Honor Magic 5 Pro review

As soon as the finances wing of Huawei, Honor is now its personal, impartial beast. And that independence has freed it to maneuver up from the cut-price mid-range market and into promoting its personal full-on flagships. 

This yr has already seen the corporate launch the Magic Vs, a uncommon world challenger to Samsung’s foldable dominance, however the Magic 5 Professional is a bit more conventional: an enormous slab of glass with some very highly effective cameras on the again. 

However simply how highly effective are they – and is there sufficient on supply right here to tempt consumers away from the likes of Samsung, Google, and Apple? 

Design & construct 

• Massive however surprisingly slender 
• IP68 water-resistance 
• Putting round digicam module 

The Magic 5 Professional suits comfortably sufficient into trendy flagship telephone design traits: an enormous slab of curved glass and metallic with an outlandishly massive, spherical digicam module on the again. 

The 6.81in display screen is most of why the telephone is so massive, and at 219g it’s fairly heavy too. In equity to Honor it’s solely 8.8mm thick although, making it extra slender than the opposite massive slabs on the market, and a bit of extra snug to carry consequently. 

The cameras are probably the most hanging aspect – on either side. On the entrance, Honor stays the uncommon firm to incorporate a depth sensor alongside the selfie digicam, creating an iPhone-esque pill-shaped cut-out, although right here it’s tucked into the nook fairly than entrance and centre. 

Then on the again you’ll discover an unlimited round digicam dominated by its three lenses, which the principle physique barely slopes as much as be a part of. That is particularly hanging on the inexperienced mannequin, the place the black lenses soar out from the physique in a particular triangle. It’s not refined, however it’s clearly not making an attempt to be – this can be a telephone that desires some consideration. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

I’ve been reviewing the Meadow Inexperienced mannequin, which comes with a slight sparkle to its matt glass end, although there’s additionally a glossier black mannequin accessible. Blue, purple, and orange finishes have launched in China too, however are unlikely to be extensively accessible elsewhere. 

One draw back is that Honor hasn’t made any claims about utilizing Gorilla Glass or different toughened options to guard the telephone from injury – although a pre-applied display screen protector will assist save the show. The telephone is IP68-rated nonetheless, so needs to be secure from mud and water. 

Display screen & audio system 

• 6.81in quad-curved 1-120Hz OLED 
• Emphasis on eye consolation 
• Barely tinny stereo audio system 

In case you go by Honor’s advertising and marketing, the Magic 5 Professional has two key strengths, and the display screen is one in every of them. 

You’ll be able to see the place the corporate is coming from, because it actually has thrown the whole lot however the kitchen sink in right here. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The big 6.81 panel is an OLED (after all) utilizing the newest LTPO expertise to scale refresh charge from 1-120Hz on the fly, delivering silky smoothness and optimised battery life. 

The display screen is curved on every of the 4 edges for a symmetrical look and cozy really feel. It packs a excessive decision of 1312×2848, and a devoted show chipset to assist drive its spectacular color accuracy and HDR10+ help. 

That’s not all although. Honor has additionally leant laborious on eye well being options, promising that this display screen is among the finest round for snug long-term use. Dynamic dimming tech, a circadian-friendly certification, and lowered display screen flicker all supposedly mix to take care of your imaginative and prescient – and sleep cycle. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

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In every week with the telephone, I can’t say I’ve seen any explicit distinction, so I’ll must take Honor’s phrase for it that my eyes will thank me. I can not less than affirm that the panel appears to be like nice: it’s brilliant, vibrant, and crisp, with deep distinction and irrepressible smoothness.  

Is that this the very best display screen in any telephone proper now? I don’t know. However it ought to positively be within the dialog. 

Sadly I can’t fairly say the identical for the audio system. The stereo set-up right here isn’t dangerous, however it’s removed from a stand-out characteristic, and tinny by flagship telephone requirements. It’ll do the job in a pinch, particularly only for watching a little bit of YouTube or Netflix in mattress, however don’t anticipate to be wowed. 

Specs & efficiency 

• Newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip 
• Lags a bit of behind different flagships in benchmarks 
• A great deal of RAM and storage 

The Magic 5 Professional is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the quickest chipset round proper now for Android telephones. Honor pairs it with a beneficiant 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage in the one model of the telephone launching internationally. 

Unsurprisingly then, the telephone is quick. It could deal with loads of multi-tasking, demanding video games, and most belongings you throw at it. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Nonetheless, I’ve two caveats for the telephone’s efficiency. The primary is that I’ve skilled stuttering and even freezing with a couple of particular apps, together with Google Maps and Translate. That is presumably a software program problem, however it hampers the promise of the {hardware}. 

