Honor Magic 2 Smartphone Review

Name: Honor Magic 2
Brand: Honor

The Magic Phone. Unfortunately, Honor does not officially sell or distribute the Honor 2 in Europe. Officially, Honor claims that the intelligence built into the Magic 2 was designed to make life easier for the Chinese, and it would not work at all in countries outside of China. However, there is something cooking, and Huawei's subsidiary is working on bringing the Magic 2 to other countries as well. We have decided to take a quick look at Honor's high-end smartphone.

Inge Schwabe, 👁 Florian Schmitt (translated by Finn D. Boerne), Published 12/26/2018 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...

Android ARM Chinese Tech Smartphone Touchscreen

The Magic 2 is the second model in the Honor Magic series that never made it to Europe officially due to the fact that parts of the phone’s AI features would be either unavailable or would simply not work outside of China. Other characteristics include a pull-out front-facing camera, which means the Honor Magic’s display is a true full view display, triple-cameras on both sides, and high-end internal hardware.

Due to its performance prowess we have selected similarly powerful smartphones for our test group, including Apple’s iPhone XS and some Snapdragon 845-powered smartphones such as the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium and the Xiaomi Pocophone F1. We have also included the Huawei Mate 20, since it is based on the exact same SoC as the Magic 2. Let’s see which one does best.

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Honor Magic 2 (Magic Series)

Processor

HiSilicon Kirin 980 8 x - 2.6 GHz, Cortex-A76/-A55, octa-core, 64-bit

Graphics adapter

ARM Mali-G76 MP10

Memory

8 GB

Display

6.39 inch 19.5:9, 2340 x 1080 pixel 403 PPI, capacitive, 10-point multitouch, AMOLED, glossy: yes

Storage

128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash, 128 GB

, 116101 GB free

Connections

1 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, Audio Connections: USB-C to 3.5-mm audio adapter included, 1 Fingerprint Reader, NFC, Brightness Sensor, Sensors: proximity sensor, accelerometer, rotation sensor, orientation sensor, magnetometer, gyroscope, pedometer, USB-C

Networking

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/), Bluetooth 5.0, Dual SIM, LTE, GPS

Size

height x width x depth (in mm): 8.3 x 157.3 x 75.1 ( = 0.33 x 6.19 x 2.96 in)

Battery

3400 mAh

Operating System

Android 9.0 Pie

Camera

Primary Camera: 24 MPix AI-supported triple-camera system with AIS (artificial image stabilization); 16 MP f/1.8 PDAF; 16 MP f/2.2; 24 MP monochrome f/1.8; LED, HDR; video: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Secondary Camera: 16 MPix AI-supported triple-camera setup; 16 MP f/2.0; 2 MP f/2.4; 2 MP f/2.4

Additional features

Speakers: mono speaker, Keyboard: virtual keyboard, modular power supply (China), USB cable, SIM tool, quick-start guide (Chinese), safety- and warranty booklet (Chinese), Magic 2.0 (UI), Huawei Game Center, Dual SIM/Dual VoLTE, fanless

Weight

209 g ( = 7.37 oz / 0.46 pounds), Power Supply: 114 g ( = 4.02 oz / 0.25 pounds)

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

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Case

The last model’s multi-colored glass chassis design has survived the overhaul and made it into the new model as well. On the back, a light gray-blue fades into a darker tint, which looks very classy. To our surprise the back side was not as slippery and smooth as it looked, and we were able to push out the camera by gripping the phone with four fingers and using our thumb to slide down the display.

This sliding mechanism brings about a small yet visible gap that was slightly wider on the left-hand side of our review unit than on the right-hand side. Generally speaking, the Magic 2 was very sturdy and warp resistant, but it crossed the 200 g line due to the complexity of its sliding mechanism.

home screen (Play Store installed retroactively)

Size Comparison

Connectivity

On a more positive note, this sliding mechanism results in a true full view display worthy of that name. The bezels at the top and bottom are practically non-existent, and the phone also lacks the dreaded notch. Those who love innovations will be thrilled by the fingerprint reader embedded into the layer underneath the display, just like on the Huawei Mate 20 and the OnePlus 6T.

