It’s been a little more than a year since Honor launched its second iteration of the foldable phone, and earlier today, I got to play with the third generation Honor Magic V3. It’s been a while since I last actually held a foldable smartphone in my hands – the last one I reviewed was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 – and my first impressions of it are on the up and up.
The first aesthetic, or physical trait if you will, that grabs my attention is its sheer thickness, and that’s with it both closed and fully unfolded. How thin exactly? 9.2mm when closed and 4.35mm when open. Oh, and that is to say nothing of that hulking main camera module that stuck to the back, but more on that later.
Despite the borderline unrealistically thin form factor, Honor has managed to cram the Magic V3 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 SoC, 12GB RAM, and 512GB of physical storage. It’s a cliche to say at this point but this really feels like an engineering marvel. To go through the rest of the specs, the front display is an OLED display measuring 6.43-inches, while the main display is a 7.92-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with a peak brightness of 1,800 nits. Both displays have 120Hz refresh rates.
These displays sound undeniably impressive on paper and in my hands, they certainly do. The main display still has a crease in the middle that, unfortunately, is a staple with all foldable but if you are viewing or watching something on it, you don’t really see it. However, one or rather, many things you do see are the fingerprints that both displays seem to attract, and spoiler alert, it is messy.
And it’s not just all style and looks either. Honor says that the Magic V3 is made with Super Fibre which, apparently, is a step above carbon fibre and far superior in durability too. The material at the back of the phone literally feels smooth to the touch, no matter what state my fingers are in. That being said, this texture can be a double-edged sword, leading to the phone slipping out of hands if not held properly or if one is not careful with it. The good news is that Honor does have casings for these things.
Moving on, the main camera module is perhaps the most major and prominent upgrade that comes with the Magic V3. While it looks similar to that of the one on the Magic6 Pro, there are some differences. It’s a triple-camera array, comprising two 50MP sensors – one is wide and the other is a telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom but can achieve up to 100x digital zoom – while the third is a 40MP ultrawide sensor.
Given that this is a hands on, I won’t be able to speak much on the camera performance but suffice it to say, the Magic V3 is able to take some decent photos, so long as there is enough lighting. Of course, seeing how this is an AI-powered phone, the post-processing is capable of hiding a multitude of blemishes and sins.
A review for the Honor Magic V3 is definitely in the works, so check back on the main page over time.
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