HONOR 200 Pro Review – Revolutionary Aesthetic in AI, Photography and Killer Features

HONOR 200 Pro

From RM1,899.00

9

Design

9.0/10

Performance

9.0/10

Camera

9.0/10

Price

9.0/10

Features

9.0/10

Pros

• Magic AI works
• Harcourt collaboration
• Good battery life
• Solid performance
• Great price to performance ratio

Cons

• Let me know...

More Info

In 2024, we are seeing more brands adding AI features on their mobile devices for the masses. No doubt, all of us are heading in the same direction, even for our own daily routines. Some of us tech enthusiasts are starting to adopt smart devices one way or another, like smart home products for instance. Truth be told, I do have some smart home devices running at home right now. But AI is something different. 

AI will make your life easier. You can ask AI to write you a letter, design a brochure, orchestrate a social media campaign and for mobile phones, AI can help with photography, photo editing and much more. The possibilities are endless, as long as you know how and when to use it. We’ll talk more on that later. 

Jumping into the AI bandwagon, HONOR recently launched their brand new flagship line-up, the HONOR 200 Pro, somehow skipping the number “100” right after HONOR 90. Nevertheless, the new HONOR 200 series is in a league of its own with many killer AI features, especially if you like photography. The unit I’m reviewing is the HONOR 200 Pro, with all the bells and whistles of a flagship ready to be tested. 

Let’s move on to my personal full review and opinion of the new HONOR 200 Pro. 

First Look – HONOR 200 Pro

My first impression of the new HONOR 200 Pro as I took it out of the box is similar to seeing a brand new thing of beauty. Not much can be said other than wow and ooooh, on my part. The HONOR 200 Pro feels very thin and slim, similar to the HONOR 90. The only difference is the rear camera bump, which now has an oval shape rather than two rounded camera bumps. 

To be honest, at first glance, I feel that the large oval shaped camera bump looks a little odd. But it grew on me after a few days of testing. There are three camera modules sitting inside the bump, along with the dual tone LED flash. These cameras are the main feature of the HONOR 200 Pro which is set to be the new portrait champion. The main 50MP camera is using HONOR’s flagship H9000 1/1.3 inch sensor. As for the telephoto camera, it is using a 50MP Sony IMX856 sensor, which is a first in Malaysia on a mid-range phone. 

But according to the spec sheet, I don’t think this HONOR 200 Pro is a mid-range phone. Absolutely not. On paper, it is more likely to be an entry level flagship with a mid-range price. With all the AI features and powerful hardware specs, the HONOR 200 Pro is set to be the best mid-range device of 2024. At least, that’s just my opinion. 

Another aesthetic feature that I like is the back panel. I received the Moonlight White colourway which looks stunning. The wave-like back panel design gives a premium look, and I believe it is a glass panel. However, I am unsure of the glass material. Having said that, the HONOR 200 Pro also comes with IP65 water and dust resistant protection. It can withstand splashes, but if you drop the phone in the toilet, you have about 5 seconds to save it. At least it has some level of water protection. Just don’t bring it along with you for a swim. 

As for the front display, the HONOR 200 Pro comes with a gorgeous 6.78” AMOLED quad-curved “floating display”, as HONOR calls it. It also features HONOR’s superb 3840Hz PWM Dimming Display for a risk-free view, reducing eye strain after long hours of use. For outdoor use, the display can go up to 4000nits peak brightness. So using the phone under bright daylight will still be bright and vibrant. But you have to turn on the auto brightness for this to reach the peak. 

The 50MP selfie camera sits in a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the display. The cutout is smaller than the one on the HONOR Magic6 Pro, but still features the same camera and 3D sensor for facial recognition. Unlocking the phone with facial recognition is fast and accurate. On the other hand, you can also unlock the device using the under display fingerprint sensor. Both are able to unlock quickly with ease. 

