Android

Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G review: infinite battery and more

March 15, 2023

recensione honor magic 5 lite 5g: batteria infinita e non

Honor Magic 5 Lite is official in Europe, although it has already been available for pre-order for days, and after trying it for more than two weeks we are ready to tell you how it went. In the video review you will also find a test around Rome where, identifying ourselves as tourists, we put the 5100 mAh battery to the test with very intense use. I also remind you that the model under test is the 6/128GB with DDR4 RAM and UFS 2.2 memories , the processor is a Snapdragon 695 and the display is a 6.7″ FHD+ OLED with refresh rate up to 120Hz.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY
DISPLAY
SOFTWARE
DATA SHEET
USER EXPERIENCE
PHOTO AND VIDEO
CONCLUSIONS
PROS, CONS AND FINAL VOTE

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY

Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G is available in three colors, Midnight Black, Emerald Green and Titanium Silver, the one we have on test. In all three, both the back and the frame are made of plastic, albeit of good quality and our coloring practically does not hold fingerprints. I was impressed by the weight of 175g , almost the same as an S23, and the overall dimensions with a thickness of only 7.9mm.

Although initially the design of the back cover didn’t drive me crazy, with the three cameras inside what Honor calls the Matrix Star Ring , after a week of use I started to get used to it and found it pleasant. I like the fact that the original covers fill the void with stickers identical to the design of the chosen cover.

Returning to the smartphone on the frame we find an IR sensor , the volume rocker and the power button, two microphones , a type c 2.0 and the trolley for the dual SIM . I mention a rubber to protect the SIM tray but the smartphone does not have official IPXX certification

DISPLAY

To unlock the Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G we can take advantage of the fingerprint recognition sensor integrated under the display or alternatively we can rely on the 2D unlocking of the face via the selfie camera placed in the central hole. Both methods are effective, if there is some application in the background such as Maps it may happen that a few micro seconds pass between the animation and the actual unlocking but nothing transcendental.

Once unlocked we find ourselves in front of an OLED display with FHD + resolution, 2400×1080 pixels , 10Bit with 394ppi and a coverage of about 93% of the front surface.

The panel reaches a maximum brightness of 800Nits which may not seem like a lot but not suffering from high temperatures this smartphone can be maintained for an extended time. We can also rely on a maximum refresh rate at 120Hz and take advantage of an AOD that is not too smart but graphically well done. In some third-party and some system apps, unfortunately, the refresh rate is fixed at 60Hz even if forced to 120Hz. Worth mentioning is the technology adopted for this display, PWM at 1920Hz , thus reducing the flickering of the screen, relieving eye strain often caused by the high use of smartphones.

Last two important mentions: the first for the presence of Widevine L1 certification for apps like Netflix, however without support for HDR mode and the second on the brightness sensor which is not lazy both indoors and outdoors, very well.

SOFTWARE

Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G comes with Android 12 with Magic UI 6.1 user interface . The security patches are from January 2023 but are not enough to compensate for a phone which, coming out at the end of February 2023, should already have Android 13 on board and then awaiting the new Magic UI 7. Let’s be clear the graphical interface is very light and very simple, full of functions but a renewed graphic would be needed as well as various missing functions of Android 13. For now, Honor promises 2 years of updates to new Android versions and 4 years of security patches.

I really appreciated the Floating Apps thanks to the support also extended to a vast catalog of third-party apps and the fluidity and ease of use. Too bad, however, the lack of a gaming suite coming with the new Magic UI update.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Display : 6.67-inch curved OLED, Full HD+ resolution (394 ppi), 800 nits peak brightness, 120Hz refresh rate, 300Hz touch sampling, 93% screen-to-body ratio, certified by TÜV Rheinland for low emissions of blue light
chip : Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, octa core 6 nanometers 2.2GHz
Memories : 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage
cameras :
- main rear: 64 MP f/1.8
- posteriore ultra wide: 5 MP f/2.2
- macro rear: 2MP f/2.4
- front: 16MP f/2.45
connettività: 5G, Dual SIM, Wi-Fi 5 ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, USB-C
unlock : in-display fingerprint reader
operating system : Android 12 with Magic UI 6.1
Battery : 5,100mAh
recharge : 40W maximum with Honor charger (66W as a gift)
dimensioni: 161,6 x 73,9 x 7,9 mm
weight : 175 grams
colori: Titanium Silver, Emerald Green e Midnight Black.

PERFORMANCE

Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G has a technical data sheet that does not make you cry out for a miracle when compared to the list price if we think of the Snapdragon 695 alongside 6GB of LPDDR4 16Bit Dual-channel RAM (+5 virtual EXTRAS with HONOR Ram Turbo ) and 128GB of storage UFS 2.2 in this test version. In daily life, social apps, bland multitasking and multimedia use of the phone have no problems, occasionally there is some slowdown especially after medium-long sessions and if we start using more complex applications but nothing anomalous to report. Of course, a Snapdragon 7XX is expected in this price rangeor a medium-high-end Mediatek but if gaming is not in your plans in the end it is an acceptable compromise especially on the consumption side.