Second, in synthetic benchmarks the Magic 5 Professional clearly lags just a bit behind each different 8 Gen 2 telephone we’ve examined, suggesting Honor has some work to do on optimisation. For most individuals this form of distinction actually – actually – doesn’t matter, however should you’re a gamer or energy person hoping to push their telephone to the restrict, it does appear like different producers are pushing Qualcomm’s chips a bit of additional and sooner. 

On the connectivity facet, the telephone after all helps 5G, together with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC. 

Biometrics embody face unlock utilizing the selfie digicam, or a dependable fingerprint scanner constructed into the show. 

Digicam & video 

• Triple 50Mp rear digicam 
• Single selfie digicam – with an additional depth sensor 

Bear in mind I discussed Honor’s push for the telephone’s two key strengths? Effectively, meet the opposite one. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The Magic 5 Professional’s complete show specs are kind of matched by what it affords within the digicam division, with a triple rear digicam comprised solely of 50Mp lenses. 

The primary digicam makes use of a big 1/1.12in sensor – not fairly as massive because the IMX989 sensor that’s appeared within the Vivo X90 Professional, Oppo Discover X6 Professional, and Xiaomi 13 Professional this yr, however not far off. 

It’s paired with a quick f/1.6 aperture and optical picture stabilisation (OIS), and that mixture means that is able to capturing a formidable quantity of sunshine, which is vital for all pictures, however particularly at low mild, the place the 5 Professional manages to protect each element and a pure color vary – a wrestle for even the very best telephone cameras in dim lighting.

I’ve taken crisp, punchy pictures in all method of lighting circumstances with this foremost digicam and been impressed by the outcomes. Colors skew a bit of to the saturated finish of the size, however not aggressively so, and glorious dynamic vary means the Magic 5 Professional can seize lovely shadows and blended lighting. 

The primary lens is joined by a 50Mp ultrawide, utilizing a smaller sensor and a barely slower f/2.0 aperture – although the truth is that’s nonetheless sooner than common for a lens this broad.  

Photographs right here can’t fairly match the principle digicam. Colors are extra subdued, with photographs usually popping out a shade or two darker than you’d suppose, with a particular drop-off in dynamic vary which leaves shadows and darkish spots missing intimately. With no optical stabilisation, that is additionally the one lens of the three to actually wrestle at nighttime. It’s not dangerous general, however I anticipated higher. 

Lastly, a 3.5x zoom periscope lens comes outfitted with an f/3.0 aperture and OIS. This can be a little bit of a halfway-house zoom – shorter than many different periscopes, however too lengthy to make use of comfortably for portraits or comparable. 

Nonetheless, when you get to grip with distances, photographs are spectacular. On the default 3.5x focal size pictures are detailed and well-exposed, even in low or difficult mild. You’ll be able to even crank it as much as 10x zoom with little apparent drop in high quality, although I wouldn’t belief it to go a lot additional than that.

Flip to the entrance and you discover that twin selfie capsule – although, once more, there’s just one precise digicam there, with a time of flight depth sensor alongside it. Curiously, Honor affords three default zoom choices right here: 0.7x, 0.8x, and common, although the latter two are presumably simply crops on the sensor.

The 12Mp shooter doesn’t do badly, even doing a satisfactory job of the break up publicity for my pictures taken from my balcony in brilliant mild, going through again into my a lot darker front room. The ToF sensor clearly pulls its weight within the portrait mode too, with a natural-seeming bokeh supporting by frankly glorious edge detection, solely erroneously blurring one or two stray hairs. This can be a nice telephone for selfies.

Lastly, video. You’ll be able to file at as much as 4K and 30fps from the entrance digicam, leaping as much as 4K and 60fps on the rear. There’s no 8K choice, however I think few customers will care about that.

One oddity is that there’s completely no choice to make use of the ultrawide digicam on the rear to file video. Honor presumably made that alternative as a result of, with out OIS, outcomes wouldn’t be as steady as from the opposite lenses. That’s true, however it’s unusual to not give customers any alternative within the matter, and it’ll imply at occasions you discover your framing choices unusually restricted.

Battery & charging 

• 1-2 day battery life 
• Quick-ish charging 
• Wi-fi too 

The 5100mAh battery within the Magic 5 Professional is among the largest you’ll discover in any telephone today, and the excellent news is that it reveals.  

A rating of 11 hours and 44 minutes within the PCMark battery check is powerful for a flagship telephone, however extra spectacular is that the telephone will comfortably run for a full day and sometimes for a second. 

