HONORMagic smartphone 5G, curved screen 120 Hz, Double SIM

For a full price handset of nearly £1000, you should expect a handset that can compete with the best of today's phones. And the Honor Magic 6 Pro is up there with the best.Here's the obvious reasons why:- Latest premium chipset (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) with 12GB of RAM (+8GB Turbo Boost when needed), meaning fast and fluid performance including strong multi-tasking performance and fast responsive. I love Androids for their multi-tasking ability vs iPhones- Premium, vibrant and large (6.8 inches) 1280p display, with accurate colours and enjoyable and comfortable viewing experience. Refresh rate up to 120Hz for buttery smooth scrolling that supposedly dials down to 1Hz when screen is idling to preserve battery, but I've yet to measure this. Can confirm the phone drops down to 60Hz when in ultra power saving mode- Premium camera set up, including triple rear camera set up and selfie camera with 3D depth camera that takes rich, clear photos with lots of detail, especially in strong light conditions. Videos can be captured at up to 4K 60FPS on the rear camera and capture excellent quality videos with great colour and detail, especially on Movie Mode- That front facing camera set up is the only one in the Android market that offers secure 3D Face Unlock like that of Face ID on iPhone which works in the dark and is also meets biometric security requirements for banking apps, Google Wallet etc.- Excellent phone reception and sound quality/microphone pick up. No issues with signals or struggling to hear or be heard in phone calls. It has Voice over Wi-Fi (e.g. Wi-Fi calling) for those in a network that allow it, meaning if your base mobile phone reception is poor and struggle to get a signal, the network uses your Wi-Fi instead and the phone pics up that to maintain connectivity). It also has Voice Over LTE which uses 3/4/5G to boost your base voice call quality too- In-screen fingerprint reader which I barely use because of the fast and secure Face Unlock- Premium build and strong, curved front glass panel protection which make the phone feel premium. I unfortunately dropped this phone from about waist height face down onto a road surface and feared a shattered screen. Instead, all I got was a tiny chip in the corner of the panel that I forget is there as it's so small and of sight- Loud, clear, and balanced speaker set up which if you're the person who likes to listen to music without earphones won't get annoyed at the down firing speaker being covered by your hand, muffling your sound- Fast wired charging (80W, but no charger supplied), however with my current 40W charger it takes just under an hour to fully charge- Speaking of battery, easily two full days on a full charge, which I think is improving as the phone learns my useage behaviour- While Samsung S24 series have "circle to search", the Honor series have this too. You draw a circle on the image you want to search with your knuckle and drag it to the edge of the screen where it can then be searched in Google. Works all the time and is pretty accurate in identifying the image- Familiar software experience if coming from a Huawei phone (I upgraded from Huawei Mate 20 Pro)- Has a Desktop mode (like Samsung DeX but this was also on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro), which is capable of turning the phone into a mobile PC and works brilliantly (I forgot my laptop once and this saved the day for me as I was able to engage this mode and plug into my desk monitor, keyboard and mouse with a USB C hub)- Genuinely useful one handed mode (same as that on Huawei Mate 20 Pro)- If you have existing Huawei or Honor technology e.g. laptops or earbuds, this works perfectly well with these (like an iPhone with a MacBook etc).- Setup from Huawei Mate 20 Pro was easy- all apps and most settings including home screen folders and camera/picture folders were copied across in the same way with the apps and media in the right folders so it was like picking up from where I left off- 4 years of Android OS updates (shipped with Android 14) and 5 years of monthly Android security updates (which have so far been regularly monthly and on the latest patch at time of writing)However, here's the bits that could be better:- It's massive, and it usually requires two hands to hold it with, even with one handed mode. Weight is top heavy because of that camera bump- Camera bump is ugly and heavy, however with the right case equipped (I went first with the Official Honor Bracket Case first but have since opted for and stuck with a clear silicone case), the camera bump offers a decent ridge for your finger to rest on while holding the phone. The bump cause the phone to lean up when on a table so doesn't lie flat. Some might like that, but I don't. On the plus side, because it's big and central(ish) there's no wobble- A couple of software bugs which I'm sure will get ironed out, including not being able to auto fill verification codes from SMS into Google Chrome, the QR code can't read FIDO barcodes. But I've never had any apps crash, close randomly, or just fail to open- Aggressive power management of apps requires manual input on what apps you don't want it to shut down or launch automatically (same as Huawei experience, so new users might get a bit bogged down by this and wonder why emails and messages aren't coming through on time). On changing these settings, I rarely miss any notifications- Camera can sometimes overprocess colours and sharpness, but varies with individual's preferences. Don't bother with expecting much detail beyond 10x zoom, but 5x zoom in good lighting is exceptional. Video sometimes struggles with autofocusing on a moving subject but found Movie mode is much better at switching focus so tend to record with that.- Magic Portal is mostly not very magical but has potential. Overall, I like the dragging of an image to the edge of the phone to share but you can't do it for any image on any app or screen your on, e.g. most 3rd party pages like BBC News through Chrome or Sky Sports, unless you highlight a bit of text first.- Magic Capsule again is not very magical. Some people might find it obtrusive (I came from a Huawei Mate 20 Pro with a higher notch so it's an improvement from that in my opinion and a trade off for having that secure Face Unlock). Magic Capsule is alright for seeing and knowing what you're listening to e.g. on Audible or Deezer/Spotify, but my ears tell me that just as well. However, it's cool for if you've set a timer and can see how much time is remaining on the countdown, but bizarrely doesn't do the same when running the stop clock function, so you can't see how much time has elapsed- Battery gets warm when charging. Battery life was poor to begin with but since some updates and learning my behaviour, this is now excellent, but could be something you might be disappointed with at the start. It gets better- A phone this size and price should have a QHD+ display, like the Samsung S24 Ultra and Mate 20 Pro.- Privacy features on Android 14 are overkill. I think it limits functionality overall- Lack of charger and case in the box for this price feels a rip off, especially when the phone has 80W charging but you need a power brick capable of that to reach those speeds-Lastly, I miss the notification LED that let me know I had a message without turning the screen onOverall, before landing on this handset I tried the iPhonee 15 Pro (great hardware and handfeel, awful software experience), Samsung S24+, and the Xiaomi 14 (both of which were at best a side step from the ahead-of-its-time 2018 Huawei Mate 20 Pro that I was upgrading from, with the secure Face Unlock being an essential miss on both phones and more or less equivalent camera performance to the Mate 20 Pro). Coming from the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, this feels like the most natural successor albeit not without its quirks and individual taste preferences.If you're in the market for a premium Android handset, this is one of the best you can get.

The phone is great and arrived without any damage