There is nothing particularly wrong with the HONOR 600S.

It works. It looks decent. The display is nice enough. The cameras can capture perfectly usable photos. Battery life is excellent. It even has a collection of AI features that can keep you entertained for a while.

The problem is that “perfectly fine” becomes a harder sell when the 8GB + 256GB version carries a PHP 22,999 SRP and launches at a PHP 19,999 promo price.

The HONOR 600S feels like a phone that sits comfortably in the lower mid-tier. It has enough going for it to be perfectly serviceable as an everyday smartphone, but it doesn’t quite deliver the kind of experience that makes you want to recommend it over the alternatives.

That becomes particularly apparent when HONOR puts so much emphasis on its AI capabilities.

It feels every bit like a lower mid-tier phone

The HONOR 600S feels well-built, but nothing about it feels particularly premium.

At 216.5 grams and 8.3mm thick, it isn’t exactly a featherweight phone. It comes in Velvet Black, Desert Gold, and Misty Purple, with the latter being the finish we spent time with.

There is a reassuring heft to the phone, and the build doesn’t give off the impression that HONOR cut corners just to hit a price point. It also carries IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings for water and dust resistance, along with SGS five-star drop resistance according to HONOR’s materials.

Those are meaningful practical advantages.

Still, pick it up and you immediately get that lower mid-tier feeling.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Phones in this segment have gotten remarkably good at feeling solid without costing a fortune. But the HONOR 600S doesn’t really give you that extra bit of refinement that makes it feel more expensive than it is.

The display is a pleasant surprise

The display is probably one of the better parts of the HONOR 600S.

It uses a 6.872-inch TFT LCD with a 1592 x 720 resolution. HONOR lists typical brightness at 860 nits, with up to 1,020 nits in HBM, and it also includes Eye Comfort and Dynamic Dimming technologies.

Those specifications don’t exactly scream “media powerhouse,” but actual use tells a more favorable story.

Reacher and Lila

I spent time watching episodes of Reacher Season 4 on the phone, and the experience was pretty good. It’s not the sort of display that makes you forget you’re looking at an LCD, but it gets the job done well enough for movies and shows.

Certified Isa-holic

The same applies to watching fancams of STAYC Isa, who currently occupies a frankly unreasonable amount of rent-free real estate in this Managing Editor’s mind.

The HONOR 600S is a perfectly competent little entertainment machine.

It also has stereo speakers, with HONOR Sound 7.3 listed in the specifications. That helps round out the media experience.

The cameras are serviceable

The HONOR 600S has a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera paired with an auxiliary lens. Around the front is a 5-megapixel f/2.2 camera. Rear video tops out at 1080p, while the phone offers up to 8x digital zoom.

And “serviceable” is probably the best word for the cameras.

They’re not necessarily something you’d use to show off your mobile photography chops. You won’t be reaching for the HONOR 600S when you want to make a serious photographic statement.

But that’s not necessarily what this phone needs to do.

For capturing moments with friends, taking photos of food, documenting whatever happens during the day, and throwing the results onto social media, the cameras are mostly okay.

That’s enough for the intended audience.

There are also several shooting modes available, including Portrait, Night, High-Res, Panorama, Pro, Slow-Mo, and the usual Photo and Video modes.

The problem is that the cameras don’t give the HONOR 600S much of an identity. They’re there, they work, and they do what you expect.

Nothing more.

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 keeps things moving

The HONOR 600S runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 613 GPU. Depending on the configuration, you get either 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage or 8GB of RAM with 256GB. It runs MagicOS 10 based on Android 16.

That combination tells you pretty much what to expect.

The phone should be perfectly capable of handling everyday tasks, social media, messaging, streaming, and other non-demanding workloads. You shouldn’t expect it to suddenly become a gaming powerhouse, though.

The Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 suggests that less demanding mobile games should run without much trouble. Games that ask for more horsepower will probably require some tweaking to the graphics settings to get things running properly.

Had our best run while taking photos for this review

On our end, we mostly ran the app version of the web game 82-0. It’s addicting.

And, frankly, that’s about as much gaming as the HONOR 600S really needed to handle during our time with it.

AI is entertaining, but that’s about it

Every HONOR 600 phone and up has this feature

HONOR really wants you to know about the AI.

The HONOR 600S supports AI Image-to-Video 2.0, Moving Photo Editing, AI Photos Agent, Magic Color, and Magic Pose. The Image-to-Video feature can work from multiple images, two images representing a first and last frame, or automatically through a no-prompt option.

And, yes, you can have some fun with it.

The problem is that there’s a fairly significant gap between “this is a neat toy” and “this is a feature that makes the phone worth buying.”

In the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, AI Image-to-Video can produce something interesting. The more specific prompt templates give users a little more control over the result, too.

In the hands of the unskilled, however, it mostly results in a bunch of AI slop.

We typically don’t look at generative AI particularly positively. There is still something undeniably entertaining about watching your photos turn into weird little videos, though.

That’s ultimately where I land with the HONOR 600S’s AI features.

They’re fun. They’re occasionally useful. But I wouldn’t buy this phone for them.

And if the cost of putting all these AI features into the phone is contributing to a price that doesn’t otherwise match the hardware and experience, that’s a bigger problem.

The battery is the highlight

26% left but last charge when this was taken was a day and a half ago. Light to medium usage.

Now we get to the HONOR 600S’s strongest argument.

The battery is huge.

The phone packs an 8,100mAh battery, with HONOR listing 7,900mAh as the rated capacity. It supports 45W wired HONOR SuperCharge, although there is no wireless charging.

