Since the Honor digital series adjusted its brand focus, it has always adhered to the positioning of the imaging flagship, from the 3840Hz high-frequency dimming screen and 200-megapixel photo camera of the Honor 90 series, to the Oasis eye-protection screen and SLR-level portrait main camera led by the Honor 100 Pro, each generation of products has demonstrated Honor’s deep understanding of portrait photography.
Today, Honor has reached a technical cooperation with the French Yagu Studio, which has a long history of portrait photography, and jointly launched the Yagu Light and Shadow Photo Master function on the Honor 200 series of mobile phones, bringing the industry’s first Yagu portrait three modes.
If the portrait photography of the Honor 90/100 series focuses on capturing beauty, then the Honor 200 series has been further sublimated to the artistic interpretation of light and shadow.
Now, we at Fast Technology have got our hands on this newly released Honor 200 Pro.
1. Yagu’s blessing brings an artistic experience of light and shadow
The Honor 200 Pro’s rear camera configuration uses a combination of a 50-megapixel triple-main photo camera, a 50-megapixel light and shadow telephoto lens, and a 112° ultra-wide-angle macro lens.
The focus of this generation is still portrait photography, and Yagu Light and Shadow Photo Master is the result of the cooperation between Honor and Yagu Studio.
Yagu Studio, founded in 1934, adheres to the creative concept of “using light and shadow to create sculptures”. Black and white are the characteristic symbols of Yagu. It never uses flash. It adopts the light and shadow techniques of shooting traditional black and white movies to explore the inner temperament of the characters and create images like “light sculptures”.
The cooperation between Honor and Yagu is not a simple filter superposition, but a deep analysis of the light and shadow information of a large number of classic photos, combined with AI and algorithm technology, to create a light and shadow enhancement channel algorithm. It can design the best light and shadow optimization strategy according to the characteristics of different light and shadow scenes, and finally reproduce the texture of classic light and shadow portraits on the Honor 200 series.
2. Honor Oasis eye protection screen is upgraded with a brightness up to 4000nit
The Honor 200 Pro is equipped with the Honor Oasis Eye Protection Screen with 3840Hz PWM ultra-high frequency dimming, and has been upgraded in terms of eye protection function.
Through natural color display 2.0 and AI sleep-aid display technology, users are provided with a more comfortable visual experience and the impact of flicker on the eyes is reduced.
At the same time, the local peak brightness of the screen is as high as 4000nits, ensuring clear and delicate picture quality in various lighting environments.
3. The third-generation Snapdragon 8s chip + GPU Turbo X game engine combine to create a powerful combination
In terms of hardware configuration, the Honor 200 Pro is equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8s chip and Honor’s ultra-thin wide-area stainless steel bionic VC, ensuring stable performance of high performance.
In addition, it is also equipped with Honor’s own GPU Turbo X game engine, allowing players to enjoy a smooth gaming experience on the Honor 200 Pro.
Next, we will test the performance of this Honor 200 Pro.
Design
The Honor 200 Pro has a floating streamlined four-curved screen, which achieves a full-depth four-curved screen. This solution combines the feel of a curved screen and the experience of a straight screen.
The screen size is 6.78 inches, with a resolution of 2700×1224, 437 PPI, a free refresh rate of 120Hz, supports 1.07 billion color display, DCI-P3 color gamut display, and 4000nit peak brightness, with excellent specifications.
The Oasis eye protection screen has also been upgraded. It not only continues the German Rhine flicker-free and global eye protection 3.0 dual certifications but also achieves a major upgrade in the eye protection function, providing a better eye protection experience.
The one we got is the Moon Shadow White color. Honor has injected the flowing coastal form into the phone. When facing the light, you can see layers of wave-like textures. The rear camera Deco adopts a regular elliptical design with central axis symmetry. The natural and organic geometric outline matches the color scheme, showing the aesthetic romance that Honor wants to bring to users.
The Honor 200 Pro has the Honor English LOGO printed on the lower right corner, and next to it is the AI MATRIX CAMERA 50 MP OIS 1.9/27 ASPH. The top and bottom of the Honor 200 Pro are equipped with regular noise-cancelling microphones, speakers, USB-C ports, SIM card slots, infrared, etc.
It is worth mentioning that the Honor 200 series’ dual stereo speakers support 80dB ultra-large volume, as well as HONOR Histen spatial audio and video call AI noise reduction, bringing users a clear and pleasant acoustic experience. A 100W charger is included in the package.
Cameras
In terms of camera specifications, the Honor 200 Pro uses a 50-megapixel triple-main camera. The main camera is the Yagu Lighting flagship main camera H9000, which has a 1/1.3-inch ultra-large bottom, the largest in the history of the Honor digital series.
