The first thing I thought when I took the Honor Magic 4 Pro in my hand out of the box was, “Wow, it looks like an enlarged version of the Huawei P30 Pro”. That’s a compliment, for what they don’t know about my fascination with the Huawei model.
The touch is perfect, and the construction is superb, with ergonomics that have been worked out quite a bit except for the position of the buttons since they are all three on the right side.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
The fingerprint sensor, located on the screen, is not attached to the lower edge but much higher, which makes it easier to use. Between that and how well it recognizes fingers, we have no complaints.
In the rear area, the vast camera module stands out, which gives it an image of a professional device. Someone mentioned to me that they really liked the design and reminded them of a photo camera. Honor has been victorious in this regard. It has not been successful in the gloss finish that, although beautiful, catches fingerprints in a grotesque way.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
At the top and bottom, in the metal frame, we have two speakers, and I can say that it is the best pair of speakers I have tried since the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. Impressive.
At the top, we also have an infrared emitter, a tray for dual SIM, and the USB C charging port at the bottom. And yes, it has IP68 water resistance.
Great performance and some heating
Honor Magic 4 Pro
Honor’s presentation of this model came hand in hand with the announcement that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Qualcomm’s most powerful model, was debuting in its catalog.
This is a statement of intent because they were betting on a very high range of processors, in line with where they wanted to place their product. Like all its predecessors, the problem is that this processor gets hotter than we would like.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
We have to make it clear that we have not had such a high temperature that we want to stop using the mobile, something that happened to us last year with some flagships. In this chaos, the heat is noticeable but does not harm. However, either manufacturer start to improve their cooling systems, or Qualcomm must rethink its design because MediaTek chips do not have these problems.
This model comes in a single memory version, with 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of storage, with UFS 3.1 technology. All this is transferred to the sensation it transmits daily, that of a high-end with all the letters. RAM may seem sparse compared to other models, but it’s not something we’ve noticed as an issue.
A camera system fit for a king
We have always defended that, in a high-end terminal, sensors such as depth measurement, monochrome or macro were superfluous. Honor knows this and has provided this smartphone with four advantageous sensors.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
Main: 50 Mpx f/1.8 IMX766 from Sony.
Wide Angle: 50 Mpx f/2.2.
Telephoto: 64 Mpx f/3.5 3.5x.
ToF sensor.
The primary sensor is Sony’s IMX766, a sensor that has shown on occasion what it is capable of. The 50 Mpx gives us good color and detail photographs and a very optimally stabilized video.
The wide angle uses the exact resolution, 50 Mpx, with great detail, but with a somewhat excessive deformation, thanks to which we can have an extensive frame.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
The telephoto lens goes to 64 Mpx with a 3.5x optical zoom, something that does not attract attention having been seen in the predecessor of this model, the Honor Magic 3 Pro +, but that is even far from what Huawei offered in the P30 Pro. Of course, this terminal allows a 10x hybrid zoom that gives us remarkable images considering that part of that magnification is digital.
We are facing one of the best phones in terms of optical zoom. Again it reminded us of the Huawei P30 Pro.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
To finish, we have a ToF sensor in charge of measuring the distance of objects and creating a more natural blur. Our experience is that either it does not work as much as we would like, or the defendant does not do it justice. For example, the photos with portrait mode of the Pixel, without better, using only one sensor.
In front, we have a single 12 Mpx sensor that is used to take photos and videos, but that is not used exclusively for facial unlocking since we have a ToF sensor in front. No, there are no different sensors, although the camera interface makes us think we have an angle and a wide angle.
A great screen
Honor Magic 4 Pro
The screens are one of the aspects, along with the cameras, where the difference between a mid-range mobile and a high-end one is more noticeable.
Honor has opted for a 6.81-inch curved panel with OLED LTPO technology up to 120 Hz and HDR10 + compatibility. On paper, it is close to what other brands offer.
The problem is that its quality, while very good, does not reach the excellence of what is seen in Samsung or OPPO models, for example. The viewing angles are not as good, and the turn to green when the mobile is tilted is more noticeable than in other terminals.
In addition, the resolution does not reach QHD at any time, and although this is something that few people end up using, when you ask for more than 1,000 euros for a phone, perhaps some client becomes demanding. Of course, we must recognize that the 1312 x 2848 px are very close to that required QHD resolution.
Honor Magic 4 Pro
Even so, the color reproduction, the response speed, and the screen brightness (1000 nits) are good enough not to give this section something negative. It is not something that stands out above mobile phones for the same price.