Acoustic performance is a notable downside, though. We expect stereo speakers in smartphones larger than 6 inches, but the Magic 2 only features a single mono speaker. It is quite possible that Honor had to sacrifice the second speaker in order to make room for the sliding mechanism. Another current trend is the omission of the 3.5-mm headphone jack, and while Honor has joined that party it does fortunately still include an adapter. The downside of this is of course that the phone cannot be charged while the adapter is in use.

Our review unit was equipped with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, and it featured the exact same very powerful Kirin 980 SoC as the Huawei Mate 20/Mate 20 Pro. The SIM tray can take a second nano SIM but no microSD card.

Right: power button, volume rocker

Software

As expected, the Magic 2 comes with Android 9 preinstalled, and to our delight Google’s security patches were up-to-date as well (as of 12/01/2018).

A difference between the Magic 2 and every other smartphone made and sold by Huawei or Honor is the user interface. Instead of the usual EMUI skin the Magic 2 comes with the so-called Magic UI. At first glance it looks identical to EMUI since several of the AI-supported features as well as the AI-driven digital assistant named YoYo are not available to users outside of China.

Another downside of importing an Android smartphone directly from China is the fact that Google’s Play Store is missing entirely. There is an app store called Huawei App Gallery, however, it is only usable for those who know how to read Chinese. Fortunately, the menus and notifications are mostly translated and only rarely did we encounter Chinese writing. One of those examples can be seen on the right - in this particular case, answering an incoming call was only possible by saying “jie ting dian hua”. Fortunately, we were able to uninstall all of the apps with Chinese names completely.

Communication and GPS

Honor did not yet officially specify the supported UMTS and LTE bands. However, in the past Huawei’s smartphones have usually been blessed with support for a very wide range of frequencies. Accordingly, we have had no trouble using the Magic 2 in both the German T-Mobile as well as the German O2 networks. However, if you need to be absolutely sure you may want to consider asking the merchant in question.

Wi-Fi download speeds were just as low as on the Mate 20 and the original Honor Magic when connected to our Linksys EA8500 reference router. Upload performance was much better, and four out of our five test candidates performed exceptionally well with the iPhone XS hard on their heels.

Networking
iperf3 transmit AX12
Huawei Mate 20 Mali-G76 MP10, Kirin 980, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	663 (565^min - 714^max) MBit/s ∼100% +5%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	647 MBit/s ∼98% +2%
Xiaomi Poco F1 Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	647 (598^min - 665^max) MBit/s ∼98% +2%
Honor Magic 2 Mali-G76 MP10, Kirin 980, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	632 (590^min - 660^max) MBit/s ∼95%
Apple iPhone XS A12 Bionic GPU, A12 Bionic, Apple 512 GB (iPhone Xs)	587 MBit/s ∼89% -7%
Average of class Smartphone (16.9 - 1368, n=70, last 2 years)	528 MBit/s ∼80% -16%
iperf3 receive AX12
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	677 MBit/s ∼100% +30%
Xiaomi Poco F1 Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	675 (630^min - 704^max) MBit/s ∼100% +30%
Apple iPhone XS A12 Bionic GPU, A12 Bionic, Apple 512 GB (iPhone Xs)	650 MBit/s ∼96% +25%
Honor Magic 2 Mali-G76 MP10, Kirin 980, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	521 (505^min - 536^max) MBit/s ∼77%
Huawei Mate 20 Mali-G76 MP10, Kirin 980, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	507 (496^min - 517^max) MBit/s ∼75% -3%
Average of class Smartphone (32.7 - 953, n=71, last 2 years)	502 MBit/s ∼74% -4%

Honor Magic 2 HiSilicon Kirin 980, ARM Mali-G76 MP10; iperf3 receive AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø521 (505-536)

Huawei Mate 20 HiSilicon Kirin 980, ARM Mali-G76 MP10; iperf3 receive AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø507 (496-517)

Xiaomi Poco F1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm Adreno 630; iperf3 receive AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø674 (630-704)

Honor Magic 2 HiSilicon Kirin 980, ARM Mali-G76 MP10; iperf3 transmit AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø631 (590-660)

Huawei Mate 20 HiSilicon Kirin 980, ARM Mali-G76 MP10; iperf3 transmit AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø663 (565-714)

Xiaomi Poco F1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm Adreno 630; iperf3 transmit AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø647 (598-665)

Outdoors, GPS lock was obtained after just a few seconds, and the Magic 2’s accuracy was very decent. Indoors, it took a bit longer but we were able to obtain GPS lock even with fewer satellites available.

