Honor Magic Vs - Review On Foldables Of 2023
While the Honor Magic Vs might not be YOUR next phone, it is an exciting device that should cause Samsung to raise an eyebrow and consider how to improve the Fold’s design and performance for the next generation.
The Honor Magic Vs isn’t cheap at €1,599 and as of recording, we don’t have any word on availability, either on release dates in Europe or whether or not this device will ever make its way stateside.
The Honor Magic Vs isn’t cheap at €1,599 and as of recording, we don’t have any word on availability, either on release dates in Europe or whether or not this device will ever make its way stateside.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 It's finally starting to feel like Samsung
00:08 has some serious competition in the foldable phone market.
00:12 And I've been lucky enough to spend the last week
00:14 with this, the Honor Magic VS,
00:16 a phone that is looking to dethrone
00:18 the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
00:20 in the fight for the best book style foldable.
00:23 The VS does a lot of things right
00:27 and some things a little less right,
00:29 but the real question is, should Samsung be worried?
00:33 The Magic VS is impressively slim and light
00:38 considering it can open up to 7.9 inches.
00:42 And when it's shut, it's barely bigger
00:44 than any Pro Max or Ultra on the market.
00:47 The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a lot thicker,
00:49 measuring 15.8 millimeters at its thickest point shut
00:53 when compared to the Magic VS's 12.9 millimeters.
00:57 Of course, some of that Z Fold thickness
00:59 is due to it not closing flush.
01:01 Whereas the Magic VS does close with no gap at the hinges
01:04 and a satisfying snap.
01:06 I've also fallen in love with this cyan finish
01:09 on the review sample I was sent.
01:10 Although the Magic VS will also be available in black
01:13 if you're after a more subtle look.
01:16 The gapless design, gearless hinge
01:18 and lightweight form factor
01:19 all add up to a seriously premium feeling device
01:22 in the hand and not too much bulk in the pocket.
01:27 Both interior and exterior displays
01:30 are HDR 10 plus OLED screens
01:32 and make watching movies and playing games
01:35 a great experience.
01:36 The exterior screen measures 6.45 inches
01:39 and has a dynamic refresh rate
01:41 that maxes out at 120 Hertz
01:43 and a peak brightness of 1200 nits.
01:46 The bezels on the front screen are pretty prevalent
01:49 and make the exterior phone experience
01:51 feel a little dated in 2023.
01:54 But it's more than functional for Twitter scrolling
01:56 and general phone usage on the move.
01:58 Of course, if you're watching movies or playing games
02:01 then you'll wanna be using that internal
02:02 7.9 inch OLED display.
02:05 It has a refresh rate of up to 90 Hertz
02:08 and a peak brightness of up to 800 nits.
02:10 So its specs are lagging behind its own exterior display
02:14 but the extra screen real estate
02:16 makes watching movies and multitasking an absolute joy.
02:20 And honestly, the crease down the middle
02:21 manages to completely camouflage itself in most situations.
02:25 It's certainly there when you're viewing it
02:26 from some extreme angles
02:28 and it's noticeable when running your finger over it
02:30 while scrolling away.
02:31 But it blends in so well
02:33 that I was genuinely surprised several times
02:35 while using the phone
02:36 as I expected to feel the crease under my finger
02:38 only to realize that the phone was in the wrong orientation
02:41 and that crease was actually running
02:43 in the opposite direction.
02:44 The Magic VS is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon
02:49 eight plus gen one chipset
02:51 and it seemed to run the device just fine
02:53 in my daily usage.
02:55 I never noticed any stuttering or lag when playing games
02:58 or multitasking with several apps open at once.
03:00 On Geekbench, which measures overall performance,
03:03 the Magic VS scored over 1600 in a single core test
03:07 and almost 4000 in a multi-core test.
03:09 Impressively, those are better scores
03:11 than the Galaxy Z Fold 4 produced
03:13 which runs on the same Snapdragon chipset.
