You must remember that the Honor Magic 6 Pro runs Android.

“Best phone.” It’s a difficult crown to achieve, as there’s a lot to balance in terms of hardware, software, and overall experience. However, despite the heavy Android skin, we think the Honor Magic 6 Pro has great performance. Really It’s close to this title, or at least it would be if you remember how its best feature actually works on Android.

I haven’t used an Honor smartphone for years. In fact, the last device I spent time with was the Honor 5X. The Honor 5X was the brand’s first device to launch in the US, debuting at CES 2016 just before I started working there. 9to5Google. That device still takes the crown for the strangest smartphone launch event I’ve ever attended. 9am to 5pm then-alumnus Stephen Hall;

So when I got the Honor Magic 6 Pro this year, I was very curious to see how it would feel to use.

In short, I’m quite satisfied.

Starting with the hardware, the aluminum and glass plates are sturdy, even for a typical 2024 smartphone design. Honor’s design certainly has an identity, especially in the camera, but there’s nothing particularly eye-catching about it, at least when it comes to the black color I’ve used it. But there’s some really cool stuff inside. This includes the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which keeps the heavy “MagicOS” skin running at full speed. We’ll talk more about the software later. Also equipped with a large capacity battery of 5,600mAh Honor’s silicon carbon technology. And as these numbers show, battery life is great. For me this is a phone call that easily takes him two days.

There’s also a display. The 6.8-inch display measures just over 1080p at 2800 x 1280, but with 1,600 nits of typical brightness (5,000 peak in HDR) and 120Hz refresh rate, it looks sharp and great. The top of the display is curved glass and, well, it has Honor’s ‘NanoCrystal Shield’ for improved drop resistance. However, this doesn’t do much to improve scratch resistance, as the phone took quite a bit of damage while in the hands of my colleague Max Weinbach. as is his trademark.

However, one thing to note about this display is that it has a larger cutout than other displays.

The top of the panel has cutouts for two cameras and additional sensors. It’s smaller than what’s on the iPhone, but it includes all the hardware needed for secure facial recognition unlocking that works with IR projection, even at night. It worked surprisingly fast and I really enjoyed the combination of fully secure face and under-display fingerprint unlocking. Even though the Google Pixel is better on the software side of this experience, this is clearly the best biometric setup on his Android right now. Similar to Samsung and OnePlus, these two biometrics conflict a bit within the software.

Then there’s also the camera setup.

The Honor Magic 6 Pro has a 50MP primary camera backed up by a 50MP secondary sensor for ultrawide. But it’s his third sensor that really caught my eye, featuring his impressive 180MP with 2.5x optical zoom. When you combine the three, wonderful Amazingly clear photos. This is one of the best cameras I’ve ever tested.

The only thing that bothers me about the camera experience is the zoom. It would be amazing if it was less than 5 times. Shots are also crisp and easy to hit. However, to get more than 5x, you need to turn on the camera’s “AI” and you have to enable this setting every time you open the camera. This slows down the speed at which you hit your shots, but also prevents Honor’s hit-or-miss AI from potentially messing up your shots. Anything above 10x is usually stable, but things can get a little rough as you go deeper. Honor also pushes on Zoom very It’s not a pleasant experience.

Oh, and Honor doesn’t support double-tapping the power button to open the camera, instead using a double-tap on the volume button only when the screen is off. This is common for Chinese smartphone brands, but it’s still completely stupid.

In the end, the only thing that knocks the Honor Magic 6 Pro down a notch for me is the software. It’s not because the software is better. bad.

To be honest, MagicOS was surprisingly comfortable overall, but one of the only core issues for me was the heavy-handed background app management that is common on Chinese Android smartphones. Although it does require a complete change in Honor’s selection to imitate iOS, most elements are different enough to bridge the gap between his Android and iOS in good taste, and are quick to move into their own half. I think the settings are done well. pull down shade. Of course, there are some things that are clearly copying for copying’s sake, like Honor’s rip-off of iOS’s His StandBy feature.

However, the ultimate problem with this software isn’t about the design, it’s that all of Honor’s good ideas are based on niche interactions.

Magic Portal is probably the best example of this. The idea here is that you can drag and drop text and images from apps to the side of the screen, and the AI ​​will take over and provide you with a list of apps that work best with your content. This may be the smartest idea I’ve seen in years, but it’s actually completely useless. That’s because it’s drag and drop. barely Used by Android. The majority of messaging apps where this feature is most useful don’t have a way to drag and drop text. A long press usually brings up additional menus.Again, I Love The idea is here, but the implementation is worthless. I think it comes down to “MagicOS” forgetting how the underlying platform, Android, actually works.

A similar argument can be made for the functionality attached to the “back” gesture. A long press will pop up the app menu. This is useful from the point of view of keeping shortcuts accessible at all times, but behind the “back” gesture, where Google typically wants to leave the “back” gesture alone to avoid user confusion. It also goes against certain ideas.

But when you use it as a regular Android smartphone, you almost forget about that. Unlike many skins, MagicOS doesn’t feel intrusive. Its functionality is kind of hidden in the background. It’s ready when you need it, but it’s out of sight when you don’t. There are some visual things I’m not too fond of, like the split quick settings and the out-of-place 3D animation that appears when you swipe through recent apps, but at the end of the day, like OnePlus and OxygenOS, Experience doesn’t help here.

Unfortunately, the Honor Magic 6 Pro is not available in the US market. I think some software changes could make it an attractive device. However, if you live in the EU, UK, or other countries, it’s likely available to you, and if so, it’s worth at least considering.

The Honor Magic 6 Pro is currently available in the UK from £1,099, and in other European and Asian countries.

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