Huawei Magic. Review of Honor Watch Magic - Smart watch from Huawei
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Contents of delivery
- Smartphone
- Silicone Case
- 40W charger
- USB Type C cable
- Adapter from USB Type C to 3.5 mm
- SIM tray clip
- Instructions
| Specifications | |
| Dimensions and weight | 157.3 x 75.1 x 8.3 mm, 206 grams |
| Housing materials | Glass, aluminum |
| Display | 6.39 inches, 1080x2340 pixels, 403 ppi, AMOLED, 19.5:9, automatic brightness control, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, DCI-P3 (100% coverage) |
| operating system | Google Android 9, EMUI 9.0 (or Magic 2.0 for some markets) |
| Platform | HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7 nm, ARM 2xCortex-A76 2.6 GHz + 2xCortex-A76 1.92 GHz + 4xCortex-A55 1.58 GHz), Mali-G76 MP10 |
| Memory | 6 GB RAM, 128 GB ROM (there is an 8/512 GB option, 3D console) |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.0, aptX HD, LDAC NFC |
| Net | First SIM card: 4G LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B6/B7/B8/B9/B12/B17/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28/B32 3G WCDMA: B1 / B2 / B4 / B5 / B6 (Japan) / B8 / B19 (Japan); 3G TD-SCDMA: B34/B39 2G GSM: B2 / B3 / B5 / B8 (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) Second SIM card: Dual SIM cards, nanoSIM |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou |
| Sensors and connectors | USB Type C (USB 3.1), OTG Accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, fingerprint sensor (under-screen), gyroscope, barometer, e-compass |
| Main camera | 16/24/16 megapixels, (1x + 2x + 5x + 0.6x); optical stabilization of the zoom camera |
| Front-camera | Front camera with depth of field effect, additional shooting modes - 16/20/2 megapixels |
| Battery | Li-Ion 3400 mAh, average battery life of one to two days Qi wireless charging, 40W charger, fast charge 50% in 20 minutes |
| Degree of protection | IP68 |
| Colors | blue, silver, red |
| Sound | stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos |
Positioning
It would not be amiss to remind you that Huawei considers Honor a separate company, and it is such. In fact, both companies use the developments of the same R&D, but create different devices. Therefore, if Huawei’s flagship for 2018-2019 is the Mate 20 Pro, then Honor’s flagship is the Magic 2. We can safely assume that this device is in some ways simpler than the flagship from Huawei, since the positioning of the Honor brand itself is different, it is more available devices. But all the signs of a flagship are there; the company has tried to realize the maximum possible for a reasonable price.
Magic 2 is not officially available in Russia, and Honor has no plans to bring it to the market, the reason is that the company is moving gradually. The same Mate line from Huawei in Russia became officially available for the first time only in 2018; until that moment, the strength of the brand did not allow mass sales of such devices. But perceptions have changed, and that's why the Mate is on sale. With Magic, something similar could happen next year, so it makes sense to take a look at what the current model offers. It is possible to buy this device in China, but there is not much point in doing so, since there is no localization, the software contains many Chinese services and you will not be able to get much pleasure from the model. On the other hand, this is something unusual, something that not everyone has. There is always an audience for such products; these are those who want something exclusive, not like everyone else.
Design, dimensions, control elements
One of the problems of our time for smartphones has been the growth of screen diagonals, as well as the need to place a front camera and various sensors. And if the sensors can be packed under the display glass, it is impossible to hide the camera there without losing a piece of the image. The concept of many Chinese companies and the answer to this challenge is to create a slider design. The screen is made movable vertically, you move the halves and a cutout appears in which the front camera is located. Since the slider is active, you can avoid wasting energy when scanning the surrounding world in anticipation of the user's face, as is done in the iPhone. Alternatively, some Chinese companies have made a pop-up camera module, but from a mechanical point of view this is not a very optimal design. The slider is more reliable and easier to implement, but the obvious disadvantage is that the body cannot be made as thin as in a regular all-in-one, and you may have to partially sacrifice battery capacity.
When closed, it is impossible to determine that this is a slider; nothing in the device gives away such a design.
Xiaomi has a model with a similar design – Mi MIX 3, it also uses a slider.
Externally, Magic 2 resembles the P20 Pro: an iridescent body, the same format for the placement of cameras on the rear panel. There are no complaints about how the device is assembled. It seems to me that in recent years the quality of assembly has increased among all manufacturers; we have stopped thinking about it altogether, since the level is approximately the same everywhere, and this is a qualitatively good level.
