HONOR Magic 4 Pro
RM3,999
Pros | Cons |
+ Huge 6.81" LPTO OLED display | - Main camera lacks OIS |
+ Super fast 100W wired and wireless charging | - 4600mAh battery is small for a flagship |
+ Smooth performance | - Not a fan of camera module design |
+ Great camera system | |
+ IP68 dust and water resistance | |
The Magic4 Pro has recently launched in Malaysia as HONOR's latest flagship smartphone. For most parts, it serves as one with the world's first 1920Hz PWM dimming LPTO display and is the first to launch with a 100W wireless charging support.
Design
If you've seen the HONOR X9 5G that we've previously reviewed, the design is roughly what you get on the Magic4 Pro. Adorned on the back of the reflective cover is a HUGE rear camera module with a starring design, what HONOR calls the Eyes of Muse. Now beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or in the Muse in this case) but the design is far from my taste.
Puns aside, HONOR still keeps the glossy back, which looks beautiful but it's also a fingerprint magnet so I'd recommend you to put on the case bundled in its box. The Magic4 Pro is available in 3 color variants: Cyan, Gold, and Black. The Gold version is exclusive to the Malaysian market outside of China so if you're looking for a special color, I'd recommend this one.
While the left edge is left empty, the volume rocker and power button are located on the right. On the top, there's a microphone and a stereo speaker whereas the bottom houses another stereo speaker, a USB-C charging port, and a SIM tray.
In any case, the curved edges make the phone feels nice in your hands. However, I didn't like the huge camera module because it can be quite an obstacle when I was gaming in landscape mode - it felt awkward because I wasn't sure where should I place my fingers, and sometimes I ended up leaving fingerprints on the camera and would have to wipe it later.
Display and Audio
The Magic4 Pro features a large 6.81" screen on the world's first 1920Hz PWM (pulse wide modulation) dimming LPTO display, which can intelligently adjust the phone's refresh rate from as low as 1Hz to a speedy 120Hz to reduce battery consumption yet protect your eyes from harmful flickers at the same time.
For those who care about your eyes, it also offers an Eye Comfort mode with a 9-level filter that you can adjust in the settings and an eBook mode. HONOR also boasts that the phone covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and supports HDR10+.
The OLED display has a 2438 x 1312 resolution and a maximum brightness of 1000 nits. When watching videos, you'll be able to manually adjust the screen resolution from low ( 2136 x 984) to standard ( 2136 x 1148) to high ( 2136 x 1312), or you can simply set the smart resolution option.
There's also a video enhancer function that enhances the color and contrast of videos as well as a frame rate booster function that increases the frame rate of full-screen videos to improve your viewing experience. Both functions currently support YouTube and Netflix only.
On the top left corner, there's a long pill-shaped cutout to house the selfie camera, which can be distracting for some. Also, it takes up quite some space of the notification tray so it looks crammed up there. The selfie cameras have an integrated 3D ToF sensor, which recognizes my face very quickly. At the bottom, the built-in fingerprint scanner is very responsive too.
Overall, the display is a treat with vibrant and bold colors that make it great for video watching, gaming, and even editing. Thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, scrolling and launching apps are silky smooth.
Audio-wise, there's nothing much to complain about the stereo speakers on the phone. They are impressively loud, clear, and fairly punchy. Like many flagship devices nowadays, it doesn't offer a headphone jack so you'll need a pair of earbuds that connect via Bluetooth.
Cameras
Placed symmetrically around the "Eyes of Muse" is a triple rear camera module, comprising a 50MP F1.8 main camera, a 50MP F2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 64MP F3.5 telephoto camera with 3.5x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. The camera units are complemented with an 8x8 dTOF laser focusing sensor and a flicker sensor.
As expected, the main camera is capable of producing exceptional results with great details and dynamic range, vibrant colors, and natural saturation. The phone's also quick to focus too but if you want to take some close-up shots, I'd suggest you use the Super Macro mode.
Normal mode
Night mode
Despite its performance under bright conditions, the main camera fails to impress because of the absence of OIS in extremely dark conditions where you will notice the lack of details.
Wide (Night mode) Wide (Normal mode)
Photos taken by the ultrawide unit show a subtle change in color tone, a little colder. I appreciate that the images are not overly distorted at the corners.
The telephoto camera supports 3.5x optical zoom which I find nice up to what's claimed with clear details. As for the 100x digital zoom, I appreciate what HONOR's trying but the result is heavily processed and sharpened. You may not use it all the time or you may so you be the judge, whether it's a gimmick or useful.
For selfies, the display houses a 12MP camera with a 100° wide lens and a 3D depth sensor for bokeh. Sadly, despite having a separate depth sensor, the bokeh effect still cuts off the subject's hair.
And for video recording, it supports from 720p up to 4K resolution at 30fps or 60fps. There's also an IMAX enhanced Movie mode, where you'll get a Log mode and 3D LUT filters (including classic, sunsplash, focus, bravura, dazzling, pure, nostalgia, and gloomy).
Nostalgia mode
Bravura mode
Performance
In terms of performance, the Magic4 Pro uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and Adreno 730 GPU, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It runs Android 12 with Magic UI 6.0 on top. Yes, it comes with Google mobile services. *cheers*
With the combination above, performance is expectedly good with no traces of hiccups or whatsoever during my time of using it, from the easiest daily task to editing and gaming. If there's one thing to complain is the onboard 8+256GB configuration, both not expandable, which disappoints me for this price.
The Magic4 Pro uses a 4600mAh battery, which is smaller than the usual 5000mAh unit we see in many flagship phones. Because of its smaller capacity, it couldn't last for a full day's use, and most probably because I'm spoilt by large batteries, I was nervous all day when I was outdoors with no power bank in my bag. I came home with 25% left since leaving home at noon with a full bar even though I was not using it heavily.
For charging, it supports both 100W wired and wireless charging. Fortunately, HONOR still gives you the charging brick and cable for free in the box. And better, it took us around 30 minutes to fully charge the device from zero using the wired charger so that makes up for the less than impressive battery capacity.
As for wireless charging, HONOR says that the 100W wireless charger can juice up the phone by 50% in just 15 minutes and it was true according to our tests. To achieve that, you'll need a compatible 135W charging brick otherwise you won't get up to 100W charging. However, it's a pity that the charger won't be available in Malaysia but HONOR is selling the charging stand for RM299.
Buy or no buy
The HONOR Magic4 Pro is a mixed bag for me. It's excellent in terms of performance, display, and fast charging. It also has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. You also get full access to the Google Play Store.
For RM3,999, it does have some caveats with less than impressive results in low-light conditions and a small battery capacity.
