Honor 200 Lite Review: Your Next Cheap Phone?

Worth When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

A very powerful spec concerning the Honor 200 Lite is its low value.

At £279 at launch within the UK, it’s someplace between mid-range and price range telephones based mostly on our standards. For those who’re within the Honor 200 Lite it’s more likely to be due to its affordability, nevertheless it does produce other promoting factors too.

Like plenty of different telephones across the identical value level, you get a greater show, higher cameras, and higher battery life than you would possibly count on. The compromises sometimes contain efficiency and extras akin to wi-fi charging and waterproofing, and that’s the case with the Honor 200 Lite.

Design & Construct

• Interesting design
• Matte end on the again
• No waterproofing

I just like the look of the Honor 200 Lite lots: it’s skinny, gentle, and simple on the attention. One thing I’d change is the moderately outsized digital camera bump on the again, however I can dwell with it. Your color choices for the cellphone are a pale blue, a darker cyan, and the black unit that you may see beneath.

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

You’ve received dimensions of 161.05 mm x 74.55 mm x 6.78 mm, and it weighs in at 166 grams – larger and but lighter than the iPhone 15. It’s a bit plasticky for positive when held within the hand, however the matt end on the again is properly achieved and provides a contact of favor too. Additionally noticeable are the nook curves, that are extra rounded than the norm.

There’s no sort of official IP score for water and mud resistance right here – as is usually the case on cut-price telephones – and Honor hasn’t talked about something specific when it comes to sustainability or sturdiness, both. Notice that the fingerprint sensor is conveniently positioned on the facility button, and works nicely sufficient.

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.7-inch AMOLED display
• Show is sharp and shiny
• Single loudspeaker

The brightness and crispness of the 6.7-inch, 1080 x 2412 pixel AMOLED show is unquestionably one of many highlights of the Honor 200 Lite.

Ramp up the brightness and the whole lot on display shines – Honor hasn’t specified the utmost brightness degree, however to the bare eye it’s not noticeably lower than the most effective telephones in the marketplace.

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

With a refresh fee as much as 90 Hz, dashing round menus and apps is easy and slick, and whereas the bezels aren’t super-thin, they’re undoubtedly not offensive of their measurement. Colors look wealthy and uniform throughout the display, although there’s no HDR help: this implies video content material doesn’t look fairly nearly as good because it does on the top-tier flagships.

We’ve received a single loudspeaker on the backside, which is okay. It’ll do for watching motion pictures and listening to podcasts, although you most likely wouldn’t wish to play your favorite tunes by it – they gained’t sound improbable (use some wi-fi or USB-C headphones as a substitute).

Specs & Efficiency

• Acceptable price range specs
• Performs most video games fantastic
• Helps Wi-Fi 5 and 5G

The Honor 200 Lite is fitted with a MediaTek Dimensity 6080 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage on the one and solely configuration obtainable – so we’re very a lot in budget-to-mid-range territory right here.

Efficiency is generally fantastic and snappy, although you do sometimes see a second’s delay in case you’re doing one thing sophisticated (like launching picture-in-picture or leaping between apps).

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

Comparatively demanding video games akin to Actual Racing 3 run comfortably sufficient, and in most day-to-day use you’re not going to note any important slowdowns. In fact, the chance of shopping for price range telephones is they will steadily grind to a halt earlier than flagships because the years go by, however that’s one thing that can solely emerge over time.

Contemplating the low entry value, you definitely get bang in your buck so far as efficiency goes. Maybe the largest drawback for the Honor 200 Lite on this regard is that there are such a lot of different good worth telephones on the market.

Honor 200 Lite benchmarks

When it comes to connectivity, the Dimensity 6080 chip contains 5G as normal, and it’s joined by Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC for contactless cost.

Cameras

• Triple-lens rear cameras
• 50Mp selfie digital camera
• No telephoto sensor

I used to be largely impressed by the pictures and movies the Honor 200 Lite produced from its 108Mp + 5Mp ultrawide + 2Mp macro rear digital camera setup, plus its 50Mp selfie digital camera.

Even in low gentle, the digital camera does nicely, and whereas it could possibly’t match the Pixels and iPhones of this world, you’ll get good outcomes nearly the entire time.

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

As regular from Honor telephones, there are a number of photograph modes to choose from, most of which I think about most individuals gained’t hassle with.

Some modes, like these particularly for night time photographs and HDR processing, don’t appear to be vastly completely different from the usual photograph mode. There’s additionally an attention-grabbing multi-video mode you need to use to file split-screen clips utilizing the back and front cameras on the identical time.