Compared to Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Compared to Samsung Galaxy Note 9
There are several color options, look at the colors below.
For those, like me, who are annoyed by the notch in the screen, Magic 2 will be a salvation. The screen occupies almost the entire front surface, there are no cutouts, since this is a slider design. The sides are minimal, and they are comfortable enough, including for operating the device with one hand.
Face unlocking differs in different versions of this model, for example, in the basic version it is recognition by photo, in the older one (the one with 8 GB of RAM) it is an analogue of technology from Apple, a face map of 30,000 points is built. I was not able to try the second option, since there are no such devices anywhere. Therefore, it’s difficult to talk about recognition, this is exactly what we see in devices from Huawei/Honor today, a fast and reliable unlocking method, I really like it. To activate face unlock, you just move the slider to reveal the cameras, and it’s very convenient, you quickly get used to this feature.
The fingerprint sensor is built into the screen, just like the Mate 20 Pro. In cold weather it does not always work correctly, the vessels on the hand narrow, the capillary pattern changes, and the recognition accuracy is not as high as that of individual sensors on the body. On the other hand, in all other conditions it is convenient and works well.
At the bottom end there is a USB Type C connector, right there is a speaker output, as well as a microphone. The second microphone is on the top end, the noise reduction system works well.
At the top end there is an IR port window, it is used to control household appliances. For many, this will be a pleasant addition to the capabilities of the device, which has disappeared from Samsung flagships and has never been present in Apple smartphones.
The paired volume key is located on the right side, along with the on/off button. Don't look for a fingerprint sensor on the case; it's built into the screen.
On the left side there is a connector for two nanoSIM cards, there is a rubber seal (the device is protected according to the IP68 standard).
There is not a single complaint about the build quality, nor about the ergonomics. The device is rather large, but quite convenient to use.
Display
The screen characteristics are as follows: 6.39 inches, 1080x2340 pixels, 403 ppi, AMOLED, 19.5:9, automatic brightness adjustment, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, DCI-P3 (100% coverage).
Auto-brightness, as usual for Huawei, is very aggressive, the screen is dark in most situations. But gradually the situation gets better if you constantly adjust this parameter; it took me two weeks. Unlike the Mate, there is no RGB sensor, so there is no natural color adjustment on the screen, everything is a little simpler.
Separately, you can adjust the color mode and temperature, but in manual mode. There are enough settings so that you get the color that is closest to you.
There is also an eye protection mode when the display takes on warm shades. It is poorly applicable in everyday life, and the horror story about harmful radiation should, apparently, convince us that the manufacturer has solved this issue. I am convinced that there is no point in scaring users, especially with “harmful radiation.”
In the sun, the screen remains readable, but in camera mode you see that the brightness in the sun is often not enough, the picture is no longer so vibrant, this is not what you get in the final result.
Unfortunately, the AlwaysOn Display mode is very simple; you only see the time and event icons for standard applications. You cannot set the mode or change the shape or appearance of the watch.
Battery
The built-in Li-Ion battery is 3400 mAh, let me remind you that in the Mate 20 Pro it is 4200 mAh. But the processor speed here is limited, there is no way to overclock it (there is no such setting in the menu), this, coupled with a lower screen resolution, gives comparable operating time - a day under heavy load (5.5 hours of screen operation, brightness 50-55%) or two days at 4 hours of screen operation. The full battery charging time is just under an hour, there is built-in wireless charging. I liked the device in terms of operating time, this is its strong point. There is aggressive killing of background processes, but the more you use your smartphone, the faster it normalizes work and does not turn off the necessary applications.
Memory, chipset, performance
The basic version of the device has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory, which is enough for most buyers. The HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset is a top-end solution that is the first in the world to offer an 8-core processor, with two Cortex A76 cores clocked at up to 2.6 GHz, two cores up to 1.92 GHz, and four Cortex A55 cores clocked at up to 1.8 GHz . A good chipset, high performance, there will be no flaws as such, the performance will be more than enough for several years. If you look at performance in real life, the interface “flies”, there are no lags or other problems. The fastest device possible.
Communication capabilities
Let's start with the main thing, the device has NFC support, it works like Google Pay, but not reading/writing to a Troika card (for many this is important, as the comments show). Dual-band Wi-Fi does not raise any questions, everything works like a clock. Bluetooth version 5.0, supported for both LDAC and aptX HD audio, music sounds good in wireless headphones.
For LTE, the maximum set of frequencies, their aggregation and maximum speeds are supported.