We test every GPS module on a quick bicycle tour around the block where we compare it to a professional Garmin Edge 520 sat-nav unit. The latter is usually very accurate; however, on the day we ran our tests it showed some inaccuracies around a wooded area. Since the Magic 2 showed the same discrepancies we are going to ignore these. Unfortunately, Honor’s smartphone was inaccurate in more than just this one spot.

In the residential area the Honor’s recorded track was very close to the Garmin’s, and total track length was almost identical as well. In other words: The Honor Magic 2 is a very capable sat-nav.

Telephony and Call Quality

Live-translation (did not work in our tests)

The telephony app features background wallpaper by default and thus looks nicer than on other phones. Its features include automatic recording and live translation, although these two are mutually exclusive and the latter is deemed experimental. In our tests, we had trouble connecting to the server.

Call quality is decent for both conversation partners. We noticed a slight and occasional whiz on speakerphone.

Cameras

Honor says that a triple-camera setup cannot necessarily do more than a dual-camera system, but it can do the things that a dual-camera system is so famous and renowned for much better. Most importantly, this includes multi-dimensional spacial detection in order to improve Bokeh in portrait mode. Unlike the Mate 20, the Magic 2 is still equipped with a monochrome sensor. At 24 MP its resolution is higher than the other two sensors’, which makes for very fine contrast in particularly bright and dark areas of the photo. The other two lenses, a standard and a 17-mm ultra-wide-angle, feature 16 MP sensors, respectively.

In addition, a neural processing unit improves photos with an artificial image stabilization feature in low-light scenarios, and it adjusts color temperature accordingly. In the photo below the AI noticed the need for portrait mode and applied an automatic mask to the edges of the doll. According to Honor, the software is capable of detecting over 60 different categories of objects and can improve the photos accordingly.

The 16 MP front-facing camera features a total of three lenses as well. The so-called theatre mode was capable of detecting the main photo motif and separating it from the background automatically, resulting in differential lighting for back- and foreground: The foreground is lit up while the background is kept very dark.

Depth information is also used for improving face detection. Unfortunately, face detection requires sliding the display down in order to expose the cameras. While this can be easily achieved one-handed it is much more complicated and time-consuming than simply using the in-screen fingerprint reader.

When comparing the daylight photos to those of the Magic 2’s competitors we noticed some minor shortcomings. When zoomed-in, the photos seemed somewhat blurry and often underexposed and too dark. Subjectively speaking, however, the photos looked superb due to the high-contrast ratio achieved thanks to the contrast information from the monochrome sensor. HDR photos also looked impressive, and the photos got better and better with decreasing light. In poor light, photos remained well exposed and crisp, and the only smartphone even better was Apple’s iPhone XS.

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3

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When looking at the ColorChecker Passport photo we noticed an almost perfect match for warm colors and a very close match for all other colors. You can see the reference color at the top of each square. The test chart below is ideal for exposing autofocus insufficiencies and blurriness around the edges. In this case, we found no evidence thereof whatsoever.

Accessories and Warranty

Included in the box was a Chinese 40 W fast-charging power supply, a USB-C cable, and a USB-C to 3.5-mm audio adapter.

Honor designed a special case for the Magic 2, which may or may not be included depending on where you purchase the phone. If it is not, you can purchase it directly from Honor’s or Huawei’s Chinese web shop. Keep in mind that warranty claims for imports can be quite tricky. Please see our Guarantees, Return policies and Warranties article for country-specific information.

Input Devices and Handling

It takes quite a while to register a fingerprint with the new fingerprint reader located underneath the display but once it is registered unlocking the phone is surprisingly fast. Thus, those who consider having to slide the display open every time to unlock the phone via face detection overly complicated will find a viable alternative in the fingerprint reader.

By default, European versions of Honor’s smartphones come with the SwiftKey keyboard preinstalled. Since our review unit was a Chinese model it was missing, and instead we found a keyboard app called HiKeyboard that did not fully support the German keyboard layout. Thus, we decided to retroactively install Google’s Gboard keyboard app from the also retroactively installed Play Store. Google’s keyboard is an immensely popular choice with lots of customization options including haptic feedback, and the Honor Magic 2 was very usable thanks to it. The touchscreen was very snappy and responsive up to its edges.