Video recording maxes out at a 1080p decision at 30 frames per second, and there’s nothing fancy right here like optical picture stabilisation (OIS) – one other signal that we’re dealing on the price range finish of the market right here. However for point-and-shoot comfort, the Honor 200 Lite scores moderately extremely.

Battery Life & Charging

• Lengthy-lasting battery
• 4500mAh battery capability
• No wi-fi charging

The Honor 200 Lite brings with it a 4500mAh battery that for me was comfortably attending to the tip of every day – typically with 30-40% of a cost left.

I’m not essentially the most demanding of cellphone customers, and it is a brand-new battery, however that’s nonetheless fairly spectacular. The one day I got here nearer to needing a recharge the identical day concerned a little bit of gaming and an hour or so of map GPS use, however once more there was loads spare.

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

Streaming a film at full brightness and a low quantity drained the battery by 7% each hour, so that you’re taking a look at about 14 hours of video playback in whole – a really respectable rating. In fact this is without doubt one of the advantages of a cellphone with fewer energy calls for and a decrease decision show connected to the entrance.

Standby battery life appears good too – I’d come again to it after an hour or two of not utilizing it and the battery degree would have barely dropped.

There’s no wired charging right here, simply 35W wired charging, which juices up the cellphone from zero to 12% after 15 minutes and 26% after 30 minutes. Not unhealthy for an inexpensive cellphone, however nothing particular.

Software program & Apps

• Android 14 and MagicOS 8
• Some bloatware
• A couple of good UI touches

Out of the field, the 200 Lite is operating Android 14 with Honor’s personal MagicOS 8.0 layered on high, and there are a good few of Honor’s personal apps right here: an e mail consumer, a calculator, a climate app, a video participant and a music participant, a notes app, and a gallery in your pictures and movies.

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

It’s a good bit of bloat, however Android being Android, hiding these Honor apps away and utilizing options isn’t tough. Usually, the interface is a bit more shiny and busy than I would love, however that’s largely down to non-public selection, and naturally Android presents loads in the best way of customisation choices.

I do like the lovable always-on show choices you may decide from – a deer in a forest (proven above), for instance – in order that’s a plus level.

A minus is that Honor hasn’t mentioned what number of years of updates this specific handset is eligible for, although three main Android upgrades are promised for the Honor flagship telephones.

Worth & Availability

On the time of writing, you’ll pay exactly £279.99 for the Honor 200 Lite within the UK.

It’s obtainable direct from Honor or by way of Amazon. No networks are promoting the cellphone on contract, so that you’ll have to purchase it outright and pair with a SIM-only deal. Discover one which fits you within the widget beneath:

As regular, the cellphone isn’t obtainable within the US. That outright UK value makes it barely costlier than most price range telephones, with the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi Notice 13 5G, Samsung Galaxy A25 5G and Motorola Moto G84 5G.

Do you have to purchase the Honor 200 Lite?

On the subject of getting as a lot bang in your buck as you may, the Honor 200 Lite is unquestionably one of many higher choices obtainable proper now. In fact there are compromises – in any other case there could be no marketplace for the Galaxy S24 Extremely – however on the entire, they’re compromises lots of people will have the ability to dwell with.

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

David Nield / Foundry

What are you actually after from a smartphone? If it’s a good show, passable efficiency, good battery life, and photograph and video high quality that gained’t allow you to down more often than not, the Honor 200 Lite delivers. For those who want the perfect parts obtainable on a smartphone and the most recent AI software program methods, you’ll must look elsewhere.

Do you’ll want to try the competitors at this value level earlier than shopping for: telephones together with the Nothing Telephone 2a, the Motorola Edge 40 Neo, the Xiaomi Redmi Notice 13 Professional, the Samsung Galaxy A35, and the Poco X6 are all clustered across the identical value level, and there’s not an entire lot to decide on between them. Ultimately it comes all the way down to which handset you just like the aesthetics of – each when it comes to {hardware} and Android design.

Specs

• Android 13, MagicOS 8
• 6.7-inch AMOLED show (90 Hz, 1080 x 2412 pixel decision)
• Mediatek Dimensity 6080 with 8GB RAM
• 256GB storage
• 5G
• Bluetooth 5.1
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
• 64Mp f/1.8 most important rear digital camera
• 5Mp f/2.2 ultrawide digital camera
• 2Mp f/2.4 macro digital camera
• 16Mp f/2.1 broad selfie digital camera
• Energy button fingerprint reader
• USB-C port
• 4500mAh battery
• 35W wired charging
• plastic physique
• 161.1 x 74.6 x 6.8 mm
• 166g
• Accessible in black, blue, and cyan