USB Type C (3.1) connector, OTG supported, but here I encountered certain problems. My USB Type C flash drives were not read by the device; it offered to charge them, but rejected any other type of connection. It was not possible to overcome this problem, although in all other devices these flash drives are read with a bang.
The built-in IR transmitter allows you to control household appliances.
Cameras
The front camera consists of three modules, but this is more marketing than a necessity; it takes pictures no better than the Mate 20 Pro, with comparable image quality.
But here are the pictures in comparison with the Mate 20 Pro, let me remind you that the optical zoom in Magic 2 is only x2, the optics themselves are also different, they are simpler.
I don’t know how you will rate the photos, but, in my opinion, this camera was deliberately made simpler, as a result, it is noticeably inferior to the Mate 20 Pro, but it also feels worse than the one in the P20 Pro. Moreover, in less than a week I was able to test the camera in different modes, literally in each of them it is inferior to models from Huawei. This is logical, since Honor as a brand is positioned under Huawei, and as such there is no point in making the device more powerful and cheaper. You get exactly what you pay for.
Apart from the Huawei/Honor line, I can say that the camera is above average, sometimes the pictures are just a feast for the eyes, but sometimes the camera misses and the result is defective. The main complaint about the camera is exactly the same as for its larger brothers: it is not always predictable. Sometimes these are very, very good pictures, sometimes they are not. It is extremely difficult to guess when and what it will be. On the same Samsung, the predictability is an order of magnitude higher, you know exactly when you can get a decent shot, and when the camera fails and you need to switch to manual mode.
And this is what the camera interface looks like.
Multimedia capabilities
The stereo speakers are quite loud, watching videos on the device is a pleasure, there are no particular complaints. Support for aptX, aptX HD, LDAC, HWA (Hi-res wireless audio) and Dolby Atmos will be pleasant for everyone who listens to music on wireless and wired headphones. The multimedia component seemed ordinary to me, without any failures or achievements. 
It’s difficult for me to evaluate the YoYo voice assistant due to the fact that I don’t know Chinese. And therefore, I will only note that it is important to have such an assistant, but how good it is, how applicable, I cannot tell you. Alas. At the presentation, they talked a lot about how Yoyo outperforms Siri in terms of recognition quality and speed.
At the moment, only ten languages are supported, the main one is Chinese, and there are also French, English, German, Spanish and some others. There is no Russian, and it will appear in a year at best, if Honor agrees with Yandex that Alice will turn into YoYo. Such conversations are ongoing, and there are chances that this will happen.
From what I liked and what I haven’t come across yet, I’ll note the translation in real time during a conversation. That is, you call someone who does not speak your language, and you immediately have decoding and translation. An interlinear text appears on the screen. As for me, this is just a gorgeous thing, and if it works at the very least, it will become an indispensable assistant when traveling. Until recently, the same Google translator made life very easy, but what can I say, in a tea house in Beijing I communicated exclusively with its help, as well as successfully bargained, giving arguments, and not just showing numbers on a calculator. The fact that this is now available for phone calls is very cool. This is something that will be implemented by almost all companies in the future, there is no doubt about it.
Yoyo also has an app to estimate your skin's age and various blemishes. This application has received some approval from relevant organizations, which serves as proof that it works. For women who take care of themselves, this feature will be interesting.
Impression
In terms of connection quality, the device turned out to be good, there are no pitfalls here, the network holds up well in different conditions. There are no problems with data transmission, speeds in Moscow networks are high, frequency aggregation is used. The call is loud, the vibration alert is felt in different conditions.
The prices for this device in China are as follows (multiply by 10 and get the cost in rubles).
Considering that P20 Pro already costs 35 thousand rubles in Russia (at MTS with cashback) or 39,990 rubles everywhere in large networks, Magic 2 looks at least at the same level. It benefits from the presence of a fingerprint sensor built into the screen, a large display size without a notch, and a slider mechanism. An interesting model, but these devices are quite comparable in what they give to the user. And this, of course, is not the Mate 20 Pro at all, which looks noticeably more interesting.
Overall, I liked the Magic 2, it's a device with a twist and it looks interesting. There are not many competitors for it on the market, if you do not take into account mass models. Although why not take it? Samsung's flagships are more expensive, so the price difference will make the Magic 2 attractive to many (with the same S9+, the difference is at least 15-20 thousand rubles). If we take the line from Apple, then the nearest iPhone Xr simply does not stand up to competition, it is worse in everything except the brand, which is still perceived as a fashion brand, but this is already a thing of the past, now it is rather the perception that a person overpaid without thinking per model. A direct competitor is the Xiaomi Mi MIX3, but a number of parameters are worse there, for example, the fingerprint sensor on the rear panel.
