Honor Magic 5 Pro review: centered in everything but not for everyone | Compare S23 Ultra

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recensione honor magic 5 pro: centrato in tutto ma non
recensione honor magic 5 pro: centrato in tutto ma non

For a series of lucky events, I was able to spend over a month in the company of the Honor Magic 5 Pro, a smartphone announced at the MWC and which immediately aroused the interest of many people. A smartphone that offers everything you could ask for in a modern Android top range and that tries to show how much Honor has matured over the last few years, despite some important difficulties following the events related to Huawei.

And I start from a comparison that for many of our readers could be significant: Magic 5 Pro is, in my opinion, the worthy successor of the Mate 20 Pro, a smartphone released in 2018 , which we loved and which today is still a product not only very usable but also modern. As at the time the Mate 20 Pro was a very balanced product with some very particular features, today the Honor Magic 5 Pro is the most balanced Android top of the range that you could find on the market . It doesn’t have unique excellences or features never seen before but everything is right, correct, intelligently thought out and makes this device a advisable purchase or one to be taken into consideration in the coming months (or even years, at more aggressive prices).

  • CONSTRUCTION, DESIGN AND HARDWARE
  • MAGIC 5 PRO DATA SHEET
  • AUTONOMY, RECEPTION AND CALLS
  • DISPLAY AND UNLOCK 3D
  • SOFTWARE AND USER EXPERIENCE
  • CAMERAS
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • VIDEO

NDR Before leaving you with the complete review, I want to clarify that I have placed the Honor Magic 5 Pro alongside Motorola’s S23 Ultra, Pixel 7 Pro and Edge 40 Pro: many of the considerations in this text are also the result of extensive and lengthy comparisons made in these weeks, which perhaps I will not fully develop in this review for the sake of brevity but which nonetheless allow me to evaluate this Magic 5 Pro in an even more complete way. 

CONSTRUCTION, DESIGN AND HARDWARE

 

Honor Magic 5 Pro is available in Italy in two colors: I tell you right away that the black version, although perhaps more elegant and with a side frame that hides the side frames even better, has a non-matte rear paint – therefore inclined to show the footprints – and greater slipperiness; if you like it, I suggest you opt for the green variant (Meadow Green).

 

With dimensions of 162.9 x 76.7 x 8.77 mm and a weight of 219 grams , 5 Pro is an important, large smartphone that feels like most of the top of the 2023 range in the pocket. It is not extremely wide but Edge 40 pro holds best in the hand being the narrowest of all.

Fortunately, like the Motorola, 5 Pro has rounded edges, curved and soft lines that differentiate it greatly from the S23 Ultra: it is held much better in the hand, the lower corners not pronounced do not give “annoyance” in terms of grip and the curvature of the screen is softer than the Edge 40 Pro: I preferred it both for aesthetics and functionality and for use with gestures, no involuntary touches.

The construction is exemplary, perfect, without defects and with excellent materials that alternate metal for the side frame with a glassy compound in the rear part, with a very pleasant matt and slightly rough finish. The ergonomics are therefore excellent (considering the dimensions) and in any case bearing in mind the slipperiness of the product, a feature unfortunately now common to all the smartphones present in the comparison you find above. 

Honor 5 Pro integrates all the latest technological solutions: therefore we find Snapdragon 8 gen.2, 12GB of RAM (with 7 additional via RAM Turbo), 512GB of UFS 4.0 internal memory with crazy speeds, full USB with video and desktop modes, wireless charging , reverse, wired to 66 watts and still 3 50MP cameras and a double selfie cam with 3D unlocking system even at night. In short, it has everything, including IP68 certifications.

HONOR MAGIC 5 PRO DATA SHEET

  • display: 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 TÃœV Rheinland
  • chip: 3.19GHz 4-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen.2
  • memorie: 12 GB RAM, 512 GB 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: 50MP periscope (f/3.0, 3.5x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom, Sony IMX858 sensor)
  • Front: 12MP with f/2.4 aperture, FF + 3D depth
  • connettività: 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
  • dimensioni: 162.9 x 76,7 x 8,7 mm
  • weight: 219 grams
  • other: IP68 certified, dToF laser focus sensor, TÃœV Rheinland certified, Dual-TEE (HTEE+QTEE) security system, Discrete Security Chipset
  • ​colori: Meadow Green, Black
8.7
Hardware

 

Honor Magic 5 Pro

AUTONOMY, RECEPTION AND CALLS

 

Although the European version of the Honor Magic 5 Pro lacks the new 5450mAh Qinghai Lake carbon-silicon anode battery, the smartphone is powered by a very good 5100mAh unit that offers one of the best battery life ever seen on a top-of-the-range smartphone. range.

