MobileManDan
Intro
HONOR have once again released their newest flagship devices called the HONOR Magic 8 Pro and the HONOR Magic 8 Lite. This is a review on the Pro version which was sent to me by HONOR a few weeks so I was able to do my full review on their latest flagship, and spoiler alert…. its a AMAZING device in so many different ways.
This is a review on the HONOR Magic 8 Pro device which has just been announced and offers flagship specifications at a price on par with a lot of the rival flagship models out there, if not a better price, at time of writing the review you can pick up an HONOR Magic 8 Pro for £1099 here in the UK, but there are sometimes special offers such as coupons off the cost which will help you save a bit of money, this will vary on location and timings though.
My review was based on the HONOR Magic 8 Pro which I had hands-on for 3 weeks before posting the review. It was loaned to me just after the official launch here in the UK so would have also received all the software updates ready for the launch.
All opinions are solely based on my experience with the device and no one has seen any of the content before it’s gone live. Everyone gets to see at the same time as it is purely my opinion and my thoughts on my time with the phone without any influence.
Design
The screen boasts a large 6.71-inch size and utilizes OLED technology for deep blacks and vibrant colors. It also features a 120Hz refresh rate, ideal for those interested in high-frame-rate gaming or who appreciate smooth, silky animations. You get 1B colors on this display which makes it incredibly accurate and beautiful to watch content back on and with a peak nit brightness of 6000, using the phone outdoors in sunlight is not an issue.
HONOR also have some clever technology when it comes to preventing eye strain with 4320Hz dimming including for blue light, this technology helps with the way the screen refreshes and how your eyes cope with it, by having such a large number means less strain especially at night time.
The large screen beautifully dominates the front, creating a sleek, modern look with no physical buttons in sight, making it perfect for enjoying your favorite content
You also get the front facing selfie camera which us a large 50 megapixel resolution one and can capture some fantastic looking shots in good lighting conditions as well as detailed 4K resolution videos, some examples will be shown later in the review.
On the left side, you won’t find any buttons or switches at all; it’s totally smooth with nothing popping out to mess with the sleek design. apart from those little marks for the antenna signal, this one keeps it all clean and simple with no buttons on this side of the phone.
On the right side, you’ve got a volume rocker to crank the sound up or down, plus a power button in the middle that gives you quick access to Google Gemini, the fresh new AI assistant that takes over from the old Google Assistant on previous phones. It’s super useful for everything from setting alarms to turning your photos into fun cartoon-style photos.
There’s also a cool AI Button from HONOR – a double press takes you straight to the camera, which is what most people will use it for. But you can tweak it to access all kinds of AI features in the settings if you’re into personalizing everything more to your liking.
At the top, there is one of the dual microphones designed for noise cancellation and stereo recording. Additionally, the inclusion of an IR blaster is appreciated, allowing the phone to act as a remote control for a wide range of devices from your TV to air conditioner units.
At the bottom, there is an additional microphone that complements the dual setup. Additionally, there is a USB-C port available for data transfer or fast charging at 100W.
Being a Pro model of course you get wireless charging included, and at a super quick 80W too which is nearly as fast as the wired charging method, although you will have to have a fast enough wireless charger to get that speed and this is at an extra cost of course, but it also allows for 5W reverse wireless charging should you need to charge some battery with other devices that need a quick top up.
The HONOR Magic 8 Pro comes with a Nano SIM slot for your favorite network SIM and has Dual SIM support, so you can use two different networks at the same time. Plus, it offers eSIM support if your carrier has that option. This is super handy, especially for anyone who love to travel or want to keep their work and personal lives separate on one device.
The device features a triple camera setup that includes a main 50-megapixel lens with an LED flash to boost low-light photography. Additionally, it includes a 50-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens for capturing landscape shots as well as a massive 200 megapixel telephoto for zooming in and getting high quality photos from further away.
Sample photos and videos taken from each camera can be found later on in the review so you can see what the quality is like.
There are a few different colours available and I was loaded the White version but there is also a Black as well as a Sunrise Gold which looks really nice in person.
Software
The HONOR Magic 8 Pro launches with Magic OS 10 which is the latest version of the software as the company have which is built on top of Android 16, they have also promised multiple years of software upgrades and security patches so your phone will stay new for as long as possible and get newer features in the future.
MagicOS 10.0 adds some handy AI features into the software, some of which you see in their older HONOR Magic 7 Pro and and Lite which now costs around £600 and £200, this gives you tools such as Writing Tools, AI Recorder, AI Translation and even their new AI Deepfake Detection which is really key these days with so much AI generated content out there.
The camera area up top has been improved with software over time and lets you tap to open up content fully or hold on to it to open up top, this has been seen on other devices in the past but works really well on Magic OS and really adds a new quick way of dealing with quick settings such as skipping a track or keeping an eye on that timer you set.
HONOR has done a good job on the software front with little bloatware and quick software updates as it is running the latest version of Android 16 and will be getting 7 years of future software updates meaning your phone will get all the new software and security features that these updates bring with it, Android 17 will be the next version expected within the next several months time.
Performance
The performance on this device is one of the best you will find on the market today with 12GB of RAM to keep everything running as smooth as possible and the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor under the hood you are getting some serious power to run all your apps and multitask with ease.