The “senior” Honor with a magical name first appeared in 2016 - and did not officially reach Russia, despite the excellent representation of the brand here. It’s worth saying right away that the same thing awaits Honor Magic2 - it is already known that this is a device intended exclusively for the Chinese market. But at the same time, it is a very interesting device, which we were able to get acquainted with immediately after the announcement. We'll do a full review later, today - first impressions.
Two weeks ago, Huawei introduced its flagship Mate 20/Mate 20 Pro - the first smartphone on the new Kirin 980 platform, which sports particularly powerful artificial intelligence and a triple rear camera with the ability to not only zoom the frame, but also get a wider viewing angle. And now - the next move is up to the Honor brand. Magic2 is the second smartphone with Kirin 980 and here not only the rear camera received three lenses and sensors, but also the front one! And in addition to this, the design of the slider and the completely new voice assistant YoYo. It sounds like a royal flush, but it's not quite that smooth.
Although it is the slider mechanism that works really smoothly and pleasantly - Magic2 is able to deliver tactile pleasure, while emitting characteristic clicks: only they come not from inside the case, but from the lower speaker. Simulation, but appropriate. Moreover, the slider here is completely mechanical, and not electronic, as in the OPPO Find X - the back of the case must be slightly pushed up so that the front cameras appear above the screen. At the same time, the rear ones are always in place - there is no need to move the Honor Magic 2 apart in order to take any picture. Xiaomi used exactly the same solution in its Mi MIX 3, I also managed to talk with it for a short time - and, I must say, Honor did better. The mechanism works more clearly, less effort is needed, and the risk of dropping the phone from your hand when grabbing it to push it apart is minimal.
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This is even a little strange, considering that the case, traditionally for Honor, is almost entirely made of glass (only the edges are made of metal) - your fingers cling well to the mirrored back, and using the Magic2 is convenient. Thanks to the use of this mechanism, the “bangs” disappeared, and the 6.39-inch display almost completely occupied the front panel - the frames are almost invisible, only there is a relatively large indentation at the bottom.
When you open the Honor Magic2, the face recognition system is automatically activated - in the “regular” version it is standard, using exclusively the front camera, in the special version Magic2 3D - with a three-dimensional scanner. This, again, is convenient - the only problem is that after recognition you go directly to the camera application in order to quickly take a selfie. If you don't need this scenario, you can unlock your smartphone using the on-screen fingerprint scanner, but it, like the Mate 20 Pro, is average in both speed and accuracy (though it takes more time to get a clearer impression).
Having unlocked Honor Magic2, the user should not get into the usual EMUI, but into the Magic UI shell specially developed for this series. Alas, there is only a Chinese version, and I had no opportunity to get acquainted with it, especially since they provided me with a gadget re-flashed for EMUI for testing. But it is in the Magic UI that the main feature of the flagship Honor is hidden - the YOYO voice assistant. He, of course, today does not know the Russian language (but knows ten others) and was generally excluded from the smartphone that we got for testing, but, judging by the long story at the presentation, he can do more than Siri or Google Assistant: from voice translation “on the fly” to the ability to unlock a smartphone simply by recognizing the “owner’s” voice, and it does this even in a noisy environment. To fully get acquainted with YOYO, you need to wait for its Russian-language version - no one says when it will appear, but there is definitely hope.
However, the platform installed in Magic2 does not give him intelligence, of course, but very good mental abilities even without YOYO. In addition to the traditional way of using AI in smartphones - to improve photos (or "enhancement", depending on who knows) - Honor demonstrated, for example, applications that assess the condition of your skin in real time: how old you look, how hydrated it is, and etc. Moreover, Honor even has a certificate stating that this method is quite accurate. There will be more applications using neural network computing in the future, as long as we have smartphones that are adapted to this. Honor, of course, compared Magic 2 in terms of the power of working with neural networks with the iPhone - but not with the Xs, which is built on the A12 platform with a dedicated Neural Engine module, but with last year's iPhone X. The trick is not the most honest.
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In terms of performance outside of AI scenarios, the Kirin 980 can easily compete with the Apple A11 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, beating them, for example, in 3D graphics. But there is no dominance even today - we will talk more about this in the upcoming review of the Mate 20 Pro.
The memory is in complete order: RAM or 6 or 8 GB, non-volatile - from 128 to 512 GB (the latter in the Magic2 3D version). This is a truly powerful smartphone without much compromise. More precisely, with one thing - there is no slot for a microSD memory card. For the 128 GB version it is quite relevant, so there is something to regret, albeit a little.
