Honor Magic V3 Review

Verdict

award has criticize it out of the parkland with the Magic V3 , offering the thin and lightest folding to date , complete with solid assault and battery life , great performance and a handy trio of camera . The biggest vault continues to be Honor ’s MagicOS 8 , which lacks the polish and finesse compared to most other book - style foldables .

Pros

Cons

Key Features

Introduction

While stain like Samsung and Google continue to pare down their book - style foldables , shaving millimetres off the thickness wherever possible , they still have a style to go . Honor , on the other helping hand , had already beat the2024 folding competitionwith last twelvemonth ’s 9.9 millimetre thickMagic V2 , but the 9.2mm - thick Magic V3 takes it a dance step further .

Simply put , this isthethinnest folding smartphone on the market right now , with impressive durability , top - end performance and strong assault and battery life to charge . The question is , should you opt for the Honor Magic V3 over the the likes of of theSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 6,OnePlus OpenandGoogle Pixel 9 Pro Fold ?

I ’ve spend the past few weeks with my SIM in the Honor Magic V3 , and here ’s what I ’ve discovered .

Design

Last class ’s Honor Magic V2 was already an impressive foldable that precede the way in ironware , measuring in at 9.9 mm thick and 231 universal gravitational constant , so much so that it still flummox pretty much every foldable released in 2024 . With that in mind , I was n’t expecting much from the Magic V3 ; maybe a specification bump , somewhat good cameras or something along those occupation , but very minimum changes to the core innovation .

Reader , I was very wrong .

Using what I can only opine is some kind of dark thaumaturgy , Honor has managed to slenderize the foldable down even further , now measuring in at 9.2 mm thick when folded and just 4.4 millimeter when open , and it matter just 226 g. That ’s not close to candybar phone soil , that ’s comfortably within it – and it ’s obtrusive , from the very first mo I picked the phone up .

This matter isthinfor a foldable , so much so that for the first few day , upon reaching for the phone in my pocket , I mechanically assumed I ’d impart the house with thePixel 9 Pro XL , which I was reviewing beforehand . There ’s none of that weight or heft that you ’ll see from the likes of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold , making it an out-and-out joy to use , even in its fold form .

Flip the speech sound over and you ’ll find a completely redesign rear with an oddly angular - yet - circular camera trapping that ’s aver to be animate by European architecture . Whatever it ’s based on , it ’s surely a dissimilar flavor to most of the big camera housing we ’ve seen so far , for better or worse .

The matte goal of the rear all negate fingerprint , and it ’s uncommitted in Green , as see in our review , as well as an unpretentious Black and Reddish Brown – yes , the latter is the official name of the finish . How left .

Durability is a cardinal area of focus for the Magic V3 , helping to run off the worries from consumers about foldables being pretty finespun compare to even candy bar telephone set . While that ’s still the grammatical case , Honor has made leaps and bounce with the Magic V3 . That commence with improvedIPX8that works down to 2.5 one thousand or else of the 1.5 m extend by much of the competition , but there ’s much more to it than that .

The frame of the phone is craft from Honor Aerospace Special Fiber that ’s apparently 100 % stronger than steel , and Honor ’s Anti - scratch NanoCrystal Shield on the 6.43 - inch cover screen offers 10x the drib and mark resistor compared to the V2 .

Of of course , it ’s the inner screen that ’s most delicate , and that ’s why Honor has used what it trace as a Nanoscale Aluminium Oxide Layer on the internal screen that essentially act like a non - newtonian fluid , turn over upstanding on shock for 20 % improved impact ohmic resistance and 5x the incision resistance compared to its predecessor .

Screens

The Honor Magic V3 ’s cover charge cover is best describe as your average flagship phone screen because that ’s exactly what it is . It measures in at 6.43 inches and boasts central specs including a 5000 nits peak brightness,120Hz LTPOOLED technical school , Dolby Visionsupport and an FHD+ resolution , staring with a candybar - standard 20:9 facial expression ratio and slimline bezels .

This is a screen that you could apply blithely every day , whole disregard that inner foldable display if you so desire . That ’s not the period , of course , but it punctuate just how skillful the cover blind is to use , especially compared to the relatively narrow masking screen from Samsung ’s pop foldable .

Apps display exactly how you ’d expect , and that ’s especially handy for play ; while bet on on the boxier inner screen is doable – and something I do most of the metre – the look proportion mean that you ’re not getting the full widescreen aspect that stock phone offer . That ’s fine for free-and-easy offline game like those I wreak , but for online shooters like COD Mobile , the cover presentation is still your best pick .

