HONOR Magic V2 Evaluation: An Impressively Skinny And Gentle Foldable Telephone

At IFA final September, I encountered the Honor Magic V2 for the primary time, which debuted in China in July 2023. The recipient of certainly one of our Better of IFA 2023 Awards, the Magic V2 went world on Jan 26, 2024. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus Open in measurement and efficiency, this foldable telephone incorporates a thinner and lighter chassis. Honor additionally unveiled the Porsche Design model on the Leipzig, Germany, launch occasion, and we’ll publish the assessment quickly.

Some individuals expressed reservations about final yr’s Qualcomm flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. Nonetheless, the Magic V2 stays potent, with 16GB RAM and 256/512GB storage choices. Its standout characteristic is being the thinnest and lightest giant foldable available on the market, coupled with good digicam efficiency for such a slim physique.

Competitors, Value, and Availability

From a show high quality and computing energy viewpoint, the Honor Magic V2 is on par with the Galaxy Z Fold 5, apart from its lack of a waterproofing IP score (the Fold 5 is IP X8), its thinner chassis, and its considerably quicker charging velocity.

The Magic V2’s show and SoC are additionally just like the thicker Oneplus Open, apart from the digicam efficiency.

Thinner and lighter than all its foldable counterparts, the Magic V2 seems to be like an ordinary 8-inch high-end smartphone, making it an interesting possibility for journey, doubling as a pill for content material consumption or work. At Ubergizmo, we’re severely contemplating ditching our telephone and pill combo for the Magic V2, as a result of our intense touring schedule.

Nonetheless, its multitasking characteristic lags behind the heavier Z Fold 5, which additionally affords extra functionalities with the optionally available new Z Fold 5 S Pen and the S Pen Professional (together with air actions and distant management just for the latter).

Launching with out Android 14, its replace program stays just like the competitors. The HONOR Magic V2 is priced at £1,699.99 within the UK, and €1,999 in choose E.U. international locations (roughly $2,150). We advocate shopping for the Honor 66W quick charger together with your order,in some international locations just like the UK, it’s supplied as a bundled reward (as of in the present day).It costs only €1 in Germany (as of in the present day), as a substitute of the €29.90 worth supplied on the Honor France website (as a substitute of the common €49.90 worth, as of in the present day).

Design

The Honor Magic V2 stands out for its key design parts, notably its skinny chassis at 10.1 mm / 237 g (or 9.9 mm / 231g for the vegan leather-based model), surpassing the Galaxy Z Fold 5 (13.4mm, 253g), the Pixel Fold (12.1mm, 283g), and the OnePlus Open (11.7-11.9mm, 239-245g).

Unfolded, it measures solely 4.7 mm or 4.8 mm (glass-finish model), which is only one mm thicker than common smartphones such because the iPhone 15 Professional Max, which is 8.25mm and 221 grams.

The construct high quality is great, and we think about the Honor Magic V2 one of many best-designed foldable telephones, that includes a sublime purple shade for the glass end model (our assessment unit).

“THE BUILD QUALITY IS EXCELLENT, AND WE CONSIDER THE HONOR MAGIC V2 ONE OF THE BEST-DESIGNED FOLDABLE PHONES”

The folding expertise is smoother than the Z Fold 5. Nonetheless, not like the Samsung’s giant foldable, it lacks a 45-degree folding place, which is a minimal trade-off. The redesigned hinge eliminates gaps, making the telephone ultra-thin whereas lowering crease depth.

The bundle features a case with a built-in kickstand, usable in numerous orientations, sustaining the Magic V2’s thinner profile in comparison with the Z Fold 5, even with the case hooked up.

Shows

The Honor Magic V2 incorporates a 6.43-inch OLED show on the entrance with a decision of 1060 x 2376,a 120Hz refresh fee, and a theoretical peak brightness of two,500 nits.

Internally, it homes an almost sq. attractive 7.92-inch show with a decision of 2156 x 2344, a 120Hz refresh fee, and a claimed peak brightness of 1,600 nits. HONOR highlights its 3840Hz PWM dimming tech, doubtlessly aiding customers susceptible to eye pressure throughout extended telephone use.

The exterior display mirrors the scale of an everyday smartphone with a curved proper edge, whereas the inside crease is barely noticeable throughout media consumption or gaming. Examined for 400,000 folding cycles, equal to 10 years of folding 100 instances day by day.

Digicam

The Magic V2 has a typical triple rear digicam, together with a 50-megapixel important, a 20-megapixel telephoto with a 2.5x optical zoom, and a 50-megapixel ultrawide. There’s a 16 MP punch-hole selfie digicam on every display, able to taking pictures 4K video at 30 fps. The rear digicam can shoot 4K video at 60 fps.

Main digicam evening:

The Magic V2 has a barely much less performing major digicam at evening in comparison with the opposite giant foldable telephones. Nonetheless, it does a very good job total, and the outcomes are passable for such a skinny chassis.

The Magic V2 evening image high quality is closest to the Pixel Fold, however the particulars are barely extra blurry, partially due to the sturdy filtering and sharpening algorithms, particularly in case you zoom in shut or crop the photographs. In addition to that, the digicam does an awesome job of capturing pure colours and preserving the temper of the evening scene as you see it. The lighting stays pure and on-point and captures in a predictable means.

