Honor’s technique revolves round its foldables and flagships — just like the Magic V3 and Magic 7 Pro — however its mid-tier gadgets are additionally seeing respectable momentum. It offered over 45 million models of its mid-rangers globally beginning with the Honor 50, and that is fairly respectable. Apparently, Honor is the fastest-growing telephone model within the U.Okay. at a time when different producers are seeing progress stagnate or decline, and the model is continuous to bolster its presence within the area.

That brings us to the Honor 400. The follow-up to final yr’s Honor 200, the Honor 400 has a brand new design, up to date {hardware}, and a brand new 200MP digicam on the again that take even higher pictures and movies. There are downgrades; the telephone prices at 66W (as a substitute of 100W), and it misses out on a tele lens this yr — that is unique to the Professional mannequin.

It is clear that Honor is positioning the gadget as an alternative to the Galaxy A56. If something, Samsung made that job a lot simpler this yr by refusing to make any tangible upgrades to the A56. Regardless that the Honor 400 misses out on a tele lens, it does a greater job in nearly each measurable space in opposition to the Galaxy A56, and in the event you want a mid-ranger with an excellent design and nice digicam on the again, that is the telephone to purchase.

Honor 400: Pricing and availability

Honor unveiled the Honor 400 and Honor 400 Professional at an occasion in London on Could 22, and each telephones are occurring sale in choose areas beginning in June. The usual mannequin of the Honor 400 comes with 256GB of storage, and it prices €499 ($565) — €50 greater than the equal A56. There’s additionally a 512GB variant that is available in at €549 ($621).

When you want a tele lens, you will have to get your fingers on the Honor 400 Professional. The telephone will get higher {hardware} and 100W charging alongside a 50MP 3x tele module, however you will be shelling out €799 ($905). Of the 2, the usual mannequin is the higher worth by a giant margin.

Honor 400: Design

I like what Honor is doing with the design of its merchandise, and the Honor 400 isn’t any completely different. The telephone has a redesigned digicam housing on the again that appears just like the Huawei Pura 70, and it appears to be like clear. The telephone has a flat profile, however the matte texture together with slight bevels makes it snug to carry.

What I like essentially the most is the dimensions; the telephone is smaller than most gadgets on this class because of a 6.55-inch panel, and it has an ideal in-hand really feel. I would not name it a small telephone, however it is not as vast and tall because the OnePlus 13R or Galaxy A56. It is a smidgen taller than the Pixel 9a, however you get a much bigger panel.

The Honor 400 will get the higher colour variants, and the Desert Gold mannequin I am utilizing appears to be like nice. The again has a frosted texture that does not decide up smudges, and Honor went with a polycarbonate design to save lots of weight, so though the gadget will get a 5,300mAh battery, it’s lighter than the Pixel 9a at 184g.

The digicam housing would not jut out significantly, however there’s a slight wobble when utilizing the telephone on a desk. There’s stereo sound and an IR blaster, and the SIM tray is situated on the backside subsequent to the USB-C port. The bezels across the panel are skinny, and Honor did an excellent job slotting in a 6.55-inch display on this chassis.

The buttons are situated somewhat too low on the correct, and I discovered it awkward to unlock the gadget when holding the telephone one-handed. In an identical vein, the in-screen sensor is mounted too low on the panel, and it is not notably handy. Outdoors of that although, I did not see any issues with the design.

The Honor 400 will get IP66 ingress safety in most international markets, however the U.Okay. variant is proscribed to IP65 mud and water resistance. With most fashions on this class now offering IP67 and even IP68 as commonplace, Honor is on the backfoot on this space.

Honor 400: Show

The Honor 400 will get a 6.55-inch OLED panel with 120Hz refresh and a 2736 x 1264 decision. It has good colour vibrancy and distinction ranges out of the field, and I did not see any points utilizing the gadget open air — it will get brighter than the A56.

Honor continues to cleared the path with eye safety tech, and the Honor 400 will get AI Defocus Eyecare, 3840Hz PWM dimming as commonplace (one thing Samsung refuses to convey to its gadgets), hardware-level blue mild safety, and Extremely Darkish Mode that lowers the brightness to only 1.5 nits at evening. When you’re delicate to PWM points or want a tool that does not trigger any eye pressure, that is the one to get.

On that word, my colleague Nick Sutrich analyzed the panel on the 400 Professional — which is an identical to the usual mannequin, however larger at 6.7 inches — in opposition to the 200 Professional:

The telephone retains a devoted e book mode that switches to monochrome, and I discover it helpful when studying long-form content material on the go. On the different finish of the dimensions, HDR content material appears to be like good on the gadget, and the stereo sound will get loud and detailed. Whereas it is not essentially the most highly effective mid-ranger, it does an honest job with informal gaming typically.

Honor 400: {Hardware}

Honor went with the identical Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 platform because the Honor 200; I might have preferred to see the 7s Gen 3 because it holds up higher with demanding use instances. Because it stands, there’s some lag at occasions whereas multitasking, and you may want to show down the settings in visually-intensive video games to get playable framerates.

It is clear that Honor is not positioning this gadget as a gamer-focused alternative, however it holds its personal in opposition to the Galaxy A56, and I imagine that was the consideration when deciding the internals. The telephone will get 8GB of RAM as commonplace, and the bottom mannequin has 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, with a 512GB mannequin additionally accessible.

The Honor 400 would not fairly measure as much as its different mid-rangers in relation to the internals, with each the OnePlus 13R and POCO F7 Professional doing a a lot better job on this regard. That stated, it would not overheat, and in 3DMark’s demanding Metal Nomad Gentle stress check, it went as much as a most of 47 levels. Throttling is not a problem both, however then once more, it would not have a lot energy to start with.