Display

At 6.39 inches the Magic 2’s cinematic 19.5:9 display with a native resolution of 2340x1080 is quite big. It also turned out to be very bright: 594 nits is as bright for an OLED display as the Mate 20’s 782 nits is for an IPS display.

Unfortunately, we noticed PWM flickering at a comparatively low frequency of just 235 Hz, which could lead to headaches and eye strain for some users.


526 cd/m²	515 cd/m²	532 cd/m²
560 cd/m²	594 cd/m²	549 cd/m²
502 cd/m²	553 cd/m²	522 cd/m²

Distribution of brightness

X-Rite i1Pro 2

Maximum: 594 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 539.2 cd/m² Minimum: 2.27 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 85 %
Center on Battery: 594 cd/m²
Contrast: ∞:1 (Black: 0 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.37 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.2
ΔE Greyscale 3.7 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
130.6% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.127

	Honor Magic 2 AMOLED, 2340x1080, 6.39	Huawei Mate 20 TFT-LCD (IPS), 2244x1080, 6.53	Apple iPhone XS OLED, 2436x1125, 5.80	Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium LCD-IPS, 3840x2160, 5.80	Xiaomi Poco F1 IPS, 2246x1080, 6.18
Screen		33%	39%	14%	1%
Brightness middle	594	782 32%	639 8%	477 -20%	489 -18%
Brightness	539	784 45%	637 18%	453 -16%	486 -10%
Brightness Distribution	85	94 11%	94 11%	86 1%	93 9%
Black Level *		0.36		0.33	0.34
Colorchecker dE 2000 *	5.37	2.3 57%	1 81%	2.1 61%	3.8 29%
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. *	8.32	7 16%	2.2 74%	8.2 1%	7.1 15%
Greyscale dE 2000 *	3.7	2.4 35%	2.2 41%	1.6 57%	4.4 -19%
Gamma	2.127 ^103%	2.22 ^99%	1.9 ^116%	2.28 ^96%	2.22 ^99%
CCT	7212 ^90%	6839 ^95%	6364 ^102%	6425 ^101%	7213 ^90%
Contrast		2172		1445	1438

* ... smaller is better

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

ℹ

To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.

Screen flickering / PWM detected

235.8 Hz

The display backlight flickers at 235.8 Hz (Likely utilizing PWM) .

The frequency of 235.8 Hz is relatively low, so sensitive users will likely notice flickering and experience eyestrain at the stated brightness setting and below.

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18889 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

Color accuracy is determined with support of a spectrophotometer in combination with the CalMAN software. Most colors are oversaturated in standard mode, particularly blues resulting in a slight blue tint. Since manual color temperature adjustment is supported this can be easily alleviated. Color-space coverage (sRGB) was superb, and the Magic 2 manages to cover sRGB completely, and then some.

Display Response Times

ℹ

Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.

↔ Response Time Black to White
6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 3 ms rise
6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↘ 3 ms fall
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 10 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (22.3 ms).
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 5 ms rise
8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↘ 3 ms fall
The screen shows fast response rates in our tests and should be suited for gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 12 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (35.2 ms).

Outdoor usability is usually constricted somewhat by reflective displays, which we like to demonstrate by taking a photo in bright sunshine. Luckily for the Magic 2, the sun did not show even for a minute during our entire review period, so the best we can offer is the photo below taken on an overcast day. The display should however remain fairly usable even in bright sunlight thanks to its high brightness and its AMOLED technology.

Viewing angles were as wide as expected, and the display remained well readable from all sides. Colors remained fairly consistent overall.

Honor Magic 2, viewing angles — Viewing angles

Performance

The Honor Magic 2 is equipped with Huawei’s current high-end Kirin 980 SoC combined with an ARM Mali-G76 GPU and 8 GB of RAM. Our high hopes in the Magic 2’s prowess were however disappointed, and the Magic 2 performed worse than most of its competitors. Only the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 performed similarly in some benchmarks. In 3DMark, the Magic 2 returned the lowest score of the entire test group most of the time.

