and Build Quality
While it now looks different, the HONOR 200 Pro has a similar feel and vibe to the HONOR 90 5G that we reviewed last year. It’s quite beefy and thick — unsurprising considering the hardware inside — but still feels very smooth and comfortable in the hands. That’s thanks to its gentle curves on the front and back, as well as the nice texture of the rear panel.
Unlike phones with a glass back, the rear panel stays clean from fingerprint marks. The shiny curved area surrounding the camera island, which I expected to easily attract smudges, doesn’t.
The device is available in three colors: Moonlight White, and the ones we have here, Black and hero color Ocean Cyan. According to HONOR, the design of this cyan colorway was inspired by the “waters of the Maldives” with green and blue tones that definitely look like clear, seawater under a bright sunny day.
For durability, the device is IP65 dust and water-resistant, so don’t worry if you accidentally get it wet or dropped in water, as long as you dry it quickly.
Unfortunately, it uses a plastic frame instead of metal. I did a few minor bend tests and it did feel more fragile than a couple of phones I’ve tested. It shouldn’t be a big deal unless you’re deliberately trying to break it.
With its plastic frame and curved screen, it’s probably best to use the included clear case. It’s a pretty basic, transparent silicone case, but at least it lets you see and appreciate the device’s design. Also, it does a decent job of protecting the screen and the camera island.
There’s also a pre-installed screen protector so you feel safe, especially since there was no mention of what glass was used for the screen.
Overall, the HONOR 200 Pro is a well-designed smartphone. The build quality is not top-notch, but it doesn’t feel like it will break easily.
Now, let’s take a tour of the hardware. On the front, we have a 6.78-inch OLED display with a small pill-shaped notch for the 50-megapixel selfie camera and depth sensor. The bezels are nice and thin and look even more seamless thanks to the curved sides.
The top has the grill for the second speaker, the IR blaster, and the noise-isolation microphone.
Left side is clean, while the right has the volume controls and lock/power switch.
The bottom has the primary loudspeaker, microphone, USB-C port, and a SIM tray that can house two nano SIMs back to back. As expected, there’s no space for a microSD card.
Display and Audio
The HONOR 200 Pro has a 6.78-inch FHD+ OLED display with a 2700 x 1224 pixel resolution, ~437ppi, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR Vivid support with 4000 nits of peak brightness, Delta E = 0.27 color accuracy, and P3 color gamut.
It also has a bunch of eye-safety features like the 3840Hz PWM dimming, which gained the device a TUV Rheinland flicker-free certification. It also has an AI Circadian Night Display that intelligently adjusts the screen’s color temperature when using your phone at night.
There’s also the Natural Tone 2.0 that analyzes the color temp of your environment to match the screen and a 360-degree ambient light sensor for better brightness adjustment.
The HONOR 200 Pro also supports HD and HDR streaming on both Netflix and Amazon Prime. TV shows and movies look gorgeous on this device with sharp details and contrasty, cinematic colors as the creators intended them to look.
Obviously, the screen is also great for reading content, scrolling on social media, and playing games. It also has ample brightness to be usable even if it’s incredibly sunny outside.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos. However, the stereo speakers provide good sound quality with nice, clean treble and beefy bass for a powerful sound. There’s also a 200% volume booster mode if you really need it loud and don’t mind a bit of sound distortion.
Hardware and Performance
The HONOR 200 Pro is powered by a 3.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 octa-core processor, a chip specifically designed for a sub-flagship device. It is joined by an Adreno 735 GPU and a dedicated HONOR C1+ RF chip that improves internet connectivity. The unit we’re getting in the Philippines has 12GB of RAM and a generous 512GB of non-expandable storage.
HONOR 200 Pro Benchmark Scores
(Performande Mode On vs Off)
(Performande Mode On vs Off)
(Performande Mode On vs Off)
I got impressive benchmark scores from the HONOR 200 Pro. However, the Solar Bay Stress Test from 3DMark shows poor stability scores, which could affect performance in long gaming sessions.
It scored high with Performance Mode enabled, but with noticeable dips towards the end. I saw better stability with the special mode off but with a lower score. I also noticed the device heating up after both tests, which I’ve only experienced in about 4 out of the last 10 phones I’ve tested.
Now, the question is, do those problems persist in actual gaming performance? First, I tested it out with Genshin Impact. After doing quests for about an hour under the default settings (Medium), the heat it generated is pretty normal for a sub-flagship smartphone running a demanding game. The game ran smoothly, too, with no throttling whatsoever.
PUBG Mobile was fluid under HD/Ultra and Call of Duty Mobile under Medium/Ultra. Farlight84 did okay under HD/Very High, Mobile Legends with Super/Ultra, and Asphalt 9 under High Quality.