There are no particular dissipation systems to report but in these two weeks of stress use we have hardly seen the battery exceed 30°C and the SOC above 20. Even in prolonged gaming use with titles such as Epic Seven the temperatures have always remained below control as well as battery discharge.

AUTONOMY AND RECHARGE

As clearly seen in the video review, the battery is almost inexhaustible in a standard day . We managed to get 7 hours of SOT in a day around Rome with the display almost always at maximum brightness , all 5G and continuous cell changes as well as more than 3 hours of Maps between active and passive use. Not only because we saw a football match in streaming, an hour of Netflix plus the classic social use. On a normalized day and with mixed wifi/5g use, I hardly went below 50% of the battery, easily covering two days of use.

Fast charging up to 40W is present, although the charger in this variant for the European market is not included (in the X9a it is 40W), wireless charging is instead absent. At 40W it takes about 1h 50min to fully recharge.

AUDIO E MULTIMEDIA

Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G unfortunately only has a mono and not too powerful speaker, more could be done in this price range. It’s great for listening to vocals and some youtube videos but if you’re planning movie marathons and Netflix, maybe it’s better to use bluetooth headphones. I used the “old” Freebuds 3 and Pro which are perfectly integrated into the system as with the old Honor and Huawei smartphones.

RECEPTION, MICROPHONES AND CONNECTIVITY

Calling with Honor Magic 5 Lite 5G is pleasant thanks to the powerful and very stable signal, above the average of the medium range even if the microphones tend to cancel background noise in a slightly too overbearing way, also affecting our voice. We find the same microphone speech in the videos shot by this smartphone while in the vocal notes as heard in the video review the situation is much better. NFC present and fully functional also for payments.

PHOTO AND VIDEO

The Honor Magic 5 Lite doesn’t make the three cameras its key feature but with a 64MP f/1.8 main camera it tries to defend itself quite well. The two secondary cameras are a 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle with fixed focus and a macro camera of only 2MP f/2.4 and 1/5″ sensor size

PHOTO CAM MAIN

There is no type of optical stabilization available on any of the three sensors so to obtain optimal results, especially indoors or at night, you will need to have a particularly steady hand even if a night mode is available. The quality of the shots with the main camera is not bad , especially if the image is viewed from a smartphone. Present an AI mode to automatically recognize the scenes, present the HDR but to report the lack of shooting in RAW even in PRO mode.

PHOTO CAM MAIN

Not very well the ultrawide camera that offers us a different and broader point of view but lacks focus (so as to replace the useless macro camera) and quality being a small and quite dated sensor. As for the main camera, all in all, if the photos are viewed on the smartphone display, they are more than acceptable

ULTRA WIDE ANGLE PHOTO

I was expecting something more from videos that stop at 1080p 30FPS, too little in 2023. Too bad because the digital stabilization is excellent as well as the autofocus, let’s hope for some updates that integrate at least 1080p at 60 frames per second!

Selfie question I would say nothing to say, good level indeed excellent, I liked them.

CONCLUSIONS

Not easy conclusions because on the one hand we find a smartphone that is comfortable to use thanks to its low weight and a well-designed design , an almost inexhaustible battery and an above-average display both in terms of quality and technology (PWM 1920Hz). Reception and general connectivity are at the top and the user experience is not bad in the end, even if the Snap 695 is starting to feel the passage of time, especially on the gaming side. The mono speaker and the secondary chambers, as well as the release with Android 12 are the three things that don’t make me exclaim that this Honor Magic 5 Lite is a very complete smartphone and advisable for everyone, at least not for thelist price: €389 but with rich bundles.

Honor Magic5 Lite is already available for pre-order on hihonor.com and includes equipment consisting of:

auricolari wireless Honor Earbuds 2 Lite
caricabatterie Honor SuperCharge da 66 watt
cover with decorations by Honor Talents
6-month warranty for any screen repairs.

Furthermore, however, there is a 30 euro discount coupon which therefore brings the price to 359.90 euros for the same endowment to be applied directly on the site by pressing COUPON after logging in ..

HONOR 5 LITE BUNDLE PURCHASE LINK

If we consider the launch promo, the price becomes much more interesting given that the headphones have a value of around €50, the charger is not included and we could give them around €15 in value and the cover + screen protector are further pleasant additions. It is clear that without all these gifts and a €299 price list, the perception would be very different. However, it must be said that in the future with a street price of around €250 this Magic 5 Lite could become a good buy while at present it could suffer from some internal competition with the Honor 70 positioned in the same price range but with hardware superior in everything.

7.9
Hardware

6.4
Quality Price