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Honor 400 Lite offers
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Life hasn’t typically been straightforward for Honor. Beforehand a sub-brand of Huawei, it struggled to face out from its greater sibling, with units that didn’t have a lot of an id of their very own.
Then got here Covid and the whole lot modified. Tariffs and blocks had been hurled into the combination and killed Huawei’s presence within the west, forcing the model to divest Honor right into a full-fledged firm.
And so Honor has continued, hewing away, working to construct a reputation for itself via all kinds of tech, together with smartwatches, smartphones, laptops and tablets. All through, there’s been a generally inflexible concentrate on hitting a finances, however extra lately the agency has proven a bit of extra ambition.
There’s software program designed to look good, which has ambitions to stake a place of its personal, and might be present in its new {hardware} too. What ‘Honor’ is within the public thoughts is one thing that it needs to concretely set up.
It’s via telephones like its new Honor 400 Lite that it hopes to attain that. At just below £/$300, it has a full AMOLED display screen, a 108MP digicam and a concentrate on AI, but in addition one thing extra – an actual emphasis on design. It is a telephone made to take knocks and scrapes, however one which additionally has a big battery, is skinny and lightweight, and appears good – not a straightforward mixture to tug off.
The proof, as ever, is within the pudding. Does the 400 Lite do sufficient to dwell as much as its lofty guarantees? Is design essential sufficient to win a struggle during which specs play an extremely essential half? And can it make our checklist of the perfect finances digicam telephones?
Learn on for our full evaluation.
Key specs
(Picture credit score: Sean Cameron)Swipe to scroll horizontally
Chipset:
Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely
RAM:
8GB
Storage:
256GB
OS:
Android 15
Display screen:
6.7in AMOLED, 2412x1080p, 20:9 side ratio, 394ppi
Peak brightness:
3500 nits (HDR)
Cameras:
Again: 108MP f/1.8 (large), 5MP f/2,2 (ultrawide)Entrance: 16MP (large)
Connectivity:
5G, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, USB 3.2 Sort-C
Battery:
5230mAh, 35W wired charging
Dimensions:
161 x 74.6 x 7.3 mm
Weight:
171g
Design and show
(Picture credit score: Sean Cameron)
It’s an impulse that many possess, to have a look at what’s fashionable and to then dwell as much as the concept that imitation is the sincerest type of flattery. In cell phone phrases, that interprets to, usually, discovering some discreet and different not-so-discreet methods of lifting concepts from Apple.
With the 400 Lite, Honor has fallen on the latter; in the correct mild, it may very well be an iPhone. The digicam ‘island’ is a triangle; nonetheless, from the location of the lenses via to the presence of a digicam button, that is one thing between an iPhone 16 and 16 Professional when it comes to seems.
From a standpoint of pure originality, it isn’t a superb look. There’s no assertion right here, at the very least on the floor, it’s not doable to see what the actual thrust was right here. However then you definitely use the gadget for a number of days, and a myriad of small issues add collectively neatly.
To begin, it’s constructed from plastic, however a nice, brushed, grippy plastic. Plastic on the finances finish isn’t a giant deal (besides maybe from an environmental perspective, for all of the copying of Apple, there are not any claims of recyclability), because it has some constructive tradeoffs. On the expense of feeling ‘premium’, you get higher drop resistance, a telephone that doesn’t slide and, most crucially, diminished weight.
Although at 6.7 inches the 400 Lite display screen is massive, the gadget weighs solely 171g, and at 7.3mm thick, it’s fantastically straightforward to make use of in a single hand. That isn’t one thing which might be stated about a large number of costlier units, and is helped largely by some useful weighting.
Design is about greater than flashy strokes, about making one thing that can be utilized by anybody, anyplace, and the 400 Lite succeeds with aplomb on these metrics.
Coming to the show, it succeeds on the entire metrics which are usually set for a smartphone in 2025. That signifies that at 1080p, the show is sharp sufficient for many use instances, and that with AMOLED tech, it has properly saturated colors and infinite distinction.
I discovered it grew to become vibrant sufficient to fight the brittle spring solar, whereas additionally getting dim sufficient for bedtime studying. At 120Hz, the display screen refreshes quick sufficient to maintain the gadget feeling clean in on a regular basis use.