Button placements are basically the same as its predecessor, with the volume rocker and the power button sitting on the right side while nothing on the left. It also comes with an IR blaster at the top, in case you need to control your home TV if you lose your remote. There is also a top firing speaker next to the IR blaster, and another speaker at the bottom. The dual stereo speaker on the HONOR 200 Pro sounds great and loud too. So gaming should also be fun on this device. 

Performance and AI Features

The HONOR 200 Pro comes with a new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, with the “S” meaning that it is a slightly toned down chipset from the 8 Gen 3, but still packs a punch in performance. Initial test with Antutu 3D and 3DMark benchmarks shows the true power of the HONOR 200 Pro, scoring 1,155,704 points on Antutu while totally maxed out on 3DMark Wild Life and scoring 2,937 on Wild Life Extreme. Among all the mid-ranged phones that I’ve tested this year, this is probably the highest score to-date. Even my old HONOR flagship on SD 8 Gen 2 scored lower than the HONOR 200 Pro. 

Supported by 12GB + 12GB of HONOR RAM Turbo, the HONOR 200 Pro will be able to breeze through any multitasking tasks you throw at it. The review unit also comes with an ample 512GB internal storage, which is more than enough for anyone for years to come. 

All the powerful hardware specs will not be complete without the latest OS. The HONOR 200 Pro is equipped with AI-powered MagicOS 8.0 which is based on the latest Android 14. Fret not, more software updates will be available for the HONOR 200 Pro, especially the next generation Android 15. In the meantime, the MagicOS 8.0 comes with many AI features at your disposal with the Magic AI experience. By now you should be asking, “what kind of AI features?”. Let’s dig deeper. 

First up is the Magic Portal. Personally, I use this a lot. I’m glad that the new HONOR 200 Pro comes with this feature as I have been using it on the Magic6 Pro all the time. It comes in handy when I need to quickly find any info based on photos that I’ve taken. For instance, I recently acquired a new hobby of collecting indoor plants. And to be honest, I’m new at this. Therefore, I may not know the type of plants that I bought. Using Magic Portal, I can take a photo of the plant and have AI to quickly analyse the type of plant and its name. 

This is actually based on Google Lens, but made simpler and more direct with the Magic Portal. Similarly, it works the same way as another phone maker with their Circle to Search feature. Having said that, you can do a lot more with HONOR’s Magic Portal. Say you have a photo of an address that you need to locate quickly, you can easily extract the address text from the photo and drag the selected item to either side of the phone display to open up the Magic Portal, then “paste” it on Google Maps to quickly search for the location. Same can be done with texts when taking notes, and “paste” it on the Notes app. 

Then comes the AI Portrait Enhancement, AI Natural Tone and AI Motion Sensing Capture feature for the camera. One exclusive feature only for the HONOR 200 Pro is the Professional Harcourt Portrait Modes for awesome portrait shots. If you don’t already know, Harcourt is a prominent portrait photography company based in France served only for celebrities and the elites. It is good to know that they are collaborating closely with HONOR in order to bring their photography expertise for the HONOR 200 Pro camera. And I use this exclusive feature a lot! 

I even use the AI Motion Sensing Capture many times especially when I try to capture my active 2yo who simply cannot sit still. With this feature turned on, the AI will automatically take the shot when there’s active movement or at the moment my son stands still. Gone were the days of blurry photos. And not forgetting that the camera is able to capture fast moving subjects too. That is a killer feature right there. 

Another feature that I use often is the Air Gestures. I can simply place the phone on a stand, on my table while browsing a website or going through TikTok. With Air Gestures, I can easily scroll up or down (or swipe) using gestures. For screen captures, I use this feature as well. I just have to show my palm at the display (even from afar), and close my hand into a fist to capture the screen. It works brilliantly and fast. Easy screenshots all the time. 

Other AI features are Magic Capsule, that will display any media that is playing on the front camera cutout, and Smart Folder, which will organise apps on the main display automatically based on your most used apps. The more I play with the HONOR 200 Pro, the more fun it becomes. And I learn new things about it everyday. I recently found out about the Blur Privacy info feature. I can easily blur out any personal info in a photo or scanned documents that I share with my friends or colleagues. Basically I don’t need to edit using a third-party app or in Photoshop anymore. 

