Honor Magic5 Pro review

introduction

The Honor Magic5 Pro is another interesting flagship cameraphone coming to global markets. It will be remembered for its unique design, premium hardware suite, and cool photography kit. Furthermore, it is a former Huawei device, which has access to Google’s full package and 5G networks.

Honor parted ways with Huawei in 2020 and has since launched several smartphones free of sanctions imposed on Huawei by the US. The flagship Magic line has always been a great opportunity for those who want a smartphone similar to Huawei P or Mate but without limitations. And that’s what best describes the new Magic5 Pro.

Honor Magic5 Pro builds on Honor Magic4 Pro (and Huawei Mate 50 Pro) with improved camera specs, a brighter display; it also carries the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and larger battery capacity.

There is a large 6.81-inch HDR10+ OLED panel with 1312p resolution and 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. It is protected by a curved glass and has a promising 12MP camera with a ToF 3D system inside the pill-shaped cutout. If you’re not a fan of Face ID unlocking, there’s also an optical fingerprint scanner under the screen.

We have already mentioned Magic5 Pro equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It also comes with the latest LPDDR5X RAM and UFS4.0 storage chips. There’s also the industry’s first self-contained antenna architecture, which is supposedly supposed to remove any interference between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections.

The rear camera setup has familiar logic but should offer improved performance. The 50MP has a large sensor and a bright stabilized wide-angle lens. There’s also a 50MP ultrawide camera with autofocus for macro purposes. The 50MP zoom camera with a 3.5x periscope telephoto lens is probably the most interesting, as it should also offer high-quality lossless zoom of up to 10x thanks to the large sensor. There is also another ToF 3D system.

The Honor Magic5 Pro boots the latest Android 13 with the latest EMUI-like MagicUI 7.1. It has the full Google framework and apps, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.

The specifications of the Honor Magic5 Pro at a glance:

• Body: 162.9×76.7×8.8mm, 219g; Glass front, glass back or eco-leather back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30min).
• Screen: 6.81″ LTPO OLED, 1B color, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1800 nits (peak), 1312×2848 px resolution, 19.54:9 aspect ratio, 460ppi.
• chipsets: Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm): Octa-core (1×3.2GHz Cortex-X3 & 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A715 & 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.0GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• Operating system/software: Android 13, MagicOS 7.1.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm, 1/1.12″ 1.4µm, multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/3.0, 90mm, PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.0, 13mm, 122˚, 1/2.5″, AF; Depth: TOF 3D.
• Front camera: Broad (main): 12MP, f/2.4, 100˚, 1.22µm; Depth: TOF 3D.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, Gyro-EIS, HDR10, 10-bit video; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@60fps.
• Drums: 5100mAh; 66W wired, 50W wireless, reverse wireless, 5W reverse wired.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Infrared port; stereo speakers.

A quick look at these specs reveals that there really isn’t a thing missing from the Magic5 Pro. And that’s something we rarely see these days.

Unboxing of the Honor Magic5 Pro

Honor Magic5 Pro is shipped in a traditional black box. The retail package contains a 66W charger, a 6A USB-AC cable, and a clear soft case.

The Magic5 Pro has a thin protective film, which has been pre-applied at the factory. It’s pretty low quality and is a smudge magnet so we peeled it off. We’re sure many people would appreciate having it, though.