In terms of specifications, it supports f/1.9 aperture, AF+OIS two-in-one memory metal motor, and uses a 7P lens, which can achieve four-in-one 2.4μm equivalent large pixels, increase the photosensitive area by 44%, and reduce low-light noise by 105%.
It is equipped with a 50-megapixel light and shadow telephoto lens, which is the IMX856 ultra-large bottom sensor jointly customized by Honor and Sony. It has a large aperture of f/2.4, OIS optical image stabilization, and supports 2.5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom. The ultra-wide-angle lens supports 112° FOV, can take into account macro, and can achieve an ultra-short focusing distance of 2.5 cm.
Honor has also established technical cooperation with the French Yagu Studio, which has nearly a hundred years of experience in portrait photography, to jointly create the Yagu Light and Shadow Photo Master on the entire Honor 200 series, with the industry’s first Yagu portrait three modes. Let’s test it out.
Honor 200 Pro uses triple AI technology to replicate Yagu’s light and shadow concept, presenting three Yagu portrait styles: vivid, textured, and classic. The above pictures were taken in Yagu’s vivid, textured, and classic modes respectively.
The lighting and shadow effects of Yagu’s classic portraits are very worth mentioning. It does not directly and roughly apply a black-and-white filter. Based on powerful hardware configuration + Al technology, it can design the best lighting and shadow optimization strategy according to the characteristics of different lighting and shadow scenes.
In the end, the image accurately captures the character’s expression and emotions, retains the character’s original outline, and truly restores the light and shadow information, making it easy to take portraits that are extremely three-dimensional and full of texture. Yagu Vivid is more inclined towards ordinary location shooting in style, while Yagu Texture is slightly retro in style.
Main camera
Telephoto
Ultra-wide angle
We used the Honor 200 Pro to take some photos of buildings. We can see that it has a relatively good imaging performance in various scenes, and is able to present rich details and rich colors. Both the resolution and the light and shadow texture are very good, and the style is more pleasing to the eye.
Game Test
In terms of hardware configuration, Honor 200 Pro will not disappoint. The phone is equipped with the third-generation Snapdragon 8s processor and is equipped with three technologies: GPU Turbo X touch enhancement technology, GPU Turbo X image quality enhancement technology, and GPU Turbo X AI scheduling technology. Based on the GPU Turbo X game engine, it can maximize the performance of the game and bring a smooth experience to players.
In terms of heat dissipation specifications, an ultra-thin wide-area stainless steel bionic VC heat dissipation solution with a total area of 5564 mm2 is adopted. Combined with the fourth-generation high thermal conductivity graphite sheet, it can achieve a heat dissipation specification of 6W45℃. Compared with traditional copper VC, the weight is reduced by 28% and the thickness is reduced by 6%-14%, allowing the VC heat dissipation area to be increased by up to 19%, and the VC thermal conductivity performance to be improved by up to 23%.
The Honor 200 Pro we got is the 12GB+512GB version. The following are all running in performance mode + game mode. For the actual game test, we chose two extremely mainstream mobile games: “Honor of Kings” and “Genshin Impact”. The former can be used as a benchmark for frame rate and temperature, and the latter is used to examine the upper limit of the device in high-load games.
1. Honor of Kings
In Honor of Kings, we changed the frame rate to very high and the resolution to ultra high, so that the overall picture quality is extreme. During the game, the average power consumption was 3.23W and the frame energy consumption was 37.2 FPS/W.
In terms of temperature, the highest temperature in the chip area on the back is only 39.5 degrees Celsius, and the grip area (P1) is only 37 degrees Celsius. During the game, the impact of temperature is almost unnoticeable.
2. Genshin Impact
In “Genshin Impact”, we will choose the preset image quality to be extremely high, and on this basis change the game frame rate to 60 frames.
During the testing of “Genshin Impact”, in the main city of Fontaine, use characters that can move quickly, such as Ye Lan and Zao You, to run around randomly for 10 minutes. After testing “Genshin Impact” for 10 minutes, the average frame rate was 55.31 FPS.
As can be seen from the above figure, the overall curve baseline is 60 FPS. Although it drops to around 45 FPS during the period, it quickly returns to 60 FPS. This should be the automatic decision of temperature control.
Although the fluctuations were obvious, there were no lags or frame drops during the game. During the game, the average power consumption was 6.04W and the frame energy consumption was 9.15 FPS/W. In terms of temperature, the highest temperature in the chip area of the body is 44.5 degrees Celsius, and the grip area is 38.4 degrees Celsius.
The grip area is very eye-catching, only 1.4℃ higher than “Honor of Kings”, but due to the problem of heat dissipation efficiency, you can still feel a certain temperature in the game, and it does not cause a certain impact on the feel, so you can still continue the game.
