Verdict
With the Magic Vs , Honor raise the bar on the foldable human body factor with a surefooted design that ’s a joyousness to utilize . Issues with app compatibility , MagicOS and the overall cost of the machine support it back moderately , but anyone depend to hop on the foldable train will find out a lot to like here .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
With its sights set on taking down the Galaxy Z Fold 4 , Honor has have the dip into the spheric foldable place with the Honor Magic Vs .
Of the two gimmick , the Z Flip has easily visualise the most competition at its doorstep from the likes of theOppo Find N2 Flipand theMotorola Razr ( 2022 ) , but the Z Fold has stay relatively unmoved from its perch . Honor is await to change this with the Magic Vs , which not only undercuts the Z Fold in price , but also offers a specification sheet that leaves a large amount of Samsung ’s feature article - readiness in the dust – on paper anyway .
So has Honor actually made the earphone to dethrone the Galaxy Z Fold 4 ? Here ’s our finding of fact .
Design and screens
Before handing the Magic Vs over for examination , one of the first thing Honor was keen to indicate out was that unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 4 , the Vs fold completely flat when the inner CRT screen is not in use . To its credit , the Magic Vs does look more positive in its form factor than the Fold 4 , something that Honor has manage to achieve with a redesigned hinge that has whittled the interior mechanisms down to just four components .
From a design standpoint alone , it ’s an telling piece of technical school and the flatter bend does allow the Magic Vs to sit more easily in your pouch than the competition ( even though it ’s still a fairly heavy 267 g ) . The flexure itself is still seeable from an angle , but if you ’re looking at the telephone set dead - on then it disappear completely . I only wish that there was a rut on the edges of the speech sound to make it a little easier to open up and unaired .
As a forewarning to anyone face to buy the Honor Magic Vs , grant me to release a PSA by beg that you instantly confiscate the case that ’s bunch with the phone . The Vs ’ glassful build means that there ’s very niggling to grip on to , and before I attached the case the machine always felt at risk of drop off out of my hands .
That ’s only a minor gripe however as the phone itself feel like a truly premium Cartesian product , and the close down mechanism does n’t feel flimsy in the slim , with the ability to be propped up at a 90 - point angle , much like a laptop computer .
Aside from being able to fold up flat , the Honor Magic Vs also has another obvious step up from the Fold 4 in that boast larger outer and inner display than its competitor . When closed , you may make use of a slim 6.45 - in display but opening up the machine presents you with an telling 7.9 - in exhibit ( the Z Fold 4 has a 6.2 - column inch outer exhibit and a 7.6 - inch inside showing by comparison ) .
WithAMOLEDtech that’sHDR10+ready , both displays on the Magic Vs look incredible , but I surprised myself with just how much use I got out of the privileged display . From typing to reading document , everything is so much easy with the tot real acres , and that ’s before refer the obvious benefits when it occur to watch content . Even with films that use a letterbox data format , the blank space around the TV can be used for subtitles , which is such a great enjoyment of the design .
Part of my preference for the internal display also arrive from the fact that I ascertain the out display to be just a bit too slim for my liking . Typos became a more regular natural event and it ’s simply too tall to be used well one - handed . As a side note , the two displays are n’t uniform when it hail to refresh charge per unit , with120Hzbeing the cap for the outer show , while the inner is cap at90Hz .
This might fathom like cause for alarm system on paper , and I ’m certain that some display purists may still jib at the mind , but this incompatibility never get me any issues during the testing point and unless I really honed in on the differences , they croak totally unnoticed during mundane use .
Cameras
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 made some notable betterment to its camera organisation after a somewhat lacklustre approach from its predecessor , so I was intrigued to see how Honor would compete on this front . Samsung phones are know for take aim solid and colorful injection but Honor has started to make a name for itself in the man of smartphone photography ( just see how theHonor Magic 5 Prohas been marketed ) .
For starters , the Magic Vs has a decent camera set - up on paper with a 54MP main sensor , a 50MP ultra - wide and an 8MP telephotograph lense . In reality , the television camera experience is hampered by a few quirks but on the whole , the Magic Vs is open of pumping out some great - looking shots in both daytime and low - light fit .
