The Honor Magic 6 Professional has iOS vibes, and ...

Within the smartphone world, it is easy to go for the plain prime canine. Normally made by Apple or Samsung, however what if there’s an alternate from a model you are not as conversant in? That is what the Honor Magic 6 Professional is. It is a correct flagship cellphone in so some ways, nevertheless it prices lower than the big-names.

Honor Magic 6 Professional

Execs

• Distinctive stand-out design
• Sturdy sturdiness and water-proofing
• Actually shiny and vibrant show
• Lengthy battery life and quick charging

Cons

• Cameras have a behavior of over-smoothing textures
• Some software program options clearly impressed by iOS 17
• No fast-charger within the field

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Worth, specs and availability

The Honor Magic 6 Professional launched on March 1, 2024, and will likely be broadly obtainable in Europe. It is £1,099 within the UK, with 12GB of reminiscence and 512GB of storage. It is not anticipated to launch within the US.

A pleasant design

Makes it a snug cellphone, regardless of its dimension

Wanting on the Magic 6 Professional there’s this contradiction in that it’s extremely particular person and distinctive on the again, however jogs my memory of Huawei’s {hardware} design on the entrance. Taking a look at it head-on, I could possibly be a Mate collection or P-series cellphone from Huawei. That slim, pill-shaped cutout for the cameras and facial recognition {hardware} on the prime of the show and people curves across the edges and corners are very harking back to Huawei’s design language.

That is no dangerous factor although. In an period of telephones all trying very samey from the entrance, it is good to have one thing slightly completely different, and people curves make it comfy to carry and swipe on. Even the light curves on the backside of the display screen are a helpful addition as a result of it makes swiping upwards on the show extra fluid and handy someway. My thumb simply glides effortlessly when swiping to go residence or launch the current apps view.

In reality — regardless of being fairly an enormous cellphone — the one-handed consolation is healthier than you may assume it could be from a cellphone that is about the identical dimension because the Galaxy S24 Extremely and iPhone 15 Professional Max. Granted, it isn’t nimble or compact, however its curves assist its consolation.

From the again, it seems like an evolution of the earlier era Honor flagship, which is strictly what it’s. The digicam bump is eye-catching to say the least, that includes shiny, angled, polished chamfers — designed to imitate jewellery.

As completely different and weird as it’s, there is a pleasing sense of symmetry about it, and really, I fairly like having the cameras positioned centrally. And never simply due to that symmetrical look. You place it down on its again, and it will not rock — for starters. And second — it offers me someplace apparent to relaxation towards my fingers when capturing images and video, with out them getting in the best way, or having to consider avoiding masking the lenses.

I am not an enormous fan of the pretend leather-based inexperienced finishes, however this frosted, darkish gray or black mannequin I examined is actually enticing. It is not nearly seems, in fact. It is constructed to final too, with a glass masking over the show which Honor claims has been stress-tested towards drops onto many various surfaces, and is tremendous resilient and impact-resistant.

I have never been courageous sufficient to check these claims, however I’ve no scratches or marks but, not even tiny ones. It is also IP68 water and dust-resistant — so no matter you throw at it, it ought to be simply effective — offering you do not go excessive and throw it in a cement mixer.

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The software program expertise

iPhone customers ought to really feel proper at residence

It is clear then — that with regards to bodily seems — the Magic 6 Professional is fairly distinctive. However, for those who dive into the software program, you begin to see some fairly clear areas the place it has been impressed by others. I am pondering principally of iOS 17 on the iPhone right here.

The Lock Display customization function is fairly just like the Lock Display customization on iPhone, as is the standby mode that kicks in once you place the cellphone horizontally on a stand. You get a clock widget, or picture gallery view, similar to you do on iOS 17. It is not similar, nevertheless it’s very, very comparable.

In any other case, it is just about what you’d anticipate from Honor. The interface is clear, you get helpful options like enlarged folders in your Residence Display. There are additionally a number of AI-powered options, as a result of it is 2024 and every thing wants AI in it now. A type of is a function within the picture gallery that may create a video spotlight reel for you.

A really shiny show

You may want sun shades, however not for the solar

Honor’s newest flagship cellphone show is shiny, I imply — actually shiny. With HDR peaks that may hit as excessive as 5,000 nits, it is among the many brightest screens ever placed on a cellphone. These peaks are typically solely hit in HDR content material once you see little shiny spots within the scene, nevertheless it nonetheless signifies that — typically — with the cellphone display screen cranked as much as full brightness, it is nearly too shiny.

I’ve discovered with this show, just like the OnePlus 12 panel at full brightness, you generally lose a few of the richness of the colour, particularly lighter colours and brighter elements of any picture or film scene.

The excellent news is the automated dimming is great. It will probably modify actually shortly and at very granular ranges, and indoors it’s barely ever over 30% brightness. That provides a whole lot of scope for brightness, and means it isn’t utilizing tonnes of battery energy to remain on.