So to answer our question earlier: No. Overheating and stability are not an issue with the HONOR 200 Pro, at least in the games I tested it with. It did get warm after about 2.5 hours of playing different games, but not warm enough to cause an alarm.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Medium • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: Very High |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Genshin Impact | • Graphics Quality: Medium (Default) |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Graphics Quality: Super • Frame Rate: Ultra • HD Mode: On |
| Asphalt 9: Legends | • Graphics Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 60 |
Software and User Interface
On the software side, the HONOR 200 Pro features the Android 14-based MagicOS 8.0, and it brings a bunch of intelligent features to the device.
One cool feature is called Magic Portal. It lets you drag photos or texts from other apps and drop them to another (i.e. save it to the Notes app, send it as an email, etc.). Quite handy if you find a recipe online and want to save it for later.
However, the feature can be a hit or miss. It doesn’t work on a couple of popular apps like Facebook and Messenger. Let’s hope they can fix it in a future software update.
There’s also a Dynamic Island-like feature called Magic Capsule. It shows live notifications and can be expanded and controlled from the pill-shaped notice. When you receive calls, use the voice recorder, and run timer, it shows up too. It also works when playing media, even on Spotify, which we don’t usually see from other brands.
Air Gestures are also present, which can be useful if you’re driving or have dirty hands and want to use your device. There’s an understandable tutorial on how it works in the settings.
It works fine, but only if you get it working. You have to put your palm on the screen and wait for the icon to pop up before you can do the gesture. That said icon doesn’t show 7 out of 10 times for us.
I also like how rich the search tab is, which you can easily access by swiping down from the home screen. It provides quick suggestions from your contacts, gallery, contacts, settings, local files, calendar, and even directly from the web. No need to open the web browser or Google.
HONOR’s Magic Ring feature is also here, which is a great way to interact with other HONOR devices that you own. It lets you share screen, tether, and more, as long as the device is nearby and signed in to the same HONOR account.
There’s also the HONOR Connect, which works great if you own a HONOR phone and a HONOR tablet, laptop, or TV. You can use the phone as a webcam to the laptop, sync notifications to all devices, enable tethering, and more.
There are a bunch of pre-installed AOD wallpapers in the settings. If you want more, you can scrub through the dedicated Theme store from HONOR.
You can also try the Full-Screen AOD feature, which shows a dimmed version of the lock screen. It consumes more battery but that smooth transition from the well-lit lock screen to the dimmed version looks very sleek. It’s similar to the iPhone’s version of AOD.
The under-display fingerprint scanner was quick and reliable. It can also be used for the Safe feature that locks sensitive files and the App Lock.
There’s also a face unlock feature, which worked very well during our time with it. It has a raise-to-wake function, and low light compensation. It even lets you set an alternate look and it can work with a mask on.
As you can see from the neatly organized app drawer, HONOR is also sparing us from bloatware and pre-installed apps users will probably never use. The very few that were pre-installed, like the HONOR Docs, can be removed if you want to.
HONOR RAM Turbo is also here, which turns 12GB of space from the storage into virtual RAM for an extra performance boost. But unlike other smartphones, you don’t have the option to enable/disable the feature or adjust the allocation.
For the storage, around 15GB is saved for the system. I was still left with a generous amount of space after installing about 7 large games and taking a bunch of photos. There’s also a built-in Storage Clean up feature that scans your system for junk files, unused apps, and duplicate apps, so you can easily remove them.
The camera app was great — unsurprising for a camera-centric smartphone. It has a built-in horizontal leveler as well as Moving Photo (similar to Apple’s Live Photo). There’s also a Multi-Video feature with a couple of layouts that let you use different cameras, and a bunch of other features like night mode, a document scanner, and built-in video editor.
Game Manager can be accessed while playing games. It lets you switch between Balanced and Game Modes, enable DND, Mistouch Prevention, FPS boost, screen recording, and more. It’s not as feature-rich as the game centers from other brands, but it works fine.
Cameras
And now we’re at the main event. The HONOR 200 Pro boasts a 50-megapixel 1/1.3-inch H9000 sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and optical image stabilization. We also have a 50-megapixel IMX856 sensor with a 2.5x optical zoom, 50x digital, and OIS.
HONOR also included a 12-megapixel ultra-wide with a 112-degree field of view and works as a macro shooter with a 2.5cm minimum shooting distance.
Finally, there’s a 50-megapixel sensor on the front for selfies. Obviously, there’s a lot to talk about here, so let’s get started.
First, we have the daylight shot from the 50-megapixel main camera, which looks incredibly detailed with fine treatment as well as dynamic range. The skies and clouds look extra impressive on this one.
The colors look fairly accurate with a bit of punch for extra vibrancy under the default color mode: Vibrant. There are two other color presets you can easily access from the camera app: Natural and Authentic.
