HONOR 400 smartphone review. A phone that takes great photos and has long battery life

We continue to explore the summer's new releases—now it's time for the HONOR 400, following the Pro version, which was reviewed a bit earlier. This model offers a camera system for high-quality photos, a capacious battery, and software with a large number of AI assistants for both shooting and productivity. Let's take a closer look at this new smartphone!

The HONOR 400 we received for review came in the attractive "Desert Gold" color (also available are "Cosmic Gray" and "Midnight Black"). The combination is quite elegant and even somewhat natural, giving the device a premium feel. The back glass is treated to look like metal, while the chassis is made of aluminum and coated with plastic. The body is protected against splashes and dust according to the IP66 standard and has a five-star SGS certification, confirming its resistance to damage from drops.

On the top, there is an IR port, a microphone, and one of the stereo speakers. The bottom houses a Type-C port, the second speaker, a slot for two SIM cards, and the main microphone. The volume and power buttons are located on the right side.

The model features a 6.55-inch flat display without curved edges. The fingerprint scanner is optical and integrated into the display. Out of the box, the screen is already covered with a thin protective film.

The device weighs 184 grams and is 7.3 mm thick. The HONOR 400 fits comfortably in the hand, doesn’t feel heavy, and is not slippery when taking photos or working, even without a case.

The AMOLED panel has a resolution of 2736x1264 pixels with a maximum refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and a pixel density of 460 PPI. The screen delivers excellent color reproduction and is bright enough for use in sunlight, especially since the artificial intelligence adjusts the image according to lighting conditions.

The DCI-P3 color gamut coverage is 100%, and the HONOR Eye Comfort display offers a number of useful technologies for user convenience and eye protection:

The HONOR 400 package includes a fast 100W charger. It charges the battery up to 40% in 15 minutes, and to 100% in 46 minutes.

The 6000 mAh silicon-carbon battery lasts for about a day and a half. It’s noted that the battery can withstand cold temperatures down to -20°C even at low charge levels and remains operational. While we couldn’t test this claim during the hot summer, we can confirm that there were no issues in 30°C heat: the smartphone doesn’t overheat and allows you to record videos and take photos outdoors without any problems.

The HONOR 400 features a dual front camera setup, with the main 200 MP camera using hybrid AI and a 1/1.4-inch sensor with dual stabilization (OIS + EIS)—the same as in the Pro version. Photos come out vibrant and sharp. The camera app is intuitive and makes it easy to customize shooting modes, or you can trust the AI, which can automatically select the best options.

The camera also offers six templates to simulate Kodak and Fuji analog film, as well as three filters from the Parisian Harcourt studio for portrait modes.

The 12 MP ultra-wide camera allows you to capture shots with a 112-degree field of view. There is no fisheye effect.

With the "AI Super Zoom" mode and the updated HONOR AiMage technology, you can shoot with up to 30x zoom. Of course, this can't fully replicate a telephoto camera, but the artificial intelligence does its best to render details captured from a long distance.

As in the Pro version, the front camera features a 50 MP module (f/2.0). Selfies come out detailed and pleasing, both with depth of field turned off and with AI Dual-lens Bokeh, which blurs the background and highlights the main subject.

HONOR 400 offers a whole range of useful AI features for the camera: AI erasers for objects, passersby, glare, and reflections. With the photo extension feature, you can increase the size of the original image, upscaling functions help add sharpness and increase resolution, and the eye-opening feature corrects photos if you happened to blink.

With "AI Photo Animation," you can turn a static portrait, poster, or landscape into a short dynamic video. The neural network produces quite a decent result. As for video, the smartphone records in 4K at 30 frames per second and in Full HD at 60 frames per second.

The HONOR 400 Pro uses a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor with Adreno 720 graphics, paired with 12 GB of RAM (versions with 8 GB RAM are also available). The operating system is MagicOS 9.0 based on Android 15. The interface runs smoothly, all functions are in place, and there’s no clutter from ads.

The abundance of AI assistants is impressive: real-time speech-to-text conversion for both calls and audio; deepfake detection during video calls; text generation; object search on the screen; and the convenient Magic Portal 2.0 for easy transfer of objects between apps.

In games, the HONOR 400 performs confidently on medium settings. In Genshin Impact, you can get 30 frames per second, and in shooters like PUBG or Call of Duty, you can achieve 60 FPS.

You can check the results of synthetic performance tests in the screenshots.

HONOR 400 is a convenient mid-range smartphone. Its photography capabilities are impressive: thanks to the powerful sensor and a set of AI features, photos turn out detailed and rich. You also won’t need to constantly search for a power outlet, since the slim body houses a 6000 mAh battery.

Amazing! HONOR 400 is a device for every day and for years to come. The manufacturer promises two major updates up to Android 17 and 3 years of additional support packages.

Designer’s Choice. A lightweight smartphone that looks great and feels comfortable in the hand. The chosen style makes the HONOR 400 look more expensive than it is—you simply won’t want to hide it in a case.