Super-premium phone-tablet is the thinnest and lightest ‘folder’ yet – but compromises on camera. Honor’s Magic V2 is the best designed folding phone-tablet yet. It feels just like a regular phone when closed but then opens up like a book to reveal a large, plush screen. Launched in China last year, the Magic V2 has now made it to Europe but not at a price that could be considered affordable. At £1,700 (€2,000), it is placed between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus’s slightly cheaper Open.

However, it has one major advantage over the competition: slenderness. Honor has managed to slim down the hinge and body to effectively remove the bulk that has burdened folding phones until now. Its big and bright outside screen has slim bezels and curved sides, making it feel and work just like a normal Android when closed, and when the tablet is opened it is only 4.8mm thick – the same as a stack of six credit cards – which is incredible.

The internal 7.92in screen is slightly bigger than rivals while being just as bright, smooth and great looking. The crease in the middle is a little more visible than that of the Open but easily blends into the background in use.

The hinge is rated to last for at least 400,000 folds and can hold the phone open at a range of angles. But the hinge doesn’t feel as firm as some rivals and the phone lacks any water or dust protection.

Specifications

• Main screen: 7.92in (402ppi) 120Hz OLED flexible display

• Cover screen: 6.43in (404ppi) 120Hz OLED

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

• RAM: 16GB

• Storage: 512GB

• Operating system: MagicOS 7.2 (Android 13)

• Camera: 50MP + 50MP ultrawide + 20MP 2.5x tele; 2x 16MP selfie

• Connectivity: 5G, dual sim + esim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, GNSS

• Water resistance: none

• Dimensions folded: 156.7 x 74 x 10.1mm

• Dimensions unfolded: 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.8mm

• Weight: 237g

Last year’s top Android chip

The Magic V2 has Qualcomm’s top chip from 2023, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – not the newer Gen 3 version that started to appear in phones last month. It still offers plenty of power for multitasking, gaming and anything else you might want to do with it, but isn’t the very latest technology despite the high asking price. The battery lasts a long time. Actively using the two screens for well over six hours and 5G for three hours, the battery lasts up to 49 hours between charges, meaning a recharge every two days.

Sustainability

Honor does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is generally repairable by Honor. Full battery replacements cost £110 and folding screen replacements cost £737.80 out of warranty. The phone contains recycled plastic and Honor publishes a breakdown of its environmental impact and offers trade-in schemes.

MagicOS 7.2 lacks polish

Software is the Magic V2’s biggest weakness. It ships with MagicOS 7.2 based on 2022’s Android 13, not Android 14 as you should expect from a new device in 2024. Honor will only provide four years of Android updates and a total of five years of security updates from release, too, which is at least two full years short of the benchmark set by Google, Samsung and Apple.

Source: The Guardian UK Tech
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