Honor Magic V3 evaluate: skinny and light-weight

With its newest Magic V3 telephone providing, Honor goals to make headway within the shopper foldable market. The corporate touts the V3 because the thinnest book-style foldable on the market, and it hasn’t been afraid to be vocal about that truth.

The foldable phone category is stronger than ever, with the likes of Samsung, Google, Motorola, OnePlus, and lots of different gamers on the worldwide stage. Honor is banking on the V3’s impressively skinny design so as to stand out from the group, however has the corporate managed to ship the products?

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Honor Magic V3

Honor’s newest book-style foldable telephone is extremely skinny and light-weight — extra so than many slab-style gadgets.

Professionals

• Skinny and light-weight
• Brilliant show
• Loads of RAM and storage to work with

Cons

• Software program is not excellent
• Crease is minimal however nonetheless noticable
• No IP score for mud resistance

Value, availability, and specs

The vast majority of book-style foldable telephones are starting to settle right into a fundamental template with regards to their dimensions. Honor’s Magic V3 suits that invoice completely, with a canopy display that is formed and sized very similar to a traditional telephone display, and an unfolded show that is near being a sq..

Extra particularly, the Magic V3’s OLED cowl show measures in at 6.43-inches and comes at a decision of 2376 x 1060 pixels. In contrast, the inside OLED show measures in at 7.92-inches, with a decision of 2344 x 2156 pixels. Pixels are indiscernible at 402 pixels-per-inch on each shows, and so they additionally each include quick 120Hz refresh charges and stylus pen assist.

The precise dimensions of the telephone are available at 6.17 x 5.72 x 0.17-inches (156.6 x 145.3 x 4.35mm) when unfolded, and 6.17 x 2.91 x 0.36-inches (156.6 x 74.0 x 9.2mm) when folded. Mixed with its 7.97oz (226g) weight, the Magic V3 is a very skinny and light-weight gadget so far as foldables come.

Working the present is Qualcomm’s newest flagship telephone processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. A 5150 mAh battery pack powers the unit, and 66W wired and 50W wi-fi charging are each current for fast prime up speeds.

The digicam array on the Magic V3 is just like different book-style foldables in the marketplace, with twin 20-megapixel f/2.2 selfie shooters, and a triple rear lens setup. These clock in at 50-megapixels at f/1.6 for the huge angle lens, 50-megapixels at f/3.0 for the periscope telephoto lens, and 40-megapixels at f/2.2 for the extremely huge shooter.

The Honor Magic V3 is accessible in black, inexperienced, and reddish brown colorways, and is available in a single configuration with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

What I favored concerning the Honor Magic V3

The V3 is thinner and lighter than many non-foldable telephones

As talked about, the spectacular mixture of thinness and lightness are what make the Magic V3 stand out from its friends. This has been a revelation for me, as I can go forward and use the gadget like a traditional telephone once I need to, with none main compromise.

A giant a part of what makes the V3 really feel like a no-downside telephone expertise, is Honor’s determination to make the folded side ratio similar to another fashionable handset. The telephone’s width is sweet and huge, versus the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6‘s uncomfortably skinny footprint. I am a fan of the in-hand really feel, together with when unfolded. The inside show is a pleasure to make use of when on the sofa or mendacity in mattress, and I discovered the side ratio labored properly for me.

Construct high quality is one other excessive level, with the V3’s hinge design evoking the sense that it is a well-built product. The gadget opens and closes satisfyingly, and each side of the construct feels premium throughout the board. The gadget’s rear is made from exhausting plastic versus glass, nevertheless it feels good and durable when paired with the metallic facet frames.

Maybe my favourite design consideration right here is Honor’s implementation of an ambient show mode, which it dubs Standby. If the title wasn’t already a touch, this mode takes inspiration from Apple’s StandBy function, displaying a clock or different helpful widgets when the gadget is not actively in use. Honor’s implementation is triggered each time the telephone is positioned in tent mode or in laptop computer mode, and I discover it to be an awesome perk when perching the telephone on my work desk or nightstand.

Irrespective of which orientation you have got the Magic V3 working in, there is no escaping the great thing about the telephone’s punchy shows. Having quick 120Hz refresh charges on each the inside and outer screens is a plus, as is digital pen assist. Honor is especially happy with its new Eye Consolation Show know-how, which presents a few health-conscious additions to the show tech stack.

There’s an AI-infused Defocus Eyecare setting that makes use of under-the-hood myopic defocus stimulation tech, and it is supposed to alleviate the refractive state of your eyes over time. It is a function that is exhausting to check or vouch for in its present state, sadly. For what it is price, I did not discover any distinction in show acuity when toggling the function on. One other addition is Extremely-high Frequency PWM Dimming, which Honor says will decrease display flickering to enhance eye consolation. In any case, I am a fan of Honor’s health-based initiative in precept right here.