As I explained to you, the comparisons made with other smartphones are necessary in order to really evaluate the autonomy: in this case, saying “it’s excellent” is not enough since the S23 Ultra, Edge 40 pro and Pixel 7 Pro all have excellent autonomy . With the same use, with the same sim and with an average of a week of different tests, I can state that the 5 Pro has about 25% more autonomy than the S23 Ultra, 15% more compared to the Edge 40 Pro and 20% more if we take the Pixel 7 Pro as a reference.

These values ​​are given taking into consideration a general average and if for none of these smartphones we can complain about the autonomy, with the Honor 5 Pro we arrive at a duration that is truly impressive . The biggest difference is in the use in Wi-Fi where the smartphone practically never downloads. Are you able to navigate TikTok ( check out the HDblog channel) with a 35% screen (which is super bright indoors anyway) for an hour on wi-fi without practically seeing the percentage change, except perhaps by a couple of points. Even in mixed use it behaves very well and I have never noticed abnormal consumption. I also tested long journeys with continuous cell changes and over 6 hours of road navigation and even on that day I only recharged the smartphone before going to sleep.

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The screenshots taken as an example show the end of a very heavy day with over 8 hours of screen on and, in the last one, the percentage at 100% at 10:40; at 16:32, however with very varied use, it was still at 64% after 3:41 hours of screen on and use of the navigator. In short, a smartphone that will be difficult to download and which reminded me a lot of the Rog Phone 7 which however mounts a 6000mAh. Too bad it doesn’t have a 125 watt recharge like the Edge 40 Pro which manages to surprise for the recharge speed / general autonomy ratio; however, we find, in the package, a 66 watt power supply and wireless charging up to 50 watts (including reverse).

Further note: unlike the Motorola, the charger in the package is USB A (therefore not really “modern”) and to take advantage of the 66 watts you still need its cable and its power supply since it is not compatible with those of third parties in my opinion. possession; a shame.

As for connectivity, Honor 5 Pro has always proved to be very reliable and concrete . In addition to the physical Dual SIM and eSIM support (with excellent software management of everything related to the address book), we find a very performing wi-fi that also supports the 7 standard, a bluetooth that is always very stable and with an audio transmission quality excellent and very good 5G management. Always taking the top of the range mentioned above as a comparison, Edge 40 Pro manages to do better than Honor – and in general all the top 2023 – for network speed and signal strength, with performances that in my tests no one is yet able to overcome.

However, Honor excels in call and audio quality : not only is the volume high, clean and always very pleasant in the capsule but the stereo speakers are really powerful and allow you to have audible playback of multimedia content even in a crowded place or still make calls in speakerphone with excellent comfort. In general it is the smartphone with which I called better than the other 3 and the microphones capture a clean and warm audio, both in call and in recording voice notes or still in video.

NDR I also remember the presence of the complete USB Type-C port, with video output, desktop mode, total wireless connectivity, Andrid Auto, Honor Share, Honor Connect and all the various additional features now considered a standard.

Final note on the vibration, which unfortunately didn’t convince me . While it has good haptic feedback within the system, the power didn’t satisfy me. In use without a cover it is difficult to hear the phone in the event of a call or notification in the pocket or on a table. If you then use the supplied cover, the already somewhat limited vibration is attenuated even more. A pity, I hope there can be a software intervention to improve this aspect.

DISPLAY AND UNLOCK 3D

 

At the beginning of the review I pulled out of the memory drawer, I hope yours too, Mate 20 Pro as one of the elements that unites the two smartphones (and which today – but in general – we find in very few Android devices) is the face recognition sensor 3D. It is a solution that will make your life easier in many situations and which is safe to the point that you can also use it to unlock some apps or specific sections of the software, without necessarily going through the fingerprint reader.

However, implementing this sensor leads to a compromise: enlarging the section dedicated to the selfie camera which, like on other Honors, is moved all the way to the left (using the smartphone in portrait mode). Initially I did not find this modern choice and I imagined what this 5 Pro would have been like with an iPhone 14 Pro-style central “pill”. The comments would certainly have pointed to it as a “bad copy” but to be honest it would have been nothing very different from the central solution of the Mate 20 Pro, if not simply more modern.

I partially had to change my mind after a bit of use: although it is not a solution that goes along with the Android notification bar which, for obvious reasons, is shorter and therefore with fewer elements that can be viewed, when playing content full-screen multimedia and streaming video viewing, the “pill” moved to the lower left corner is much less annoying than the central solution of the iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max, with that beautiful “black hole” in the middle of the scene that often also castrates faces in dialogues or film clips. In the corner, however, the impact is much less strong and the handle further hides this element from view. However, far from me to say that it is a more pleasant configuration than a small central hole but,

 

That said, the total difference is at night because even in absolute darkness Magic 5 Pro unlocks in an instant . Although it is not a feature that will make you choose this smartphone, you will appreciate it a lot on several occasions: by associating the automatic activation with the lifting of the smartphone, you will practically forget that you have an access password for the smartphone (except when you restart it) .

