TECH REVIEW – The HONOR 400 Pro aims squarely at that sweet spot where half-million-forint flagships start feeling excessive, yet you still refuse to settle for anything less than top-tier performance. It combines an insanely bright AMOLED display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 power, a capable multi-camera system and a surprisingly practical suite of AI features inside a sleek glass-and-metal chassis. On paper, it checks every box a gamer or power user could want, and the real question is whether it delivers that extra spark in everyday use while competing in the shadows of bigger brands.

The HONOR 400 Pro clearly positions itself as an “affordable flagship.” In Hungary it hovers around the 300,000-forint range and, for that price, it packs serious hardware: 12 GB of RAM, 512 GB of fast UFS 4.0 storage, an approximately 5000-nit AMOLED panel and a 200-megapixel main camera. It carries IP68/IP69 certification, meaning it’s protected against dust, water and even high-pressure jets, and HONOR highlights its SGS-certified drop resistance. The silicon–carbon battery offers roughly 5300 mAh of capacity, backed by 100-watt wired charging and fast wireless charging. With the 400 Pro, HONOR sends a clear message: premium-class features shouldn’t require ultra-premium pricing.

MagicOS 9.0 runs on Android 15 with long-term support that promises updates for up to six years, along with plenty of gestures, AI utilities and system enhancements. It can feel overwhelming at first, but after a day or two it becomes clear that HONOR genuinely wants to differentiate itself from the familiar, somewhat bland stock-Android experience. The 400 Pro offers not just brute power, but personality too, even if that personality sometimes results in a slightly crowded interface.

Glass, Metal, Shine – Design and In-Hand Feel

One look and you notice HONOR didn’t cut corners on materials: a curved glass back, matte aluminum frame and glossy highlights that strike a balance between premium shine and tasteful restraint. At 8.1 mm thick and around 205 grams, paired with a pleasantly “wider” aspect that makes two-handed typing comfortable, it does feel like a sizeable device during one-handed use. The matte back does a good job resisting fingerprints, though on a flat surface it tends to slide around, so leaving it case-free on a table isn’t ideal.

The standout feature on the rear is the triple-camera module set in glossy glass with a metallic ring. It’s refreshing that it doesn’t try to mimic competing designs, instead offering its own visual identity. On the downside, the protruding camera island causes the phone to wobble when placed on a desk. The side buttons sit exactly where you’d expect, with solid tactile feedback, and the vibration motor delivers tight, flagship-grade haptics. Overall, the 400 Pro’s design and ergonomics comfortably rival pricier rivals, with slipperiness and the raised camera module being the only quirks a case can easily solve.

Extreme Brightness, Fast Panel – Display and Audio

The front is dominated by a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel with a 2800×1280 resolution, 1.5K sharpness and a 120 Hz refresh rate. HONOR claims 5000 nits of peak brightness, and in real-world use the display remains easily readable even under harsh sunlight. HDR content delivers eye-popping highlights well above typical smartphone standards. Colors are vibrant without neon exaggeration, and several color modes allow you to tweak the tone if you prefer more natural playback when watching films.

The 120 Hz refresh rate ensures buttery-smooth scrolling, fluid UI transitions and noticeably improved gameplay whenever a title supports higher frame rates. There’s no LTPO here, meaning the screen can’t drop to 1 Hz dynamically to save power, a feature some high-end rivals already include. On the upside, HDR is supported natively in Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, so you won’t run into the usual “unsupported” compatibility issues.

One intriguing addition is HONOR’s motion-sickness reduction trick: using the front camera and hidden motion sensors, the phone subtly shifts the image when it detects that you’re in motion, like reading on a bus or train. This reduces nausea for users prone to discomfort while using their phone on the move. Combined with eye-comfort modes and PWM dimming, the panel remains pleasant even during late-night use.

The stereo speakers get decently loud, more than enough for gaming and YouTube. They deliver clean mids and highs with modest bass, though they won’t compete with audio-centric flagships. Still, for general entertainment they perform well, and gamers will appreciate the stereo separation and strong volume.

200 Megapixels, Portrait Magic and AI – The Camera

The rear setup consists of a 200-megapixel main camera with optical stabilization, a 50-megapixel telephoto offering 3× optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. By default, the main sensor uses pixel-binning to produce more manageable 12–16 MP photos with high detail. In good lighting, results are excellent: vibrant but not oversaturated colors, solid detail and impressive dynamic range. HONOR’s AI RAW processing does a great job lifting shadow detail without making images look artificial.

The 3× telephoto offers a natural perspective for portraits and close-ups, and OIS helps maintain sharpness. Digital zoom holds up surprisingly well up to about 10–15×, and while anything beyond that leans heavily on AI reconstruction, the results are still social-media-worthy. The ultrawide lens excels with buildings, landscapes and tight interiors, and it maintains consistent color and contrast compared to the main camera.

