The Honor Magic 6 Pro gained much popularity last year when it briefly took the much-respected DXOMark crown for camera performance, so expectations for the new Honor Magic 7 Pro are understandably high when it comes to following in its predecessor’s footsteps.
The new phone reminds me of the iPhone. Its squared frame and chamfered edges make it easier to hold than the Magic 6 Pro, since the latter’s rounded edges cut deeper than the new phone, even though they both are very similar in size and weight.
The back of the grey version of the phone is covered by frosted glass with a mist-looking pattern. Looks may be subjective but to me, it does not stand out from the many mid-tier smartphones that employ the same matt surface material and pattern.
In comparison, the Magic 6 Pro’s leather back gave the device a more premium feel. On the plus side, the new phone does offer a more assured grip, which is important when taking photos and videos on the go.
As with new phones today, the Honor Magic 7 Pro comes packed with AI features. One that stands out is Honor AI Translate, which allows real-time translation and will be handy when you’re travelling to a foreign country.
The nifty thing about this app is that translated words are played on the phone’s speaker for the recipient to hear, and you can speak normally in your own language without fuss.
Another feature is the ability to search for anything on the phone. I simply use my knuckle to circle a product I see on a screen, and it the phone can help me find the item on Taobao, share it as a social media post, or save it in a document via the Honor Magic Portal.
The portal can also store your often-used apps, such as calculator, so you can use them without going into the app drawer. Just swipe your finger from the edge of the phone towards the centre of the screen, and the app column will appear. Pretty convenient!
The Honor Magic 7 Pro has a 6.8-inch 1,280 x 2,800 OLED screen that automatically refreshes from 1Hz to 120Hz to save battery power. It is a great looking screens that is bright, sharp and easy on the eyes, even after prolonged usage.
Thanks to the efficient 3-nanomere Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, the phone’s lithium polymer 5,850mAh battery can last a day without any issues. It can be quickly filled up with the included 100W charger as well.
The flagship phone has 12GB of memory and 512GB of storage space, which are ample. So, saving large RAW DNG image files, HEIC image files and H.264 video files is possible without depleting the storage space too soon.
Speaking of imaging, Honor has maintained the same 50-megapixel 22mm f2.9 front-facing camera for selfies, which can quickly gain focus using the Time of Flight (TOF) 3D sensor. The Magic 7 Pro has included a colour spectrum sensor in the rear camera array and an improved zoom camera with a 200-megapixel sensor and a 3x zoom lens.
Unlike the Oppo Find X8 Pro which has two zoom cameras, the new Honor phone only has one zoom camera in the mix. Stretch the zoom past 3x on the Honor Magic 7 Pro and the image quality starts to degrade.
Honor fares better with the main camera, which still uses the 50-megapixel 1/1.3-inch sensor and variable f1.4-f2.0 lenses from before. The good news is, it can create sunburst or starburst effects, say, through a tree’s foliage, that other phones cannot achieve on their own.
If you like using filters, the Harcourt portrait modes that has be around since the Honor Magic V3 and the current set of filters will provide more creative options to capture different moods.
My main gripe with the portrait mode is that the Harcourt Vibrant mode is set as default and cannot be switched off. This, even when it is turned off under the filter selection menu. If you look up close, photos may show a painted effect that doesn’t reflect natural skin texture.
On the whole, I think the camera’s AI image processing can be improved. It should aim to be more colour-accurate and avoid under-exposure, over-sharpening or applying too much contrast to a scene, resulting in a loss of dynamic range. In most cases, I still prefer the older Magic 6 Pro, which gives images a more nuanced and pleasant look.
The Honor Magic 7 Pro is not a bad phone for daily use, to be fair. Its flagship features will impress many buyers. In terms of mobile photography, I wish the new phone has improved on its predecessor, which set a high bar last year.
The Honor Magic 7 Pro is available for S$1,399 in Singapore. For S$300 more, you can upgrade to a high-end 16GB RAM and get 1TB of storage space.