I’ve already said a few words about the display above, but I’ll add that it’s a 6.39-inch AMOLED 19:9 format with Full HD+ resolution.
Cameras - a rare case - are not the most interesting thing about this smartphone. The rear ones are designed according to the scheme tested in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro: each of the three is responsible for its own focal length, providing a fairly good optical zoom. Two of them are 16 megapixels (f/1.8 and f/2.2), the third is black and white 24 megapixels (f/1.8). Unfortunately, there is no optical stabilizer, and the shooting level is approximately the same as what the Honor 10 demonstrates - with the addition of an additional wide-angle mode.
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From left to right: from ultra-wide-angle to 2x zoom |
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Naturally, it supports switchable artificial intelligence, which can recognize up to five simultaneous scenarios for one plot, “twisting” the picture to take them all into account. I didn’t notice any other specific features of the camera operation for Magic2.
Front cameras are even more interesting - primarily in quantity. There are also three of them: 16 megapixels (f/2.0) and two 2 megapixels - both for more correct operation of software bokeh. Why two at once, no one could explain, and during the short acquaintance I did not understand - in terms of the quality of background processing, the Honor Magic2 is even inferior to the same Huawei Mate 20 Pro with a single front-facing camera. But directly in terms of the quality of filming, there are no questions, an excellent level.
Another feature that has moved, albeit from the first Magic, is fast charging with a power of 40 W (10V, 4A). With its help, a smartphone with a 3500 mAh battery is charged to 85% in half an hour, and half-charged in 15 minutes.
Like the Mate 20 Pro, Magic2 received a dual GPS receiver, allowing you to more quickly and accurately determine your location and record a track of movements, as well as a Wi-Fi module with a theoretical data reception speed of 1.7 Gbps. There is NFC, infrared and Bluetooth 5.0. But, as you can easily see in the photographs, there is no mini-jack - despite the fact that there is no moisture protection. This fashion is, frankly, tiring.
Honor Magic2 will be available in three gradient colors: red, black (both in our pictures) and blue. Alas, it will be available, I repeat, only in China; Honor has no plans to bring the model to other markets yet. And, to be honest, it would be nice; the prices, as is usually the case with Honor, are very reasonable. For the younger version of 6/128 GB they ask for 3,799 yuan (approximately 36,000 rubles), for the version of 8/128 GB - 4,299 yuan (40,600 rubles), for the version of 8/256 GB - 4,799 yuan (45,350 rubles), for the 8/512 GB version of Magic2 3D - 5,799 yuan (54,800 rubles).
The first Magic to officially appear in Russia will most likely be the next, third version - and this will happen next year. For now, all that remains is to either cluck your tongue and choose another smartphone, or order it from a Chinese store, with Chinese firmware devoid of Google Play.
Huawei Honor Magic was officially announced in December 2016 in China. This smartphone belongs to the premium segment. It has a lot of innovations, and also has a remarkable design and a powerful technical base.
Appearance and ergonomics
The Huawei Honor Magic case is made of glass and metal. Thanks to the curved edges of the back and front panels, the device looks truly impressive. It uses 3D glass which looks amazing. There is a powerful flash on the back side, and there is also a dual camera. The front part is distinguished by the presence of a mechanical button with a built-in fingerprint scanner located under the screen. Curved and graceful corners make the body of the device not only beautiful, but also comfortable.
Inside there is a 2900 mAh battery with support for exclusive fast charging. Dimensions of Honor Magic: height - 146.1 mm, thickness - 7.8 mm, width - 69.9 mm, weight - 145 g. Color - white and black.
Display
The gadget is equipped with a 5.09-inch display with an advanced AMOLED matrix. Moreover, the resolution of this screen is 2560 by 1440 pixels, which makes it possible to truly enjoy the detailed image. The display is very rich, the black color is close to ideal.
Hardware and performance
Honor Magic received a processor with eight cores, well known to fans of this series, called Kirin 950 (maximum frequency 2300 MHz). This is a very powerful chip that provides excellent performance in literally all applications today. There is 4 GB of RAM, and another 64 GB is used as storage for files. Android 6.0 is used here.
A clear innovation is the presence of a unique Magic Live shell. It was she who gave users the progressive WiseScreen Sensor Magic function, thanks to which the smartphone recognizes not only a person’s hands, but also his eyes. For example, if you take the device in your palm, the screen will automatically turn on. When the device is placed in your pocket, the display goes dark. The shell itself has a beautiful and “easy” interface, as well as useful features.