The Honor 200 Pro also inherits the virtual independent display technology that was equipped in previous generations of the Honor digital series. Simply put, after turning on this function, you can achieve a frame rate that exceeds the native frame rate in the game, bringing a doubled smooth experience.
Enhanced Frame Rate:
Next, we will test the performance of “Genshin Impact” after ultra-high picture quality + 60 frames + frame rate enhancement. At this time, the real-time rendering frame rate of the picture reaches 92 FPS.
After turning on the frame rate enhancement, we tested “Genshin Impact” for 10 minutes and there was no obvious frame drop problem. It was very stable, and the final average frame rate was 91.09 FPS.
The power consumption has not changed much from the default value, only 6.2W, which can be regarded as a fluctuation error. The frame energy consumption has also reached 14.7 FPS/W.
In terms of temperature, the highest temperature in the chip area of the body is 45 degrees Celsius, and the temperature in the grip area is 39.6 degrees Celsius, which is an increase of about 1°C.
Battery
The Honor 200 Pro is equipped with a flagship Qinghai Lake battery, a silicon-carbon negative electrode battery technology developed by Honor itself. The battery energy density reaches 740Wh/L, which is 5.56% higher than the previous generation graphite system. The capacity can be increased by 200mAh while the battery volume is reduced, thus bringing a 5200mAh capacity battery in an 8.2mm body.
The battery uses the second-generation three-pole single-cell technology. Compared with dual-cell batteries, it is smaller in size, has a longer service life without discharge loss, is safer, and generates less heat during charging.
In terms of charging, it supports 100W wired super-fast charging, 66W wireless super-fast charging, and wireless reverse charging, and can easily provide power support for headphones, bracelets, mobile phones, and other devices.
Charging Test
The Honor 200 Pro’s 100W super fast charge was tested, charging from 5% to 48% in 10 minutes and to 80% in 20 minutes.
After that, the charging speed slowed down significantly and entered the trickle protection charging mode. This process took about 13 minutes, or 33 minutes to fully charge.
Honor 200 Pro also supports Smart Charging Mode and Extreme Charging 2.0. The former can intelligently identify charging scenarios and automatically adjust the charging status to provide a better charging experience while extending the battery life. The latter can intelligently learn user habits and automatically turn on the extreme charging mode without manual triggering.
Battery Test
For the battery life test, we use a professional battery life test tool – Battery Dog produced by Fast Technology for testing.
In the test items, 20% power test will be performed by default. At the same time, all test items including CPU high voltage, CPU multi-threading, AI recognition, image browsing, video playback and web browsing will be checked. By simulating user usage scenarios, the real load is restored to the greatest extent, which is as close to the actual power consumption as possible.
During the test, to ensure that the environmental variables of all models tested remain consistent and to ensure the accuracy of the test results, Battery Dog will automatically adjust the screen brightness to 50%, turn off the automatic brightness, and adjust the volume to 30%.
After testing by Battery Dog, it can last for 8 hours and 11 minutes from 100% power consumption to 20% power consumption. The total battery life can exceed 10 hours, which can meet the user’s intermittent use throughout the day.
Conclusion
Ever since mobile phones have been using computational photography technology, it has not only solved the problem of users’ insufficient shooting skills and poor photo effects with its powerful algorithms but has also been combined with powerful lens modules in subsequent development, allowing novice users to easily take high-quality photos. This is undoubtedly a major leap forward in mobile photography technology.
There is a saying in France: Anyone who has not been photographed by Yagu Photography Studio is not an actor. Considering that a portrait shot by Yagu Photography in Paris starts at 20,000 yuan, it is known as the “Hermès of portraits”, and its artistic value is not something that everyone can easily possess.
Now with the Honor 200 Pro, users can experience this portrait style with a history of nearly a hundred years on their mobile phones without spending huge amounts of money.
Most of the portrait-focused mobile phones on the market start with beautification and blurring. Although it is easy to take the “sweet pictures” that girls love, they ignore the importance of light, shadow, and texture.
Honor has a unique and profound understanding of portrait photography. It continues the original portrait features and fine-tunes the light, shadow, and texture. Its unique AI algorithm successfully integrates the century-old classic portrait photography technology into the phone, bringing users a professional-level portrait shooting experience.
In addition, the gaming experience is still good. The third-generation Snapdragon 8s chip + GPU Turbo X game engine can easily break through the rendering limitations of popular games such as “Genshin Impact” and run stably at an average frame rate of 90 FPS, which is smoother and more stable than the native version, which is quite eye-catching.
If you love portrait photography and want a mobile phone that can easily take textured photos, Honor 200 Pro will be your ideal choice.
Read Also: Honor 90 Preview and Review: A Flagship Smartphone with Cutting-Edge Features and Stunning Design