Honor 400 Lite Review

A very affordable all-rounder that’s rather shameless in its iPhone inspirations. The Honor 400 Lite appeals to those who like the Apple look, but budget rivals have more unique personalities

The Honor 400 Lite is one of the better budget phones out there but its iPhone cosplay leaves it with little identity of its own

The Honor 400 Lite nails the iPhone look with a sleek design, lightweight build, and vibrant 120Hz AMOLED display. Performance is decent for daily use but falls short in gaming, camera consistency, and video quality. With clean software and six years of updates, it's great for casual users—just not the best value for power users.

If more devices like the Honor 400 Lite came our way at this price tag (or less), we'd probably find ourselves inventing things to complain about to keep the snarky Stuff soul alive. Being one of the few exceptions to the mid-range smartphone rule, the 400 Lite backs it all up with a generous AMOLED display and overachieving battery that'll more than make up for the underperforming innards and camera.

The Honor 400 Lite found itself on the cusp of something interesting, where in so blindly copying the design of another, it has somehow found itself travelling around the curve and back again at originality. Perhaps it is due to so many smartphones being designed to feel good and look good, but not necessarily to remain comfortable to use after hours of use. The 400 Lite is, well, light and causes no strain, and as such is a small revelation. On top of that, with a good display, decent performance and strong battery life, it certainly has more than a few arrows to its quiver; however, it is not without weaknesses. The camera, for all of its megapixels, does nothing to impress. There were some quirks to the app experience and the software, while well organised and pleasant, may be too ‘designed’ for some. Should you be in the market for a smartphone that’s a lot like an iPhone, it should be a first pick. If you want a device that gets a great deal of the fundamentals right while also working well for tired hands, the same should be true. If however, you need the most power, the best camera performance, or want something a bit more premium, then you would be best to look elsewhere.

If you can’t afford the latest iPhone but still want the looks and handling of one, Honor’s got you covered. It shoots nice pictures in good, even lighting, but can struggle with HDR