In any other case, it is an important panel. I actually just like the default tuning of the Honor show. It is acquired vibrant colours, with out being unnaturally oversaturated, and it would not crank the distinction up too excessive, so pores and skin, faces and nature scenes preserve a pure look to them.

It is also a crisp, detailed panel that renders textual content easily, and has adaptive refresh charges that change up and down primarily based on how briskly the content material on the show is transferring. This helps save the battery on slower content material, like studying, however boosts it to maintain animations clean and sharp in fast-moving gameplay.

Efficiency and battery life

Quick and sooner within the title of charging

This leads us properly on to the efficiency of the cellphone which — unsurprisingly, given the chipset inside — is excellent. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 which powers the Honor Magic 6 Professional is the flagship processor platform you will discover inside almost all the highest Android flagships in 2024. It is actually quick, good and environment friendly.

Taking part in probably the most demanding video games — whether or not it’s Genshin Influence or Name of Obligation — wasn’t any bother. It’d keep excessive refresh charges and clean gameplay for 20–half-hour with out struggling. So, for those who’re extra of an off-the-cuff gamer than a severe gamer, the place sustaining peak refresh charges for lengthy intervals issues, the Honor will likely be greater than adequate.

Battery life is actually robust too, so time spent plugged in to cost or on a wi-fi charging base is minimal. Just like the OnePlus 12, I discovered with my very own reasonable to mild utilization, I might get two days from a full cost. That is with about 3 hours of display screen time per day, normally break up between YouTube, Threads, Instagram, Net Searching and the odd informal recreation plus digicam utilization.

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A number of cameras to select from

Greater than adequate

As is just about commonplace for any giant premium cellphone now, the Magic 6 Professional has a major, ultrawide and zoom digicam. The zoom presents a 2.5x optical zoom, however can go additional because of the usage of a brilliant pixel-dense sensor. It will probably go so far as 100x, however given my expertise with it, I can not think about anybody wanting to do this.

Pushing the zoom any additional than about 5x or 10x finally ends up with pictures that look extra like a portray than {a photograph}. Particulars are smoothed out, or generated by the picture processor, relatively than being an genuine tackle what is definitely within the scene.

Nonetheless conserving it on the decrease finish of the zoom scale, round 2.5x and 5x, the digicam copes effectively with shadows, highlights and shade, controlling these higher than Samsung’s S24 Extremely in some conditions.

In reality, this was an impact I noticed in a number of completely different modes, to a a lot lesser extent, notably after I was capturing with the ultrawide digicam. Utilizing that, I typically discovered that particulars and textures in images had been smoothed out to create fairly a bizarre synthetic look, notably in decrease mild conditions like when utilizing the devoted Evening Mode as soon as the solar had set.

The tip end result seems just like the sensor has picked up the scene, acknowledged colours and patterns, after which simply coloured within the bits it wasn’t ready to determine, relatively than displaying the actual, pure textures. It was principally the ultrawide digicam that struggled with this impact, and for these shot in daylight it is one thing you may not discover when a small picture in your cellphone display screen. However load it up on a bigger monitor, or zoom in to the picture, and you will see it.

The first digicam is — doubtless — the strongest of the three. Its variable aperture kicks in when vital, and the lens can produce close-up pictures with a pleasant, pure background blur to them. That is significantly better than utilizing a processor-powered portrait mode.

Photographs normally are inclined to have fairly a saturated heat look to them, however the Honor does an important job with highlights and shadows in contrasting situations. Highlights are tamed in order that element, shade and texture are retained, and there is some element within the shadows too.

Blue skies look actually, actually blue generally, and the nice and cozy tones do make reds or something near crimson or heat look a bit too crimson. It is just like the iPhone in that regard, placing a golden, heat tone on every thing. In comparison with Samsung, which is harsher, over-sharpened and funky.

Video exhibits comparable traits, however can be robust. It may not hit the peaks of decision and body fee you get on a Samsung cellphone, however with 4K as much as 60fps, it’s — once more — greater than adequate. Particularly since most telephones that push increased find yourself shedding picture high quality and smoothness for the sake of upper pixel counts.

The first digicam can be spectacular in low mild conditions. Utilizing it at nighttime with the devoted evening mode, I used to be stunned how a lot mild it might seize with only a second or two of publicity, displaying stars clearly within the sky, with none movement blur. It is fairly spectacular and was higher than Samsung’s flagship telephones on this regard.

Verdict

Honor Magic 6 Professional

Really helpful

Ultimately, utilizing Honor’s cellphone is a really completely different expertise from utilizing a whole lot of different Android gadgets. And that alone is a good motive for it to exist, and so that you can give it a go. The form and design individuality are one facet of that.

MagicOS would not really feel like commonplace Android, appearing like a bizarre combine between Android and iOS, however not essentially in a nasty manner. However in addition to this distinctive expertise, you are getting a powerful triple digicam system in a strong cellphone with nice battery life and a stunningly shiny show.

Is it excellent? No, nevertheless it’s a unbelievable change from the norm and one which — whereas costly — is not as expensive because the S24 ultras and iPhone 15 Professional Max’s of the world.