My first impression of the HONOR Magic V2

The HONOR Magic V2 is the world’s thinnest and lightest Inward Foldable smartphone and I managed to get one unit for a review just recently and this is my first impression of the phone upon its unboxing.

The smartphone is technically HONOR’s answer to the increasingly popular foldable smartphone market and it is considered a premium smartphone by any standards.

Box and package

The box of the Magic V2 screams ‘Premium’ in every possible way.  Not only does the box come premium black, it also has a magnetic flap, which is something you only find in those ‘atas‘ brands.

Opening the box immediately reveals the 7.92 inches foldable OLED which looks pretty large for a phone in my opinion.

The Magic V2 sits nicely in its tray, and removing the tray and the phone unveiles a neatly packed set-up which consist of the charger block, usb-c cables, phone case and the usb tray pin.

First impression of the HONOR Magic V2

I would be lying if I said the Magic V2 didn’t impress me at first sight.

Once I lifted the phone from its tray, I was immediately impressed with how light it felt.  I’ve tried previous foldables before and they were heavy making it one of the reasons why I decided to not use a foldable.

But the Magic V2 is different. It’s only 237g, almost the same weight of the iPhone 15 Pro Max or the Samsung S23 Ultra.

In fact, the Magic V2 is actually lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max which weighs 240g and hence why I feel the Magic V2 hits a lot of sweet ground by being as light as just one single candybar shaped smartphone.

Because of its lightweight, the Magic V2 feels ‘at home’ when I am carrying it around as it feels like any other candybar smartphone I typically carry around.  It is also just 9.9mm thick, making it very much the same size as most candybar smartphones out there.

When unfolded, the lightweightness wasn’t obvious because I held it with two hands.  However, this is where the thinnest comes in.

By being just 4.7mm thick when unfolded, it feels like I’m holding a thin notebook in my hands, with the phone feeling very lightweight and easy on the hands.

The Samsung Galazy Z Fold5 is a lot thicker at 6.5mm thick when unfolded.

The rear of the Magic V2 looks amazing in black and purple and is porbably the prittiest rear for a smartphone I’ve ever seen.  This purple+black glass rear reacts differently to lighting, appearing either purple or black.

In addtition, the camera bump, (which I never favour in any smartphone), looks very premium on the magic V2 and somewhat looks appropriately classy this time around.

The curved glass which makes the rear camera bump looks pristine as it houses the triple camera set-up which is a combination of 50+50+20 megapixels.

On the sides there’s the usual volume buttons and a single button which works as the finger print scanner, power button and Google Assistant button, while the top and lower end of the Magic V2 has tiny dots which give an indication that the smartphone offers stereo 3D sound.

The internal OLED fordable screen produces impressive display, and looks smooth (despite being a foldable phone) at one glance.

However, if you run your fingers on the screen, there’s slight bumbs where the phone folds, something very typical with foldable smartphone.

There’s a 16MP front camera in the interior screen, probably great for use when doing video calls when the phone is unfolded.  The screen has a 90.4 percent body-to-screen ratio and is evenly wrapped with a black edge which is 2mm. It supports up to 120Hz refresh rate with a maximum brightness level of 1,600nits.

The exterior screen on the other hand consist of the Nanocrystal glass 2.0 which HONOR claims to be tougher than other typical glass, and there’s a 16MP camera also located under the screen.

This exterior screen is 6.43 inches and has a 91.2 percent body-to-screen ratio with 2,500 nits of brightness. I’m thinking HONOR expects many to use the phone in its folded state outdoors, and hence the higher bightness capability for the exterior screen.

The side exterior screen is slightly curved  with the lft of the phone featuring one single clean bar, presumely the titanium made hinge.

Inside, the smartphone is powered by a Qualcimm Snapdragon 8 gen 2 Mobile platform processor which is paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space. These configurations are typical of high-end smartphones today.

Last but not least, the Magic V2 has a 5,000mAh battery which supports 66W HONOR SuperCharge via wired charging.

There is no official IP rating for the Magic V2, but there is rubber band around the SIM tray which indicates there’s probably some sort of water resistance in the phone.

Unboxing and first impression video

My unboxing of the smartphone as well as my first thoughts of the Magic V2 can be seen below.

Conclusion

In terms of looks, I would give the HONOR Magic V2 an A+ because I love how the black and purple glass rear of the smartphone looks.  I also liked how it blended very well with the rectabgular camera notch.

In terms of weight and also thinnest, which is the phone’s main selling point, I’d also give it an A+.

This is because it feels like a normal and typical candybar smartphone with no additional bulk and weight.

Overall, I think the HONOR Magic V2 is the perfect smartphone for someone like me and I can’t wait to see what I can do with his phone in coming days/weeks as I review it.

 

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