The biggest surprise was the discrepancy between the Magic 2 and the Mate 20, which features the exact same SoC yet only half the RAM. Is Honor’s Magic UI really that detrimental to performance? If so this would be a very poor bodement for Honor’s AI ambitions.

Geekbench 4.1 - 4.4
64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	3316 Points ∼69%
Huawei Mate 20	3360 Points ∼70% +1%
Apple iPhone XS	4824 Points ∼100% +45%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	2457 Points ∼51% -26%
Xiaomi Poco F1	2468 Points ∼51% -26%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (3207 - 3378, n=9)	3303 Points ∼68% 0%
Average of class Smartphone (783 - 8424, n=78, last 2 years)	4328 Points ∼90% +31%
64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	9735 Points ∼84%
Huawei Mate 20	9965 Points ∼86% +2%
Apple iPhone XS	11598 Points ∼100% +19%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	8522 Points ∼73% -12%
Xiaomi Poco F1	9182 Points ∼79% -6%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (9547 - 10024, n=9)	9838 Points ∼85% +1%
Average of class Smartphone (2630 - 21505, n=78, last 2 years)	11416 Points ∼98% +17%
Compute RenderScript Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	6577 Points ∼46%
Huawei Mate 20	9870 Points ∼68% +50%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	14417 Points ∼100% +119%
Xiaomi Poco F1	14369 Points ∼100% +118%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (5677 - 9870, n=9)	7355 Points ∼51% +12%
Average of class Smartphone (2053 - 14785, n=64, last 2 years)	8586 Points ∼60% +31%

PCMark for Android
Work performance score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	9728 Points ∼72%
Huawei Mate 20	13531 Points ∼100% +39%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	9858 Points ∼73% +1%
Xiaomi Poco F1	9664 Points ∼71% -1%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (9728 - 13531, n=10)	11164 Points ∼83% +15%
Average of class Smartphone (9875 - 19297, n=4, last 2 years)	12669 Points ∼94% +30%
Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	7567 Points ∼80%
Huawei Mate 20	9326 Points ∼98% +23%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	8178 Points ∼86% +8%
Xiaomi Poco F1	8101 Points ∼85% +7%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7567 - 9326, n=10)	8433 Points ∼89% +11%
Average of class Smartphone (5279 - 13282, n=28, last 2 years)	9508 Points ∼100% +26%

