The Honor 600 and Honor 600 Pro are the latest attempt by the Chinese brand to deliver premium hardware at a lower price point, and for the most part, they do the trick.
This review covers both models together, since they are so similar.
Both models share a unibody frame, a wide camera island, and rounded corners and edges that feel reminiscent of the Apple iPhone 17. Where they differ is in the chipset and the camera array: the Pro uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite, while the standard model features a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4. The 600 Pro also has a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens.
It’s when you look into the fine print that the whole proposition falls apart, as these phones only offer 2 major Android updates and 3 years of security patches in Australia.
For phones priced at $999 and $1499 respectively, that’s not acceptable.
Overall Rating: 2.5 / 5
Pros
- Bright AMOLED display with excellent colour and detail
- Dependable performance across a wide range of apps
- 512GB as default on the 600 Pro
Cons
- Awfully short update policy at this price point
- Ultrawide camera lens is an afterthought, not actually useful
- No AC fast charger included in the box
Price: $999 (Honor 600) / $1499 (Honor 600 Pro) | For customers seeking flagship hardware and intend to buy again in three years
Setup & First Impressions
Out of the box, the Honor 600 and 600 Pro feel very premium. The iPhone inspiration is obvious right from the start, with a wide camera island and larger radius corners than most other Android devices.
The screens offer a high maximum brightness that comfortably competes outdoors, and both models feel snappy and responsive. There is a fair bit of preinstalled bloatware out of the box, but it’s quick to clear up.
It’s hard to tell these two apart from the front, but the rear camera housing shows the difference. The Pro includes a third lens and shifts the flash unit to the side.
Design & Aesthetics
Both phones are designed around an aluminium unibody frame with a matte composite rear and a flat glass front. Three controls on the right side of the phone provide volume adjustment, lock/unlock, and a shortcut button for opening the camera or accessing AI features.
Both phones weigh about 200 grams and measure just under 8 millimetres thick, and they share an identical 6.57-inch AMOLED panel. The display reaches 120Hz and includes a preinstalled screen protector.
Each is available in Black or Golden White, while the Honor 600 Pro is also available in an Orange colour that’s remarkably close to Apple’s offering.
Life With the Honor 600 & 600 Pro
I’ve been testing out these phones for a little over a week. After a day or two of customising them to suit your needs, most usage issues get ironed out.
A quirk worth mentioning is the always-on display mode that defaults to a full-screen image rather than a widget. At first, this tripped me up as it’s easily confused with the actual lock screen.
Positives
These phones provide solid performance and long battery life to keep up with you through the day. With my typical usage, I never encountered any battery anxiety.
The build quality and feel is excellent, with nice materials and a considered design. Alongside it, the phones carry IP68, IP69 and IP69K water and dust resistance rating for durability.
The speakers aren’t the best I’ve ever heard, but they’re a step above most of the market. They provide pretty good bass response and good detail at normal volumes, but are quick to distort above about 50 percent volume.
Negatives
By far the biggest negative point about these phones is Honor’s support policy. With just 2 major OS updates and 3 years of security updates, you’ll be shopping for a new phone again pretty soon after buying either of these ones.
What’s especially galling is that the exact same hardware receives 6 years of updates in Europe. In Australia, these phones will instead become e-waste when they would otherwise have plenty of life left to give.
Outside of that, the preinstalled apps on offer provide a bit of extra legwork to uninstall, and the default widgets nag for permissions several times.
Neither of these phones delivered an outstanding experience, instead they simply feel competent.
Camera
Outside of the telephoto lens on the Honor 600 Pro, the camera suite is identical. It’s a 200-megapixel main sensor that delivers good detail and colours. AI post-processing is evident in pretty much every shot, and I found some photos came out looking a touch oversharpened, unfortunately.
In low-light scenes, dark areas are prone to a big loss of detail if there are any bright elements. To overcome this, using manual settings becomes necessary.
The Honor 600 Pro’s telephoto lens provides a bit of extra reach for shooting across a distance, but it takes a steady hand or a surface to brace against.
Both models’ ultrawide lens feels like an afterthought at just 12 megapixels, and I found better results just taking a couple of steps backward with the main lens.
The front-facing cameras are supposed to be identical, but I found the 600 Pro rendered skin tones slightly more naturally than the 600.
Performance & Reliability
This is the clearest difference between the two phones. The Snapdragon 8 Elite provides a big upgrade in heavy gaming and multitasking, while the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is great for everyday apps.
Our benchmark testing on this and other phones with the Snapdragon 8 Elite has placed it just a step below the top performers on the market.
The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is outperformed by a wide margin in both GPU and CPU benchmarks, but it’s good enough for most tasks you do with a phone.
Practical Considerations
The biggest issue to discuss is Honor’s treatment of the Australian market. Most of us are keeping our phones for longer due to increasing hardware costs and other cost of living concerns, but Honor’s update policy on these phones for Australia is incompatible with this trend.
512GB as default on the Honor 600 Pro is a great offering, and provides plenty of storage for music and movie downloads, photos, and app data. It’s a great feature to see at this price point.
Both phones provide 80W wired charging, but neither includes a charger in the box. The 600 Pro features wireless charging up to 50W.
The included warranty is the standard 24 months.
Value & Alternatives
If you’re looking at the hardware alone, these phones are pretty good value, but with the greater context of the support policy I can’t say either of these phones is a wise purchase.
The Motorola Signature comes in at the same $1499 price point as the Honor 600 Pro, and was recently on sale for $999. It receives a full 7 years of updates.
Would I Buy It With My Own Money?
Absolutely not. Money is tight these days, and being forced to shop again in just a couple of years feels like a trap for people who don’t read the support policy.
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