03:15 And I saw similar results when I ran
03:17 our 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Unlimited graphics test
03:21 with the Honor VS narrowly beating the Galaxy Z Fold 4
03:25 but not being able to keep up with the top dogs
03:27 from Apple and Samsung.
03:28 The Honor Magic VS has a 50 megapixel ultra wide lens
03:36 that has a dedicated macro mode,
03:38 an eight megapixel three times optical zoom camera
03:41 and a 54 megapixel F1.9 main camera.
03:45 The cameras are totally fine if a little underwhelming.
03:48 Colors felt a little cool to me across the board
03:51 and it doesn't have the dynamic range
03:53 to keep up with the likes of the iPhone 14 Pro.
03:55 But the Magic VS is certainly capable
03:57 of taking social media worthy shots, even in low light.
04:01 I found the three times optical zoom surprisingly decent
04:04 and the system also features a 30 times digital zoom.
04:07 Although as with all digital zooms,
04:09 the less you actually use that, the better.
04:12 There's an aperture mode that allows you
04:13 to take portrait style shots of things as well as people.
04:17 And again, it works just fine.
04:19 Clearly defining the subject and adding some nice bokeh
04:22 to the background.
04:23 However, when compared directly to the iPhone 14 Pro,
04:26 it doesn't quite keep up,
04:27 creating a less pleasing bokeh effect on the lights
04:30 here in the background of this shot.
04:32 Both the exterior and internal screens
04:35 feature a 16 megapixel F2.45 selfie snapper.
04:39 And unfortunately, these really let the wire system down.
04:43 When taking selfies, I often found
04:45 that the auto focus couldn't keep up,
04:47 leading to blurry shots.
04:49 And while I don't usually mind the odd wrinkle
04:51 or imperfection getting smoothed out,
04:53 the default beauty mode goes way too far,
04:56 resulting in some super artificial feeling photos.
04:59 Video wise, you can shoot 4K up to 60 FPS
05:02 on the rear cameras and on the front facing selfie cameras,
05:06 you can shoot 1080P up to 30 FPS.
05:08 The VS comes boasting a massive 5,000 milliamp hour battery.
05:14 And in my experience, it was more than capable
05:16 of lasting a full day of decent use.
05:18 If you do find yourself running low though,
05:20 then there's a power saving mode
05:22 that should give you roughly 20% more juice in the tank.
05:25 And on the flip side,
05:26 if you're looking for even more performance
05:28 for some power gaming on the go,
05:29 then the Magic VS also has a performance mode
05:32 that optimizes settings to deliver maximum performance.
05:36 I threw the phone into performance mode
05:38 and ran the same Geekbench and wildlife graphics tests
05:40 as before and saw improvements,
05:43 but also definitely felt the device heat up.
05:46 So maybe use that sparingly.
05:48 Also now everybody please join me
05:50 in a round of applause for Honor
05:51 because the Magic VS not only comes
05:53 with a charger in the box,
05:55 but it's a 66 watt fast charger.
05:57 Very nice.
05:58 (crowd cheering)
05:59 No wireless charging is available on the VS,
06:02 but that wired fast charger should get you
06:05 from zero to 100% in just over 46 minutes,
06:08 according to Honor.
06:09 And now onto the elephant in the room,
06:13 price and availability.
06:15 The Honor Magic VS isn't cheap at 1600 euros.
06:19 And as of recording,
06:20 we don't have any word on availability,
06:22 either on release dates in Europe
06:24 or whether or not this device
06:26 will actually make it stateside.
06:27 So while this might not be your next phone,
06:30 it's an exciting device that should cause Samsung
06:33 to raise an eyebrow and consider how to improve
06:35 the fold's design and performance for the next generation.
06:38 If you like this video,
06:39 then you should check out our video review
06:41 of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra,
06:43 which you can find right now
06:45 on the Tom's Guide YouTube channel.
06:46 I'm Matt Phillips, and I'll see you on the next one.
06:48 (upbeat music)
06:51 (whooshing)