3DMark
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	34341 Points ∼45%
Huawei Mate 20	56722 Points ∼74% +65%
Apple iPhone XS	77128 Points ∼100% +125%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	64152 Points ∼83% +87%
Xiaomi Poco F1	63159 Points ∼82% +84%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (34035 - 57073, n=10)	43799 Points ∼57% +28%
Average of class Smartphone (31558 - 113147, n=5, last 2 years)	59969 Points ∼78% +75%
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	42128 Points ∼26%
Huawei Mate 20	67956 Points ∼42% +61%
Apple iPhone XS	160199 Points ∼100% +280%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	81502 Points ∼51% +93%
Xiaomi Poco F1	82125 Points ∼51% +95%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (42128 - 67956, n=10)	53280 Points ∼33% +26%
Average of class Smartphone (40738 - 200519, n=5, last 2 years)	93693 Points ∼58% +122%
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	20851 Points ∼57%
Huawei Mate 20	35932 Points ∼98% +72%
Apple iPhone XS	27400 Points ∼75% +31%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	36762 Points ∼100% +76%
Xiaomi Poco F1	34928 Points ∼95% +68%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (19993 - 37164, n=10)	27047 Points ∼74% +30%
Average of class Smartphone (15179 - 44810, n=5, last 2 years)	27680 Points ∼75% +33%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	2928 Points ∼51%
Huawei Mate 20	4975 Points ∼87% +70%
Apple iPhone XS	Points ∼0% -100%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	5492 Points ∼97% +88%
Xiaomi Poco F1	5687 Points ∼100% +94%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2567 - 5638, n=10)	4152 Points ∼73% +42%
Average of class Smartphone (574 - 9221, n=101, last 2 years)	3367 Points ∼59% +15%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Graphics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	2755 Points ∼33%
Huawei Mate 20	5245 Points ∼63% +90%
Apple iPhone XS	Points ∼0% -100%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	8219 Points ∼99% +198%
Xiaomi Poco F1	8261 Points ∼100% +200%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2347 - 6111, n=10)	4277 Points ∼52% +55%
Average of class Smartphone (517 - 13263, n=101, last 2 years)	3659 Points ∼44% +33%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Physics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	3756 Points ∼89%
Huawei Mate 20	4215 Points ∼100% +12%
Apple iPhone XS	Points ∼0% -100%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	2541 Points ∼60% -32%
Xiaomi Poco F1	2720 Points ∼65% -28%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (3548 - 4436, n=10)	3942 Points ∼94% +5%
Average of class Smartphone (937 - 4609, n=101, last 2 years)	2979 Points ∼71% -21%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Unlimited (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	2602 Points ∼33%
Huawei Mate 20	5511 Points ∼70% +112%
Apple iPhone XS	7856 Points ∼100% +202%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	5438 Points ∼69% +109%
Xiaomi Poco F1	5230 Points ∼67% +101%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2525 - 5990, n=10)	4247 Points ∼54% +63%
Average of class Smartphone (599 - 18846, n=167, last 2 years)	6769 Points ∼86% +160%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Unlimited Graphics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	2659 Points ∼18%
Huawei Mate 20	5893 Points ∼39% +122%
Apple iPhone XS	14951 Points ∼100% +462%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	7609 Points ∼51% +186%
Xiaomi Poco F1	6898 Points ∼46% +159%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2536 - 6350, n=10)	4495 Points ∼30% +69%
Average of class Smartphone (541 - 36477, n=166, last 2 years)	10808 Points ∼72% +306%
2560x1440 Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.0 Unlimited Physics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	2421 Points ∼54%
Huawei Mate 20	4493 Points ∼100% +86%
Apple iPhone XS	2952 Points ∼66% +22%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	2721 Points ∼61% +12%
Xiaomi Poco F1	2832 Points ∼63% +17%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2421 - 4997, n=10)	3580 Points ∼80% +48%
Average of class Smartphone (954 - 7019, n=166, last 2 years)	3777 Points ∼84% +56%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	3586 Points ∼76%
Huawei Mate 20	4228 Points ∼89% +18%
Apple iPhone XS	3514 Points ∼74% -2%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	4734 Points ∼100% +32%
Xiaomi Poco F1	3972 Points ∼84% +11%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2276 - 4835, n=10)	3929 Points ∼83% +10%
Average of class Smartphone (286 - 7890, n=131, last 2 years)	2516 Points ∼53% -30%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Graphics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	3570 Points ∼69%
Huawei Mate 20	4232 Points ∼82% +19%
Apple iPhone XS	3712 Points ∼72% +4%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	5190 Points ∼100% +45%
Xiaomi Poco F1	4746 Points ∼91% +33%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2082 - 4937, n=10)	3960 Points ∼76% +11%
Average of class Smartphone (240 - 9814, n=131, last 2 years)	2518 Points ∼49% -29%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Physics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	3643 Points ∼86%
Huawei Mate 20	4216 Points ∼100% +16%
Apple iPhone XS	2960 Points ∼70% -19%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	3620 Points ∼86% -1%
Xiaomi Poco F1	2528 Points ∼60% -31%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (3380 - 4509, n=10)	3889 Points ∼92% +7%
Average of class Smartphone (858 - 4679, n=131, last 2 years)	3002 Points ∼71% -18%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	3524 Points ∼67%
Huawei Mate 20	4315 Points ∼82% +22%
Apple iPhone XS	4436 Points ∼84% +26%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	4555 Points ∼86% +29%
Xiaomi Poco F1	3669 Points ∼69% +4%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2611 - 5102, n=10)	3823 Points ∼72% +8%
Average of class Smartphone (317 - 16100, n=205, last 2 years)	5294 Points ∼100% +50%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited Graphics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	4093 Points ∼50%
Huawei Mate 20	4319 Points ∼53% +6%
Apple iPhone XS	5139 Points ∼63% +26%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	5651 Points ∼69% +38%
Xiaomi Poco F1	4468 Points ∼55% +9%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2747 - 5157, n=10)	3997 Points ∼49% -2%
Average of class Smartphone (267 - 192870, n=204, last 2 years)	8184 Points ∼100% +100%
2560x1440 Sling Shot Extreme (ES 3.1) Unlimited Physics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	2371 Points ∼53%
Huawei Mate 20	4439 Points ∼100% +87%
Apple iPhone XS	2998 Points ∼68% +26%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	2713 Points ∼61% +14%
Xiaomi Poco F1	2257 Points ∼51% -5%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2227 - 4917, n=10)	3461 Points ∼78% +46%
Average of class Smartphone (839 - 7042, n=204, last 2 years)	3667 Points ∼83% +55%

GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7
T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	55 fps ∼69%
Huawei Mate 20	62 fps ∼78% +13%
Apple iPhone XS	60 fps ∼76% +9%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	60 fps ∼76% +9%
Xiaomi Poco F1	60 fps ∼76% +9%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (55 - 62, n=10)	58.7 fps ∼74% +7%
Average of class Smartphone (22 - 165, n=187, last 2 years)	79.3 fps ∼100% +44%
1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	70 fps ∼28%
Huawei Mate 20	134 fps ∼53% +91%
Apple iPhone XS	251 fps ∼100% +259%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	150 fps ∼60% +114%
Xiaomi Poco F1	150 fps ∼60% +114%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (68 - 138, n=10)	109.5 fps ∼44% +56%
Average of class Smartphone (19 - 497, n=187, last 2 years)	198.8 fps ∼79% +184%

GFXBench 3.0
on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	58 fps ∼87%
Huawei Mate 20	60 fps ∼90% +3%
Apple iPhone XS	60 fps ∼90% +3%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	58 fps ∼87% 0%
Xiaomi Poco F1	58 fps ∼87% 0%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (37 - 60, n=10)	54.8 fps ∼82% -6%
Average of class Smartphone (6.8 - 161, n=188, last 2 years)	67 fps ∼100% +16%
1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	48 fps ∼42%
Huawei Mate 20	87 fps ∼76% +81%
Apple iPhone XS	115 fps ∼100% +140%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	71 fps ∼62% +48%
Xiaomi Poco F1	71 fps ∼62% +48%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (40 - 91, n=10)	70 fps ∼61% +46%
Average of class Smartphone (9.2 - 331, n=189, last 2 years)	113 fps ∼98% +135%

GFXBench 3.1
on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	47 fps ∼84%
Huawei Mate 20	51 fps ∼91% +9%
Apple iPhone XS	48 fps ∼86% +2%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	56 fps ∼100% +19%
Xiaomi Poco F1	54 fps ∼96% +15%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (24 - 54, n=10)	43.4 fps ∼78% -8%
Average of class Smartphone (3.7 - 143, n=189, last 2 years)	53.5 fps ∼96% +14%
1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	53 fps ∼69%
Huawei Mate 20	55 fps ∼72% +4%
Apple iPhone XS	62 fps ∼81% +17%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	58 fps ∼76% +9%
Xiaomi Poco F1	35 fps ∼46% -34%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (25 - 56, n=10)	45.2 fps ∼59% -15%
Average of class Smartphone (6.2 - 223, n=189, last 2 years)	76.8 fps ∼100% +45%

AnTuTu v7 - Total Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	268359 Points ∼77%
Huawei Mate 20	302465 Points ∼87% +13%
Apple iPhone XS	348178 Points ∼100% +30%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	246366 Points ∼71% -8%
Xiaomi Poco F1	263165 Points ∼76% -2%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (268359 - 322616, n=10)	295586 Points ∼85% +10%

AnTuTu v6 - Total Score (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	253447 Points ∼100%
Huawei Mate 20	254229 Points ∼100% 0%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	226124 Points ∼89% -11%
Xiaomi Poco F1	227026 Points ∼89% -10%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (245662 - 254229, n=9)	250407 Points ∼98% -1%

