Honor Magic V2 review: This foldable is on an entirely different level

I keep in mind again when skinny telephones have been all the trend a decade in the past — Vivo, Gionee, and different Chinese manufacturers have been intent on creating units that have been ultra-sleek, and the following insanity led to telephones just like the Vivo X5 Max, which was simply 5.1mm thick. To put that into context, the Galaxy S24 is available in at 7.6mm. While these units ticked quite a lot of packing containers on the styling entrance, that they had poor thermal administration, and tiny batteries.Thankfully, this pattern fizzled away after a number of years, and types began specializing in issues clients truly cared about: bigger batteries, higher cameras, and so forth. Why am I dredging up obscure telephone info, you ask? Well, utilizing the Magic V2 jogs my memory of these ultra-thin units from years previous; Honor in some way managed to create a tool that is roughly the identical dimension as a daily telephone, and that takes away quite a lot of the friction in utilizing a foldable.The Magic V2 is simply 4.7mm thick when unfolded, going as much as 9.9mm while you fold the gadget. The OnePlus Open is 5.8mm unfolded, and 11.7mm when folded, and the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is positively chunky, coming in at 6.1mm unfolded, and 13.4mm whereas it is folded. Heck, the Magic V2 is only a smidgen thicker than the OnePlus 12.Essentially, the Magic V2 modified my view of foldables, and the very best reward I may give the gadget is that I did not need to return to a daily telephone after utilizing it. That mentioned, it has its share of points; the Chinese model debuted final July, and whereas Honor launched the Magic V2 globally at IFA, it is solely happening sale now. That means you are principally getting a mid-2023 telephone, and it is nonetheless operating Android 13 out of the field.It’s lacking a number of extras, and the software program wants quite a lot of work — the OnePlus Open has helpful multitasking options that you simply simply do not get right here, and there isn’t any mud or water resistance. So do you have to nonetheless contemplate the Magic V2, or did Honor wait too lengthy to launch the gadget outdoors China? Let’s have a look.Honor Magic V2: Price and launch date(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Honor unveiled the Magic V2 foldable in China again in July 2023, and introduced world availability at IFA on September 1. Although the foldable was introduced on the present, Honor solely kicked off world gross sales beginning January 26. Thankfully, the Magic V2 is now obtainable in choose European markets, debuting at £1,699 within the U.Okay. and €1,999 in different nations within the area.Honor is promoting a single version of the Magic V2 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Honor can also be bringing the Porsche Design variant of the Magic V2 to world markets, however there isn’t any data on what that can value but — the launch is at Mobile World Congress on the finish of February, in order that’s after we’ll get to know extra in regards to the gadget.Honor Magic V2: Design(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The better part in regards to the Magic V2 is that it would not really feel like a foldable. It has roughly the identical dimensions as a big telephone — just like the Galaxy S24 Ultra — and at 231g, it truly weighs 3g much less. More than anything, it’s the svelte design that makes utilizing the Magic V2 so pleasurable; I used all of the foldables launched within the final 18 months, and I hold coming again to this telephone.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)That’s down to 2 causes: the thickness of the telephone, and the scale of the outer display. The svelte design means the Magic V2 is simply as simple to carry and use as a daily telephone, and that completely makes a distinction in each day use. The Open is on the smaller aspect as foldables go, however even that’s significantly bigger than what Honor is providing right here.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Honor additionally did an excellent job with the outer display, and the 6.43-inch dimension is ideal. It has an ordinary 21:9 ratio, so it is not awkward to make use of just like the too-narrow cowl display of the Galaxy Z Fold 5. In reality, I discovered myself utilizing the outer display for many mundane duties, solely unfolding the gadget to play video games, browse Reddit, or learn books.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The hinge additionally contributes to the gadget’s general attract. It would not want a lot drive to open, and it has a easy articulation. You can even simply prop up the foldable at any angle between 45 to 130 levels, supplying you with loads of flexibility when capturing images or enjoying video games. Just like with Samsung’s units, the digital camera controls change to the underside half of the display while you’re on this Hover mode.