Hands-on impressions of Honor Magic Vs: The Paper Folding King

Honor is desperate to step out of the lingering shadow of its former parent, Huawei. In its effort to demonstrate that this is indeed its own business, Honor gathers all of its relatively meager resources and swings for the fences. The Honor Magic Vs is its second foldable phone but the first to see a global launch and after spending a few hours with it I have to admit it looks pretty good.

At first glance, it’s tempting to think of the Mate Vs as Honor’s version of 2021’s Huawei Mate X2. But it looks more like an Honor version of what could be a Mate X3. That’s because the Magic Vs adds even more polish to the formula – it’s thinner and lighter than the Huawei Mate X2 but still comes with a roughly 10 per cent larger battery.

Huawei has, of course, since released the Mate Xs 2 which is even more svelte than even the Magic Vs, but it also comes with a smaller battery and features the controversial outward folding design of the Xs line. On paper, Honor has beaten Hauwei’s two current formidable foldables and it has something that Huawei phones can only dream of in 2022: easy access to all apps on the Google Play Store and support for mobile services. Google.

Comparing the Magic Vs for a moment to the even newer Galaxy Z Fold 4, Honor leads here too on paper. The Magic Vs is slightly lighter, significantly thinner and has a much larger battery than Samsung’s foldable flagship.

Given Samsung’s economies of scale, it’s hard to say if Honor will be able to undercut Samsung’s price, but when the Galaxy Z Fold 4 sells for $1,799 and the Chinese price conversion puts the Magic Vs at just over $1,000, you never know. Regardless of Honor’s price tag, the Magic Vs seems like a viable Samsung foldable alternative that you can actually buy outside of Asia – something we’ve needed for a while.

Let’s talk about the phone itself. Its design is very reminiscent of the original Magic V which itself was reminiscent of most Huawei phones. You have the same fold-flat design with a hinge that pulls back into the chassis casing when opened. A side-mounted fingerprint scanner doubles as a power button. The internal screen also supports the Honor Magic Pen, but it’s not included and there’s nowhere to connect to the device itself.

The first thing you notice when you pick it up is how light it is. The more you use it, the more you notice the general lack of bulk usually associated with foldables. Honor wants it to be the first “everyday” foldable phone that can be used throughout the day rather than as a secondary phone. Apparently more than half of people surveyed by Honor with a foldable phone are also carrying another regular phone.

Perhaps Honor’s biggest innovation here is the hinge. The Magic Vs has a “gearless hinge” which we were told worked the same way as a door hinge. From the 92-component hinge of the original Magic V, the Magic Vs has only four hinge elements while maintaining the same rigidity and durability. This not only allows the phone to be lighter, but also means there is more internal space for cameras and battery.

Honor says the new hinge is rated for 400,000 openings or more than 10 years of 100 openings per day. This number is for the hinge itself, and shouldn’t be confused with the display rating (which Honor doesn’t share at this time). For reference, Samsung rates its Galaxy Z Fold 4 display for 200,000 openings. So while the Magic Vs Hinge might last you ten years, you’re unlikely to use the original screen that much without a replacement somewhere along the line.

Speaking of display, the Honor Magic Vs packs a 6.45-inch 120Hz variable OLED on the outside in a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 7.9-inch 90Hz variable OLED on the inside. inside. It’s a bit of a shame that the inside screen doesn’t match the 120Hz refresh rate of the outside like the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

All panels feature 1920Hz Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to reduce screen flicker and Honor’s Circadian Nighttime Display to limit blue light. Dynamic dimming promises to adjust brightness to minimize eye strain throughout the day. However, if you need additional outdoor brightness, the Magic Vs can reach up to 1,200 nits of peak brightness.

There’s a punch-hole camera on the right side of the internal display for video calling, or you can use the main cameras for selfies using the external display as a viewfinder – something that’s still one of my go-to cases. preferred use for foldable phone (s.

On the back, the main camera array is quite impressive on paper. There’s a 54MP Sony IMX800 main sensor for regular 1x shooting at an f/1.9 aperture. There’s also a 50MP ultrawide at F/2.0 with macro mode and 8MP 3x optical zoom. On the front, there’s a second 16MP camera for taking selfies when the phone is folded. All cameras feature Honor’s AI-enabled image engine. We can’t wait to test the cameras against the competition.

A powerful 5,000mAh battery powers the show with 66W fast wired charging. Honor says it only takes 46 minutes to reach 100 per cent charge. There’s no wireless charging here, unfortunately, but personally I’d always go for fast wired charging over a slow wireless option. For reference, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 charges wired at 25W and wirelessly at 15W.

As far as software goes, the Magic Vs is running Magic OS 7.0 which is based on Android 12. Unfortunately I can’t tell you more than that as the unit I was given access to was hardware only, this which means the overall software it contains is not finished yet. As such, it would be unfair to comment on it without getting our hands on a model with retail software.

The Magic Vs is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 mobile platform and is available in multiple memory configurations. There is a base model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and a 12GB/256GB or 12GB/512GB version. Standard model colors include cyan, black, and orange. There will also be a Magic Vs Ultimate edition with black and gold color options and 16GB/512GB if you really want to max it all out.

There’s currently no global price, but the Chinese price looks promising so far, especially since Honor has seriously reduced the Chinese price of the first Magic V (which started at 8,999 yuan). Chinese availability begins November 23, 2022, starting at 7,499 Yuan (~$1,049) for the base model and up to 10,888 Yuan (~$1,523) for the Special Edition.

I doubt the Magic Vs will be just a thousand dollar phone when it hits western markets (but not the US) considering the Magic 4 Pro retails for €1,099. We’ll just have to wait and see how aggressive Honor can afford to be.

Honor has confirmed that the Magic Vs will launch globally in Q1 2023, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement in January with availability a few weeks later. In this economy, no one can afford to wait too long to hit shelves and Huawei will likely have its Mate X3 coming to MWC 2023.

	Honor Magic Vs
Attach	Outside: – 6.45 inch OLED – 120Hz refresh rate – 2560 x 1080 resolution Interior: – 7.9 inch OLED – 90Hz refresh rate – 2272 x 1984 resolution
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 Adreno 730 GPU
RAM	8/12 GB
Storage	256/512 GB Non-expandable storage
Power	5000mAh battery 66W wired charging (charger in box) No wireless charging
Cameras	Rear exterior: – 54MP main, 1.0μm, OIS, ƒ/1.9 – 50MP ultra-wide, ƒ/2.0, 122-degree field of view – 8MP telephoto, OIS, 3x zoom, ƒ/2.4 Exterior facade: – 16MP, ƒ/2.45 Interior facade: – 16MP, ƒ/2.45
audio	Stereo speakers No 3.5mm headphone port
SIM	Dual tray nano-SIM
Biometrics	Side capacitive fingerprint sensor
Software	Android 12 Magic OS 7.0
Dimensions and weight	Dimensions folded: – 160.3 x 72.6 x 12.9mm Dimensions unfolded: – 160.3 x 141.5 x 6.1mm Lester: – 261g (vegan leather) – 267g (glass)
Colors	cyan Black Orange Black and Gold Options Available for Magic Vs Ultimate (16+512GB)

Having spent some time with the Magic Vs (and briefly using the Magic V before), I can confidently say that if you missed Huawei on the world stage, you should probably turn your attention to Honor.

At first glance, Honor seems to have retained all the best parts of its time under Huawei (excellent build quality, excellent engineers) but now finds itself free of the worst parts. Releasing a foldable in global markets early next year will be a big milestone for the brand.