Communication and sound
There are absolutely no problems with communication in Huawei Honor Magic. You can hear your interlocutor perfectly. The speakers have crystal clear sound, but in headphones the melodies will sparkle with even greater colors. There is support for LTE, two SIM cards and Bluetooth 4.2.
Camera
The dual 12-megapixel module allows you to take high-quality pictures. The user can create depth of field, change the focus point and much more. It is worth noting the large selection of settings and functions that give room for experimentation. There is a dual flash and there is also an 8-megapixel front camera.
conclusions
In China, Huawei Honor Magic can be purchased for $530-550. The buyer receives a balanced smartphone, with tangible innovations in the form of incredibly fast charging, the Magic Live shell and the WiseScreen Sensor Magic function. This device is suitable for a variety of people who don’t mind paying a little over $500 for a new gadget.
Pros:
- New interface with advanced features.
- Dual camera.
- Powerful processor.
- Large amount of memory.
- Great design.
Minuses:
- The camera doesn't do its best work in the dark.
- Battery is not powerful enough.
Technical specifications of Huawei Honor Magic
| General characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Model | Huawei Honor Magic |
| Date of announcement/start of sales | December 2016 |
| Dimensions | 146.1 x 69.9 x 7.8 mm. |
| Weight | 145 g. |
| Case color range | White black |
| Number and type of SIM cards | 2 SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| operating system | Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow) |
| Communication standard in 2G networks | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 (dual-SIM model only) CDMA 800 |
| Communication standard in 3G networks | HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 & TD-SCDMA |
| Communication standard in 4G networks | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 6(900), 8(900), 19(800), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40 (2300), 41(2500) |
| Display | |
| Screen type | AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16 million colors |
| Screen size | 5.09 inches |
| Screen resolution | 1440 x 2560 @577 ppi |
| Multitouch | yes, Magic Live UI |
| Screen protection | There is |
| Sound | |
| 3.5mm jack | There is |
| FM radio | There is |
| Additionally | |
| Data transfer | |
| USB | Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go |
| Satellite navigation | A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | v4.2, A2DP, EDR, LE |
| Internet connection | LTE-A (2CA) Cat6; HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, EDGE, GPRS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Platform | |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Cortex-A72 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex A53) |
| GPU | Mali-T880 MP4 |
| RAM | 4 GB RAM |
| Inner memory | 64 GB |
| Supported memory cards | No |
| Camera | |
| Camera | Dual 12 MP, f/2.2, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash |
| Camera functions | Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR |
| Video recording | 1080p@30fps |
| Front-camera | 8 MP, f/2.0, 1080p |
| Battery | |
| Battery type and capacity | 2900 mAh, non-removable |
| Additionally | |
| Sensors | Light, proximity, fingerprint reading, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass |
| Browser | HTML5 |
| IMAP, POP3, SMTP | |
| Other | — Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Talk — MP4/H.264 player - MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/Flac player — Document viewer — Organizer — Voice dialing, voice commands |
| Equipment | |
| Standard equipment | Honor Magic: 1 USB cable: 1 User manual: 1 Warranty card: 1 Charger 5V/2A: 1 |
Prices
Video reviews
In terms of the combination of brightness and color reproduction, the screen of the Honor flagship is most similar to that of the Xiaomi Mi 8, although the white color of Honor is closer to natural, and Xiaomi mixes in a little blue even in the most academically accurate settings. The screens of OnePlus 6, Huawei Mate 10 Pro or P20 Pro, for example, are just as good in terms of color fidelity, but slightly less bright (430 cd/m2 instead of Honor’s 450 cd/m2). Overall, it looks great in person.
The sound in Honor Magic 2 is fine. Not good, like in the Samsung Galaxy S9 or Sony Xperia XZ3, but normal - in comparison with the excessively powerful “tink-tink”, the Huawei P20 Pro “stifled” the bass and added a little clarity to the sound. Therefore, the smartphone fills you with quite clear trills to the point of ringing in your ears, but it’s already difficult to “rock” Honor’s heavy-to-lift earbuds. There are a lot of sound settings, but all of them are useless, except for the usual 10-band equalizer, in which, first of all, we add some low frequencies, and then we decide whether to do something because of the slightly “gurgling” tone of the sound (like from a bathtub) , or leave it as is, because you’ll get tired of adjusting the consumption, but you still won’t achieve the standard sound.