In almost all scenarios , I found the main detector to be incredibly reliable and when running through the crowd residence hall of MWC in Barcelona , the camera more than held its own when I needed to take a pair of mathematical product jibe . The photographic camera pose a natural bokeh , as seen in the shot below , and there ’s plenty of colour to be found too .
The same could be said for snap taken after the sun has go bad down . After I render to the UK , the Magic Vs kept up with the change in weather and I rule myself quite surprised at just how much colour it was able to break down from scenes that I know would have tripped up a lot of other smartphone cameras . There ’s still some noise present in the sky from the shot below , but the television camera clean up the red of the tarp far well than I could when expect at the same scene in the import .
alas , the same ca n’t be tell when swap to the x3 optical zoom to capture something in the aloofness . Compared to the experience I ’ve had with the likes of the iPhone Pro mountain chain , moving to x3 gaining control changes the colour visibility to such a degree that I found myself avoiding the lineament entirely more often than not . There ’s also a x10 digital zoom that ’s ready to hand in a pinch but not detailed enough to the point where it could be genuinely recommended for use .
The headphone does handle itself quite well in the realm of macro picture taking . When given the chance , the Honor Vs can capture a decent amount of point on an imposingly small level , but I only wish that this mode could be toggled manually – at present it only kick in when you move close enough to an object and there ’s no way to halt that from go on .
When you have people as your case , the Magic Vs more than holds its own with portrait photography . Even without portrait mode enable , there ’s a courteous amount of natural bokeh to be discover but when you do toggle the artificial bokeh , the separation between the subject and the ground is reliable . The same can be said when using the 16MP selfie camera – even on a muddy mean solar day , the front - facing sensor was able to appropriate a surprising amount of colour from my admittedly pale face ( which I ’m thankful for ) .
Video carrying out is pretty substantial too , enchant a similar grade of color ringing in ideal configurations . What really impressed me however is the stabilisation , which is definitely creeping up on the iPhone ’s power to deliver legato video when out and about .
Performance
As with any folding earphone , the sell is in what the pattern factor can do that a distinctive smartphone ca n’t and to that destruction , the Magic Vs makes a great case for itself . However , there ’s still a caboodle of work that needs to be done on the package side . Apps like YouTube and Google Chrome already make great use of the design with the ability to watch videos in ‘ laptop manner ’ and to crack off into multiple windows respectively , but plenty of popular apps like Instagram deficiency living for the boxy aspect proportion .
like to multitasking on theiPad , a unproblematic tap of the top of the screen reveals the multitasking bar which lets you turn over into split - filmdom viewing or having one app air bladder in a window while another app is running . To give one lesson of virtual usage here , I jot down points in Evernote while have Slack float in a window above so that I could stay in touch with my colleagues without jump from one app to another .
In moments of productiveness like this , the foldable signifier factor definitely has its merit . If you ’re the type of person who ’s constantly on the move then I reckon you ’ll get a hatful of use out of it . The downside is that the software package is n’t quite at the same level as the computer hardware , and the Magic Vs will almost always prompt you to relaunch an app whenever you unfold the gadget .
Some apps , like the streaming serving Now , will simply shut down if you adjudicate to close up or unfold the phone . It ’s not ideal by any substance , but not enough to smash the experience completely and I have hope that as foldables become more popular , developer will optimise their apps in turn .
Running the show inside the Magic Vs is theSnapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1which is a bit superannuated now that theGen 2has already made an appearing in a few handset , but I never felt as if the overall performance was hinder by this . On the contrary , the Honor Magic Vs is a speedy phone and I never encountered any noticeable lag .
The fingerprint lecturer ( establish within the power button ) is very speedy and never gave me any grief , and gaming performance was n’t an issue either – Stardew Valley run an infrangible treat and really gain from the bigger intimate display . Running the phone through Geekbench 6 , it came back with a very goodish 996 undivided - heart score and 3866 multi - core score in the CPU benchmark , as well as an OpenCL score of 6434 .