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I’ll also finish by talking about the fingerprint sensor under the screen which is lightning-fast, positioned a little lower (but not uncomfortable) and is always precise, immediate and responsive: too bad you will use it very little given the presence of the excellent 3D sensor. It will still come into play for payments, banking apps and other systems that require higher security.

 

Once the unlock issue is closed, the Honor Magic 5 Pro display is really beautiful . At the hardware level it has a brightness of 1,300nits standard and 1,800nits peak in HDR and in conditions of maximum sunlight where, thanks to the software, it emphasizes the colors even more, making them clearer and more readable.

We are talking about a LTPO panel with a 120Hz refresh rate but which has a series of very interesting features and which are aimed at making the use of the smartphone less tiring for the eyes. In fact, in addition to a series of customizable settings to manage colours, temperature, eye protection and more, 5 Pro is equipped with high-frequency PWM dimming up to 2,160Hz which, despite being invisible to the human eye, allows for less eye fatigue. eyes. In simple words, the visual comfort is excellent with a well-calibrated adaptive brightness that will never “surprise” you in the negative.

If, therefore, I can only speak well of the display, I must however give you feedback on real use: if you leave your smartphone in the sun on a hot day, you could see the brightness go down and not go to maximum . This is because, like other top of the range, the smartphone goes into protection to avoid overheating (this prevents bringing the brightness beyond about 70%). I point out this aspect because, compared to S23 Ultra and Edge 40 Pro, this protection takes over earlier.

SOFTWARE AND USER EXPERIENCE

 

Honor Magic 5 Pro is based on Android 13, March patch and Magic UI 7.1 . Honor guarantees 3 years of major updates and 5 years of security patches for this smartphone and, to be precise, the reviewed product received the latest update 48 hours ago which further improved the general stability (we are already two updates received in last month, before marketing).

I find the graphical interface very pleasant, although it completely changes the characteristics of Android and makes the UI very different from that of the Pixels: I find the launcher well done, with the possibility of creating smart folders that can be enlarged and which greatly increase the density of links that can fit within a single screen. The widgets are also beautiful which, depending on how you choose to place them, give a good order and automatically adapt to the black or white display.

Honor has then added some quick features both to open popup notifications with the floating application and a side menu with which you can open your favorite applications on any screen without having to go back to the Home or exit the program we are using.

The system is also super responsive and, importantly, I have always used the smartphone at a fixed 120Hz even in the autonomy tests . In multitasking it is also possible to block applications to always leave them open and in general I have not noticed any forced or anomalous closure of apps or aggressive behavior in multitasking.

Then there are many customizations available which, thanks to the Themes store, allow you to completely change the aesthetics of your smartphone. Among other things, some apps are also available in the Play Store that allow you to download compatible themes (icons in particular) to customize your smartphone (see screen below)

The AOD is also highly customizable which allows you not only to add various elements but also to customize the writing and view the main application icons. It is not yet at the level of that of Samsung’s One UI but it is very close in terms of effectiveness and completeness.

CAMERAS

 

Honor is not a brand that is remembered for a superior photographic quality to other companies but in general Honor smartphones have always had a good balance in every price range. Honor 5 Pro raises the level and plays on a par with the best top of the 2023 range , surpassing several of them and reaching the quality of the top cameraphones.

I quickly remember the hardware equipment:

  • 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: 50MP periscope (f/3.0, 3.5x optical zoom, 100x digital zoom, Sony IMX858 sensor)
  • Front: 12MP with f/2.4 aperture, FF + 3D depth

As mentioned, in this month of use I have taken many photos in very different conditions, almost everywhere and I have made many comparisons with the S23 Ultra and beyond. In fact, Honor often mentioned Samsung’s smartphone during the presentation and I therefore wanted to check if it was all marketing or if Honor had actually managed to reach a high level.

The answer is that yes, she succeeded even if there are differences; many times they are more related to taste and to the software that acts differently with unsharp masks and with the blur effect than related to quality in general.

 

The photos are taken starting from the wide angle and using the standard magnifications of the interface. On Honor we have a zoom (the third) at 3.5X while the Samsung is set at 3X -for this there is a small difference- . Interesting to note the 10X zoom for both, with Samsung of optical type while Honor interpolated.

 

In general, the photos are similar but there are many chromatic (and light) differences that show how lenses and algorithms are still set up differently. Warmer shades on Samsung, maybe yellow in some elements, lighter shades for Honor. We also note the different focus with different points managed independently by smartphones as both are used in automatic mode.

