Honor 400 evaluate: Beating the Galaxy A56 the place it counts

Honor’s technique revolves round its foldables and flagships — just like the Magic V3 and Magic 7 Pro — however its mid-tier units are additionally seeing respectable momentum. It bought over 45 million models of its mid-rangers globally beginning with the Honor 50, and that is fairly respectable. Interestingly, Honor is the fastest-growing cellphone model within the U.Ok. at a time when different producers are seeing development 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 digicam on the again that take even higher photographs and movies. There are downgrades; the cellphone expenses at 66W (as an alternative of 100W), and it misses out on a tele lens this 12 months — that is unique to the Pro mannequin.

It’s clear that Honor is positioning the machine as an alternative choice 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. Even 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 if you happen to want a mid-ranger with a very good design and nice digicam on the again, that is the cellphone to purchase.

Honor 400: Pricing and availability

Honor unveiled the Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro at an occasion in London on May 22, and each telephones are occurring sale in choose areas beginning in June. The normal 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).

If you want a tele lens, you may must get your arms on the Honor 400 Pro. The cellphone 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 totally different. The cellphone has a redesigned digicam housing on the again that appears just like the Huawei Pura 70, and it appears to be like clear. The cellphone has a flat profile, however the matte texture together with slight bevels makes it snug to carry.

What I like probably the most is the scale; the cellphone is smaller than most units on this class because of a 6.55-inch panel, and it has an incredible in-hand really feel. I would not name it a small cellphone, but it surely is not as vast and tall because the OnePlus 13R or Galaxy A56. It’s a smidgen taller than the Pixel 9a, however you get an even bigger panel.

The Honor 400 will get the higher colour variants, and the Desert Gold mannequin I’m 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 avoid wasting weight, so though the machine will get a 5,300mAh battery, it’s lighter than the Pixel 9a at 184g.

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

The buttons are positioned a little bit too low on the proper, and I discovered it awkward to unlock the machine when holding the cellphone one-handed. In an identical vein, the in-screen sensor is mounted too low on the panel, and it is not significantly handy. Outside 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.Ok. variant is restricted to IP65 mud and water resistance. With most fashions on this class now offering IP67 and even IP68 as normal, Honor is on the backfoot on this space.

Honor 400: Display

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 machine open air — 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 normal (one thing Samsung refuses to convey to its units), hardware-level blue gentle safety, and Ultra Dark Mode that lowers the brightness to only 1.5 nits at night time. If you are 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 Pro — which is an identical to the usual mannequin, however larger at 6.7 inches — towards the 200 Pro:

Honor 400 Pro vs Honor 200 Pro PWM and dithering assessments – YouTube

Watch On

The cellphone retains a devoted book mode that switches to monochrome, and I discover it helpful when studying long-form content material on the go. At the opposite finish of the dimensions, HDR content material appears to be like good on the machine, and the stereo sound will get loud and detailed. While it is not probably the most highly effective mid-ranger, it does an honest job with informal gaming basically.

Honor 400: Hardware

Honor went with the identical Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 platform because the Honor 200; I’d have appreciated to see the 7s Gen 3 because it holds up higher with demanding use circumstances. As it stands, there may be 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’s clear that Honor is not positioning this machine as a gamer-focused selection, but it surely holds its personal towards the Galaxy A56, and I consider that was the consideration when deciding the internals. The cellphone will get 8GB of RAM as normal, and the bottom mannequin has 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, with a 512GB mannequin additionally obtainable.

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

I bumped into issues with connectivity on the machine, each on my dwelling 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’m testing has a 5300mAh battery, and identical to the Magic 7 Pro, it makes use of silicon-carbon tech. I routinely acquired over a day’s value of use with none points, and even with heavy use, the cellphone lasted till the top of the night time. The 66W charging tech ensures the battery expenses 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 primary digicam will get OIS, and the usual mannequin misses out on a tele lens. I’d have appreciated 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, but it surely’s clear that Honor needed to distinguish the Pro mannequin a little bit bit, in order that’s the one variant to get the lens.

The digicam interface is unchanged, and also you get easy accessibility to all of the taking pictures modes and filters. Annoyingly, the cellphone misses out on 4K60 video, and that is one thing that almost all different units on this class now supply as normal. I get that video recording is not the main target with this machine, however to not have the fundamentals is an egregious omission.

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As with the whole lot else, Honor is utilizing AI extensively within the imaging chain, and the model says that the aim is to ship higher photographs and movies. Nebulous claims apart, the cellphone does an honest sufficient job in most circumstances; daylight pictures have loads of element and good colour rendition, and the machine does effectively in difficult situations as effectively, producing detailed photographs.

The wide-angle lens is common, and that is normally the case with most mid-rangers. Where the Honor 400 actually shines is with portrait pictures; it renewed its collaboration with Harcourt, and also you get a variety of filters that alter the look of the shot. I nonetheless choose what the Vivo V50 does on this space, however I’ll must admit that the Honor 400 comes mighty shut.

At the top of the day, the digicam on the Honor 400 is kind 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

Phone 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 units. The model does a very good job with AI utilities basically, and refreshingly, it did not restrict any options within the Honor 400 — in contrast to Samsung with the Galaxy A56.

If something, the machine 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 Connect, a utility designed to make it simpler to connect with iPhones.

The cellphone 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 delicate modifications that make it a little bit cleaner. Honor’s units 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’m not a fan of the cut up notification pane, and I’d have appreciated a unified shade as an alternative. Other than that, it is simply as easy to make use of the Honor 400 because the Magic 7 Pro.

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

Honor 400: The options

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

If you want the most effective {hardware} on this class, then it is best to contemplate the OnePlus 13R. It has good cameras, an even 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 selection if you need a gaming-focused mid-range machine.

If you want the most effective worth, the POCO F7 Pro is unmatched. It has high-end {hardware} and a brilliant OLED panel with 6,000mAh battery, and it excels as a gaming machine. It has respectable 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: Should you purchase it?

You can purchase this if:

• You’re a long-time Samsung consumer
• You want a cellphone with a very good 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 new digicam on the again does an incredible job with photographs basically, and the cellphone 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 if you need a cellphone predominantly for cellular gaming, there are significantly better selections obtainable.

I like what Honor is doing with the software program as effectively, and its AI suite is best than most different manufacturers on this class. Honor is clearly going after Samsung with the machine, 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.