In expensive monitor headphones, like editorial ones, the sound is more or less balanced and, again, less bassy than you usually expect from Huawei Honors. If you connect large headphones via wire, you get the opportunity to make the sound a little less sonorous and a little more bassy, but you can’t get rid of the “bulky” tint of the sound. Connect via Bluetooth - distortions in the sound almost disappear, but the volume seems larger than it should be (as if it was calibrated for movies, not music), and the low frequencies are still not enough, but you can’t do anything about it - the equalizer is available only when connecting headphones via cable.
There is only one speakerphone in the Honor Magic 2, and there is even one slot for it in the case, without the usual props. But the sound is not bad, a solid four on a five-point scale - it doesn’t strain or wheeze at maximum, it sounds more or less solid and at the same time loud at the limit. It’s better than “just” Huawei P20 or ASUS ZenFone 5, approximately at the level of OnePlus 6 and even slightly better than the speakerphone in P20 Pro. But, of course, it doesn’t reach the level of good stereo speakers on the level of the iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S9 or Sony Xperia XZ3.
Cameras for rent
If you can get used to the shortcomings of the slider body in Honor Magic 2, and you will be delighted with the quality of the screen, operating speed and charging speed, then the quality of the rear cameras will constantly provoke an inferiority complex in you.
Because while spaceships are roaming the expanses of the Bolshoi Theater, and Huawei is ahead of the latest iPhones in terms of photography, the guys from Honor didn’t bother and simply stuck cameras from the May Honor 10 into their best smartphone, which, to be honest, took photographs like this even in their “girlhood” to yourself. Not to say that it’s terrible, but it’s approximately at the level of the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) or Apple iPhone 6 - for 35-40 thousand from the Chinese flagship, I would like to see something more, right?
Honor Magic 2 is a new smartphone from Huawei. Why do you need a slider in 2019? Why have mobile phone manufacturers returned to this format? And what are its pros and cons? Read about this in the next review by Dmitry Bevza.
Specifications
Housing: slider, materials – aluminum alloy, impact-resistant glass;
Color: black/metallic;
Dimensions: 157.3×75.1×8.3 millimeters;
Weight: 206 grams;
Operating system: Android 9.0, interface – Magic UI 2.0;
Display: AMOLED, diagonal – 6.39 inches (84.8 percent screen-to-body ratio), resolution – 1080×2340, aspect ratio – 19.5:9. Pixel density – 403 ppi;
Main camera: three modules, 16 MP f/1.8, 16 MP f/2.2 24 MP B/W f/1.8;
Front-camera: 16 MP f/2.0, 2 MP depth sensor, f/2.4, 2 MP f/2.4 depth sensor;
Processor: HiSilicon Kirin 980, eight cores (2×2.6 GHz Cortex-A76, 2×1.92 GHz Cortex-A76, 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55);
Memory: 128/256 GB, 6/8 GB RAM;
Splash, water and dust protection: No;
Battery: 3500 mAh.
Huawei Honor Magic 2 almost became the world's first slider smartphone, but the “cunning” Xiaomi, with the presentation of its Mi Mix 3 slider, was two days ahead of Huawei. And, by the way, literally a day after the presentation of Honor Magic 2, Lenovo showed its Z5 Pro slider. What does this mean? Firstly, about good competitive intelligence in Chinese companies. Secondly, that mobile vendors are struggling to find new ones and remember well-forgotten old solutions that can be used to increase the display size without increasing the size of the smartphone. Also, we must not forget about the more than overdue global update of smartphone design. There have been obvious problems with this in recent years, with all manufacturers.
Main
Honor Magic 2 is a slider. If anyone doesn’t remember, a slider is a form factor of mobile phones with a sliding top panel. Nokia was very popular in its time, and their slider 8110 became legendary thanks to the movie “The Matrix”.
The general meaning of the slider is that when folded, some of its elements are hidden. Previously it was a keyboard. In the new reincarnation, cameras are hidden in the slider body. Why is this necessary? According to the latest mobile fashion, the bezels around the screen should be minimal. But where should we put the front cameras in this case? Apple made a cutout at the top of the screen - a “unibrow”, but this is clearly a compromise solution, since the front camera unit still “eats” part of the display.
Huawei did something more radical and made a mechanical slider. When closed, the three front cameras are simply hidden behind the screen.
Design and ergonomics
For such a large (6.39-inch) screen, the ergonomics of the smartphone are not bad, largely due to the original form factor. There is, however, one thing. If your fingers are dry, they will slip across the screen and the mirrored back of your smartphone. That is, in this case, the smartphone has to be pushed apart with some effort.
