On the occasion of MWC 2023 we were able to try Magic 5 Pro a little more calmly, the new top of the range from Honor which will arrive on the Italian market in early May at a price of € 1199 for the 12/512GB version at which discounts (€80 plus any coupons) will be applied for advance purchases and gifts which we cannot anticipate at the moment. A positioning that is undoubtedly high in an absolute sense but which could become very competitive if we take into consideration, in addition to the decidedly large memory allocation, also the technical characteristics of this device.
Hardwaredisplay: 6.81-inch LTPO OLED with up to 120Hz refresh rate, 1.07 billion colors, DCI-P35, HDR10+
- PWM 2160Hz, HDR peak brightness 1800 nits, resolution 1312 x 2848 pixels, certified by TÜV Rheinland
- chip: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 4 nanometers 3.19 GHz
- Memories: 12GB RAM, 512GB ROM (LPDDR5X+UFS4.0)
- cameras:
- rear wide angle: 50MP, f/1.6, 1/1.12-inch custom sensor
- ultra wide angle rear: 50MP (f/2.0, 122° FOV)
- rear telephoto: periscopic 50MP (f/3.0, 3.5x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom, sony IMX858 sensor)
- Front: 12MP with f/2.4 aperture, FF + 3D depth
- connectivity: 5G, Dual SIM, eSIM, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, GPS, USB-C
- unlock: in-display fingerprint reader, 3D face recognition
- Audio: Dual speaker stereo, DTS:X Ultra
- OS: Android 13 with Magic UI 7.1
- Battery: 5,100mAh
- charging: 66W wired and 50W wireless
- Dimensions: 162.9 x 76.7 x 8.7mm
- weight: 210 grams
- other: IP68 certified, dToF laser focus sensor, TÜV Rheinland certified, Dual-TEE (HTEE+QTEE) security system, Discrete Security Chipset
Even simply by reading the data sheet of this smartphone, we realize that Magic 5 Pro has practically no weaknesses and it has exactly everything you could ask for in a modern, high-priced and newly launched smartphone. Abundant and fast memory, certifications of all kinds and sorts, extra bright display, brand new processor, huge battery, fast charging and so on.
In the hours we had available with the smartphone, however, we found further elements that make the product even more complete. First there is the wireless reverse chargingvery convenient for recharging headphones and watches if you have forgotten the charging cable somewhere (true story at MWC).
The door USB has video out and it is also present there desktop mode of Honor also without cable that allows both the simple mirror of the home and the complete use of the smartphone with the Magic Desktop UI.
The display also has many options, adjustments and settings and allows you to find a truly excellent balance, especially with regard to the attenuation of white and blue lights and the presence of PWM at 2160Hz which allow you to strain your eyes much less than other displays.
Just the display actually has a really high quality outdoors. It can be seen in all light conditions and has a really high HDR peak and is noticeable in video playback with also the optimizations present within the settings that allow you to reach the peak of 1800nits (not personally measured at the moment).
The software customization of the Honor home is also interesting. In fact, with the latest update some useful and very pleasant features have been introduced, including the ability to change the size of the widgets with more options, the super folders that can be enlarged or reduced with an iOS-style effect and the ability to swype on some system icons to open a dedicated mini widget, including some shortcuts to call selected contacts.
In general, the software already seemed extremely mature to me, fluid, fast, immediate and above all with very pleasant, coherent and well-crafted animations. Obviously let’s talk about Android 13 and Honor should have changed its update policy guaranteeing 3 years of major updates and 5 years of patches. News that we have not yet given you as official as, to date, with the exception of the words of the CEO, no one from Honor has confirmed this information to us and therefore we await the official announcement which we assume may arrive close to the marketing of the smartphone.
The audio is obviously stereo, of excellent quality and with a correct volume. The ear capsule is less powerful than the main speaker but you certainly won’t have problems hearing videos or content even in a noisy environment.
We were unable to test the quality of the signal and wi-fi: at the MWC everything works very well and the Wi-Fi 6 networks are also excellent (we couldn’t find the 7) and we easily exceeded 1000Mbps in download and upload but it’s still soon to talk about reception, connectivity and general signal quality.
CAMERAS
Given that we are talking about a beta software and that marketing is expected in 2 months in Italy, talking about photographs today is a bit premature. The fact is that Honor played a lot in the presentation, compared Magic 5 Pro to S23 Ultra and DxOMark decreed this smartphone as the best ever to date.
Now, I don’t want to make a broad analysis based on a few shots taken during the fair, but it’s clear that Honor Magic 5 Pro is made of a different dough than the company’s previous smartphones. The optics are excellent, the software very complete and the shooting possibilities are truly endless. On paper, it is very difficult for me to think that a 200MP with 10X periscope takes worse photos than a 50MP with 3.5X periscope and it will certainly be the focus of the review that we will do in due time.
Surely 5 Pro manages to beat S23 Ultra in macro management where the Samsung is unable to focus in the same way and with the same proximity to the framed subject. A choice that is due to the different optics used.
The front camera is very interesting, allowing you to take self-portraits with two very different angles and with excellent overall quality.
The Falcon mode is also goodpraised in presentation but actually shows a big difference in photographing fast moving objects.
View in Full Screen
Unless the photos by type of shot, lights and environment are not masterpieces, I wanted to insert them because they show well the difference of the trail effect present without active Falcon mode and absent instead with the selected function.
Without drawing conclusions of any kind, the Honor 5 Pro on the camera side proved to be very concrete, with excellent quality and without particular algorithms that distort the images or make them too far from reality. Obviously there are the beauty filters that take you off about 10 years but which can be deactivated or the blur mode which allows you to apply a sometimes extreme bokeh effect and an artificial hair.
As far as videos are concerned, 8K is currently missing, but in 4K at 60fps it is still possible to switch between 4X and 10X zoom. Below is a video recorded by the Magic 5 Pro at the Honor stand:
APPOINTMENT IN MAY
With this content we have tried to remove that further curiosity that many had expressed towards this smartphone during the presentation. There are still about 2 months left for the Italian marketing and we can conclude the preview coverage on this smartphone and we give you an appointment directly for the complete review. We have other unpublished material that we keep in order to understand if the software in view of marketing will have further refinements both on the photo side and on the video side.