Up front, a 50-megapixel selfie camera produces sharp, flattering shots with accurate skin tones, and portrait mode handles edge detection convincingly. It’s excellent for 4K video calls and vlogging, offering strong detail and color, with decent stabilization as long as you aren’t running. In low light, however, the software can be too aggressive with skin smoothing unless you tone down the beauty filters.

Night photography is a mixed bag but mostly impressive: the main camera can capture striking shots even in extremely low light, thanks to longer exposures and smart AI processing. Still, Google and Samsung’s top models remain a half-step ahead in noise reduction and extreme dynamic range. The dedicated night mode is fast and avoids excessive smearing, but it doesn’t perform miracles. Video tops out at 4K/60 fps on both the main and telephoto cameras with good stabilization and accurate colors, though there’s no 8K option, which most users won’t miss.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – A Powerhouse for Gaming and Productivity

Inside, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is paired with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage. This combo sits firmly in the “don’t worry about performance” category: apps open instantly, multitasking is effortless and even heavy workloads pose no real challenge. HONOR’s multi-layer cooling system keeps temperatures manageable. The phone warms up under prolonged gaming or benchmarking, but never becomes uncomfortably hot, and performance remains consistent.

In gaming, the 400 Pro truly shines. Popular titles like Genshin Impact, Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG, Wuthering Waves and Diablo Immortal run smoothly even at high graphics settings. Paired with the 120 Hz display, gameplay feels fluid and console-like. The Game Hub lets you fine-tune performance and battery usage, record gameplay and handle calls via floating windows, making the ecosystem appealing to gamers.

The software experience is more polarizing. MagicOS 9.0 resembles iOS in some of its layout and logic, offering plenty of custom icons, widgets, gestures and HONOR-branded apps. The positive side is speed: animations are smooth, app switching is fast and the system feels responsive. The downside is that it can appear busy and “overstuffed” at first, and you’ll likely spend half a day removing preinstalled apps and customizing gestures and notifications. Still, HONOR’s six-year update promise is a major advantage in the Android world.

AI Features: Not Just Marketing Hype

The HONOR 400 Pro’s AI capabilities are more than empty buzzwords. AI Image-to-Video can turn a single photo into a five-second animated clip, adding life to portraits, family photos or even classic paintings. It requires cloud processing, but the results often look like actual video captures rather than generated effects. The AI “outpainting” tool extends a photo beyond its borders, generating new scenery around the original image, which is fantastic for creative posts and digital art.

More practical tools include AI Eraser and object-removal features, which clean up unwanted elements in moments and often look seamless. AI Cutout lets you isolate people or objects for stickers, overlays or background swaps. Magic Portal analyzes onscreen content and suggests relevant actions or apps, such as navigation options when it recognizes an address.

On the productivity side, AI Voice Summariser transcribes and condenses long voice recordings into bullet-point summaries, making it incredibly useful for meetings, lectures and interviews. However, several of the most advanced generative AI tools (like image-to-video and outpainting) are labeled “free for a limited time,” meaning they may eventually require a subscription or credit system. For now, though, they genuinely add value rather than feeling like hidden tech demos.

Battery Life, Charging and Everyday Use

The silicon–carbon battery’s roughly 5300 mAh capacity stands strong on paper and in real use. Expect 6–7 hours of screen-on time under mixed usage with high brightness, translating to a solid day or more of practical endurance. Heavy gaming, HDR video streaming or prolonged mobile-data use will drain it faster, but rarely to the point of midday charging panic.

The 100-watt wired SuperCharge feature is one of the phone’s biggest quality-of-life perks: with a compatible charger, you can hit around 50 percent in 10–12 minutes and nearly full capacity in about half an hour. Wireless charging is also fast, making desk-dock top-ups effortless. While the included charger may vary by region, the 400 Pro works seamlessly with HONOR’s own fast chargers and several third-party PD/UFCS solutions.

In everyday use, the HONOR 400 Pro feels consistently stable, quick and reliable. No noticeable micro-lags, no app crashes, steady network performance (mobile, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC) and good call quality. If you embrace MagicOS, this is one of the most capable and distinctive Android experiences available today. For users who prefer a clean, stock-like interface, it may take some adjustment, but the payoff is a feature-rich and customizable system.

Should You Buy It?

The HONOR 400 Pro isn’t just impressive on spec sheets, it shines in daily use. Its exceptionally bright AMOLED display, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 performance, versatile camera system and legitimately useful AI features create a package that competes confidently with more expensive big-brand rivals. It doesn’t dominate every category – low-light photography still favors Google and Samsung – but it avoids major weaknesses entirely.

If you love mobile photography, gaming, long battery life and meaningful AI tools, and you don’t want to spend half a million forints, the HONOR 400 Pro is a compelling choice. With a protective case and a bit of UI tweaking, you get a phone that’s fast, stylish and smart. It isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s exactly the kind of well-executed innovation that makes new tech genuinely enjoyable to use.

-Gergely Herpai “BadSector”-