I bumped into issues with connectivity on the gadget, each on my house community and mobile information. There have been cases the place pages would refuse to load, and I needed to refresh a number of occasions or toggle connectivity to get it going once more. A software program replace sorted out most of those points, and retail models should not have this downside.

The mannequin I am testing has a 5300mAh battery, and similar to the Magic 7 Professional, it makes use of silicon-carbon tech. I routinely obtained over a day’s value of use with none points, and even with heavy use, the telephone lasted till the tip of the evening. The 66W charging tech ensures the battery prices in beneath 50 minutes.

Honor 400: Cameras

Honor went with a brand new 200MP imaging module with a 1/1.4-inch sensor, and a 12MP wide-angle lens. The principle digicam will get OIS, and the usual mannequin misses out on a tele lens. I might have preferred a telephoto lens in lieu of a wide-angle as I have a tendency to make use of 2x and 3x modes greater than 0.6x, however it’s clear that Honor needed to distinguish the Professional mannequin somewhat bit, in order that’s the one variant to get the lens.

The digicam interface is unchanged, and also you get quick access to all of the taking pictures modes and filters. Annoyingly, the telephone misses out on 4K60 video, and that is one thing that almost all different gadgets on this class now provide as commonplace. I get that video recording is not the main target with this gadget, however to not have the fundamentals is an egregious omission.

As with all the pieces else, Honor is utilizing AI extensively within the imaging chain, and the model says that the purpose is to ship higher pictures and movies. Nebulous claims apart, the telephone does an honest sufficient job in most situations; daylight pictures have loads of element and good colour rendition, and the gadget does properly in difficult eventualities as properly, producing detailed pictures.

The wide-angle lens is common, and that is often the case with most mid-rangers. The place the Honor 400 really shines is with portrait pictures; it renewed its collaboration with Harcourt, and also you get a spread of filters that alter the look of the shot. I nonetheless desire what the Vivo V50 does on this space, however I am going to should admit that the Honor 400 comes mighty shut.

On the finish of the day, the digicam on the Honor 400 is kind of good. It handles most duties properly, and whereas it would not have a lot in the way in which of versatility, it’s higher than the Galaxy A56, and I suppose that is what Honor was aiming to realize.

Honor 400: Software program

Telephone manufacturers are leaning closely into AI to distinguish their merchandise, and Honor has a particular imaginative and prescient round how it will look on its gadgets. The model does an excellent job with AI utilities typically, and refreshingly, it did not restrict any options within the Honor 400 — in contrast to Samsung with the Galaxy A56.

If something, the gadget is slated to get a brand-new picture to video utility that depends on Google’s Veo 2 engine. Honor has a full-fledged AI suite with the standard instruments: real-time translations, audio transcribing, writing help, and picture in addition to video modifying. There’s additionally Honor Join, a utility designed to make it simpler to connect with iPhones.

The telephone comes with MagicOS 9.0 based mostly on Android 15 out of the field, and whereas the interface is broadly just like earlier iterations, there are a couple of delicate adjustments that make it somewhat cleaner. Honor’s gadgets had longstanding points with haptics, and the model is lastly addressing these issues.

I did not see any issues in day-to-day usability; the interface is fluid, and it has an honest quantity of customizability. I am not a fan of the break up notification pane, and I might have preferred a unified shade as a substitute. Aside from that, it is simply as easy to make use of the Honor 400 because the Magic 7 Professional.

In different excellent news, the telephone will get six Android OS updates alongside six years of safety updates, and that’s consistent with the Galaxy A56. In reality, solely the Pixel 9a will get extra updates on this class, and Honor is clearly profitable in opposition to its Chinese language rivals on this space.

Honor 400: The options

Clearly, the Pixel 9a deserves a point out on this class. Google’s newest mid-ranger has a minimalist design, respectable {hardware}, a vibrant OLED panel, and fabulous cameras on the again. It additionally has a clear software program with in depth AI options, and it’ll get a further software program replace over the Honor 400.

When you want one of the best {hardware} on this class, then it’s best to take into account the OnePlus 13R. It has good cameras, a much bigger 6,000mAh battery, and respectable software program. It will not get as many software program updates, however apart from that, it’s a strong alternative in order for you a gaming-focused mid-range gadget.

When you want one of the best worth, the POCO F7 Professional is unmatched. It has high-end {hardware} and a vibrant OLED panel with 6,000mAh battery, and it excels as a gaming gadget. It has respectable cameras as properly, however the software program is not pretty much as good because the Honor 400, nor will it get as many software program updates.

Honor 400: Must you purchase it?

You should purchase this if:

• You are a long-time Samsung person
• You want a telephone with an excellent in-hand really feel
• You need nice cameras on the again
• You want quick charging and all-day battery life

You should not purchase this if:

• You want a telephoto lens

On the entire, the Honor 400 is an effective replace to its predecessor. The brand new digicam on the again does an ideal job with pictures typically, and the telephone lasts all day with relative ease although it is smaller than most of its rivals. The internals aren’t fairly as much as scratch, and in order for you a telephone predominantly for cell gaming, there are a lot better selections accessible.

I like what Honor is doing with the software program as properly, and its AI suite is best than most different manufacturers on this class. Honor is clearly going after Samsung with the gadget, and after utilizing each, I can safely say that the Honor 400 is a a lot better alternative than the Galaxy A56 within the areas that truly matter.