Honor Magic5 Pro test: and the magic happens?

He was one of the stars of MWC 2023. He is the Magic5 Pro, the latest flagship of Chinese Honor. Like Xiaomi, the one who has taken its independence from “the one whose name should not be pronounced” is betting on ultra-premium to win the hearts of users.

A bold bet, especially since Honor, like Xiaomi, goes the opposite of what made its reputation: excellent value for money.

With the Magic5 Pro, Honor therefore intends to show that it also knows how to make excellent high-end smartphones. And that it’s not just Samsung and Apple in life. Really ?

To get to the bottom of it, we replaced our Galaxy S23 Ultra with the Magic5 Pro for almost a month. So, successful bet?

Evening dress

To play his number, the Magic5 Pro puts on his best costume. Its green/blue glass cape sparkles in the light like a disco ball. Wow effect guaranteed!

Beyond its impeccable design, the Magic5 Pro is distinguished by its imposing photo modulebaptized Star Wheel. Round in shape, it occupies a good third of the rear surface. This aesthetic choice (inspired by Antoine Gaudí) has the merit of being original… and practical. Unlike the modules deported on one side, this one allows you to manipulate the smartphone placed on a flat surface without it moving.

On the front, the screen waterfall (plunges towards the edges) occupies almost the entire surface. Since the borders are almost non-existent, Honor has positioned the fingerprint sensor under the screen. The front sensor is placed in a capsule-shaped punch and allows unlocking by 3D facial recognition.

In use, the Magic5 Pro is very pleasant to handle… with two hands. In cold weather, the frosted glass on the back tends to slip out of your hands. Admittedly, the smartphone is IP68 certified, but we prefer to avoid any dangerous maneuver.

Because the Magic5 Pro is a beautiful baby. Its dimensions and weight (162.9 x 76.7 x 8.8 mm for 219 g) place it in the family of behemoths. If giant smartphones aren’t your thing, move on. Otherwise, it’s hard not to fall for this Magic5 Pro.

full view

Impress. This is the goal that Honor has set itself with its Magic5 Pro. As for the screen, it’s a real success. Equipped with a from 6.81” AMOLED LTPO 2this new star displays content on a QHD+ screen in 19.5:9 format.

And what a screen! One billion colors, 1,300 nits brightness (peaking at 1,800 nits in HDR), HDR10+ and IMAX Enhanced certification, 120Hz refresh rate, it’s all there.

With this state-of-the-art hardware, the Magic5 Pro inevitably produces an excellent quality image. The screen is simply stunning.

For the more fussy, precise settings are available in the display settings. You can adjust the colors, the fluidity or improve the image.

Great performances

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Like the majority of high-end smartphones of 2023, the Magic5 Pro embeds the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the latest innovation from Qualcomm. It comes with 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM as well as 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

This technical arsenal allows the latest flagship of Honor to display very high scores on the various benchmarks, testifying to its high level of performance.

The Magic5 Pro can do it all, fast and well. In a month of testing we have never managed to take it by default, despite our desire to push it to the limit. 4K editing, demanding games, photo editing, nothing scares him.

We just detected a slight tendency to warm after several tens of minutes of 3D play, but nothing that leads to a situation of discomfort. If it overheats, the system will temporarily reduce performance anyway (throttling) to calm this fever.

Inexhaustible

Keeping good performances is good. But ensuring a full tour is better. Thanks to its 5,100 mAh battery, the Magic5 Pro provides the show for a day and a half, if you are particularly demanding. It will last two days in normal use and by activating the energy saving modes at the end of the day.

Without being the most enduring (just over 7:00 p.m. in general-purpose use according to the 01Lab lab), the Magic5 Pro still ranks among the best market smartphones in this area.

Comes with a 66 W charger (compared to 100 W for the previous generation), it recharges to 57% in 20 minutes (according to 01Lab data) and regains all its energy in 49 minutes. It is therefore not the fastest but these performances remain very good.

Add to that a 50 W wireless recharge (which we unfortunately could not test because not equipped with this type of charger) and reverse charging. In summary, the winning trio essential to any good ultra-premium smartphone, the charger supplied in addition (hello Apple and Samsung).