The design of Honor Magic 2 is in perfect order. It looks impressive: firstly, thanks to the original design, and secondly, the mirrored black and silver surface of the back panel made of impact-resistant glass looks very futuristic. Does it leave fingerprints on it? Alas, still how. But beauty, as we know, requires sacrifice.
Display and hardware
Here, as motorists say, “it’s complete stuffing.” Top seven-nanometer HiSilicon Kirin 980 processor, as in the flagship Huawei Mate 20 Pro, 6/8 gigabytes of RAM, 128/256 gigabyte storage. There is no slot for Micro SD, but if you have such a volume of your own memory, this is not very important.
In the AnTuTu benchmark, which shows the performance of a smartphone, Honor Magic 2 scores 275 thousand points. This is about the 15th result. It is even higher than that of the Samsung Galaxy S9+. There is only one speaker, but it is quite loud, and there is support for all wireless standards, including NFC. We’ll tell you why we highlight NFC separately a little later. There is only no wireless charging. Apparently this is due to the design of the slider.
The Honor Magic 2 screen is made using AMOLED technology and supports the Always On Display function.
Full HD+ resolution. Actually, only the lower resolution distinguishes the Honor Magic 2 screen from the displays of the very top devices. Otherwise it is expensive and high quality.
Note that the Honor Magic 2 comes with a proprietary turbo charger, which allows you to charge your smartphone from 0 to 100 percent in an hour.
The smartphone is unlocked using a fingerprint scanner located directly on the screen.
And also through facial recognition. To do this, you need to move the back of the slider up, “freeing” the front cameras.
Recognition works almost perfectly, but the on-screen fingerprint scanner is a little slow. You have to press with great effort, and sometimes twice.
Camera
Honor Magic 2 has six cameras. Yes Yes. Exactly six - three rear and three front. Why do we need three front cameras? To create depth in the frame and achieve bokeh effect. This makes the portrait more expressive.
Three main cameras - standard, wide-angle and black and white.
Honor Magic 2 shoots quite well, but it is still inferior to top-end devices such as Mate 20 Pro, P20 Pro, iPhone XS, Galaxy Note 9. Primarily in detail and noise. But all the special modes, especially with the artificial intelligence module enabled, are implemented well in Honor Magic 2. Night photography, portrait mode, macro, variable aperture mode – the pictures are obtained at a consistently good level. Perhaps this is where the work of the artificial intelligence (AI) module, which is equipped with the HiSilicon Kirin 980 processor, has an impact. In general, AI modules in Huawei/Honor smartphones are gradually beginning to more and more significantly influence the camera’s performance. What is called “earning back the money” spent on their development.
Examples of the Honor Magic 2 camera. Daytime shooting:
Wide Angle Camera:
Night photography:
Selfie camera:
Honor Magic 2 runs Android Pie 9.0 and the Magic UI 2.0 graphical interface, a new development from Huawei. You can replace the three virtual bottom buttons with gesture controls, which is what we did. In general, replacing buttons with gesture control is also one of the mobile trends of 2018, another way to increase the usable screen area. Magic UI 2.0 is quite different from stock Android 9.0, but leaves a good impression.
Officially, Honor Magic 2 is now sold only in China, so we were very surprised by the presence of an NFC module in the smartphone. As you know, this standard is not popular in China. Perhaps this is a sign that after some time the device will appear in global retail, although it is unlikely to reach Russian retail.
Total
We liked Honor Magic 2. Its conceptual novelty, powerful advanced hardware, appearance. But we will not recommend it for purchase. The thing is that it is not officially sold in Russia. Yes, you can easily buy Honor Magic 2 on AliExpress for about 42 thousand rubles, but... Firstly, without a guarantee. We emphasize that 42 thousand and without a guarantee. By the way, the likelihood that a Chinese version will come to you without support for Google Mobile Services is also not zero. Our test sample was exactly like this. Yes, you can use alternative app stores instead of Google Play. Yes, you can reflash a smartphone, but still this is not exactly what a “normal” buyer expects when shelling out 42 thousand. But for early adopters and geeks, Honor Magic 2 is quite an option. Not only is this a very interesting smartphone, but you will also have the opportunity to amaze your friends and acquaintances with a super original device.
In this article, we first of all wanted to tell our readers about the new class of smartphones, which, obviously, will reach Russia in 2019, already officially. As we already mentioned, in addition to Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo made slider smartphones, and Oppo even installed an automatically pop-up camera unit in its Find X. So progress does not stand still, and we hope that 2019 will give us many new and original devices.