Honor Magic V3 review tests | Infinium-tech

Introduction

The Magic V2, which has been somewhat of an office favorite due to its slim profile (among other features), now has a replacement. The Honor Magic V3 is going global, pushing the envelope on pocketability, while also setting the bar for durability, and improving the camera system.

The V2 was the thinnest phone of its kind when it arrived, and now the V3 is the same, at just 4.4mm as a tablet or 9.3mm as a bar phone. It weighs 226g, and includes a wireless charging coil and increased battery capacity – is this the work of Honor engineers or miracle workers?

Rhetoric aside, the weight and size reduction comes, at least in part, thanks to better materials. Honor says the Magic V3’s panels and build are particularly robust, and they even let us torture a unit to see where it would crack. It also has an IPX8 rating, which takes it way beyond the standard’s minimum requirements.

Cameras on foldables tend to lag behind industry-leading efforts on ‘plain’ smartphones, and the Magic V3 is no exception. Still, this new generation zoom improves the camera greatly, reducing the number of trade-offs you have to make to have 300 sq cm of screen estate in your pocket instead of just 100-ish.

According to the specs page, the display on the Magic V3 should be great, even if the only obvious improvement is the maximum brightness – more on that a little later. Of course, there’s a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to compute with, and half a terabyte (on the international model) seems like ample storage.

Before we proceed further, here is a brief overview of the main features.

Honor Magic V3 specifications at a glance:

• Body: 156.6×74.0x9.2mm (folded), 156.6×145.3×4.4mm (unfolded), 226 grams; IPX8 water resistant (up to 2.5 metres for 30 minutes), stylus support.
• Display: main: 7.92″ foldable LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, Dolby Vision, 120Hz, 1800 nits (peak), 2156x2344px resolution, 9.78:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi; cover: 6.43″ OLED, 1B color, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, 5000 nits (peak), 1060x2376px, 402 ppi, Nanocrystal Glass 2.0.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8650-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.3 GHz Cortex-X4 & 3×3.2 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×3.0 GHz Cortex-A720 & 2×2.3 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 750.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM.
• OS/Software: Android 14, MagicOS 8.0.1.
• rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.56″, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/3.0, 1/2.51″, PDAF, OIS, 3.5x optical zoom; Ultra Wide Angle: 40MP, f/2.2, 112˚, AF.
• Cover/Internal camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, 90˚.
• video capture: rear camera: 4K@30/60fps (10-bit), 1080p@30/60fps, Gyro-EIS, OIS; Cover/Internal camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, Gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 5150mAh; 66W wired, 50W wireless, 5W reverse wired.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.3, aptX HD, LDAC; NFC; Infrared port.
• various: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); Stereo speakers.

Unboxing of Honor Magic V3

The Magic V3 comes in a full-sized black box with a full set of accessories – this is a premium product that has been given the proper treatment.

The included protective solution is particularly nice – the soft-feeling faux leather snap-on back cover can turn into a stand thanks to the swing-out octagonal camera ring. There’s also a frame-like piece to attach to the cover portion, which has adhesive straps to ensure it stays in place.

It also comes with a 66W power adapter and a USB-A-to-C cable to complete the link.