I’ve gotten used to going to mattress with as a lot as 70% battery left, and on one event even had 30% left on the finish of the second. That was with comparatively mild use by my requirements, however I’m assured that even demanding customers will discover this a full-day telephone. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Once you do must high it again up, the 66W charging is quick sufficient, although received’t set any information. It restored 75% of the battery in half an hour in my check, and can get you to full in lower than an hour, so it’s not less than nippy sufficient to spare you from the necessity to cost in a single day. 

You’ll be able to solely hit the 50W wi-fi charging speeds with Honor’s official charger, which is offered individually for £85/€99. If that’s too steep for you, it would cost at decrease speeds on nearly any Qi-certified wi-fi charger you have already got about – and should you don’t have one but, they value an terrible lot lower than Honor’s. 

Software program & updates 

• Ships with Android 13 
• Runs Honor’s clunky MagicOS 
• Three Android OS updates promised 

The Magic 5 Professional ships with Android 13, the newest model of the working system, with Honor’s bespoke MagicOS pores and skin on high. 

I don’t love MagicOS, which I discover busy and clunky in comparison with the software program on rival telephones. I additionally suspect the software program pores and skin is responsible for the efficiency wobbles I had on a couple of particular apps, talked about above. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There’s additionally a bit of bloatware to deal with. Honor pre-installs apps starting from TikTok and Netflix to lesser-known choices like TrainPal and WPS Workplace. You even get each Journey.com and Reserving.com’s apps, supplying you with a double whammy of undesirable vacation choices. 

In its favour, the corporate not less than affords a wholesome mixture of its personal software program and the Google choices in relation to core apps – you’ll be anticipated to make use of Honor’s calendar and calculator, however messaging, e-mail, and different fundamentals are Google by default. 

For some purpose Honor has additionally added in a couple of gesture controls with the Magic 5 Professional, permitting you to scroll or take screenshots by waving your hand about within the air in entrance of the telephone. These are garbage, and fortunately switched off by default. Don’t trouble turning them on. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

To finish on an upbeat be aware, Honor has promised that the telephone will obtain three Android OS updates – in order that’s to Android 14, doubtless later this yr, and finally to 16 – plus a full 5 years of safety patches. That’s not fairly the very best software program help in an Android telephone, however it’s shut, and ensures some longevity should you choose a Magic 5 Professional up. 

Value & availability 

The Magic 5 Professional is on the market to order now within the UK and Europe, the place it prices £949/€1,199.  

It’s having fun with a wide range of early chook reductions too, with £80 off within the UK utilizing the code AM5PRO80 on the official Honor web site should you pre-order earlier than 27 April, and a flat €100 off in Europe. 

Within the UK you’ll additionally be capable to get the telephone from Three, Amazon, Argos, Very, and Currys.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

That value is firmly in flagship territory, although falls in need of absolutely the high tier fashions just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely or iPhone 14 Professional Max.  

Probably opponents are the Galaxy S23+, iPhone 14, and Google Pixel 7 Professional. The Honor beats the bunch on battery life and show high quality, and holds its personal within the digicam division, making it a surprisingly succesful competitor on the high finish of the market. 

Try our full choose of the very best telephones out now for extra choices, or the very best Honor telephones to see what else the corporate has to supply. 

Verdict 

The Magic 5 Professional is a superb return from Honor, and an indication that the flagship type it present in final yr’s Magic 4 Professional was no fluke. 

On show and battery life this telephone can duke it out with the very best, and the digicam does sufficient to earn its place in that dialog too. 

It’s unusual that efficiency runs a bit of chilly in comparison with different 2023 flagships, and I’ll admit that the hanging design didn’t actually win me over.  

The primary factor to offer you pause ought to nonetheless be the software program although, with MagicOS an appropriate however uninspiring tackle Android. It will get the job executed, however Honor’s large identify rivals nonetheless ship extra in relation to pure polish. 

Specs 

• 6.81in 1-120Hz LTPO OLED show 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 
• 12GB RAM 
• 512GB storage 
• Digicam: 
  • 50Mp, f/1.6 OIS foremost digicam 
  • 50Mp, f/2.0 ultrawide digicam 
  • 50Mp, f/3.0 OIS 3.5x telephoto digicam 
  • 12Mp, f/2.4 selfie digicam 
• 5100mAh battery 
• 66W wired charging 
• 50W wi-fi charging 
• 5G 
• Wi-Fi 
• Bluetooth 
• IP68 
• 162.9 x 76.7 x 8.8mm 
• 219g