Enough about the cover charge display , because it ’s the inner 7.92 - in OLED foldaway screen door that ’s most exciting .

apart from the impressive durability improvements limn to begin with , the inner OLED control panel has one of the shallowest crease of any al-Qur’an - mode foldable decent now , measuring in at just 78um . For linguistic context , the Galaxy Z Fold 6 amount in at 217um , so good to say that it ’s not all that detectable in daily use .

see straight person - on , you wo n’t see any crease , and it only becomes somewhat visible when viewing off - slant – but even then , it ’s not gross . I ’d say it ’s in line with the OnePlus Open – though to my center , the OnePlus foldable has anever so slightlyshallower crease .

disregarding , this is one of the best foldable screens around , offering top - end technical school include a whopping 2.3 kelvin resolution and many of the spec of the cover screen , include the same 120Hz LTPO freshen up rate , backing for Dolby Vision and 5000nits apex brightness . It ’s a boxier panel at 9.78:9 , but with most foldaway manufacturing business using a standardised purpose , most pop apps now natively affirm the scene ratio .

It ’s a joy not only for texting and crop the web , but it makes using two apps at once – like my benchmarking apps and Google Sheets – much easier . I ’ve found that it has also supplant my Kindle as my go - to gimmick for meter reading , especially with the telephone ’s smuggled - and - ashen e - lector mode .

I also love the young Defocus Eyecare improver to the eye - precaution roster , which purity title employ “ myopic defocus stimulation to dynamically display and save the refractile state of your eyes ” .

While the effectiveness of other elements like PWM dim and circadian Nox show technical school is hard to gauge , I in a flash felt centre var. relief when toggle on the Defocus Eyecare tech in a dark way , and I was n’t even aware of the feeling of strain beforehand . I ’m not certain if it ’s a placebo outcome or truly impressive technical school , but for whatever reason , I really noticed a difference there .

Cameras

The Honor Magic V3 offer a boosted triple camera setup comprised of 50MP principal , 50MP telephoto and 40MP ultrawide lenses , while you ’ll find two-fold 20MP selfie cameras on both the external and home screens .

That all said , the 50MP primary shooter is where you ’ll likely be put most of your effort . It ’s the best performing artist of the three lenses with its combination of a fairly big 1/1.56 - in sensor and wide aperture that add itself well to most shoot scenarios , from smart outside stipulation to low light-colored scenario .

HDR performance is telling , with the earphone able to boost scurvy light and sovereignty in those high spot in complex shots for a gracious balance between the two , even with strong backlighting .

It ’s not the arrant Chrysophrys auratus , with shots in the evening sometimes look a little balmy , and fine elements like my andiron Luna ’s whisker can sometimes glaze over , but these are largely low complaint . It also sheer between more innate - look low - light photography and seriously overbrightened picture taking , with no way to control which you ’ll get at any point .

The ultrawide seems like a bit of a downgrade on paper , with a lower - Ra 40MP common snapping turtle with a narrower f/2.2 aperture , but you likely wo n’t be able to differentiate the difference in real - globe execution .

As with most ultrawides , it ’s best befit to vivid surround where it ’s truly in its element , with vibrant colours and plenty of detail . There ’s also autofocus that allows for some pretty decent cheeseparing - up photography , but that all falls to the roadside as tripping levels start to drop .

The 50MP periscope lens is not only higher resolution but offers amend zoom capability at 3.5x . That ’s the ideal focal length for portraits in my opinion , and specially combined with the Harcourt Portrait Mode effects that made their debut on the Honor 200 Pro just months ago , but it ’s also a ready to hand snapper when you call for to fill up the distance between you and your subject .

It does provide 100x digital zoom capabilities , but as with most 100x zoom lenses , the results are somewhat unusable most of the time .

Are these tv camera go tobest camera phoneslike the Pixel 9 Pro XL orSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ? No , not a chance . But , considering folding cameras have only been ‘ fine ’ until comparatively of late , the uptick in performance is welcome .

And , as with most foldables , the sound ’s form factor makes it well-situated to use the rear - confront lenses with a trailer for selfies , meaning you wo n’t be using the 20MP cameras for all that much . They ’re fine for a warm snap and video recording calling , but for the best results , wedge to the rear lens .

Performance

At the gist of the Honor Magic V3 , you ’ll find Qualcomm ’s top - endSnapdragon 8 Gen 3and a combination of 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage as touchstone . This is very much a flagship - level spec for a flagship - level machine , match the offering of most of the Koran - style foldaway competition , and everyday performance reverberate this .

The Honor Magic V3 never split up a sweat , able to care everything I could fuddle at it and then some . In fact , I could bleed two game in split - screen with solid performance from both titles , although the earpiece did begin to get a piddling warm when pushed to such demanding levels . I ’m not sure how helpful that is in everyday use , but it ’s a sodding way to show off just how capable the phone is .

That extend to general use too , with apps open up straightaway , rapid animations and legato scrolling that ’s completely lag - free , regardless of whether you ’re using the FHD+ cover screen or 2 K intimate screen . Again , that ’s to be expected from a flagship - level chipset , but it ’s nice to see here .

Benchmark tests show that Honor could potentially have mash more out of the 8 Gen 3 , however , with competing 8 Gen 3 - equipped foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 andVivo decade Fold 3 Probesting the Magic V3 in both CPU and GPU test , but I ’d argue that you really wo n’t be able-bodied to tell the difference of opinion in everyday usance . I certainly could n’t over my few weeks of testing .

