It’s not only up to giants like Apple, Samsung, and Google to manufacture devices that are worthy of your attention. On the contrary, much of the smartphone innovation in the otherwise plateaued mobile tech world often comes from brands beyond the big three.
Honor’s Magic Pro 6, unveiled at the ongoing MWC in Barcelona, certainly does deliver innovation.
Honor’s latest flagship packs much, and it does so in diverse areas – this phone isn’t concentrated on delivering “the best” in a single field; instead, the Magic 6 Pro offers advancements in photography, display, performance, battery and AI.
So, let’s get into it and see what’s so magical about the Magic 6 Pro!
The MagicOS 8.0 brings Magic Capsule and Magic Portal
The Magic 6 Pro comes with MagicOS 8.0 out of the box, the latest version of Honor’s Android-based operating system. As we’ve reported earlier, MagicOS 8.0 is introduced as the industry’s first intent-based UI that can “interpret language, images, gestures, and eye movements to understand a user’s intent and offer services proactively”.
This is done with the help of Magic Capsule and Magic Portal:
- Magic Capsule: With a simple tap on the notifications banner at the top of the screen, the Magic Capsule expands to offer additional information and related options, granting users instant access to essential resources and eliminating the need to navigate through multiple apps for maximum productivity and efficiency.
- Magic Portal: This feature tackles the power of AI to understand user messaging and behavior, streamlining complex tasks into a single-step process. For example, Magic Portal’s AI quickly recognizes addresses in a text message and directs users to Google Maps, enabling effortless navigation at their fingertips. For social media like TikTok and Facebook, it also streamlines the access and sharing, allowing users to forward booking details or online search results with just a single drag. Furthermore, Magic Portal facilitates image-based shopping experiences, seamlessly guiding users to platforms, where they can find and purchase desired items.
Honor says Magic Portal supports over 100 most frequently used apps globally, providing users with a seamless experience across various platforms.
The Magic 6 Pro’s AI magic in practice: how to control a car hands-free
Speaking of AI pioneering, Honor has an ace up the sleeve. Demonstrating the possibilities that smartphone eye-tracking may unlock in the future, Honor revealed how it is possible to control a car hands-free through the Honor Magic 6 Pro’s AI-powered eye-tracking system. The experimental concept showcases how the interplay between AI-enhanced smartphones and vehicles can go beyond screen or voice controls, unlocking a realm of human-device interactions that hold immense possibilities.
Honor’s Falcon Camera System and what it means for the cameras on the Magic 6 Pro
Sportography – this is the word Honor comes up with at MWC 2024 with regard to the Magic 6 Pro and its camera capabilities.
As we’ve said before, it looks that this Honor flagship will be up for some fast-paced action. Now so long ago, Honor partnered with fencing World champion and Olympic silver medalist Cecilia Berder for an impressive photoshoot.
Whether or not you’re a fan of the swordplay sport, everyone knows that fencing is very fast-paced. This is a problem for photographers because far from every camera can capture quality shots while fencers jump around in their white suits and attack lightning-fast. Due to the sport being played indoors, there’s less light available: another obstacle.
Less light and super-fast-moving subjects are a recipe for a blurred, chaotic and unappealing shot. This is what the Magic 6 Pro wants to overcome.
On the flagship, users can expect a new and improved Honor Falcon Camera System powered by an AI model that’s trained with a database 28 times larger than the previous generation.
The Honor Magic 6 Pro packs Honor AI Motion Sensing Capture: an advanced AI capture algorithm that effortlessly predicts and captures decisive moments in ultra-high definition. The Honor AI Motion Sensing Capture covers a wide range of sports and activities such as jumping, dancing, and martial arts, making it theoretically ideal for capturing the decisive moment at sports events and races.
On the hardware front, the cameras offer the following:
- 50MP main camera with variable aperture (f/1.4 and f/2.0, OIS)
- 180MP telephoto camera (f/2.6, OIS) with 2.5x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom
- 50MP ultra-wide camera (f.2.0, EIS)
- 50MP selfie camera
The phone offers video capture of 4K 60fps, 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution.
The Magic 6 Pro display races ahead: 5,000 nits of peak brightness
Honor made a pretty bold statement upon presenting the 6.8-inch LTPO quad curved display of the Magic 6 Pro:
Featuring the industry’s most drop-resistant screen glass to date, the Honor Magic6 Pro races ahead with improvements in display drop resistance. Verified by SGS’s Five-Star Overall Glass Drop Resistance Ability certification in multiple scenarios, the display employs advanced materials with a 50% improvement in crystal density, which enhances its shock absorption capabilities by up to 10 times compared to regular glass.
The display specs are remarkable: the 6.8-inch LTPO display covers a color gamut of 1.07 billion colors, HDR10+, an up to 120Hz refresh rate, 5,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, 2800 x 1280 pixels resolution, 453 PPI, Dolby Vision certification.
Also, there are numerous eye comfort features:
- Dynamic dimming
- 4320Hz PWM Dimming
- Nature tone display
- Customized circadian night display
Performance: the obligatory Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Android flagships in late 2023/early 2024 without a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 are rare – the Magic 6 Pro packs it (1 x Cortex-X4 3.3GHz CPU + 3x Cortex-A720 3.2GHz + 2x Cortex
A720 3.0GHz + 2x Cortex-A520 2.3GHz). The GPU is Adreno 750. On the RAM/storage front, users can expect the 12/512GB option.
Be impressed (be very impressed) by this flagship’s battery
So far, we haven’t mentioned the 5600 mAh battery or the charging capabilities of the Magic 6 Pro. That’s because it’s so impressive, it deserves its own segment.
Avid PhoneArena readers will surely remember an article or two about the Magic 6 Pro’s battery from recent weeks.
The first time we dedicated a piece to the phone’s battery was in the beginning of February, when in a show-off Near Space flight, a phone made it to over 16,000 ft in the air, and got back to Earth with 86% battery. This phone, of course, was the Magic 6 Pro.
Just a few days later, the device’s battery was put to another test with this year’s maxed-out champion from Samsung. After 48 hours at -7 Fahrenheit, it retained some battery, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra – spoiler alert – did not.
This wasn’t over, though: after five days in the freezer, the Magic 6 Pro was still running at over 10% battery. Very impressive, if not amazing.
Honor E1: a battery management chipset
In short, the 5600 mAh on the Magic 6 Pro is very impressive. But how. Well, that’s because Honor’s inspiration comes from EV – electric vehicles, and their batteries. Also, there’s a battery management chipset for energy efficiency:
Taking inspiration from the disruptive electric vehicle (EV) industry, Honor is bringing the all-new Honor second-generation Silicon-carbon Battery with Honor E1, a battery management chipset for energy efficiency enhancement, to the Honor Magic 6 Pro.
In addition, with its 80W wired SuperCharge and 66W wireless SuperCharge, users can charge up the Honor Magic6 Pro to 100% in only 40 minutes.
Colors and pricing
Two are the color options for the Magic 6 Pro: Epi Green (that’s a hue resembling that of pale jade), and the always-stylish Black.
The 12/512GB Magic 6 Pro is arriving in Europe with a price tag of €1299 (just over $1400) with pre-orders starting February 25; availability is scheduled for March 1.