The main camera held up pretty well during nighttime/indoors. Shots look vibrant and contrasty. Depending on how limited the light is, shots can look grainy and smudgy. But overall, I’m still impressed.
I find it weird that tapping the 2x button doesn’t switch to the telephoto lens. Instead, it crops the main camera to output 54mm-equivalent photos that are great for portraits, which I think deserve its own sensor. Maybe they did that because it’s the highest quality sensor on it. That said, photos from this camera are good but not as stellar as the 1x mode.
One of the main highlight features of the HONOR 200 series is the Studio Harcourt filters. Harcourt is a prominent photography studio in Paris, France that specializes in the unique use of light to stylize photos.
You can access the Harcourt filters in Portrait Mode. There are three filters to choose from: Harcourt Vibrant, Harcourt Colour, and Harcourt Classic. Photographers like us would enjoy experimenting with these filters as they provide a unique, expressive look to portrait photos. It also works nicely with scenarios, not just human subjects.
As mentioned earlier, take note that the 50-megapixel telephoto camera doesn’t kick in until you tap the 2.5x mode. It takes 68mm-equivalent shots with decent details, contrast, and colors. Not as good as the main camera, but it’s good in its own regard, especially if you want to zoom in on a subject.
You can slide the lens switcher to show a dial that can take you all the way to 50x zoom with a 1360mm lens equivalent. Image quality is not good, unsurprisingly, but it’s there if you need a telescope-like zooming. Plus, the OIS and zoomed-out preview lets you frame the shot better under extreme zoom-in scenarios.
Shots from the 12-megapixel ultra-wide looks good, too. It may not be as sharp and detailed as the first two cameras, but HONOR’s proficiency in processing photos is visible, even in low light. Barrel distortion is also not an issue.
Finally, we have the 50-megapixel front-facing camera, which takes well-detailed selfies, even indoors or at night. It is also snappy, so you can take sharp photos while moving. Skin tones also look accurate.
HONOR obviously nailed the cameras on the HONOR 200 Pro, similar to their previous flagship Magic6 Pro, but for a fraction of the price.
Battery and Charging
HONOR used its silicon-carbon technology to cram a 5,200mAh battery on this sleek and thin device. That’s a200mAh more than usual 5,000mAh of most phones in the market. There’s also a whopping 100W wired and 66W wireless charging for quick top ups. It also supports 5W reverse wired and wireless charging for your accessories and other compatible devices.
It lasted for 10 hours and 42 minutes in PCMark’s battery loop test. To give you an idea, the average score I get from this test is 12-14 hours. That’s a loop of synthetic workload before the battery drops from 100% to 20%.
While it didn’t score well on our synthetic test, our online video loop test garnered a more favorable result. It lasted for 15 hours and 53 minutes before dropping to 0 from 100% after a loop of a 1080p YouTube video, with the volume and screen brightness at 50%. Heavy users should easily get a whole day of use out of this device.
For charging, a quick 15-minute charger from the 100W managed to take us from 0 to 42%, with a full charge taking less than 50 minutes. See our full test below:
- 15mins: 0-42%
- 30mins: 76%
- 49mins: FULL
Verdict
It’s hard to find a fault on the HONOR 200 Pro. Even its highly marketed Studio Harcourt filters are more than just a gimmick, as it actually take great photos not just for portraits, but on any sceneries you can think of.
The cameras are great, too, letting you take impressive photos day and night even without the filters. Plus, there’s an excellent display with HDR streaming support, powerful speakers, and a reliable battery life with ultra-fast wired and wireless charging.
I’m also impressed with the MagicOS 8.0. While HONOR was pretty late in introducing their Android 14-based skin, they were able to make up for it by introducing new and usable features.
Rounding things up is the snappy processor from Qualcomm that offers flagship-like performance in both day-to-day tasks and gaming.
While I do wish it had a sturdier frame, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, a better 2x camera, and an idea of what glass they used, I can easily recommend the HONOR 200 Pro for those who want to have a killer camera and flagship-like performance and features for a reasonable price tag.
HONOR 200 Pro pricing and availability in the Philippines
The HONOR 200 Pro, which comes in a single 12GB/512GB configuration, has an SRP of Php29,999 in the Philippines. Pre-order units will get a free JBL Soundgear Frames valued at Php9,499. It is available in a bunch of physical stores nationwide and online through Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
Pros
- Sleek, comfortable design
- Killer cameras, Harcourt filters
- Snappy day-to-day, gaming performance
- Feature-packed OS, UI
- Reliable battery life, ultra-fast charging
Cons
- Plastic frame
- No Dolby Atmos, Vision
- Better if 2x zoom has its own sensor
- Unknown glass used