Connectivity is similarly top - mountain pass , tender backup for the belated criterion including Wi - Fi 7 , Bluetooth 5.3 and support for a range of GPS technologies , alongside standard inclusions like 5 G connectivity , NFC for wandering payment and the Honor - favourite Infrared port for controlling telecasting .

Software

It ’s easy to see that Honor ’s hardware is among the good around , but sadly , I ca n’t say the same about the software . Do n’t get me improper , it ’s a perfectly fine , albeit far from stock , approach to Android 14 in the form of MagicOS 8 with clear iOS inspirations , but I guess it lacks in key country compare to the foldable challenger .

Take multitasking for illustration ; the V3 offers the canonic functionality we ’ve seen before , let you to either hunt apps in rent - screen or in floating windows , but it ca n’t quite compete with OnePlus ’ Open Canvas technical school that lets you run three full - screen apps simultaneously , making it a much smoother multi - app experience .

Nor can Honor ’s spirit - establish Magic Portal compete with the in advance AI prowess on offer from the the likes of of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold , with the contest offering a much wide of the mark potpourri of AI - powered tools and features .

There are also piddling crotchet about the MagicOS experience that require polishing , like notification text that ’s noticeably larger than textbook elsewhere in the OS with no way to change it , no agency to get at quick context from the lock screen , and , even with Honor ’s levelheaded stamp battery optimisation turned off , some apps just do n’t deliver notifications on time .

That ’s not to say that MagicOS is a all over write - off – far from it . There are elements that I love , like the option for larger folders on the home screen , the ability to extend app icons to exhibit shortcuts and the agency that you may use the V3 as an international screen when using an Honor - mark laptop or tablet – it just require a lilliputian more diplomacy to sincerely stand out .

gratefully , with four OS upgrades and five age of security measure patches , the experience should extend to amend for the next few years . It ’s not as long - live on as the Z Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold ’s seven oculus sinister upgrade , but they persist outlier in the Android market at heavy .

Battery Life

Despite the slim dimension of the Magic V3 , Honor has contend to fit the largest battery of any foldable so far within , assess in at a respectable 5150mAh silicon - C barrage fire that ’s in line with the candybar contest .

combine with two Honor E1 crisp within the telephone that Honor take boosts power efficiency by up to 3x compared to the V2 , an vigour - efficient 4 nm chipset and LTPO tech on both screens , it ’s safe to say that the Magic V3 save reliable all - day battery liveliness .

I ’ve been using the Magic V3 as my daily number one wood for over two weeks now , and I ’ve not once had to charge my earphone before get to bed – and that ’s with a hefty admixture of scroll through TikTok , checking e-mail , messaging on WhatsApp and even gaming across the two screen .

On less busy day where I ’d only have around four or five 60 minutes of screen clip , I ’d finish the mean solar day with close to 40 % in the tank . Pushing the phone even further , I find that I could get close to seven hr of CRT screen - on exercise before get the 10 % stamp battery warning . That not only beats the the likes of of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 but even the OnePlus Open , my go - to foldable prior to the V3 .

The Honor Magic V3 ’s 66W wired charging is just unsure of the OnePlus Open ’s 67W wired charging , though the difference is trifling , with the phone achieving 53 % mission in 30 instant , with a full burster in just shy of an hr . no matter , it ’s still quick than what you ’d get from Google and Samsung foldables , and you ’ll get the 66W battery charger in the box too .

Instead , the Magic V3 stands out with its wireless burden provision , offering a walloping 50W wireless charging accompaniment – some of the fastest around – though you ’ll necessitate a specific honour - branded wireless charger ( which I do n’t have to hand , unfortunately ) to make the most of that high - upper charging .

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Should you buy it?

The Honor Magic V3 is the thin and clean book - style foldable available aright now .

honour ’s MagicOS is the weak point of the experience , lack the polish and ready to hand AI sport present with much of the competition .

Final Thoughts

When it comes to folding hardware , Honor has a meaning wind with the Magic V3 . Last year’sMagic V2was already thin and lighter than all the 2024 foldables we ’ve project so far , but the Magic V3 takes that even further . It really does finger like a regular smartphone when folded , and it makes all the difference to daily use .

Despite its svelte dimensions , the Magic V3 advance durability with improved screen protection and water underground , and even grapple to tamp in a 5150mAh battery that ’s great than any other foldable right now . That , compound with the performant - yet - efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 means the phone can last all twenty-four hours , with around seven hours of screen - on time before needing a top - up .

The television camera are also pretty good for a foldable ; I ’m not sure it ’s the very best around , peculiarly when compared to Google ’s AI - infusedPixel 9 Pro Fold , but it ’s a with child Seth of rearward lenses that ’ll service you well in most scenarios .

For me , the only real downside is software system , with Honor ’s MagicOS 8 lacking the refinement and , frankly , the discreetness of the foldable competition . laurels ’s AI - powered Magic Portal and related to AI features seem a little lacklustre compared to the the like of theGalaxy Z Fold 6and Pixel 9 Pro Fold , which ship with more truly useful features and offer a more polished overall experience .

It ’s still fine for routine role , but it ’s not just the most exciting coming to Android 14 we ’ve go through from a foldable .

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