It’s a show that gained’t win any awards, however which has a tick towards each field required to be thought of ‘good’, not outclassing the competitors in any explicit means however undoubtedly holding tempo.
Options
It’s been an odd expertise, seeing the return of the digicam button on smartphones. After their look on the iPhone 16 collection, it was solely a matter of time earlier than they surfaced elsewhere, and the 400 Lite is among the first to take the bounce.
The button used is identical as discovered on the iPhones, which is to say there’s no actual ‘click on’ to it, and it’s depressed barely into the body of the gadget. You need to use it to launch the digicam with a fast click on, as could be anticipated. You probably gained’t end up utilizing it on a regular basis; nonetheless, when pulling the gadget out of your pocket, it’s undoubtedly sooner to launch this manner than by utilizing on-screen controls.
As for the opposite fundamental play for consideration, it’s a basic, the digicam megapixel depend. With a full decision of 108MP, in principle, the sensor will seize a frankly ridiculous stage of element, although in observe, that’s hardly probably. As is to be anticipated from a finances smartphone, measured towards the hyperbolic claims of some very excited advertising, the image, because it had been, is a bit more complicated.
Software program
(Picture credit score: Sean Cameron)
If there’s one factor {that a} sure sub-set of Android producers has turn out to be recognized for through the years, it’s barely heavy-handed software program skins. And of these, Honor is among the many most dedicated to reinventing the entire expertise from the bottom up, with ‘Magic OS’.
Neglect the whole lot you realize and anticipate of Android, for capabilities just like the app drawer are not to be discovered. As an alternative, Magic OS performs out as a mishmash of concepts cribbed from iOS, some from inventory Android, some utterly new.
And for essentially the most half, that isn’t a nasty factor. The times of Android being a ‘pure’ expertise are lengthy gone, the perfect units recognise that having a bit of flavour of their very own is essential – like with the Pixel expertise or with Samsung’s OneUI.
Magic OS is nice to make use of, has some good visible touches and due to distinctive design decisions, feels thematically coherent in ways in which lots of the competitors doesn’t. There’s some annoyances, such the dearth of an app drawer, and the break up of the notification shade right into a ‘Management Centre’ and a notification space, however on the entire it nearly balances as a value-add quite than an outright destructive.
Cameras
It’s one of many oldest tips within the smartphone advertising e-book – stick a megapixel depend on the sensor and the folks will come. Again within the days of yore, it was a 8MP sensor which dominated the roost, then the notorious 41MP Lumia 1020, and these days we’re spoiled by a bevy of cameras overstuffed with megapixels. Some say 48MP, others 108MP, others 200MP, however all share a secret which proves to be true too with the 400 Lite, whatever the depend, the picture output every time is 12MP.
So whereas the promise of the identical stage of element as discovered on a medium-format digicam is there, you gained’t be getting something remotely shut in observe. That isn’t to say that the digicam isn’t succesful nonetheless.
Starting with the app, utilizing the digicam button I discovered it was very fast to launch in addition to to function, so fortunately you gained’t miss too many fast photographs as a consequence.
Coming to picture high quality, it’s one thing of a blended bag. Photos captured are usually very vigorous, with saturated colors and loads of brightness, nonetheless they do have a tendency in the direction of the cool facet. Photos can typically come throughout as a bit of chilly as a consequence, and dynamic vary was rather less large than supplied by a number of the competitors, such because the Poco M7 Professional.
Element was additionally one thing of a problem. Some have a proclivity in the direction of over sharpening, and Honor is unquestionably amongst that quantity. Photos with numerous straight strains, comparable to of buildings aren’t a problem, however the place there’s foliage there’s sharpening halos, which is unlucky to see.
When the lights go down, efficiency doesn’t enhance, as an alternative staying in the course of the highway. Whereas the 400 Lite is able to capturing comparatively detailed night time mode photos, they have an inclination to lack in pop and distinction, which is reflective of the value level however nonetheless unlucky.
