Honor has recently unveiled its flagship mid-range series in Malaysia – the Honor 600.
We’ve compared the specs of the Honor 600 to the four-star Nothing Phone 4a Pro, and revealed what’s different and what’s remarkably similar about the two Android phones.
Once you’re finished here, make sure you visit our list of the best Android phones and best mid-range phones to find our current favourites.
Price and Availability
At the time of writing, the Honor 600 is currently only available to buy in Malaysia, although it will see a UK launch in the coming weeks. We don’t currently know how much the handset will cost in the UK.
In comparison, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is readily available to buy now with a starting RRP of £499 for the 8+128GB handset.
Both run on Snapdragon 7 Gen 4
We’ll start with a key similarity between the handsets, as both run on Qualcomm’s mid-range processor: Snapdragon 7 Gen 4. As we’re yet to review the Honor 600 specifically, we’ll have to wait and see how the phone really performs in everyday use. However, we can get a fairly good idea with the Nothing Phone 4a Pro.
For example, although we found the Phone 4a Pro doesn’t achieve high benchmarking scores, in actuality there’s plenty of speed and responsiveness for most use-cases. While heavy gamers should visit our best gaming phones guide instead, those who play less intense titles will certainly be able to make do.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro features the Glyph Matrix
One of the key reasons to opt for a Nothing phone is its design. While Nothing has toned things down a bit over the years, the Phone 4a Pro undoubtedly stands out from the crowd – thanks to its transparent design and Glyph Matrix.
The Glyph Matrix was first introduced with the Nothing Phone 3, although it’s been tweaked slightly for the Phone 4a Pro and is actually larger. Essentially, the Glyph Matrix is in-keeping with Nothing’s ethos and aims to help reduce your screen time but allows you stay up-to-date with notifications. It’s a small, round pixelated display that sits at your phone’s rear and can show progress-based notifications, timer countdowns and the like.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro has three rear lenses
Following on from the above, next to the Nothing Phone 4a Pro’s Glyph Matrix sits three rear lenses, including a 50MP main, 50MP 3.5x zoom and an 8MP ultrawide. While it’s not quite a competitor to the best camera phones, for its price range the triple-camera system is very capable.
There are a few weaknesses to keep in mind. Firstly, the ultrawide camera can’t draw in as much light as the main lens at night, and there’s noticeable distortion towards the edges of the photos. In addition, when you push the telephoto zoom past the 30x mark, the image looks a bit rough.
Even so, when shooting during the day or in bright conditions, the Phone 4a Pro can deliver sharp images with a good amount of colour.
In comparison, the Honor 600 is fitted with two rear lenses: a 12MP ultrawide and a mighty 200MP main camera. As we’re yet to review the Honor 600, we’ll have to wait and see how its photography skills really fare. However, Honor promises the phone will offer an “industry-leading” performance and, thanks to its AI Color Engine, should provide a true-to-life colour reproduction too.
Honor 600 has a larger battery
With a 7000mAh cell and 80W wired charging, the Honor 600 not only promises an all-day battery life, but also impressively speedy charging too. However, do keep in mind that you’ll need to invest in a compatible charger to benefit from those speeds.
In comparison, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is fitted with a pretty average-sounding 5080mAh cell and 50W wired charging speeds too. Even so, we found that the Phone 4a Pro was able to comfortably see through a full-day’s worth of battery. With this in mind, we’ll have to wait and see just how much more oomph the Honor 600’s 7000mAh cell really provides.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro has a slightly larger display
We really appreciate the Phone 4a Pro’s display and concluded that as a whole, it “outperforms its price tag”. Although it isn’t LTPO-enabled, it can reach up to 144Hz and can reach a peak brightness of 5000 nits for HDR scenes too. Plus, as 6.8-inches, it’s slightly bigger than the Honor 600’s 6.57-inch display.
Honor 600
Nothing Phone 4a Pro
Otherwise, the Honor 600 promises up to a whopping 8000 nits peak brightness (HDR), a 120Hz refresh rate and 458ppi pixel resolution too. That’s more than the Phone 4a Pro’s over 400ppi.
Early Verdict
Judging by the specs alone, the Honor 600 looks like strong competition against the Nothing Phone 4a Pro. However, it’s difficult to determine just how strong it really is, as we’re yet to know the UK pricing.
Even so, if you want a phone with a mighty main camera, large battery and faster charging, then the Honor 600 seems like a solid option. On the other hand, if you’d prefer a phone that visually stands out from the crowd, and benefits from a dedicated telephoto lens, then the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is a reliable choice.
We’ll be sure to update this versus once we review the Honor 600.