Storage kicks off at 512GB, and is not expandable. If you need more than that, you might want check out some online options. But honestly, 512GB is a huge amount of space, especially when most phones these days usually start at 128GB or, if you’re lucky, 256GB.
The included battery uses the new silicon carbon technology which allows much larger capacity without making the size of the physical battery huge, the HONOR Magic 8 Pro has a capacity of 6270mAh, ranking it among the top models currently on sale.
This is particularly impressive given the phone’s OLED screen, which operates at 120hz you will easily get two full days of heavy use, including using the camera and playing games, and if you don’t use too excessively you will get three days of use from a single charge which is incredible.
The HONOR Magic 8 Pro comes with support for 2G/3G/4G/5G so you have a wide range of connectivity options depending on your network and sometimes price plan of choice (not all plans include 5G access)
Naturally, this device is packed with essential features like GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, and built-in WiFi for seamless navigation and communication. Furthermore, the WiFi supports the latest standards, delivering superior and faster data speeds when paired with the right router.
Camera
The HONOR Magic 8 Pro comes with a main 50 megapixel camera which was the same as the HONOR Magic 8 Pro from last year, but this camera was already very impressive so there was no real reason to change what was already working well and proven to be one of the best there is.
You do get the 2 extra lenses including the 200 megapixel, telephoto for zooming and a 50 megapixel ultrawide to play around with for different scenarios giving you one of the best triple camera setups on the market.
The selfie camera has a 50MP lens which delivered very good performance. In good lighting the photos it took were bright, clear and full of detail which was great, there are some AI settings you can play around with too which was fun to try but for point and shoot selfies it does a great job at capturing your image.
Selfie videos are decent offering a maximum resolution for recording of 4K which is why you are able to capture some fantastic quality, smooth video even in lower lighting conditions, in fact the HONOR Magic 8 Pro has one of the best selfie video examples I have been able to capture content on from all the phones I have tested.
HONOR have opted for a three-lens setup, featuring a main 50-megapixel camera, a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera with a LED flash in the camera area to help boost lighting or be used as a flashlight when you need as well as the star of the show on this phone, a 200-megapixel telephoto camera to allow for zooming and super high resolution shots.
HONOR have made impressive cameras in their phones for a while now, especially in their flagship models, and this year is no different.
The main 50 megapixel camera can capture some amazing photos even in lower light conditions, something some other models can struggle with, the photos come out clear, bright and full of details with a true to life color meaning they do not ramp up the contrast like some other flagship phones out there, this leads to a more accurate presentation of what the actual scene you were in and wanted to capture.
The wide angle camera also being 50 megapixels great for those landscape photos or when you want to get more in the shot and again quality is very good and accurate colors, it was nice to see as much attention put into the wide angle camera as the main one as sometimes you find the wide angle camera lacks detail or the same performance as the main camera, this is not the case here, plus it also allows you to do some great close up macro photos if you like capturing those type of photos.
Finally as I said before the star of the show is the 200-megapixel telephoto camera which is really impressive, not only can you get a 3.7x optical zoom from it, the captured photo is super high quality and easily one of the best on any smartphone on sale today.
Here are the photos taken using each of the three cameras so you can see what quality you can expect to see.
Videos max out at 4K and at 120fps which is one of the best on any smartphone out there today, when it comes to video the quality can be determined by the content you are capturing and unfortunately for this review, a video of me walking up a hill talking does not do it justice, if you were able to capture something more interesting that would really show off the full quality of what this camera can do so I am hoping some other time to get hands on the phone again when going on holiday and getting some more interesting video footage to be able to show off the phone in its true light for what the video can really do.
Take my word for it though, video is fantastic on this device.
Final Thoughts
So time for my final thoughts on the HONOR Magic 8 Pro after my time with it, would I recommend you buy one and spend your hard earned money, nearly £1000 on this?
Well this might be one of the easiest YES answers I have give in a review, and I will say it right now that this is one of the BEST mobile devices I have ever used, and we are talking that I have used 100’s over the years and been reviewing devices for over 20 years.
From the bright clear amazing quality display, the high resolution triple camera setup, the software experience, the battery life, just everything about this phone impressed me and has made me say what I have about it being one of the best I have ever used.
The HONOR Magic 8 Pro really does pack everything you could ever want into a single device and with so much competition out there making sure you make the right decision can be stressful and a tough decision to make, especially considering the price you have to pay,
The usual question I get is would I recommend this phone considering just how many phones are available these days, and if you are looking for a flagship phone to last you many years and still impress in years to come, I can HIGHLY recommend the HONOR Magic 8 Pro, especially for battery performance, camera, screen quality and sheet processing power.
Again a big thanks to HONOR for sending out the HONOR Magic 8 Pro for review.
A final bit to this review I wanted to make sure came across is that all thoughts were my own from a loan period with the phone, I was invited to a hands on session with the phone before launch but was unable to attend and the phone was sent to me once it was on sale and has been returned back to HONOR as it was a loan, I was not given any influence what to put in this review and was not given a device to keep for writing this review, I wanted to confirm this due to the very positive review I gave just to make sure it was clear there was no influence in my positive nature on this device,