Total, the digicam has good efficiency each in low gentle and in vivid daylight. We couldn’t calculate Ubergizmo’s HW digicam rating as a result of a scarcity of particular metadata within the photographs we shot, so we can’t examine the {hardware} digicam system towards the opposite foldable telephones we examined. We are going to attempt to get the information and replace the assessment accordingly.

Ultrawide digicam:

Day: The sundown shot is admittedly attention-grabbing as a result of it challenges the digicam to concurrently seize particulars and high-dynamic vary. The Magic V2 did properly with the HDR and particulars seize (together with texture) in our assessments. Nonetheless, it tends to overshoot the publicity settings and different filters, making the ultimate photograph look a little bit unnatural (too vivid/vivid) in comparison with what your eyes see.

Evening: At evening, the Magic V2 Ultrawide digicam does a very good job of preserving the lighting, colour, and temper of the scene. Nonetheless, the ultrawide digicam module is just not as highly effective as the first (broad) digicam, and the feel of sure supplies might be troublesome to protect. On this scene, the Ultrawide shot is akin to what we obtained with the OnePlus Open.

Zoom digicam:

The two.5X zoom of the Magic V2 is extra suited to seize portrait photographs than competing with telephoto cameras that characteristic 6X or 10X optical zooms. At long-range (10X), the digicam will depend on digital zooming, making small particulars comparatively blurry in comparison with the acute zoom cameras. That apart, the final 2.5X zoom picture high quality is sort of good, however like it’s usually the case with this digicam, the photographs can generally look much less pure as a result of how the publicity is about and the way filters are being utilized.

Digicam conclusion:

The Magic V2 rear digicam system’s photograph high quality is spectacular in case you think about how skinny the chassis is. Certainly, cellular cameras want as a lot depth (thickness) as attainable to host the digicam lenses, and HONOR appears to have efficiently balanced telephone design and digicam high quality.

SoC, reminiscence, storage, efficiency& software program updates

Software program updates

Honor commits to offering 5 years of safety patches and 4 years of Android updates for the Magic V2, aligning with Samsung and OnePlus’ assurances for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus Open, respectively. Google’s Pixel Fold ensures three years of Android model updates and 5 years of safety patches. Whereas the Magic V2 ships with Android 13, one replace is required to carry it updated with Android 14. In contrast to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Magic V2 is but to obtain an Android 14 replace.

It homes final yr’s Qualcomm flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with configurations of as much as 16GB RAM and 512GB storage (expandable to 1TB within the Porsche Design variant).

Perceived Efficiency

Efficiency stays fluid in day by day utilization, together with 3D gaming (I attempted just a few video games).

Measured Efficiency

CPU efficiency

As you’ll be able to see from the charts, the Honor Magic V2 has wonderful efficiency within the context of foldable telephones regardless of its superb thinness. That is most likely as a result of Honor’s efforts to supply a complicated cooling system known as Extremely-thin Bionic Cooling System.
In response to the corporate, the brand new cooling know-how combines an ultra-thin vapor chamber, ultra-high thermal conductivity graphite, thermal conductivity gel, and copper foil.

It ranks among the many highest CPU efficiency, which generally ensures that apps load quick and most duties are accomplished quicker.

GPU efficiency

From a graphics standpoint, the scores are additionally very excessive, making it a excessive performer for common graphics (GPU efficiency) but in addition video games. Take into account that with prolonged gaming classes, the warmth will finally construct up. That’s why all devoted gaming methods are inherently thicker with further cooling.

Battery

Battery capability

Regardless of its ultrathin chassis measuring 4.7 or 4.8 mm, the Magic V2 impressively integrates a 5000 mAh battery (the most important for a foldable telephone), because of its two-part silicon carbon battery know-how.

Debuting because the thinnest twin Silicon-carbon Batteries, averaging solely 2.72mm in thickness, the revolutionary battery system extends its cycle life by 40%, based on HONOR.

It incorporates an electrochemical system that enhances longevity and options HONOR’s low-voltage cost energy-gathering know-how for enhanced energy output on the similar voltage as graphite-based batteries.

With common use, linked to each 5G and Wi-Fi, the Magic V2 ought to final no less than a full day on one cost. Throughout my assessment, which was performed solely on Wi-Fi (with out 5G) with intermittent use, the battery lasted for 3 days. I can’t vouch for battery life as battery drainage extremely varies relying on utilization, with looking and e mail having minimal influence in comparison with excessive workloads corresponding to intense photograph shoots, video streaming, or 3D gaming classes. As regular, the battery’s capability (in mAh) is your finest indicator for potential battery life.

Charging velocity

The Honor Magic V2 fees 71% of its 5000 mAh battery in half-hour with the optionally available €30 66W charger (free or €1 bundle in some markets). That is just like the OnePlus Open charging time of 79% in half-hour for its 4805 mAh battery (with the included OnePlus 67W fast-charger). By comparability, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 fees 49% in half-hour with its optionally available 50W Samsung charger.

Conclusion

The Honor V2 delivers spectacular construct high quality and show high quality within the thinnest and lightest foldable kind issue available on the market.

This distinctive characteristic ought to persuade individuals reluctant to hold thicker and heavier smartphones to strive the folding smartphone expertise. Vacationers ought to think about switching to the Magic V2 because it may also be used as a pill for productiveness and leisure throughout flights.

Though the digicam efficiency is barely beneath the one present in aggressive units, it’s wonderful for such a skinny chassis.

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Filed in Cellphones. Learn extra about Foldable Smartphones, Honor, Smartphones and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.