u/sloopeyyy

I've used and owned a lot of different phones over the last couple of years. All across different budget segments from entry level, midrangers, flagships and even a few ultras. Mostly afforded through work and only a few making it into my personal daily driver and/or collection. Normally each one of them leave some sort of definitive impression on me but this S25FE, which I found for cheap on clearance, confuses me. I really don't know whether I like or not. Atleast not yet.

I don't wanna go through the spec sheet because most of us know what it is. Its a well made phone worthy of some of its upgrades. Everything about the phone looks and feels genuinely premium now aside from the dated secondary cameras and 8gb of RAM (when even the A56/57 already have 12gb configurations). Though to be completely fair, its more like its finally caught up to the standards of the S23+ or S24+ which has been long overdue at this point for the FE series.

But for real, using this phone after spending so much (even discounted) doesn't feel right. Its a fault of the FE series in general and now more than ever, it just fits (or doesn't fit) awkwardly in the lineup. Its difficult to say whether it was worth it or justified. Doesn't help that the entire lineup went up in price so its even more awkwardly overpriced between the A57 and S25/S26 Plus model.

Eitherway, its an undeniably great phone to use. And thats whats making me feel so indecisive about it. I'm not happy with its price and where it sits in the market but it also feels like a complete, premium smartphone experience that doesn't feel compromised or gimped (even if some of the specs would say so). And like how I got it on discount, its still compelling enough to invalidate decisions to get the S26/Plus and even the S25/Plus (depending on price and availability).

I'm wondering how you guys feel about this phone more than 8 months after it launched and how it stacks up to the competition (and against its own lineup too). I'm sure it is not a bad phone, far from it, but genuinely help me make sense of this model. What do you think of how Samsung is handling the FE series to this day?

I love this phone but when will I get Android 16 update 😭

Previous review

Its been more than 3 months since I took up this phone, pretty late into its life cycle too, and my verdict is still surprisingly very positive. The Honor 400 5G (mine's the 12/512gb Desert Gold model) is a very well-balanced midranger that has aged well over the past year and more. Its still a compelling option even alongside the newer Honor 600 which does not offer a substantial improvement over this, atleast in the parts that really matter in my opinion.

While most of my points still stand from my previous long term review, I think there are a couple things I want to followup on it. And I open the comments for anyone that either wants to know more about this 1 year old phone or how my impression of it could reflect on how Honor maintains these models. Just a quick disclaimer that I would only recommend this phone with the 12gb configuration and only worth discounted. Its a great phone but its far from perfect.

Pros:

Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 still offers strong, reliable and pretty efficient performance for the segment. Especially very stable. Handles multitasking exceptionally well too since I splitscreen and use floating windows often.

Screen is such a treat to look at and the speakers are also surprisingly decent, louder than many others too.

Cameras are usable and fun to use. The hardware specs are commendable in this regard. In the right hands and with a good eye, you can snap really pleasant pics with these.

Battery life has been phenomenal! And got even better since the last review thanks to system adaptation and optimizations. I'm consistently hitting 10 hours SOT and could stretch the battery to 2 whole days by reducing the SOT (obviously). And thats with most settings turned on and some routine gaming throughout the day. Phone barely ever warms up too which is always neat.

Cons:

Memory/storage is so slow. Camera post-process can take awhile, gallery also takes a hit too while loading pics. While the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 can run apps and games smooth upon loadup, initial loading times can be pretty slow. These are my biggest points of frustration with the phone

The 200MP main cam at 1x, 2x and 4x works like a charm but the rest of the setup is rather disappointing. I would not chance with the ultrawide, front cam, low light and video recording unless needed. Stabilization is generally poor which I assume is the big culprit here.

Lastly, updates seem to have slowed down a lot from what I gather. Mine's and many others are slightly behind with the next supposed quarter update. Some bugs still need to be squashed like the Android Auto one.

I've used many other phones including a couple recent flagships but the Honor 400 5G is reliable enough overall that I'm feeling fine daily driving it these days. Bonus points that its capable of eSim too and that the newer models are not worth upgrading to for now.

For USD$95 (BND$120), I think its decent?

Its in kinda rough shape but its pretty solid at the moment. Clean installed Winslop 11 (as I must need Microsoft Office for work) and been letting it cruise. Kinda miss having a backlit keyboard and I'm semi triggered by the worn out touchpad. Will have to figure out what to do with those soon. The 720p TN display is repulsive to go back to but I only ever have to look at this while at work anyways.

Hopefully this won't break as fast, as easily and as bad as my previous Dell Latitude, HP ProBook and ZBook. Kinda wish I could find a 6th Gen X1 Carbon or T480 (typical) but they are a rare find here.