Honor Magic5 Lite Test If Only The Exterior Was Important

Many domestic users were very happy when they heard the news that Honor is separating from Huawei, so that as an independent company it can once again access the Android-based GMS and all American developments (such as 5G) Adding to the good news was the fact that the company returned to the Hungarian market almost immediately with new products, but during the first tests it soon became clear that these mobile phones are the result of an even older development cycle and there is not much uniqueness to be found in them.

The one that arrived last year already showed interesting features and unique Honor developments, but the Magic4 Lite, positioned in the lower category, could not gather a serious fan base The main task of the model is to finally show that Honor has its place in the market of affordable Android mobile phones as an available and serious alternative.

The Magic4 Lite wasn't ugly either, suta smartphone, but the Magic5 Lite, which is only 7 9 mm thick and weighs 175 grams, is beautiful.

This is mainly due to the large 6 67" AMOLED display that is smooth on the side edges, which is surrounded by a thin frame.

The display is also super bright, FHD+ resolution, protected by glass from scratches (and a factory film), and in vain "Lite " model, the 120 Hz image update has also been retained The back panel is matte and has a color gradient, but it is plastic, as is the frame, but the latter is so thin and rounded that you will hardly encounter it.

The camera island on the back is very unique, a large diagonal the 3 sensors and the flash are placed at 90 degrees around it Some people may not like this so much, but the fact is that it is unique and doesn't cause discomfort when held in your hand (you won't accidentally cover the lower flash with your big hand).

Unfortunately, full water resistance did not fit into this category at Honor this year, just as it is not surprising today that there is no mSD card slot and no jack connection either On the other hand, it is definitely new - and not necessarily in a good way - that the charger and the transparent factory silicones have been removed from the box.

Unfortunately, we cannot even defend this decision by saying that you can feel their absence in the pricing Those who start the examination and classification of a phone by checking the SoC type can now cut a lemon-biting face: yes, the Snapdragon 695 still plays the main role here.

In any case, this is not a big problem in terms of speed, the test device runs Android 12 and Magic UI 6 1 without a hitch, mainly because it can manage with 6 GB of RAM (and RAM Turbo).

The bigger problem is that this somewhat dusty central chip cannot record in 4K, in fact, even 60 fps does not match it in FHD resolution The other sore point is the weak GPU: this mobile is certainly not made for gaming, although it is true that the virtual worlds look beautiful on the wonderful display.

And if it's entertainment, unfortunately, the cost reduction of the "Lite" edition can also be felt here The display does not support the HDR standard, the mobile phone is only capable of mono sound and the Bluetooth 5.

1 module does not support the AptX HD standard either But let's also look at the positives: the fingerprint reader hidden behind the display is very fast and accurate, you can also rely on facial recognition, there is NFC, infrared and, of course, 5G connection.

On the battery front, we can see the dance of one step forward, one step back The capacity was able to increase from 4800 mAh to 5100 mAh despite the super-thin device case, but the fast charging dropped from 66 Watts to 40 Watts.

This means, that while the operating time improved, the charging time deteriorated significantly There is still no wireless charging, nor does the mobile phone support cable recharging.

Honor also updated the camera set The main camera received a 64 MP sensor (with the same lens as last year), a 5 MP ultra-wide-angle module appeared, and the 2 MP macro remained.

The 16 MP selfie has not changed since last year Even at the time of the announcement, it was an open secret that Europe received the mobile released in China as Honor x9a as Magic5 Lite with Google GMS on board.

This is not a problem, but it may be painful for some that neither charger nor case came in the box (which is exactly the same size as last year's model) The most important attraction of the Magic5 Lite is that it looks good: its paper-thin, light and AMOLED display provides a nice picture.

This can convince many people when buying, but it doesn't hurt if we look at its other features as well The operating time is great, the device withstood the continuous load for almost 16 hours in our test, but the charging is not so good.

We could still make friends with the plastic back, but an official IP rating and/or wireless charging would not have hurt We also missed HDR certification and stereo sound - unfortunately, the speakerphone is very weak in mono.

The manufacturer could have made a mistake with the SoC as well, but if this was the only complaint we had with the device, we wouldn't get stuck on it Unfortunately, however, the 2023 start, 1.

5-year-old Android version with an outdated user interface is also in vain - we were hoping to get Lite with MagicOS 7, but unfortunately we still have to wait Anyway, Honor is not very strong when it comes to software updates: Magic4 Lite devices still run Android 11 and Magic UI 4.

2 However, the new main camera is quite good! In daylight, the image quality is pleasant, there is little noise, the contours are sharp, and the colors are beautiful.

The same cannot be said in the dark: the colors are washed out and there is a lot of noise, and if you take photos in night mode, you have to wait a long time for the image to be taken The 5 MP of the wide-angle camera is not too much, so we were not surprised that the images are noisier than necessary, the edges are blurred, and the richness of detail is lacking.

We don't want to say too much about the macro: it's 2 MP, the image quality is very bad, Honor couldn't work a miracle here The selfies are average, you can expect a picture corresponding to the middle category.

None of the modules have optical stabilization The Honor Magic5 Lite is thin, light and with the display, and with its long operating time, it can seduce many people - but inside, hardly anything has changed.

The new main camera is a welcome and important step forward, just as we were genuinely happy with the switch from the IPS panel to AMOLED But the software is outdated, the SoC is outdated, the 2nd and 3rd camera modules are not very good, the charging is slow, there is still no stereo sound and no official IP rating.

However, we were really surprised that last year's Magic4 Lite price of HUF 129,990 was raised to HUF 159,999 for the new model For this amount of money, we would have expected more features that were missing above.

After all, you can choose from several competitive models for that much There is, for example, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, the significantly cheaper and super-updated Google Pixel 6a, quite a few Poco, Redmi and Xiaomi models, the OnePlus Nord 2T, or if you want something unique, check out the Nothing Phone.

If Honor and Magic UI are closest to your heart, the Magic4 Lite is still available for HUF 120,000, or you can wait for the larger models of the Magic5 series, which are expected to offer much more (of course at higher prices) It is definitely good news for Honor that the Magic5 Lite is available in all three major mobile operators.

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