The digicam expertise is fairly nice as properly — it would not fairly obtain Pixel or iPhone-level high quality beneath tough taking pictures situations, and that is most likely all the way down to post-processing and machine studying algorithms that may fortunately be up to date over time. I like that there is a periscope lens on board, and I by no means discovered myself wanting extra optical zoom past the three.5x vary the foldable is ready to ship.

Efficiency was constantly snappy, together with shutter velocity when quickly taking motion pictures. The under-the-hood Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 actually packs a punch, touchdown a rating of 1,362 in single-core and 4,767 in multi-core within the Geekbench 6 benchmarking app. Even with the thermal constraints that come together with such a skinny telephone chassis, the V3 by no means skips a beat.

Whereas I am usually not the largest fan of proprietary quick charging options, Honor’s determination to bundle the 66W SuperCharge charging brick within the field is a consumer-friendly transfer that I recognize. I do want that the adapter made use of USB-C versus USB-A, however that is neither right here nor there. Quick 50W wi-fi charging can be supported, however you will have to shell out the additional cash on a suitable wi-fi charging base. If you happen to relaxation the Magic V3 on any previous Qi charging pad, you will get a a lot slower charge of someplace within the vary of between 5W and 15W.

Lastly, I actually loved utilizing the capacitive fingerprint sensor embedded within the V3’s sleep/wake button. I used to be impressed by how fast and correct it’s, even whereas being constrained to a really small floor space.

What I did not like concerning the Honor Magic V3

The software program pores and skin is not fully my cup of tea

Whereas the efficiency of the Magic V3 is silky clean, and I’ve little to complain about with regards to battery life, warmth administration, and display visibility, I do have one main gripe — Honor’s Magic OS pores and skin on prime of Android 14.

There’s nothing deal-breaking right here, however I discover myself eager for a extra Google-esque consumer interface. Honor liberally grafts many iOS-isms onto Android, which I by no means totally bought used to.

Fortunately, bloatware is stored to a minimal out of the field, and the telephone would not undergo from the identical app and repair duplication points that proceed to plague Samsung’s Galaxy lineup. That being stated, I would desire if TikTok, Instagram, and Reserving.com weren’t preloaded apps on the system.

Being 2024, there is a suite of on-board AI instruments included within the software program bundle. I discovered Magic Textual content to be helpful, which is a software that allows you to extract textual content from photos on display. Magic portal, then again, helps you to drag pictures and textual content throughout apps and companies. It really works properly, nevertheless it’s a relatively unremarkable function. I wasn’t capable of check out Face-to-face translation throughout my time with the gadget, however I think about it might be helpful in a pinch.

Lastly, the Air Gestures fall squarely into the gimmick class. The function purports that will help you navigate your telephone by making varied hand gestures, and I discovered it to be hit and miss. I felt this fashion again when Samsung, LG, and Google all tried the idea in a technique or one other, and I actually suppose it is time to put the thought to relaxation.

The one {hardware} quibble I’ve with the V3 is its lack of a mud resistance score for some additional peace of thoughts, nevertheless it’s a reasonably small grievance. The handset is licensed with an IPX8 score, which makes it immune to splashes of water and ingress of static contemporary water at 2.5 meters for as much as half-hour. In different phrases, you do not have to be afraid to tug out the V3 in the event you’re ever caught within the rain.

Must you purchase the Honor Magic V3?

The V3 is a good gadget, however there’s stiff competitors from Google, Samsung, and OnePlus

Honor has crafted a superb telephone within the Magic V3, and its engineering efforts ought to be applauded. The unbelievable thinness and light-weight physique of the gadget is an actual, real step up for the foldable telephone class. I hope different telephone makers (cough, cough, Samsung) observe in Honor’s footsteps right here and are available out with sleeker gadgets within the close to future.

Efficiency on the Magic V3 is great, and its cameras are completely enough for each day utilization. My solely actual gripe with the telephone’s consumer expertise is its MagicOS software program pores and skin sitting on prime of Android 14. I’ve grown accustomed to Google’s Pixel-based imaginative and prescient for Android, and Honor’s interface strays fairly removed from this template. As for the AI options, they’re cool in idea however considerably underwhelming in follow.

The Honor Magic V3 is a good smartphone, and a very good foldable gadget. The software program expertise is not fully to my style, however I acknowledge that that is a matter of private desire — in any case, the gadget is silky clean in operation. There’s rising foldable competitors from others like Google and OnePlus, however the sheer thinness of the Magic V3 has me preferring it over these different gadgets whereas out and about.

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Honor Magic V3