The foldable smartphone is a novelty that piques interest owing to its unique form and flexible display. Whip one out from your pocket and heads will surely turn your way.
Honor recently made a splash by venturing into the foldable smartphone market with the Honor Magic V (that’s “V”, not five) – the only potential rival to the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 right now.
Touted to be the first 5G foldable flagship smartphone from the Chinese brand formerly owned by Huawei Technologies, it features symmetrical and curved aesthetics that boast cutting-edge features that will keep the road warrior armed at all times.
Most foldable devices have one major weakness: the dreaded crease in the middle of the display when fully opened. The Magic V attempts to mitigate this by implementing an advanced waterdrop hinge that eliminates the large gap normally apparent when folding the device, reducing the smartphone’s thickness at the same time.
The entire device measures 14.3mm when folded and 6.7mm when fully opened, tipping the scales at 293g.
The Magic V has been tested to withstand up to 200,000 folds, so even if you open and close it 100 times daily, it should still serve you well for half a decade. How’s that for durability?
Mini tablet
Displays are the main draw for any foldable device, and the Magic V features a 6.45-inch (16.4cm) external display that boasts a 90% screen-to-body ratio. This leads to the feeling of using a regular-sized handset, albeit a thicker one. Curved nano-crystal glass claims to offer better durability against knocks and drops.
Unfolding the Magic V reveals a 7.9-inch (20cm) internal display, sporting a 21.3:9 screen-to-body ratio that delivers a more immersive viewing experience – as though you were using a mini tablet.
The new AF coating technology purportedly makes this less of a smudge magnet as it has anti-dust, -water, -fingerprint and -oil characteristics.
A punch-hole in the left display houses a 42MP selfie camera, while a similar sensor has also been integrated in the outer display so you can snap selfies whether the Magic V is folded or not.
Maximum brightness for the inner and outer displays stand at 1,000 and 800 nits, respectively. The inner display has a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, while the outer display is a tad slower at 90Hz.
What can one do with all the additional viewing real estate? For starters, watching YouTube videos and streaming movies becomes more engaging.
In landscape mode, you will be able to enjoy your YouTube video in the upper half of the display, while the bottom segment can be used to read and share comments.
Multitaskers will love the ability to dock two different apps on each half of the display, while having an additional two more apps in the form of floating windows to play with. Referring to another document or image while typing your thoughts no longer requires you to switch between apps.
Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the Magic V does not lack when it comes to processing muscle. After all, it is the flagship chip system from Qualcomm this year, mated to 12GB RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of internal storage.
Other connectivity options include the WiFi 6 and 5G standards to keep the Magic V relevant for years to come.
The rectangular camera island at the back houses a 50MP rear wide-angle main camera (f/1.9 aperture), a 50MP ultra wide-angle camera with a 122° view (f/2.2 aperture), and a 50MP spectrum enhanced camera (f/2.0 aperture).
Other features (and one it lacks)
Stereo speakers are also embedded to deliver a decent listening experience, where it is accompanied by the X Ultra sound-effect algorithm that supposedly makes everything else sound bigger and better.
The Honor Magic V comes with a 66W fast charger, a 66W car charger, and a charging cable right out of the box – ensuring that the 4,750 mAh battery will never run out of juice regardless of whether you are at home, in the office, or driving. It runs on the Honor’s Magic UI 6.0 skin that is based on Android 11.
If there is one thing that would greatly enhance the overall user experience of the Magic V, it would be the inclusion of a stylus. It would be nice to be able to scribble notes or doodle while you are on the move.
There is no official release date for the Honor Magic V in Malaysia at the moment, as it remains a China-only exclusive to date. It remains to be seen whether the Magic V will debut on local shores, but when it does, it will surely make quite the splash and offer a decent alternative for those who want to take the road less travelled.
Edwin Kee dreamt of being a pro-gamer only to have circumstances mould him into a programmer in a past life. He has since moved on to write about consumer electronics and other topics. Check out his blog at manatau.com.