Honor 400 Lite: Feature-packed, stylish, and surprisingly smart for the price

Irish Examiner

24-04-2025

The 400 Lite is the latest in Honor's budget 400 series of smartphones. While it doesn't scream for attention with flashy gimmicks or ultra-premium specs, it offers a clean, refined experience that nails the essentials and then throws in a few smart extras that genuinely enhance everyday use.
Design and build
The 400 Lite is one of those phones that instantly feels nice in the hand. It's just 7.29mm thick and weighs very little, making it super comfortable for prolonged use, whether scrolling on the couch or snapping pics on the move. The rounded corners and flat edges give off iPhone vibes, but I'm fully on board with this latest design trend. I love the clean lines — it feels great in the hand, with no sharp edges — and the device is well-balanced.
The black variant I tested has one of the nicest finishes I've seen in this category. It looks modern, with a distinctive rear camera bump, and strikes a stylish balance without being overly flashy. The frosted finish on the back and the triangular camera module add a touch of character, giving it a premium look at a budget-friendly price.
The pill-shaped notification cut-out at the top of the screen is a direct copy of Apple's Dynamic Island. Still, it's smaller and less intrusive, serving a practical purpose (music playback, notifications, etc.).
Display
Here's where the 400 Lite really shines — literally. The 6.7-inch AMOLED panel delivers full HD+ resolution with bold colours, sharp contrast, and deep blacks. With a peak brightness of 3,500 nits, I had no issues using this phone outdoors. No need to shield the screen or crank up brightness manually — it just works.
The 120Hz refresh rate makes everyday interactions feel silky smooth. Whether you're doom-scrolling on social media or swiping through image galleries, it adds a layer of polish you rarely find in phones at this price.
For security, there's an optical under-display fingerprint reader that works well enough, but it's not as fast or reliable as the latest ultrasonic sensors found on flagship devices.
Cameras
Honor has fitted the 400 Lite with a 108MP main shooter, a 5MP ultrawide/depth combo, and a 16MP selfie cam. While the secondary lens is more about padding the spec sheet than transforming your photography, the main sensor performs admirably in most situations. The rear camera module may look like it houses three cameras, but the third circle is the flash.
The main camera is excellent, especially in good lighting, and the Action mode helps reduce motion blur in your shots, even in low-light conditions.
The ultrawide camera delivers good results in contrast, colour, and HDR performance, but with only a 5MP sensor, clarity and fine detail are noticeably lacking.
The selfie is excellent, especially for a phone in this price category. It's also great for video calls and quick Instagram stories, but don't expect flagship levels of detail or finesse.
Things get more interesting in Honor's AI features. Motion capture does a great job of freezing fast-moving subjects, and the object removal feature is impressively clean—no weird shadows or smudgy artefacts. It's practical AI, not just marketing fluff.
There's also a dedicated AI camera button, which can be helpful in daily life. It works well as a zoom controller and shutter button, and its intuitive placement means you're likely to use it more than you'd expect.
Performance
Under the hood, the 400 Lite is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra, paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It's not a gaming powerhouse, but for everyday use — browsing, media consumption, messaging, and multitasking — it's snappy and responsive. This isn't the phone for you if you're into demanding games, but for casual gaming and everyday tasks, the Honor 400 Lite performs reliably and holds its own.
MagicOS 9.0 (based on Android 15) deserves a shoutout here, too. It's clean, fast, and surprisingly feature-rich. The AI-assisted features, like text/image recognition and Magic Portal (for quickly dragging content between apps), are more than gimmicks — they actually make the phone feel smarter and more helpful.
Battery life is a strong suit here. With a 5,230mAh cell, the 400 Lite comfortably powers through a full day of heavy use and even stretches into day two if you're being conservative.
Charging is capped at 35W, so it's not the fastest out there, but it's still decent — it can go from 0 to 100% in around 75 minutes when using the (not included) Honor SuperCharge adapter. The box has no charger, but that's hardly unusual in 2025.
Stereo speakers are decent, though not exceptional, and there's no headphone jack — again, standard for the times.
Verdict
The Honor 400 Lite is powerful enough to do everything most people need. It has a gorgeous AMOLED display, capable cameras with some genuinely useful AI features, and excellent battery life. If you want a dependable phone that feels more premium than its price tag suggests, the Honor 400 Lite deserves a look.
€299 – Three and Harvey Norman.