The Honor Magic 6 Professional has iOS vibes, and I do not hate it

Within the smartphone world, it is simple to go for the plain high canine. Often made by Apple or Samsung, however what if there’s another 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, however it prices lower than the big-names.

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Value, specs and availability

The Honor Magic 6 Professional launched on March 1, 2024, and can be extensively out there 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

Trying on the Magic 6 Professional there’s this contradiction in that it is very 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 may very well be a Mate collection or P-series cellphone from Huawei. That slim, pill-shaped cutout for the cameras and facial recognition {hardware} on the high of the show and people curves across the edges and corners are very paying homage to Huawei’s design language.

That is no dangerous factor although. In an period of telephones all wanting very samey from the entrance, it is good to have one thing a bit completely different, and people curves make it snug to carry and swipe on. Even the mild 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 in some way. My thumb simply glides effortlessly when swiping to go house or launch the current apps view.

In reality — regardless of being fairly an enormous cellphone — the one-handed consolation is best than you may assume it might 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 help its consolation.

From the again, it appears like an evolution of the earlier era Honor flagship, which is strictly what it’s. The digital camera 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 truly, 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 in opposition to my fingers when taking pictures pictures and video, with out them getting in the way in which, or having to consider avoiding protecting 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 absolutely engaging. It is not nearly appears, in fact. It is constructed to final too, with a glass protecting over the show which Honor claims has been stress-tested in opposition to drops onto many alternative 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 must be simply positive — 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 house

It is clear then — that in the case of bodily appears — the Magic 6 Professional is fairly distinctive. However, when you dive into the software program, you begin to see some fairly clear areas the place it has been impressed by others. I am pondering largely of iOS 17 on the iPhone right here.

The Lock Display customization characteristic is fairly much like the Lock Display customization on iPhone, as is the standby mode that kicks in if you place the cellphone horizontally on a stand. You get a clock widget, or photograph gallery view, similar to you do on iOS 17. It is not an identical, however it’s very, very related.

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 Dwelling Display. There are additionally just a few AI-powered options, as a result of it is 2024 and every thing wants AI in it now. A kind of is a characteristic within the photograph gallery that may create a video spotlight reel for you.

A really brilliant show

You may want sun shades, however not for the solar

Honor’s newest flagship cellphone show is brilliant, I imply — actually brilliant. 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 usually solely hit in HDR content material if you see little brilliant spots within the scene, however it nonetheless signifies that — usually — with the cellphone display screen cranked as much as full brightness, it is nearly too brilliant.

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

The excellent news is the automated dimming is superb. It could modify actually rapidly and at very granular ranges, and indoors it’s barely ever over 30% brightness. That provides quite a 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 incredible panel. I actually just like the default tuning of the Honor show. It is obtained 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 maintain 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 superb. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 which powers the Honor Magic 6 Professional is the flagship processor platform you will discover inside practically all the highest Android flagships in 2024. It is actually quick, good and environment friendly.

Enjoying essentially the most demanding video games — whether or not it’s Genshin Impression or Name of Responsibility — wasn’t any hassle. It’d preserve excessive refresh charges and clean gameplay for 20–half-hour with out struggling. So, when you’re extra of an informal gamer than a severe gamer, the place sustaining peak refresh charges for lengthy durations issues, the Honor can be greater than adequate.

Battery life is absolutely 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 average 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 Shopping and the odd informal sport plus digital camera 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 digital camera. The zoom affords a 2.5x optical zoom, however can go additional because of the usage of a brilliant pixel-dense sensor. It could go so far as 100x, however given my expertise with it, I can not think about anybody wanting to try this.

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

Nonetheless holding it on the decrease finish of the zoom scale, round 2.5x and 5x, the digital camera 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 just a few completely different modes, to a a lot lesser extent, significantly after I was taking pictures with the ultrawide digital camera. Utilizing that, I usually discovered that particulars and textures in pictures had been smoothed out to create fairly a bizarre synthetic look, significantly in decrease mild conditions like when utilizing the devoted Night time Mode as soon as the solar had set.

The tip end result appears 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, somewhat than displaying the true, pure textures. It was largely the ultrawide digital camera that struggled with this impact, and for these shot in daylight it is one thing you won’t discover when a small photograph in your cellphone display screen. However load it up on a bigger monitor, or zoom in to the photograph, and you will see it.

The first digital camera is — no doubt — the strongest of the three. Its variable aperture kicks in when obligatory, and the lens can produce close-up photos with a pleasant, pure background blur to them. That is a lot better than utilizing a processor-powered portrait mode.

Pictures basically are inclined to have fairly a saturated heat look to them, however the Honor does an incredible 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 typically, and the nice and cozy tones do make reds or something near pink or heat look a bit too pink. It is much 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 reveals related traits, however can be robust. It won’t 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 larger find yourself shedding picture high quality and smoothness for the sake of upper pixel counts.

The first digital camera can be spectacular in low mild conditions. Utilizing it at nighttime with the devoted night time mode, I used to be shocked 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

Beneficial

Ultimately, utilizing Honor’s cellphone is a really completely different expertise from utilizing quite a lot of different Android gadgets. And that alone is a superb purpose for it to exist, and so that you can give it a go. The form and design individuality are one side 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 means. However in addition to this distinctive expertise, you are getting a powerful triple digital camera system in a strong cellphone with nice battery life and a stunningly brilliant show.

Is it excellent? No, however it’s a implausible 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.