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Honor says the hinge is made out of titanium this time, permitting the producer to avoid wasting weight and dimension, and it is a key consider getting the foldable right down to 9.9mm. The hinge closes absolutely flat with no seen hole, and the model says it should final 400,000 unlocks. There’s no telling about that, however within the month I used the Magic V2, I did not run into any points in any way.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Another factor I like in regards to the hinge is that the crease is barely seen; you’ll be able to nonetheless make out a crease in each day use, however it is not anyplace as noticeable because the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and it’s nearer to the Open. On that notice, the internal display is terrific, and it’s a smidgen bigger than its rapid rivals. But what stands out is that the gadget goes down to simply 4.7mm when unfolded, and it feels futuristic.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)There are solely so some ways to design a foldable, however I believe Honor did a very good job with the foldable; the oblong digital camera housing appears to be like distinctive, and the purple colour variant appears to be like upmarket. The glass again has a silky texture, and the chrome steel sides have a shiny coat. I’d have appreciated a matte texture, however aside from that, I haven’t got any quibbles with the design.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)There’s a fingerprint sensor baked into the facility button on the aspect, and it does a very good job with authentication. The solely characteristic that is lacking on the gadget is ingress safety; whereas we nonetheless do not get IP68 water resistance on foldables, Samsung has IPX8 as customary on its telephones, and that makes them rather more resilient to the weather. Honor ought to have added a minimum of IPX4, as it could have made the gadget maintain up a lot better towards different foldables.Honor Magic V2: Displays(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The largest differentiator for the Magic V2 is that it has a big cowl display that is an identical to what you get on a daily telephone. The 6.43-inch outer OLED panel has a decision of 2376 x 1080, and like most different telephones, you get a 120Hz refresh with dynamic switching primarily based on context. The better part is that it has HDR10+ and goes as much as 2,500 nits, making it one of many brightest on a foldable but.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The internal display is among the many largest of any gadget, with the Magic V2 providing a 7.92-inch OLED show with a decision of 2344 x 2156 and 120Hz refresh. You get HDR10+ right here as nicely, and whereas it would not get as shiny because the outer display — maxing out at 1,600 nits — it’s nonetheless greater than enough in each day use. I had zero points with display visibility underneath harsh daylight with both display.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Both panels additionally sport LTPO, dynamically adjusting the refresh based on the content material on the display, and this makes a distinction on the battery aspect of issues. Honor eschewed Corning’s Gorilla Glass and as an alternative makes use of a customized various, and within the two occasions the foldable took a tumble from a peak of 5 ft, it did not choose up any injury, so clearly the protecting layer is doing its job.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Chinese manufacturers are main the way in which relating to DC dimming, and the Magic V2 has 3,840Hz PWM dimming on each screens — this makes the foldable a terrific selection should you’re delicate to PWM points. You additionally get an ordinary evening mode that switches the colours on the display to hotter hues at evening.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Both the internal and outer screens have vibrant colours and a very good quantity of customizability, and as I mentioned earlier, the dimensions of the outer display meant that I ended up utilizing it much more than on different foldables. Honor nailed the temporary on this space, and the outer display is simply nearly as good because the tablet-sized internal panel.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)While the outer display is nice for mundane duties, the internal display is excellent for enjoying gaming or streaming content material. The non-standard ratio means there’s some letterboxing, however it’s nonetheless extremely pleasurable — the glossy design actually performs into Honor’s palms right here. And should you want an absurdly expensive clock, there is a Standby mode that launches a clock when the display is off and the internal display is semi-folded — that is much like Standby mode in iOS 17, however it’s designed to benefit from the foldable panel, and I actually prefer it.Honor Magic V2: Performance and battery(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Given that the Magic V2 launched almost seven months in the past, it would not fairly have the most recent {hardware}. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, however you continue to get 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. Having used the foldable towards the likes of the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12, I do not suppose final 12 months’s {hardware} is a limitation — the 8 Gen 2 is simply as quick and fluid as its successor, and it holds up extremely nicely in demanding video games.Swipe to scroll horizontallyCategoryHonor Magic V2 OnePlus 12 PCMark Work 3.0 (Overall)1362512542PCMark Work 3.0 (Web Browsing)1195610157PCMark Work 3.0 (Video Editing)74826057PCMark Work 3.0 (Writing)1484716945PCMark Work 3.0 (Photo Editing)2959023586Geekbench 6 (single-core)1426936Geekbench 6 (multi-core)423147293DMark Wild Life Extreme (rating)294340623DMark Wild Life Extreme (FPS)17.62524.3253DMark Solar Bay (rating)417378263DMark Solar Bay (FPS)15.8729.76I used the Magic V2 for a month, and I did not see any slowdowns or lag. I wasn’t certain about its thermal administration given the svelte design, however the foldable does an astonishingly good job in prolonged gaming classes, and whereas it throttles after the 30-minute mark, you continue to get playable framerates with none jitter.On that notice, the telephone did a terrific job in 3DMark’s demanding Solar Bay stress check, selecting up a stability rating of 54.2%. The thermals did not exceed 40 levels, and that is decrease than most 2024 telephones. There are not any points with overheating in each day use, and on the entire, the Magic V2 is simply as performant as a daily telephone in — and that is a very good factor. When it involves connectivity, you get Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, AptX HD, and DisplayPort 1.2 over USB-C, supplying you with the flexibility to attach the gadget to an exterior monitor.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)There’s rather a lot to love on the battery aspect as nicely, and the 5,000mAh battery ensures the Magic V2 lasts a day with none points. Even with heavy use, I did not must cost the foldable earlier than the tip of the day, and it’s the finest foldable telephone you should purchase proper now should you want all-day battery life. I’m operating PCMark’s Work 3.0 battery life check on all units this 12 months, and the Magic V2 lasted 15 hours and 41 minutes, a really respectable rating that is a lot better than another foldable. With the identical check carried out over the internal panel, it delivered a rating simply shy of ten hours — once more, a terrific displaying. When you ultimately have to cost it, there’s 66W charging tech. It takes simply over an hour to cost the battery, and there are the same old options to make sure you maximize battery longevity.Honor Magic V2: Cameras(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The Magic V2 has upgraded cameras, together with a 50MP major digital camera with OIS, and a 20MP zoom lens that has OIS and goes as much as 2.5x optical zoom. The 50MP wide-angle lens is similar because the Magic Vs, however modifications to the tuning means you get higher images. There’s a 16MP digital camera situated on the entrance.Honor retained the identical digital camera interface as final time, however you now get the flexibility to separate the viewfinder and controls between the 2 halves of the folding display, and this ends in a lot better versatility. The characteristic is an identical to what you get on Samsung telephones (Flex Mode), and it enables you to shoot images and movies in distinctive angles.The capturing modes are unchanged, and also you get a Pro mode that allows you to tweak varied parameters, dual-view possibility that lets you take movies from each the entrance and rear cameras on the similar time, Movie mode, and all the same old choices. What’s attention-grabbing this time is that there is AI-assisted movement sensing, and the Magic V2 is ready to lock in on a topic with relative ease. It can even take respectable images of fast-moving objects, one thing that almost all telephones wrestle with — together with flagships.Image 1 of 8(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)The Magic V2 takes good images in daylight circumstances, producing pictures with nice dynamic vary, vibrant colours, and many element. Honor’s colour tuning tends to skew towards saturated colours, so whereas the resultant pictures look nice when sharing on social media, you do not essentially get correct colours.Portrait pictures are respectable as nicely, and whereas you do not get the identical high quality because the likes of the OnePlus 12, they’re on the similar stage as different foldables. The wide-angle lens is respectable in its personal proper, and whereas you do not get photographs which might be fairly as detailed or vibrant as the principle digital camera, they’re enough for sharing on social media.The foldable does a terrific job in low-light eventualities as nicely, delivering low noise ranges and preserving intricate particulars. The OnePlus Open nonetheless has an edge on this explicit space, however the Magic V2 is not far behind.Honor Magic V2: Software(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)While Honor nailed the temporary on the subject of the {hardware}, the Magic V2 would not fairly measure up on the software program entrance — it nonetheless runs MagicOS 7.2 primarily based on Android 13 out of the field. The interface would not look fairly as polished, and it nonetheless has too many similarities to older variations of EMUI. That mentioned, the worldwide model now has a Control Center as customary, with the notification pane cut up in two — the toggles are situated on one web page, and the toggles getting their very own web page.