What’s extra unlucky nonetheless are the choices for video seize. There’s no 4K right here, or 1080p at 60fps, or certainly any sort of enhanced audio recording or the like. As an alternative, you’re caught with specs from 2016 – in case you are a budding content material creator you’ll need to look elsewhere.
That stated, there are a number of Instagram-friendly modes, together with multi-camera seize and a built-in ‘story’ editor, however the impact stays the identical. It is a digicam system which focussed a bit of an excessive amount of on the gimmicks and never sufficient on the core execution, which is unlucky. The 400 Lite is on no account ‘unhealthy’ from a photographic perspective, nonetheless it isn’t on the extent of a number of the competitors, which is unlucky to see.
Efficiency and battery
(Picture credit score: Sean Cameron)
Although it has come to some extent the place sure smartphone monikers not imply an excellent deal (right here’s you, ‘Professional’), however some nonetheless have very particular connotations – with ‘Lite’ which means, properly, lighter, but in addition reduce.
The Honor 400 Lite actually isn’t as highly effective as some others, nonetheless the secret is in producing one thing that could be a bit of cheaper, however which doesn’t really feel cheaper.
In actual world use, and particularly for the value level, there was little or no I might discover to fault the efficiency of the 400 Lite. Switching between apps, utilizing GPS, streaming music, something that may represent ‘regular’ utilization gave it no subject, and it felt as if it greater than saved up every time.
For most individuals, it would represent greater than sufficient. There could also be these individuals who intend to run a social media empire from their smartphone, and in case you are one among them then this can probably not be for you. If you’re the sort of one who makes use of social media, sends e-mail, instantaneous messages and listens to podcasts, you’ll be served properly.
That isn’t to say that it has no grunt in any respect. Working the synthetic benchmark Geekbench 6, it achieved a single core rating of 956 and a multi core rating of 2256, putting it roughly across the identical stage as units operating the Snapdragon 860, an previous however nonetheless highly effective chip. That speaks properly to the ability of the Mediatek Dimensity 7025 Extremely contained inside, paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage by default.
I did encounter one barely odd quirk, there have been many apps which claimed to not fit with the gadget. Fortnite, for instance, acknowledged that it didn’t meet minimal necessities to run (not true), whereas different benchmarking apps refused to put in. That is one thing which might probably be mounted with a software program replace, nevertheless it’s nonetheless unlucky to see in what needs to be a completed product.
The overall impressions of efficiency are borne out in gaming. Enjoying the likes of PUBG, I used to be in a position to obtain secure, playable body charges with graphics choices set to ‘balanced’ and ‘clean’. Something extra turned the expertise right into a pop-up slide present.
Coming to the battery, at 5,230mAh it’s nonetheless substantial regardless of the sunshine weight of the gadget, and paired with a power-efficient trendy processor, the entire substances for nice efficiency had been there.
Fortunately, the promise turned out to be true. That is one, of many, units, which can make it via a full day of medium to heavy utilization, solely lasting to a second with mild use instances.
Beginning at 7am, with an hour of GPS, texting and emailing all through the day, an hour of streaming music over bluetooth and watching video within the night, by 7pm I had round 45% left within the tank, which is an honest exhibiting certainly.
When the time involves prime up, the 400 Lite does so at as much as 35W, which is way from the quickest velocity available on the market. I discovered that it took round an hour and ten minutes to achieve full capability from zero p.c, which is sufficient to make a distinction, however lagging behind a number of the competitors, particularly the components branded ‘Xiaomi’.
Who’s it for?
• Fundamental digicam telephone customers on a finances
Purchase it if…
- You desire a telephone that’s just like an iPhone
- You want one thing that isn’t constructed like a brick
- You need good battery life
Do not buy it if…
- You want one thing with numerous energy
- Digicam high quality is a dealbreaker
- You need the quickest charging
Honor 400 Lite offers
36 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
1GBknowledge
36 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
1GBknowledge
36 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
5GBknowledge
36 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
5GBknowledge
24 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
1GBknowledge
24 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
1GBknowledge
36 months
Limitless minutes
Limitlesstexts
1GBknowledge
36 months
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1GBknowledge
36 months
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30GBknowledge
36 months
Limitless minutes
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30GBknowledge