One of the issues holding back the Magic Vs is doubtlessly Honor ’s MagicOS . Even though it ’s built upon Android 13 , MagicOS includes a few quirks that are passably unmanageable to be with . For illustration , there ’s no app tray to talk of on the Magic Vs , at least for the time being . I ’ve been assure by Honor reps that an app tray will be made uncommitted in the future , but what ’s made the experience more frustrating is that you ca n’t blue-pencil Honor ’s own - brand name apps from the earphone , force me to move them around the homescreen .
To its deferred payment , some of Honor ’s apps are surprisingly good – the Notes app feel eerily interchangeable to Apple ’s version which helped with the leap from iOS to Android – but I do n’t apprize the path in which they ’re forced upon the user and it ’s something I would wish to see changed in the futurity .
verbalize of the future , Honor has direct note from the likes of Apple , Samsung and Google by promising no less than three years of OS updates and five years of protection update to give the Honor Vs a nice amount of longevity . It ’s big to see this becoming the average but in the Magic Vs ’ case , it ’s a welcome piece of news program given just how much the gadget monetary value .
To find fault up the Honor Magic Vs brand new , you ’ll be expected to part with € 1599 . UK and US pricing has yet to be announce , but it roughly translates to £ 1400 and $ 1700 respectively . That ’s no small change , and it dashes any hopes of the Magic Vs being the first truly low-cost foldaway in the human face of the market ’s current sky - high prices .
The one top is that there ’s only one variation of the Magic Vs for sale and it amount with a monolithic 512 GB of storage and 12 GB RAM to iron heel . For like specs , the top - grade interpretation of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 monetary value around € 1919 which is a sizeable price difference of opinion in comparison .
Battery life
give that there are twice as many screens to contend with , there ’s always a slight worry about the battery life of foldable phones but as luck would have it , Honor has n’t skimp out here .
There ’s a 5000mAh battery housed inside the Honor Magic Vs and from my examination , it does a wondrous job at keeping the phone go throughout the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , even when subjected to a fair amount of strain .
On a standard solar day that involve a bit of societal media , message and listen to audiobooks during my commute , I managed to get from or so 8 am to 11 premier with 65 % result in the storage tank , with a register two hour and 13 minutes of screen - on time . In these scenarios , I see no understanding why you would n’t be able to get around two days of use out of the Magic Vs .
When put under a bit more nervous strain with several time of day of streaming and a full covert - on time of five hours and 14 minutes , I wield to make it to about midnight from 9 am with 40 % of the battery remaining .
There ’s also 66W fast charging to bring up with the Magic Vs , although the charging brick I was provide was built to become an EU electric socket , which preclude any detailed examination on that front . Using a standard courser however , I was able to get from a flat battery to 100 % in two hour and 15 minutes which , given how unbelievable it is to even reach 0 % without intentionally undertake to do so , is n’t the worst matter .
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Should you buy it?
With a fantastic aim , larger screens than the Fold 4 and high - last specification to charge , the Magic Vs does a great business of showing why foldables are worthy investing in .
The Magic Vs ’ kind factor does n’t lend itself to content creation in the same way that flip telephone set and stock French telephone can , plus you’re able to get unbelievable footage and guesswork from phone that are half the price .
Final Thoughts
Any skepticism I had about the future of foldables has well and truly dissolved after using the Honor Magic Vs . The phone ’s premium soma never left me with any worries where durability is concerned , and I ’ve come to appreciate having the big screen to hand when I want to dabble in a second of work or catch up on the latest must - find out TV show .
Even though the Magic Vs is reasonably price against the competition , specially for the eyeglasses you get , it still command a serious investiture and unless you project making the most of its design , it ’s hard to commend to the majority of people over a traditional handset . There ’s also room for improvement where software is concerned , but this feels like more of an issue face the folding food market at large .
Still , I have exhaustively savor my time with the Honor Magic Vs , and if you ’re take care to take the dip into the existence of folding earphone then Honor ’s handset is a great berth to start .
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FAQs
Yes , the Magic Vs is subject of folding at a 90 - degree angle , much like a laptop computer .
purity has promised three years of software updates for the Magic Vs , and five years of security updates .
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