And you can feel that capacity in everyday use.

The HONOR 600S is hard to drain.

If you leave home early in the day and put the phone through medium to heavy usage, you can expect to still have some juice left after a typical nine-to-12-hour day outside your home.

That’s genuinely useful.

Battery anxiety is one of those things that disappears into the background when you have this much capacity. You can watch some videos, scroll through social media, take photos, play games, and use your phone throughout the day without constantly wondering where the nearest charger is.

The 45W charging isn’t particularly exciting, but the combination of a big battery and reasonably fast wired charging makes the HONOR 600S dependable.

And sometimes dependable is exactly what you want from a phone.

There’s nothing wrong with the HONOR 600S. That’s the problem.

The HONOR 600S is alright. Its display is good. The battery is excellent. The cameras are serviceable. Performance is appropriate for the hardware. The build is solid. The AI features can be entertaining.

Put everything together and you get a phone that does most things it needs to do without making too many mistakes.

But that’s also why the pricing is difficult to swallow.

Is the HONOR 600S your GadgetMatch?

The 8GB + 256GB HONOR 600S has an SRP of PHP 22,999, although it will be available at a PHP 19,999 promo price. There is also a 6GB + 128GB version priced at PHP 18,999 during its first month of sales, exclusively online.

At those prices, the HONOR 600S needs to offer more than “mostly okay.” The hardware itself doesn’t feel particularly premium, the cameras don’t stand out, and the Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 is firmly positioned toward the entry-level end of Qualcomm’s smartphone lineup.

Then there’s AI.

HONOR is clearly positioning AI Image-to-Video 2.0 and the rest of its AI toolkit as major selling points for the HONOR 600S. The company’s own brief calls out AI as one of the phone’s primary product strengths alongside its battery and 50-megapixel camera.

But after spending time with the phone, I don’t think the AI features provide enough value to bridge the gap between what the phone offers and what it costs.

And that’s just the reality we’re going through at the moment.

You might be better off setting your sights on the other models in the HONOR 600 family.

The HONOR 600S isn’t a bad phone.

It’s just a difficult one to recommend at these prices.

Swipe Left.

The HONOR 600S 5G is now available in the Philippines, bringing an 8,100mAh battery, 5G connectivity, and AI-powered features to the HONOR 600 Series.

The smartphone starts at PHP 18,999 for the 6GB + 128GB configuration. The variant is an online exclusive during its first month of sales.

Meanwhile, the 8GB + 256GB model has an SRP of PHP 22,999 and is available at a promo price of PHP 19,999.

Pre-orders run from October 1 to 9, 2026, with the First Day Sale taking place on October 10.

HONOR 600S specs and features

The HONOR 600S features a 6.872-inch TFT LCD with a 1592 x 720 resolution. It reaches up to 1,020 nits in HBM and supports Eye Comfort and Dynamic Dimming technologies.

Under the hood, the phone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 processor with an Adreno 613 GPU. It runs MagicOS 10 based on Android 16 and comes in 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB configurations.

For photography, the HONOR 600S has a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with an auxiliary lens. The rear camera supports up to 8x digital zoom and 1080p video recording. A 5-megapixel f/2.2 camera handles selfies.

HONOR also highlights its AI-powered imaging tools, including AI Image-to-Video 2.0, Moving Photo Editing, AI Photos Agent, Magic Color, and Magic Pose. AI Image-to-Video can generate videos from multiple images or from first- and last-frame inputs.

The biggest hardware highlight is the 8,100mAh battery, rated at 7,900mAh. It supports 45W HONOR SuperChargeand does not support wireless charging.

The phone also carries IP68, IP69, and IP69K water and dust resistance ratings. Other connectivity features include 5G, dual Nano SIM support, Wi-Fi on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, and a USB-C port.

The HONOR 600S comes in Velvet Black, Desert Gold, and Misty Purple. It measures 168.3 x 78.54 x 8.30mm and weighs 216.5 grams.

HONOR 600S price and availability in the Philippines

The HONOR 600S is available for pre-order from October 1 to 9, 2026, with the First Day Sale beginning October 10.

• 6GB + 128GB: PHP 18,999 promo price — online exclusive during the first month
• 8GB + 256GB: PHP 22,999 SRP / PHP 19,999 promo price

HONOR’s Philippine launch promotion also covers authorized HONOR physical stores nationwide, Globe Telecom stores, and the brand’s official stores on Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop. (businessmirror.com.ph)

HONOR Philippines

Only a month after taking the reins from Tim Cook, Apple CEO John Ternus already changed how the company runs. As you’ve probably gathered, the company is now experimenting with a new release schedule by launching the two Pro models ahead of the regular iPhone duo. According to a new report, it’s all intentional as Ternus looks to make the company’s releases much more regular and unique.

That should come as no surprise for everyone. As opposed to the more managerial style of Tim Cook, Ternus comes specifically from an engineering background, ensuring that we’ll likely get crazier ideas going forward.

Right now, we don’t know how this new status quo will look like. It’s likely that we’ll see the regular iPhone 18 siblings next year, but who knows what else Apple has planned? Currently, there are rumors that the company might host a home-themed event this month.

Apple is now going through the tough teething stage of Ternus’s young term. Besides changing schedules, the company is also slowly shelving some projects to make itself leaner. Unfortunately, doing so also means layoffs. At the very least, Apple is allowing affected employees to find new work within the company to prevent getting laid off.

SEE ALSO: Apple iPhone 18 Pro Series review