Honor’s latest flagship machine for this yr is the Magic 8 Pro, and it’s poised to current sturdy competitors within the higher finish of the market. With an distinctive digicam array, long-lasting battery life, beautiful show and class-leading efficiency, it’s a top-notch cellphone that works laborious to earn its price ticket.
It’s designed for energy customers who depend on their cellphone all through the day, images fanatics who don’t need to carry a second machine, and anybody searching for an alternative choice to the large manufacturers.
There are a couple of options that may give pause, however general these are minor drawbacks that don’t detract from a powerful advice.
Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5
Pros
- Exceptional {hardware} specs; digicam, chipset, battery
- Some of the most effective audio system I’ve heard on a smartphone
- Impressive display; vibrant and vivid
Cons
- MagicOS could be a bit tough across the edges on first setup
- Plastic rear materials raises eyebrows at this worth level
Price: $1999 RRP | For customers searching for a premium expertise from each angle
Setup & First Impressions
On unboxing the Honor Magic 8 Pro, it’s instantly obvious that this can be a premium cellphone. The aluminium body provides some polish whereas the big digicam bump sends a message that this can be a cellphone for images on the go.
The plastic rear might increase an eyebrow at first, but it surely’s a glass-fibre bolstered materials that’s arguably extra sturdy than glass or steel backs discovered on different high-end gadgets. It resists fingerprints pretty nicely and feels easy, however some customers might favor glass or steel.
Setup is typical of any Android 16 smartphone; simply comply with the prompts to signal into your accounts and arrange the cellphone as you prefer it. I didn’t encounter any sudden sticking factors.
Design & Aesthetics
The Honor Magic 8 Pro is available in at 219 grams, which is pretty affordable given the big 7100mAh silicon-carbon battery. It feels sturdy and inflexible, and whereas the again is perhaps a plastic polymer, it feels something however low-cost.
The display is a NanoCrystal Shield unit with actual sturdiness credentials. Honor says it’s as much as 10 instances extra drop resistant than customary cellphone glass, and SGS has given it a five-star drop resistance score.
The digicam island on the rear is kind of massive as with different Honor telephones we’ve reviewed on the positioning. It homes all of the digicam sensors and gives a design component with a knurled edge, however means the cellphone can’t sit flat while dealing with screen-up.
On the precise facet of the machine you’ll discover the same old buttons in addition to an extra AI Button that may be assigned to completely different features for a brief press, double press, and lengthy press. I like to make use of this button to shortly open the digicam, however different useful settings embody opening Google Lens for fast translation and search, or AI options.
It additionally works as a shutter button within the digicam mode, but it surely’s not within the perfect place for one-handed images.
The Honor Magic 8 Pro options IP68, IP69, and IP69K rankings that present resistance in opposition to high-pressure water jets and mud intrusion. This is an above-average score that till lately was reserved for ruggedised telephones, so it’s fascinating to see on a flagship-style machine.
Honor affords this cellphone in Black, Sky Cyan, and Sunrise Gold colourways. If I needed to decide a favorite, it will be the Sky Cyan, because it’s probably the most distinctive choice within the lineup.
Life With the Honor Magic 8 Pro
I’ve been utilizing the Magic 8 Pro as a day by day driver, making an attempt out its cameras for everday capturing and creative type pictures, and testing out the efficiency in intensive 3D gaming masses in addition to common utilization.
Positives
The {hardware} itself is the most important upside on this machine. It affords glorious battery life that comfortably lasts as much as two days of standard utilization, although with intensive duties you possibly can count on a bit decrease from {hardware} that’s this highly effective.
Honor has opted for the extraordinarily quick Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset on this cellphone. With single-core clock pace reaching 4.6GHz, it makes this cellphone one of many quickest we’ve ever examined on the web site.
The show gives glorious brightness for outside utilization and produces lifelike colors for an immersive viewing expertise.
Honor hasn’t skimped on the audio facet of the audiovisual expertise both. This cellphone options a few of the greatest audio system I’ve heard in a smartphone. They ship good bass response, and whereas it leans extra in direction of the treble facet as the amount goes up, at average volumes you might end up skipping the Bluetooth speaker solely.
