Honor Magic4 Pro review

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In November 2020, Huawei sold Honor, which was then able to operate without Huawei sanctions.

In particular, this includes using Google Play Services and all apps in the Google Play Store, and being able to source components from a variety of hardware vendors, including Qualcomm and its 5G SoCs.

Honor released a lot of phones during this period, but only a few in Western markets.

One of the first to launch is the mid-to-high-end Honor 50, which I reviewed in October 2021.

The Honor Magic4 Pro is the phone that many are eagerly awaiting. Honor’s first high-end flagship.

Specification

• exhibit:
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 256GB
• rear camera:
  • 50 MP Sony IMX766, f/1.8, 23mm (W), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, Multidirectional PDAF, Laser AF
  • 50 MP, f/2.2, 122˚ (ultra-wide), 1/2.5″
  • 64 MP, f/3.5, 90mm (periscope telephoto), 1/2.0″, 0.7µm, PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom
• Front camera:
  • 12 MP, f/2.4, 100˚ (ultrawide), 1.22µm
  • TOF 3D, (Depth/Biometric Sensor)
• Battery: 4600mAh
• TOLL:
  • 100W Wireless SuperCharge (sold separately)
• Protect:

Design and Display

I still have mine Huawei P40 Pro Like the P30 Pro, these phones have a lot in common with the Honor.

The curved display and corner edges that fold up at the corners are nearly identical to the P40 Pro. The same goes for the button placement and placement of the elongated selfie camera with the TOF 3D sensor.

The curvature of the display is Huawei’s signature design element, and it’s going to be divisive. It does look beautiful, which I don’t mind, but the corners of the display distort UI elements, which is obviously a usability issue. While I have absolutely no problem with it, I can understand that some people are not that keen.

Curvature aside, the overall display is excellent. Some phones run at higher resolutions, but I can’t say I noticed that much.

The phone is listed as having aluminosilicate glass, not the ubiquitous Gorilla Glass. I can’t find much information on the durability of this glass other than Corning themselves, they claim Gorilla Glass Victus performs much better.

The fingerprint sensor is great, but I rarely need to use it. The TOF 3D sensor inside the slender cutout helps with facial recognition, and I found face unlock great (I wish my Pixel 6 had it).

On the back of the phone, you’ve got an eye-catching large camera bump that appears to have four sensors surrounding a large sensor, with a flash at the bottom. My best guess is that the circle at the bottom right is for decoration only.

I received the teal colorway, but its shiny back makes it look closer to silver with a hint of teal.

camera

I’ve done a more detailed post covering The camera performance of the Honor Magic4 Pro is here.

One thing I didn’t highlight in my camera post is that Honor no longer has access to many Huawei IPs. On paper, my Huawei P40 Pro has a better main camera, and it’s super wide, with a much larger sensor than the one on the Honor. As good as the camera is on the Honor, it’s frustrating that we can’t use all the hardware Huawei has developed.

Instead, Honor has to use the sensors we’ve seen on various other phones. Sony IMX766 is currently used in many mobile phones, including several OPPO, real me and OnePlus phones. This is an excellent sensor that works well in a variety of conditions.

As highlighted in the previous article, I like the balance of camera specs and glory. You have a great main camera, and then a great ultra-wide and zoom lens. Other phones tend to have a bland lens.

For video, you can choose up to 4K 60FPS, while 1080P is also limited to up to 60FPS.

Photo storage

Performance and Thermal Throttling

I also made a more detailed post The performance of the Honor Magic4 Pro and how it compares to the OPPO Find X5 Pro.

Benchmarks indicate excellent performance. The phone seems to allow the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to reach its full potential, with OPPO pulling back a bit.

The 3DMark Wildlife stress test showed some noticeable throttling after a few minutes, but not as good as the OPPO. 3DMark also shows that the GPU is significantly better than last year’s SD888. The lowest score achieved in Wildlife is better than the highest score achieved on the SD888-based phone.

As far as day-to-day performance goes, all the processing power and the 120Hz display make sure everything runs flawlessly.

Battery

The Honor has a 4600mah battery, which I think is a bit on the small side for these new power-hungry Qualcomm chipsets. However, performance seems adequate, if not great.

On the PCMark Work 2.0 battery test, the Honor achieved 10 hours and 32 minutes, with an average of 14670 throughout the test. In contrast, OPPO Find X5 Prowith a larger battery, only reached 11 hours and 32 minutes, with an average score of 10801.

Day-to-day performance is pretty good, and I can easily get through a full day of moderate usage.

The two standout features of this phone are 100W wired and 100W wireless charging. I usually use slow charging at night, but if I’m out and about, I use the wireless charger in the afternoon.

In my case, I haven’t seen the phone report wireless charging higher than 80W. This seems to be the case even when charging the battery from around 5%. It’s not a big deal, the 80W wireless charging is very fast and I love it.

I didn’t observe or test wired charging properly, but I did use it one night and it was great. It’s great for traveling when you’re likely to be using maps and cameras all day and only have a short afternoon of downtime.

software

Similar to most of my recent reviews, I don’t feel strongly about Magic UI. I use a lot of phones that I’m now familiar with with most interfaces.

The important thing here is that it is based on Android 12 and has Google Play Services and all the apps in the Google Play Store. You have all your usual pre-installed Google apps like Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Photos, and more.

Google Pay didn’t install, but luckily I was able to install it and successfully added my NatWest card.

Like many phones, it’s unnecessarily bloated software, including Booking.com, Netflix, Trip.com, TrainPal, WPSOffice, and some built-in Honor apps.

It’s worth noting that when I reviewed the Honor 50 last year, my early review sample had some major glitches that required me to send the phone back for an update. With the Honor Magic4 Pro, I had no problems at all.

Price and Alternatives

Honor Magic4 Pro £949.

They have a great pre-order deal where you can get the SuperCharge wireless charger, Watch GS 3 and Magic4 Pro PU case. I’d say the wireless charger is a must buy, it saves you £65 and you can always sell the watch if you don’t want it.

The Mi 12 Pro is available in 12GB/256GB for £1049. I’d say this is the closest competitor, especially if you look at the camera specs. They have IMX707 which is better than IMX766. Both have 50MP ultra-wide angles, but the Honor zoom lens has a higher resolution, and 3.5x zoom is better than 2x.

The OPPO Find X5 Pro for £1050 or the very similar OnePlus 10 Pro for £899. I haven’t reviewed the OP10Pro, but OPPO is excellent. They have better ultra-wide cameras, but not as good zoom.

this Pixel 6 Pro The model with 256GB of storage is priced at £949. It has a great camera, but the chipset isn’t great, and the fingerprint scanner is incredible.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ with 256GB storage on sale for £999, or Ultra soars to £1249

So, I would say that Honor’s positioning in the competition is very attractive.

overall

The Honor Magic4 Pro is the phone we’ve been waiting for as Honor parted ways with Huawei and re-entered Western markets with phones that included Google Mobile Services.

This makes me hopeful that Honor will fill the void left by Huawei, but it’s also frustrating that Honor can’t use all the hardware Huawei develops in-house.

There’s a lot to love about this phone, and I think it should be a serious consideration for anyone looking for a high-end flagship phone with a top-notch camera.

If you’re considering this phone, I highly recommend buying it during the pre-order bonus as it can save you a lot of money.

Last updated on May 19, 2022 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API