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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 first rate momentum. It bought over 45 million items of its mid-rangers globally beginning with the Honor 50, and that is fairly first rate. Curiously, Honor is the fastest-growing telephone model within the U.Ok. at a time when different producers are seeing progress stagnate or decline, and the model is constant to bolster its presence within the area.
That brings us to the Honor 400. The follow-up to final 12 months’s Honor 200, the Honor 400 has a brand new design, up to date {hardware}, and a brand new 200MP digital camera on the again that take even higher images and movies. There are downgrades; the telephone fees at 66W (as an alternative of 100W), and it misses out on a tele lens this 12 months — 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 12 months by refusing to make any tangible upgrades to the A56. Although the Honor 400 misses out on a tele lens, it does a greater job in nearly each measurable space towards the Galaxy A56, and when you want a mid-ranger with a superb design and nice digital camera 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).
In the event you want a tele lens, you may must 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 may 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 digital camera housing on the again that appears just like the Huawei Pura 70, and it seems clear. The telephone has a flat profile, however the matte texture together with slight bevels makes it comfy 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 excellent in-hand really feel. I would not name it a small telephone, however it is not as huge and tall because the OnePlus 13R or Galaxy A56. It is a smidgen taller than the Pixel 9a, however you get an even bigger panel.
The Honor 400 will get the higher shade variants, and the Desert Gold mannequin I am utilizing seems nice. The again has a frosted texture that does not decide up smudges, and Honor went with a polycarbonate design to avoid wasting weight, so though the gadget will get a 5,300mAh battery, it’s lighter than the Pixel 9a at 184g.
The digital camera housing does 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 a superb job slotting in a 6.55-inch display on this chassis.
The buttons are situated somewhat too low on the best, and I discovered it awkward to unlock the gadget when holding the telephone one-handed. In the same vein, the in-screen sensor is mounted too low on the panel, and it is not significantly handy. Outdoors of that although, I did not see any issues with the design.
The Honor 400 will get IP66 ingress safety in most world markets, however the U.Ok. 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 shade vibrancy and distinction ranges out of the field, and I did not see any points utilizing the gadget outside — it will get brighter than the A56.
Honor continues to paved the way 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 gentle safety, and Extremely Darkish Mode that lowers the brightness to only 1.5 nits at night time. In the event 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 observe, my colleague Nick Sutrich analyzed the panel on the 400 Professional — which is an identical to the usual mannequin, however greater at 6.7 inches — towards the 200 Professional:
The telephone retains a devoted 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 seems 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 a good job with informal gaming generally.
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 will 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 selection, however it holds its personal towards 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.
|
Class |
Honor 400 |
POCO F7 Professional |
OnePlus 13R |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Geekbench 6 (single-core) |
1076 |
2111 |
2093 |
|
Geekbench 6 (multi-core) |
2989 |
6096 |
6246 |
|
Geekbench AI (Quantized Rating) |
1655 |
2148 |
3041 |
|
3DMark Wild Life Excessive (rating) |
1402 |
4160 |
4550 |
|
3DMark Wild Life Excessive (FPS) |
8.4 |
24.91 |
27.25 |
The Honor 400 does not fairly measure as much as its different mid-rangers in terms of the internals, with each the OnePlus 13R and POCO F7 Professional doing a significantly better job on this regard. That stated, it does not overheat, and in 3DMark’s demanding Metal Nomad Mild stress check, it went as much as a most of 47 levels. Throttling is not a problem both, however then once more, it does not have a lot energy to start with.
I bumped into issues with connectivity on the gadget, each on my residence community and mobile knowledge. There have been situations 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 items should not have this downside.
The mannequin I am testing has a 5300mAh battery, and identical to the Magic 7 Professional, it makes use of silicon-carbon tech. I routinely bought over a day’s value of use with none points, and even with heavy use, the telephone lasted till the top of the night time. The 66W charging tech ensures the battery fees in underneath 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 digital camera 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 wished to distinguish the Professional mannequin somewhat bit, in order that’s the one variant to get the lens.
The digital camera 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 the majority different gadgets on this class now provide as commonplace. I get that video recording is not the main focus with this gadget, however to not have the fundamentals is an egregious omission.
Picture 1 of 11
As with every little thing else, Honor is utilizing AI extensively within the imaging chain, and the model says that the objective is to ship higher images and movies. Nebulous claims apart, the telephone does a good sufficient job in most circumstances; daylight pictures have loads of element and good shade rendition, and the gadget does effectively in difficult eventualities as effectively, producing detailed images.
The wide-angle lens is common, and that is normally 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 want what the Vivo V50 does on this space, however I will should admit that the Honor 400 comes mighty shut.
On the finish of the day, the digital camera on the Honor 400 is sort of good. It handles most duties effectively, and whereas it does not have a lot in the way in which of versatility, it’s higher than the Galaxy A56, and I assume that is what Honor was aiming to attain.
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 this may look on its gadgets. The model does a superb job with AI utilities generally, and refreshingly, it did not restrict any options within the Honor 400 — not like 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 same old instruments: real-time translations, audio transcribing, writing help, and picture in addition to video enhancing. There’s additionally Honor Join, a utility designed to make it simpler to connect with iPhones.
The telephone comes with MagicOS 9.0 primarily based on Android 15 out of the field, and whereas the interface is broadly just like earlier iterations, there are just a few refined modifications 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 a good quantity of customizability. I am not a fan of the cut up notification pane, and I might have preferred a unified shade as an alternative. Apart 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 in keeping with the Galaxy A56. Actually, solely the Pixel 9a will get extra updates on this class, and Honor is clearly successful towards 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, first rate {hardware}, a shiny 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.
In the event you want the perfect {hardware} on this class, then it’s best to take into account the OnePlus 13R. It has good cameras, an even bigger 6,000mAh battery, and first rate software program. It will not get as many software program updates, however aside from that, it’s a stable selection in order for you a gaming-focused mid-range gadget.
In the event you want the perfect worth, the POCO F7 Professional is unmatched. It has high-end {hardware} and a shiny OLED panel with 6,000mAh battery, and it excels as a gaming gadget. It has first rate cameras as effectively, 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: Do you have to purchase it?
You should purchase this if:
- You are a long-time Samsung person
- You want a telephone with a superb 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 efficient replace to its predecessor. The brand new digital camera on the again does an excellent job with images generally, 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 significantly better selections accessible.
I like what Honor is doing with the software program as effectively, and its AI suite is healthier 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 significantly better selection than the Galaxy A56 within the areas that really matter.
The Honor 400 is significantly better than the Galaxy A56; it has a brighter OLED panel, higher digital camera on the again, and an even bigger battery. In the event you’re a long-time Samsung person and are in want of a brand new telephone this 12 months, I counsel giving the Honor 400 a go — you may love what the telephone has to supply.