Negatives
MagicOS prompts very often to acquire permissions for utilizing nearly each fundamental function of the machine. Even when looking your personal app drawer, it asks for web entry to ship your search key phrases out. This can get fairly fatiguing and lets down an in any other case stable Android expertise.
Honor’s AI options are helpful in some areas, however others are of doubtful worth, just like the over-aggressive photograph processing that smooths out texture and element in in any other case acceptable photographs.
Camera
The digicam suite is likely one of the highlights of your entire cellphone, and it gives an awesome expertise in on a regular basis utilization. In good lighting circumstances, the digicam affords distinctive element with spectacular spotlight and shadow element.
In low mild, AI brightening options work very nicely with out an excessive amount of lack of element. However, the digicam is fast to decelerate the shutter pace to attain a brighter end result, which might introduce blur in case your palms are lower than regular.
I had no points capturing indoor pictures underneath synthetic lighting, although the white steadiness is liable to shifting slightly bit between pictures, which might make them look inconsistent from snap to snap.
Honor has furnished the cellphone with glorious video specs, together with 4K 120 fps recording with HDR Vivid dynamic vary. There’s additionally controls for white steadiness lock for enthusiast-level videography; the one options lacking are HLG or LOG compatibility.
The front-facing digicam affords good element for video calls, but it surely’s value noting that it defaults to a magnificence mode that smooths pores and skin texture and makes your nostril and brow look smaller.
The cellphone incorporates a 50-megapixel most important lens with optical picture stabilisation, a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto lens with 3.6x optical zoom and picture stabilisation, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens with shut macro focus.
All three lenses present nice high quality, and it’s laborious to resolve whether or not the principle lens or the telephoto is the headline function.
Performance & Reliability
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 managed to max out the 3DMark Wild Life benchmark, and achieved a median of 45 fps in Wild Life Extreme; a 4K gaming check. This is significantly spectacular efficiency from a cell phone.
Throughout an prolonged stress check I observed minimal thermal throttling, suggesting the cellphone can obtain this efficiency for an prolonged time with out points. That makes it a best choice for probably the most demanding cellular gaming titles.
However, when working at full pace for an extended interval the cellphone does turn into slightly scorching to the contact.
It goes with out saying that day-to-day efficiency is a stroll within the park for this cellphone. There’s no lag whereas switching between multitasking apps.
Practical Considerations
Honor doesn’t embody a charger within the field for this cellphone. It’s rated for wired charging as much as 100 watts, or wi-fi charging as much as 80 watts with Honor’s proprietary wi-fi charger. Standard Qi charging will work, however at a slower fee.
Honor’s assist tail is underneath a little bit of rivalry. The model confirmed in March of final yr that its Magic collection gadgets will obtain seven years of safety updates, however there may be some conflicting info surrounding whether or not this is applicable globally or simply within the European Union.
The cellphone incorporates a useful IR blaster that’s nice for distant management in a pinch; it’s an oft-forgotten function that is available in clutch while you want it.
Value & Alternatives
There’s a variety of options value round this worth level. It’s been a banner yr for brand spanking new flagships already.
The Motorola Signature we coated in April is available in with the identical chipset tier, however at a cheaper price level. It’s a thinner cellphone general, so you might not obtain the identical battery life out of it, but it surely represents glorious worth.
The Oppo Find X9 we reviewed in March is one other pure various with a powerful give attention to the images expertise. It utilises a unique processor, however nonetheless places up sturdy efficiency metrics in demanding apps. The Oppo is available in slightly bit costlier.
The Honor Magic 8 Pro be a part of these options as a pure advice for those who’re trying to step away from large manufacturers with out sacrificing any efficiency.
Would I Buy It With My Own Money?
Yes. The Honor Magic 8 Pro is a superb flagship machine that doesn’t actually go away something to be desired. The minor drawbacks just like the working system points will work themselves out over time, and don’t detract from a powerful advice for those who’re searching for excessive efficiency.