[REVIEW] Is The HONOR 200 Pro's Camera Up To Par? Here's Our Honest Thoughts
Is it worth the RM2,699 price?
By Sukhbir Cheema — 27 Jun 2024, 04:59 PM
HONOR recently released the HONOR 200 Pro, an upper-midrange smartphone targeted at portrait lovers
It's designed to deliver a competitive camera-centric experience with full support for Google Apps and services, as well as 5G connectivity.
The smartphone comes in two colours, Ocean Cyan and Moonlight White, and only features a single configuration with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
Priced at RM2,699, we had the opportunity to try out the Honor 200 Pro.
First things first, the HONOR 200 Pro immediately catches the eye with its sleek and elegant design
The unique oval-shaped, chrome-accented camera bump stands out, and the combination of glossy and frosted finishes adds to the premium feel.
The glass back curves seamlessly into the thin plastic frame, creating a smooth, curvy line that enhances its sophisticated look.
The phone is also rated IP65 for ingress protection, making it resistant to dust and splashes of water but not full water submersion.
One of the standout features of the HONOR 200 Pro is its display which sports a 6.78-inch curved OLED panel with a resolution of 1,224p and a 120Hz refresh rate
The screen supports HDR10 and offers 10-bit colour depth, providing vibrant and sharp visuals.
The brightness levels are impressive too, reaching over 1,100 nits in auto mode, making it suitable for outdoor use.
The pill-shaped cutout at the top houses the selfie camera and depth sensor, though its size may not appeal to everyone.
The biggest upside to owning the HONOR 200 Pro is its camera
The smartphone features a triple rear camera system, including a 50MP main camera with a custom large sensor, a 50MP 2.5x telephoto camera, and a 12MP ultrawide camera with autofocus.
The portrait mode is particularly noteworthy, offering three presets — Classic, Colour, and Vibrant — each emulating the style of Studio Harcourt, a renowned photo studio in Paris.
The camera delivers excellent detail, dynamic range, and lifelike skin tones in various lighting conditions. However, the portrait mode occasionally struggles with background blur, which we hope will be addressed in future updates.
The front-facing setup is equally impressive, with a 50MP selfie camera and a secondary depth sensor for better portraits. Selfies are detailed, with a wide dynamic range and lifelike skin tones, though the fixed focus might limit flexibility.
That said, the telephoto zoom is limited to 2.5x.
Under the hood, the HONOR 200 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset and runs on Magic OS 8 atop Android 14, which comes with its pros and cons
While not as powerful as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it still offers robust performance for gaming and multitasking. The thermal management is decent, maintaining high-performance levels with minimal throttling during prolonged use.
The phone packs a 5200mAh battery, which provides average battery life. It scored 11 hours and 8 minutes in active use tests, with below-average performance in web browsing and gaming. However, the 100W wired fast charging compensates for this, allowing the phone to charge from 0 to 75% in just 30 minutes, and a full charge in 45 minutes.
Running on Magic OS 8 atop Android 14, the HONOR 200 Pro offers a user-friendly experience with full Google App Suite support. The interface is reminiscent of older Magic OS versions but includes some custom features.
The Magic Capsule, similar to iOS's Dynamic Island, utilises the area around the selfie cutout to display useful information like timers and multimedia shortcuts. The Magic Portal functionality allows users to drag items on the screen to search, email, or note them, which we found useful when working on the go.
HONOR has promised four major OS updates and five years of security patches, ensuring long-term software support for the device.
The Honor 200 Pro is a compelling smartphone with a sleek design, excellent camera performance, and robust hardware, but with opportunities to improve in three areas
For an upper-midrange smartphone that's priced at RM2,699, the HONOR 200 Pro can be pricey, especially when comparing its average battery life and limited waterproofing with its competitors. The Moto Edge 50 Ultra and the Xiaomi 14 offer more for this price tag.
That said, the HONOR 200 Pro makes for a great choice for those looking for a camera-centric smartphone. We recommend being patient and only purchasing the phone when the price dips.
