Honor Magic 5 Professional Evaluation: It is A Sort of Magic

Value When Reviewed

Unavailable within the US

As soon as the finances wing of Huawei, Honor is now its personal, unbiased 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 provide right here to tempt consumers away from the likes of Samsung, Google, and Apple? 

Design & construct 

• Giant however surprisingly slender 
• IP68 water-resistance 
• Putting round digital camera module 

The Magic 5 Professional suits comfortably sufficient into trendy flagship cellphone design tendencies: an enormous slab of curved glass and metallic with an outlandishly giant, spherical digital camera module on the again. 

The 6.81in display is most of why the cellphone is so giant, 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 giant slabs on the market, and somewhat extra snug to carry because of this. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

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 digital camera, 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 digital camera dominated by its three lenses, which the principle physique barely slopes as much as be 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 delicate, nevertheless it’s clearly not attempting to be – it is a cellphone that wishes 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 broadly accessible elsewhere. 

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

Display & 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, the Magic 5 Professional has two key strengths, and the display is one among them. 

You possibly can see the place the corporate is coming from, because it actually has thrown every little thing however the kitchen sink in right here. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

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

The display 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+ assist. 

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

Dominic Preston / Foundry

In per week with the cellphone, I can’t say I’ve seen any specific distinction, so I’ll must take Honor’s phrase for it that my eyes will thank me. I can at the very least affirm that the panel seems to be nice: it’s vivid, vibrant, and crisp, with deep distinction and irrepressible smoothness.  

Is that this the most effective display in any cellphone proper now? I don’t know. However it ought to undoubtedly 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, nevertheless it’s removed from a stand-out characteristic, and tinny by flagship cellphone 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 somewhat 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 cellphone launching internationally. 

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

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Nonetheless, I’ve two caveats for the cellphone’s efficiency. The primary is that I’ve skilled stuttering and even freezing with just a few particular apps, together with Google Maps and Translate. That is presumably a software program challenge, nevertheless 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 cellphone we’ve examined, suggesting Honor has some work to do on optimisation. For most individuals this kind of distinction actually – actually – doesn’t matter, however in case you’re a gamer or energy consumer hoping to push their cellphone to the restrict, it does appear like different producers are pushing Qualcomm’s chips somewhat additional and sooner. 

On the connectivity aspect, the cellphone in fact helps 5G, together with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC. 

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

Digicam & video 

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

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

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The Magic 5 Professional’s complete show specs are roughly matched by what it presents within the digital camera division, with a triple rear digital camera comprised completely of 50Mp lenses. 

The principle digital camera makes use of a big 1/1.12in sensor – not fairly as giant 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 powerful quantity of sunshine, which is essential for all pictures, however particularly at low gentle, the place the 5 Professional manages to protect each element and a pure color vary – a battle for even the most effective cellphone cameras in dim lighting.

I’ve taken crisp, punchy pictures in all method of lighting circumstances with this primary digital camera and been impressed by the outcomes. Colors skew somewhat 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 combined lighting. 

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

Pictures right here can’t fairly match the principle digital camera. Colors are extra subdued, with pictures 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 essentially battle 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, pictures are spectacular. On the default 3.5x focal size pictures are detailed and well-exposed, even in low or difficult gentle. You possibly can 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 digital camera there, with a time of flight depth sensor alongside it. Curiously, Honor presents 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 vivid gentle, going through again into my a lot darker lounge. 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 cellphone for selfies.

Lastly, video. You possibly can file at as much as 4K and 30fps from the entrance digital camera, leaping as much as 4K and 60fps on the rear. There’s no 8K choice, however I believe few customers will care about that.

One oddity is that there’s completely no choice to make use of the ultrawide digital camera on the rear to file video. Honor presumably made that selection as a result of, with out OIS, outcomes wouldn’t be as steady as from the opposite lenses. That’s true, nevertheless it’s unusual to not give customers any selection 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 likely one of the largest you’ll discover in any cellphone lately, and the excellent news is that it reveals.  

A rating of 11 hours and 44 minutes within the PCMark battery check is robust for a flagship cellphone, however extra spectacular is that the cellphone 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 gentle use by my requirements, however I’m assured that even demanding customers will discover this a full-day cellphone. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

If you do have to prime it again up, the 66W charging is quick sufficient, although received’t set any data. 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 at the very least nippy sufficient to spare you from the necessity to cost in a single day. 

You possibly can solely hit the 50W wi-fi charging speeds with Honor’s official charger, which is bought 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 in case you don’t have one but, they price 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 prime. 

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 accountable for the efficiency wobbles I had on just a few particular apps, talked about above. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There’s additionally somewhat 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 at the very least presents a wholesome mixture of its personal software program and the Google choices in terms of 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 just a few 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 cellphone. These are garbage, and fortunately switched off by default. Don’t hassle turning them on. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

To finish on an upbeat word, Honor has promised that the cellphone will obtain three Android OS updates – in order that’s to Android 14, doubtless later this yr, and ultimately to 16 – plus a full 5 years of safety patches. That’s not fairly the most effective software program assist in an Android cellphone, nevertheless it’s shut, and ensures some longevity in case 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 quite a lot of early chicken reductions too, with £80 off within the UK utilizing the code AM5PRO80 on the official Honor web site in case 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 cellphone from Three, Amazon, Argos, Very, and Currys.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

That worth is firmly in flagship territory, although falls wanting absolutely the prime tier fashions just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely or iPhone 14 Professional Max.  

Seemingly 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 digital camera division, making it a surprisingly succesful competitor on the prime finish of the market. 

Try our full choose of the greatest telephones out now for extra choices, or the greatest 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 kind it present in final yr’s Magic 4 Professional was no fluke. 

On show and battery life this cellphone can duke it out with the most effective, and the digital camera does sufficient to earn its place in that dialog too. 

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

The principle factor to provide you pause ought to nonetheless be the software program although, with MagicOS an appropriate however uninspiring tackle Android. It will get the job achieved, however Honor’s huge identify rivals nonetheless ship extra in terms of 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 primary digital camera 
  • 50Mp, f/2.0 ultrawide digital camera 
  • 50Mp, f/3.0 OIS 3.5x telephoto digital camera 
  • 12Mp, f/2.4 selfie digital camera 
• 5100mAh battery 
• 66W wired charging 
• 50W wi-fi charging 
• 5G 
• Wi-Fi 
• Bluetooth 
• IP68 
• 162.9 x 76.7 x 8.8mm 
• 219g