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Xiaomi makes use of an identical system in MIUI, and OPPO additionally gives this characteristic in Chinese ColorOS builds. But each manufacturers allow you to change to an ordinary notification pane, and you do not get that right here. The settings web page is in want of an overhaul as nicely, and the design of Honor’s inventory apps is outdated to place it mildly.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)You get a number of foldable options, however they don’t seem to be as intensive as different units. MagicOS 7.2 enables you to simply launch multi-window mode — nice for maximizing the display actual property — and you’ll simply regulate app scaling. You get a dock on the backside of the display that exhibits not too long ago used apps, however you miss out on an app drawer icon that allows you to pull up all put in apps with out having to enter the drawer itself.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Also lacking is the persistent dock that stays on the backside of the display on the OnePlus Open and Samsung foldables; that is my favourite foldable characteristic because it lets me seamlessly soar between apps, and it is annoying that it’s not obtainable on the Magic V2. Honor wants so as to add a number of options to make the Magic V2 on par with its rivals, and the UI is certainly in want of an overhaul.As for updates, the Magic V2 will choose up 4 Android OS updates together with 5 years of safety updates. That’s consistent with different foldables, however Honor is not the quickest at rolling out updates, and the model hasn’t detailed when it should ship Android 14 to the Magic V2.Honor Magic V2: The competitors(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The OnePlus Open continues to be top-of-the-line foldables you may get for the time being. It is not fairly as glossy because the Magic V2, however it additionally has highly effective {hardware}, battery that lasts all day, a big outer display with an internal display that has the least seen crease on this phase, loads of helpful software program options, and a stellar digital camera bundle that is on par with flagships. That mentioned, the Open continues to be on Android 13, and my unit did not get the replace to OxygenOS 14 as of writing.Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 can also be a contender, however the foldable would not have anyplace near the identical stage of refinement because the Magic V2. The design appears to be like outdated, the crease is well noticeable, and I’m consistently irritated by the tall-and-narrow outer display that simply would not serve a lot utility. Samsung’s solely benefit is that it gives IPX8 water resistance and customized software program options, however the model now not has the benefit on this class.Honor Magic V2: Should you purchase it?(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)You can purchase this if:You desire a foldable that is simply as simple to make use of as a daily telephoneYou want a foldable with the very best battery life and quick charging techYou’re in search of a tool with a usable outer display and tablet-sized internal displayYou want high-end {hardware} that is nice for gamingYou should not purchase this if:You want the very best software program options on a foldableYou want all of the extrasI can not help however really feel that Honor shot itself within the foot by delaying the worldwide launch of the Magic V2 by greater than six months. The Magic V2 had the potential to dominate the foldable dialog due to its svelte design and  {hardware}, however in 2024, it’s overshadowed by the likes of OnePlus.The delay additionally highlights Honor’s software program foibles, with the Magic V2 debuting with Android 13 out of the field — that is simply not excusable on this class. That mentioned, the Magic V2 isn’t any much less spectacular at this time, and even subsequent to the Open, it clearly has rather a lot to supply.What I like essentially the most in regards to the gadget is the glossy design — I’ve mentioned it a number of occasions on this overview, however the Magic V2 genuinely seems like a daily telephone more often than not, and that places it in a league of its personal. The internal display can also be top-of-the-line on this class, as are the cameras, and the {hardware}. Battery life is best than another foldable I used to this point, and Honor deserves quite a lot of credit score for cramming a 5000mAh battery into such a skinny design.From a {hardware} perspective, the Magic V2 is faultless; that is the very best showcase for a foldable but. The software program wants work, but when what I’ve seen of MagicOS 8.0 is any indication, Honor is lastly making amends on this space, modernizing the interface and rolling out much-needed tweaks. If you just like the look of the {hardware} and do not thoughts ready for Android 14, you must get the Magic V2.