The Honor 6X was a pretty great phone at $250. Now it's an essential buy at under $200.

The Honor 6X had a rough start to its life, mainly because it was running an older version of Android that had a few problems. But that was quickly corrected with an update to Android 7.0 and EMUI 5.0 back in May, and since then things have been smooth sailing for the mid-range value handset — even at its former price of $250.

Now, the Honor 6X is receiving a permanent prince drop to $200 — well, $199.99, since every penny counts — make it even more affordable and accessible to the average buyer looking for an unlocked phone.

There aren't a lot of really compelling devices at that price range in the unlocked space — really, only the Moto G5 Plus comes to mind, and it starts at $229.99 for a model that isn't as well-equipped as the Honor 6X. Here's what Florence Ion said about the phone in her review back in January:

I like the look of and feel of this thing. Whereas most smartphones under $300 feel like bottom-of-the-barrel clearance bin finds, the Honor 6X's solid construction tricks you into thinking you actually paid more for it.

She also said that the camera was above average for the price, and that the phone's battery life was fantastic — which you'd expect given its 3340mAh size. The 5.5-inch display is big and bright, and there's plenty of power in the Kirin 655 chip along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

As for the software, now that it's running Android 7.0, we're a lot happier with the phone. EMUI 5.0 on the Honor 6X is the same as on the now-$499.99 Huawei Mate 9 (which is receiving a permanent $100 price drop of its own), and while it's not perfect, it's so much better than it used to be.

At $199.99, there isn't a whole lot out there that comes close to competing with the Honor 6X from a price-to-performance standpoint. It's available at Amazon, Best Buy and other online retailers.

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