8 hours ago
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The Honor 400 Pro phone stood out to me for one big reason during my testing time. It has an AI-powered tool that turns still images into moving video clips. The AI created videos felt at times like magic and took me on an emotional journey that I didn't expect. But this phone has plenty going for it beyond its AI skills.
Its screen is bright and vibrant, it's packed with power and at £700 in the UK, it's relatively affordable and offers some serious competition to both Samsung's $650 Galaxy S24 FE and arguably even Google's $1,000 Pixel 9 Pro. The downside for many of you is that the Honor 400 Pro won't be officially on sale in the US. And that's a pity because at a time when nearly every phone release comes with AI features (most of which feel like gimmicks), Honor proves that it's possible for phone AI to really capture your attention. The 400 Pro's £700 price converts to $938.
There's also the base Honor 400, which uses a lower-end processor, has a smaller display but still packs the same AI skills. It'll cost only £400 in the UK, or $537, converted.
I've been testing the phone for the past week so here's what's good -- and not so good -- about the Honor 400 Pro.
A vibrant screen, plenty of power
The 400 Pro has a 6.7-inch screen that offers tons of room to do your favorite mobile games or YouTube videos justice. It's bright enough to counter midday sun and its colors are vibrant. It's got a maximum 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling around look nice and smooth.
The design isn't exactly exciting though the triple camera unit is inoffensive enough.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETThe phone runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor that was a mainstay on most 2024 flagship Android phones and which put in some decent scores on our benchmark tests, considering the price. Its scores are in line with last year's Galaxy S24 and Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which is no surprise as all three phones use the same chip. It's got more than enough power to handle all of your everyday needs while tackling demanding games like Genshin Impact and PUBG at max settings without breaking a sweat.
Navigating around the Android 15 interface is a breeze. Honor's skin of the UI is pretty standard, though I'm irked by the number of preinstalled apps the phone comes with. Temu, TikTok, LinkedIn, Booking.com, Amazon and something called ReelShort are all on the phone -- along with various others -- as soon as you turn it on making it feel quite cluttered from the off. I get that Honor probably makes a healthy bit of cash from these companies by forcing their apps on customers by default, but I'd like to see the phone be even cheaper given that it's essentially ad-supported. You can uninstall these apps and I advise you to have an immediate clear-out once you get it out of the box.
Honor says the phone will receive six years of software and security support, which is quite good, though it's a year behind the seven years of security support offered by both Samsung and Google. I'd like to see Honor (and other mobile companies) continue to battle to see who can support their phones for longer -- it's better for your wallet and it's better for the planet.
Temu, TikTok, Trip, WPS Office -- a whole bunch of nonsense comes preinstalled. Get rid of it all before you install your own stuff.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETAI. Lots of AI
No phone worth its salt in 2025 would launch without some form of AI, and the Honor 400 Pro is no exception. You'll find a variety of the usual AI tools that range from a speech-to-text tool that transcribes dialogue in real time and a real-time language translation tool to a function that can rephrase, expand or summarise blocks of text.
Most of these are things you'll find on most AI-enabled phones these days. They work about as well as the ones I've tried elsewhere. Google's Gemini Advanced is also built in, another standard part of the Android experience.
The one feature that took me by surprise though was the image to video tool which creates a 5-second video out of a photo you provide. It's simple: Open the Image to Video tool in the gallery, choose your source image from your camera roll and hit go. It takes around a minute but then you'll be presented with an animated version of your still photo.
The original still image of this family of sheep.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETThe AI-created video version (converted into a lower-quality gif format).
Andrew Lanxon/CNETIt uses Google's VEO-2 AI model, and it seems essentially random in how it decides to bring your image to life as there are no options to provide prompts in what you want to see. Some results are quite bland while others have a lot more going on. The results can be hit and miss in their quality but it's fun to play around with, though it's arguably pointless beyond the sheer novelty of it. That said, I was conflicted when I fed it an image of my dad who died when I was a young child.
The original still image of my dad (left) and the AI-created video of him (right). Seeing him brought to life like this felt...complicated.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETRight now the tool is available as part of a "free trial" although Honor has yet to confirm how long this trial lasts or how much it will eventually cost. AI is clearly a big part of the phone and while you can use it without using any of the AI tools, it feels like you'd be missing out on a big part of the equation if you chose to.
Hit and miss cameras, middling battery
On the back is a triple camera setup consisting of a 200-megapixel main camera (yes, I did mean to put two zeroes there), a 50-megapixel telephoto camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera. Shots from all three cameras can look solid, with decent overall exposure (if sometimes a little on the bright side for my taste) and plenty of detail. I say "can" as while I have taken plenty of good images with the phone, I've also taken various ones that have disappointed me.
Taken with the main camera, this peaceful shot of someone writing next to the river is well-exposed and has plenty of detail.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETThis close up of a flower is vibrant and pin-sharp.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETThis image is a bit overexposed and the colors look a tad washed out.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETThe ultrawide lens seemed to struggle here; the bright sky is blown out in the top right, while the buildings remain very shadowy.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETAt its maximum 6x optical zoom, the phone has allowed for a much closer shot of this swan. But it's struggled with the exposure, causing most of the bird to be lost in a mess of highlights.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETWhile at maximum zoom here, there's a noticeable weird ghostly haze around the swan and its cygnets. It doesn't look great.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETHowever this image at 6x zoom looks much better, with solid exposure and crisp details.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETThe 6x telephoto camera seems to struggle with exposure at times, with blown-out highlights visible in multiple test images I took. It doesn't happen all the time though and there have been various occasions in my testing when its results look great. I can best describe it as "hit and miss."
The cameras certainly aren't the best around -- you'll need to splash more cash for the S25 Ultra or the iPhone 16 Pro if you want that -- but they're good enough for those of you looking for quick snaps on your travels to share with family and friends over WhatsApp or Instagram.
Inside the phone is a 5,300-mAh battery which should see you through most of a day of mixed use. It didn't do great on our demanding battery drain test, but I've certainly seen worse. It does support 100W wired charging though so getting the juice back in is a speedy business.
Android 15, with six years of software and security updates.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETHonor 400 Pro: Is it worth buying?
The phone's vibrant display, powerful processor and solid camera setup make it a decent overall option if you're looking for a phone that's more affordable than today's flagships. The AI skills are the cherry on the top, especially the image to video tool which I found genuinely fascinating to use. Will the novelty wear off? Yes, absolutely, but it's certainly fun to play with for a while.
