If you’re a frequent traveler in the market for a foldable smartphone that can be used for content creation or an all-around gadget for busy days on the road, the HONOR Magic V2 is a promising premium option. The Magic V2 is the world’s thinnest foldable smartphone, measuring just 9.9mm thick when folded, 4.7 mm when unfolded. Depending on the model, it weighs from 231 to 237 grams.
I recently got to test out the HONOR Magic V2 during a recent trip to La Union. Years ago, during previous trips here, I lugged around a bulky SLR and various wide and telephoto lenses just to capture different images of the sunset, surfers, food and beach scenes (and had a separate GoPro just for video). These days, like most people, I prefer to travel light with just a smartphone that can shoot both photos and videos from wide angle to zoom and conveniently upload these on social media directly.
The smartphone’s compact size and lightweight design makes it feel like you’re using a regular Android phone when it’s folded. Then, when you unfold it, you get an ultra-large field of view to enjoy more of the landscape on the screen.
First of all, let’s talk about the classy look and design of the HONOR Magic V2. Right out of the box, the phone looks sleek and sophisticated. The unit issued was an elegant shade of Purple, though the phone also comes in a Black (PU) variant. The smartphone comes with an elegant stock case that protects the phone and makes it easier to grip. And this isn’t just any old case.
This is a premium vegan leather case with a kick stand and magnetic hinge guard that seals the mechanical hinge and adds an extra layer of protection. When unfolded, the crease on the phone is barely visible. HONOR claims the phone can withstand being folded up to 400,000 times.
The HONOR Magic V2 is extremely light and portable. I was carrying it around with two other phones in a small sling bag, along with a portable power bank and the usual assortment of travel essentials, and everything still managed to fit.
I kept the phone folded most of the time while taking or viewing photos so it just felt like using a regular phone. This is useful in case you want to keep a low profile when you travel and have to ask random people to take your photo or if you don’t want to appear too flashy in crowded tourist spots.
When unfolded, the large 7.92 inch wide screen offers an immersive experience for watching videos, scrolling through social media, playing games, and reading e-books or graphic novels during your downtime. The large OLED inner screen makes the phone feel like a mini-tablet, so you don’t have to bring multiple gadgets and chargers for shorter trips.
With up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage capacity, the HONOR Magic V2 ensures that you have all the space you need to take photos and video clips from day to night, useful for long days of sightseeing. HONOR has packed the Magic V2 with flagship specs, including the a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and a triple-camera module complete with a telephoto lens. The Operating system runs on MagicOS 7.2 (based on Android 13).
Despite its slim size, the Magic V2 comes with a large 5,000mAh battery that supports 66-watt fast charging, so you won’t run out of juice even if you’re out the whole day. The battery easily lasts the whole day while recharging takes less than an hour.
The HONOR Magic V2 has a triple array of sensors for the rear camera, which managed to capture the sights and flavors of Elyu good enough for social media use.
It has a 50MP ultra wide camera (f/1/9, OIS), a main 50MP wide main camera (f/2.0), and a 20MP telephoto camera (f/2.4, OIS), as well as a 16MP wide dual front camera (f/2.2). You can shoot from ultra wide and up to 40x digital zoom, giving you flexibility in taking photos even from just one vantage point.
The landscape images took typically looked bright and colorful. Flowers looked vivid, the sky and beach looked great, and the sunset looked magical, as it should. Landscape photos looked good in both vertical and horizontal format, with ultrawide shots still capturing the colors well.
The quality of close up shots varied depending on the lighting conditions. Sometimes, the phone would brighten shadows if there was a lot of sunlight, resulting in less overall depth and contrast for close ups. While some indoor food shots came out muted, other images were sharp and got good details as seen in sample photos below.
Selfies taken in broad daylight also looked natural (with skin tones just a bit muted), but I found that it was a bit of a challenge to find the right angle to take selfies indoors with bright backgrounds, as the lighting would adjust to become either too dark or light.
Unless you have really steady hands, it would be helpful to have a tripod to fully maximize the telephoto and zoom functions. While the 2.5x zoom was decent, shots of surfers or swimmers taken with the 10x and focus mode 40x digital zoom came out a tad smudgy. But hey, it’s difficult to get crisp photos of subjects from afar even with the most high-end SLR’s, let alone a smartphone camera.
Video content creators will be happy to know that the Magic V2 allows support for 4K video shooting. The phone managed to capture some good video clips in the default setting, and had some nifty features that could be helpful in content creation. There’s a built-in dual video feature, so you can capture images or clips of yourself and video at the same time.
The Magic V2 also has an AI Instant Movie editing feature. If you’re like me, who detests making video content because it takes so long to pick music and select the right moments, this built-in feature makes video editing a breeze .
Just select videos and photos and have the phone edit everything together in just a few seconds. It automatically resizes the aspect ratios and puts subtle animations on photos so videos look seamlessly edited. Here’s some video clips of the sea turtle hatchlings being released taken and edited with the HONOR Magic V2 AI feature.
Another bonus, the phone has a small stand built into the case so you can prop up the phone and record yourself more easily during solo trips. The free-hovering foldable screen lets you snap photos hands-free, with the AI Motion Sensing Capture, perfect for solo travelers. However, I recommend looking for a safe and even surface or using a tripod and not just plunking the phone down anywhere on the ground or the beach. Since the HONOR Magic V2 doesn’t have an official IP rating for water and dust resistance, I had to be extra careful while using it around the beach, wading through low tide areas, climbing up the rocks, and hiking to waterfalls, to make sure I didn’t accidentally drop it.
So how much does the HONOR Magic V2 cost? The 512 GB model of the HONOR Magic V2 is priced at P79,999 in the Philippines. While it’s not the most affordable phone available in the local market, if you’re planning to upgrade your phone to do more video content and have the cash to spare, then this flagship foldie is one option to consider.
Because of its elegant look and design, I imagine the HONOR Magic V2 would be a great gadget to take while traveling around places like Taiwan, Japan, or South Korea or safer cities and urban areas rather than rugged destinations and outdoor adventures. It’s the kind of phone you wouldn’t mind whipping out in office settings, business meetings, events, and social gatherings, since foldable smartphones are still not as common as regular smartphones yet. Since it’s so slim and lightweight, it feels like using a regular smartphone until you unfold it.
Aside from serving as a phone and camera, the Magic V2 is also great for multimedia use, as an e-book reader, comic reader, and mini-tablet for watching videos on the go. The unique design, portability, and long battery life are useful features for travelers, though the premium price will probably be the main determining factor for potential buyers.
For more details and phone specs on the HONOR Magic V2, check out their website.
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