Shooter, film, he knows how to do everything

Honor knew it: to come and rub shoulders with Apple or Samsung, it was essential to offer an impeccable photographic experience. To put the odds on its side, the manufacturer has therefore put the package on the material. The Magic5 Pro camera module therefore consists of:

• a 50 Mpxl sensor (size 1/1.2”); wide-angle lens (f/1.6); hybrid laser autofocus + phase detection; optical stabilization
• a 50 Mpxl sensor (size 1/2.5”); ultra-wide-angle lens (f/2.0); 122° viewing angle; auto focus
• a 50 Mpxl sensor; telephoto (f/3.0); 3.5x periscopic optical zoom; dual optical and electronic stabilization
• a ToF sensor evaluating the depth of the scene to be shot

At the front, selfie enthusiasts can rely on a 12 Mpxl sensor (1.22 μm photosites) accompanied by a wide-angle lens (f / 2.4) and a 3D module for facial recognition.

Let’s immediately scan the performance of the front sensor since it is in all respects identical to that of the Magic4 Pro.

Selfie quality is good but sometimes tends to overexpose the background in bright environments. Also consider disabling the AI ​​if you don’t want to look like a doll, as beautification mode tends to force skin smoothing. The self-portrait mode turns out to be correct, nothing more, the fault of a hazardous clipping in certain situations.

Let’s get down to business: what is the Magic5 Pro’s 50 Mpxl triple sensor worth? We expected a lot, Honor promising mountains and wonders during his conference. Overall we were not disappointed.

By day, outdoors or indoors, the images produced with the three lenses are of excellent quality. You will not be surprised to learn that the main sensor is of course the most impressive. But the telephoto lens and the ultra wide-angle are not unworthy, even if the shots produced by the latter lose sharpness. Beware once again of the AI ​​which tends to boost the colors too much in broad daylight, especially the sky or the treetops.

From a distance, the Magic5 Pro is very convincing. The 3.5x zoom is stunning, especially in its detail retention. Beyond that, we gradually lose quality but the shots remain usable up to a 30x or even 50x zoom. The promise of 100x zoom shots remains purely marketing, the results being more like a watercolor than a photograph.

Le portrait mode is also successful with two zoom levels and the use of the ToF sensor to better manage the depth of field. We still hoped for more, especially on complex scenes. Photos of flowers or trees are sometimes missed, so we turn to the standard mode, the main sensor already allowing us to obtain a convincing natural blur.

In low light and at night, the Magic5 Pro does well (especially its main sensor) but never reaches the level of market references. The loss of details is greater and the result too variable depending on the sensor used.

Finally, we will point out that the Magic5 Pro has technology AI Motion Sensing Capture, allowing you to capture moving subjects. To capture the moment, the smartphone records images one second before the button is pressed and stops 0.5 seconds after. He then chooses the most successful photo. All this, without you having had time to blink, of course.

The magic of cinema

The Magic5 Pro shows itself at least as good in video as in photography. Capable of filming up to 8K (without optical stabilization) or 4K at 60 fps (which is more recommended), it produces excellent images.

Honor offers capture in HDR10+ (limited to 4K at 30 fps) or in 10-bit LOG (sort of equivalent to RAW for video, which videographers greatly appreciate). The videos produced are detailed and fluid with excellent stabilization.

To make the experience even more creative, Honor offers LUTs (kind of colorimetric filter allowing to bring a particular atmosphere to its production) or the Story mode which allows to create videos adapted to the formats of social networks (in particular TikTok) .

The only regret in this idyllic picture: the slow motion mode is limited to 240 fps when the competition goes up to 980 fps.

Price of the show: too expensive

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1200 euros, this is the price requested by Honor to give you the Magic5 Pro experience. A price which, like its competitors, seems exorbitant to us for a smartphone.

This price positioning is all the more difficult to justify as Honor is making a comeback on the market after a few years of absence.

Yes, ultra-premium smartphones are selling well while the market is down. But the ultra-premium segment is mainly driven by Apple and, far behind, Samsung.

Our opinion on Honor Magic 5 Pro

Technically, it’s hard to fault the Magic5 Pro for anything. In his costume for big nights, he has all the ingredients of a good premium smartphone. Efficient, enduring, gifted in photography and video, he knows how to do everything, quickly and well.

Only here: the Magic5 Pro costs 1,200 euros and is therefore positioned directly opposite the latest flagships from Apple and Samsung. The question is therefore simple: if you had 1,200 euros in your pocket, would you buy a Magic5 Pro, an iPhone 14 or a Galaxy S23 Plus? For many, “the question is quickly answered”.