If you’re always out and about, you don’t need to worry about running out of battery. The 5200mAh silicon carbon battery is HONOR’s pride and joy. It can be made thinner and lighter without compromising on the capacity. The battery can last me close to two full days of normal use and definitely will last me a whole day of active use and with gaming included. It also supports up to 100W of wired super charge and up to 66W of wireless super charge. Reverse wireless charging is also supported on the HONOR 200 Pro. Charging up to 100% took less than 40 mins during my test, and can go up to 50% in less than 10 minutes. 

There are many other features that I’ve yet to explore, but what was written above are those that I find useful for anyone to start using. I will definitely dive deeper to find out what else can be done with the new HONOR 200 Pro. 

Camera and Photography

Since the HONOR 200 Pro is made with photography in mind, this is probably the main feature that I need to test further. As I said before, the HONOR 200 Pro comes with an exclusive feature not available on any other HONOR devices, for now. The Harcourt filters are the feature that I use the most. I love how most of the photos turned up. The details are spot on, colours are punchy and the bokeh effect is simply stunning. 

I have already talked about the camera hardwares on this HONOR 200 Pro. But here’s a recap on the camera specs. 

Main Camera

Selfie Camera

Gallery

The main camera is able to capture fully detailed and colour accurate photos. It is my go-to photography, you should really give this a go. I know some of my photographer friends would love to try this feature out. And it is a good thing that I hung my huge DSLR camera for good. Seems that I don’t need it now. 

Outdoor

Indoor

When shooting outdoors on a bright sunny day, nothing can go wrong. The main camera snaps quickly with stunning results and accurate colours. The ultra-wide camera does the same, with minimal warping around the edges, but tends to respond slower in low lights. That is pretty normal for ultra-wide cameras that I’ve tested thus far. The main camera responds quickly in low light, and some photos turned up better than I anticipated. 

Indoor and low light

Selfie camera

For videos, the main camera supports up to 4K video capture at 60 fps and 30 fps which is the same thing with the 1080p videos. It also has a multi-video mode which can capture from both rear and front camera simultaneously. After taking some videos, you can also have the Instant Movie to do some pro-processing video editing magic, saving you tons of time of manual video editing. Of course, you can fine tune the Instant Movie to your liking and to suit your style. 

The new HONOR 200 Pro is in a class of its own. Other mid-range smartphones right now have to play the catch-up game in order to keep up with it. When it comes to photography, it is a check-mate situation for everyone else, all thanks to the superb collaboration with Harcourt. Portrait photography on a smartphone just got a whole lot better. 

Harcourt filters

Conclusion

HONOR 200 Pro is probably one of the best mid-range smartphones for 2024, that is my opinion. I am a fan of it, particularly for its portrait photography features. You can get studio level quality photography with the HONOR 200 Pro and their collaboration with Harcourt is probably their best feature yet. 

While we’re transitioning into AI for mobile devices, HONOR is making huge steps into making AI work for you. Their Magic AI Experience is new, but they’ve already made it available on a mid-range device, unlike many other popular brands. You don’t have to fork out extra money or break your piggy bank to own a full featured AI phone. Best of all, it works. 

It excels not only in AI, but also in terms of performance. Remember, it is a mid-range phone but with the raw power of a flagship. Where else can you get a mid-range phone that comes with AI and powerful hardware? 

If you’re invested in getting a brand new mid-range smartphone, or I would call it an entry level flagship, don’t look any further. The HONOR 200 Pro should be at the top of your list. It is an excellent upgrade for the mid-range segment. And if you’re coming from an older flagship, you will save a lot and it will still be considered as an upgrade. Think about that for a moment. 

The new HONOR 200 Pro is now available for pre-order from its recent launch and those who are interested can also get some free gifts worth up to RM1,078.00. The HONOR 200 Pro is available from RM1,899.00. 

More info: HONOR 200 Series Pre order Offer | HONOR MY