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As you can see there is an important focus difference which on the one hand sees a different focus point automatically (without tapping on the display), on the other hand the blurring effect of the background, which is more accentuated on Honor.

 

In the series above you see all the different zooms in a broad way starting from wide angle, normal, 3 and 3.5X depending on the smartphone, 10X and 100X. The differences are chromatic but the more we push forward with the zoom, the more details begin to be lost.

In this crop of the 100X zoom we see how both smartphones struggle a lot (as it is natural) but Honor loses many details (of the few clear ones) compared to the S23 Ultra.

 

Finally, I leave you with some selfies that are beautiful not for quality but for the subject photographed (a bit of self-irony, right?):

View in Full Screen

Below, a few general photos taken this month that allow you to see different scenes on different days and times.

Below the series ” Florence ” on a particularly fascinating day from the point of view of ambient light.

The series with the daisy starts from the macro photo and then uses all the sensors from the same height, including the 100X from about 170cm. Same thing for the Micro Machine bulldozer.

And now some photos in the dark and of the interiors of the Antinori cellar:

Obviously there is no Florence without food and wine , always and in any case red!

Finally, I close with a series of spectacular photos thanks to the use of the Falcon AI function which cancels the shutter lag problem with a trailing effect. This is an option in the main camera that is activated with a tap.

After this long roundup of photos, I can confirm how Honor Magic 5 Pro is an excellent cameraphone absolutely in line with the current market, competitors and price positioning. The photos are always beautiful, with pleasant colors and not overly artificial. There is good management of the highlights and in the dark or in low light conditions, the wide-angle lens manages to beat many competitors thanks to the very high resolution.

On the other hand, I’m not always convinced by HDR (especially in selfies) where it is too artificial and less natural than the S23 Ultra. I also noticed a bit of Lens Flare that alters some portions of the photos when shooting in situations of unfavorable sun. I would also add that out of 100 photos, 90% are excellent but there is still a 10% that doesn’t come out as we would have expected, especially in terms of quality or light management: Samsung and iPhone out of 100 photos, 98 are good and without defects.

Further chapter on the video side, where Honor has worked really hard and well. Not only does the smartphone support 4K at 60fps but also when recording video at this resolution it is possible to zoom 4X to 10X and back to normal. There is also the LOG mode at 24, 30 or 60fps and the cinema mode with different LUTs to choose from (in 4K at 24 or 30fps, cinema in fact).

Selfie videos are also very good, which have excellent audio capture, even if they stop at 4K / 30fps resolution as 60fps is not supported.

It’s just a pity that during video recording with the rear camera, during the zoom, the audio changes and “switches” to audio zoom, making the quality and volume of the voice of the person who speaks lose a lot. A problem that can be easily circumvented via software, if Honor wanted to.

CONCLUSIONS

 

We have reached the end of this long review which, together with the video, I hope will offer you a broad, complete and exhaustive overview of the product. A smartphone that I liked, to which it is difficult to find real faults if not some small flaw or less pleasant choice than the one I would have made. Magic 5 Pro can compete without problems with all the top of the 2023 range and the price for the 12/512GB version is absolutely in line with the market.

There is no shortage of discounts and promotions and it is possible to take it home for just over €1,000 right away, perhaps with some freebies and depending on the discount code you have. The only problem with Honor 5 Pro today, at the end of April, is that there are other competitors on the market and among these we have the S23 Ultra which costs between €999 and €1,300 depending on the memory and the store you buy it from and especially the Pixel 7 Pro, which in any case is now between €750 and €800. Comparing price lists to street prices is always wrong, true, but it is equally true that on day one you can feel the difference and only time will tell which of these top ranges will have the upper hand in terms of quality/price ratio.

However, Honor has hit this smartphone and there are no reasons why it shouldn’t recommend it even with a view to 3 or 4 years of use. Sympathy towards one Brand or another probably makes the difference and now it’s up to you to let me know if you would buy this Honor Magic 5 Pro or would you value it only under a certain amount, perhaps in a few months.

VOTE 8.8

VIDEO AND PHOTO AUTONOMY EXCELLENT AUDIO IN CALL AND MULTIMEDIA PLAYBACK GENERAL COMPLETENESS AND MEMORY CUT/ DISPLAY PRICE

WEAK VIBRATION SOFTWARE WITH SOME BLOATWARE TOO MANY (BUT REMOVABLE) 66WATT RECHARGE ONLY WITH PROPRIETARY CHARGER

APPLY THE DISCOUNT CODE AMAGIC5PRO11 – alternative to € 1079 AHFANS10P Honor Magic 5 Pro
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1199 1049 WITH GIFTS