BaseMark OS II
Overall (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	4014 Points ∼66%
Huawei Mate 20	4466 Points ∼73% +11%
Apple iPhone XS	6097 Points ∼100% +52%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	4288 Points ∼70% +7%
Xiaomi Poco F1	3838 Points ∼63% -4%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (4014 - 4746, n=10)	4446 Points ∼73% +11%
Average of class Smartphone (411 - 9585, n=163, last 2 years)	5118 Points ∼84% +28%
System (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	7789 Points ∼64%
Huawei Mate 20	8602 Points ∼70% +10%
Apple iPhone XS	12202 Points ∼100% +57%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	8418 Points ∼69% +8%
Xiaomi Poco F1	6506 Points ∼53% -16%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7597 - 8604, n=10)	8146 Points ∼67% +5%
Average of class Smartphone (2083 - 19657, n=163, last 2 years)	8861 Points ∼73% +14%
Memory (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	5431 Points ∼92%
Huawei Mate 20	5929 Points ∼100% +9%
Apple iPhone XS	4169 Points ∼70% -23%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	3704 Points ∼62% -32%
Xiaomi Poco F1	3239 Points ∼55% -40%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (5116 - 6283, n=10)	5580 Points ∼94% +3%
Average of class Smartphone (670 - 11617, n=163, last 2 years)	5620 Points ∼95% +3%
Graphics (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	4963 Points ∼31%
Huawei Mate 20	5455 Points ∼34% +10%
Apple iPhone XS	15875 Points ∼100% +220%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	7743 Points ∼49% +56%
Xiaomi Poco F1	7945 Points ∼50% +60%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (4963 - 7758, n=10)	6484 Points ∼41% +31%
Average of class Smartphone (697 - 30125, n=163, last 2 years)	11138 Points ∼70% +124%
Web (sort by value)
Honor Magic 2	1257 Points ∼73%
Huawei Mate 20	1430 Points ∼84% +14%
Apple iPhone XS	1711 Points ∼100% +36%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	1400 Points ∼82% +11%
Xiaomi Poco F1	1296 Points ∼76% +3%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (1239 - 1462, n=10)	1343 Points ∼78% +7%
Average of class Smartphone (10 - 2392, n=163, last 2 years)	1448 Points ∼85% +15%

Legend

Honor Magic 2 HiSilicon Kirin 980, ARM Mali-G76 MP10, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash

Huawei Mate 20 HiSilicon Kirin 980, ARM Mali-G76 MP10, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash

Apple iPhone XS Apple A12 Bionic, Apple A12 Bionic GPU, Apple 512 GB (iPhone Xs)

Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm Adreno 630, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash

Xiaomi Poco F1 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm Adreno 630, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash

Average HiSilicon Kirin 980

Average of class Smartphone

Web-browsing performance was not as bad, and the Magic 2 managed to outperform at least its two Qualcomm competitors in four of the five tests performed. As usual, Apple’s iPhone and its perfectly optimized Safari browser play in a different league.

JetStream 1.1 | Octane V2 | Mozilla Kraken 1.1 | WebXPRT 3 | WebXPRT 2015

JetStream 1.1 - Total Score
Apple iPhone XS (Safari Mobile 12.0)	272.3 Points ∼100% +167%
Average of class Smartphone (26.7 - 414, n=79, last 2 years)	135.5 Points ∼50% +33%
Huawei Mate 20 (Chrome 70.0.3538.80)	107 Points ∼39% +5%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (93.2 - 109.9, n=9)	102.4 Points ∼38% 0%
Honor Magic 2 (Huawei Browser 9.0.1.331)	102 Points ∼37%
Xiaomi Poco F1 (Chrome 68)	76 Points ∼28% -25%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium (Chrome 68)	71.2 Points ∼26% -30%

Octane V2 - Total Score
Apple iPhone XS (Safari Mobile 12.0)	43280 Points ∼100% +106%
Average of class Smartphone (4633 - 74261, n=194, last 2 years)	29454 Points ∼68% +40%
Huawei Mate 20 (Chrome 70.0.3538.80)	21849 Points ∼50% +4%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (20618 - 23285, n=10)	21733 Points ∼50% +4%
Honor Magic 2 (Huawei Browser 9.0.1.331)	20975 Points ∼48%
Xiaomi Poco F1 (Chrome 68)	14514 Points ∼34% -31%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium (Chrome 68)	13360 Points ∼31% -36%

Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total Score
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium (Chrome 68)	3179 ms * ∼100% -60%
Xiaomi Poco F1 (Chrome 68)	2714 ms * ∼85% -37%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (1948 - 3098, n=10)	2176 ms * ∼68% -10%
Average of class Smartphone (414 - 10797, n=168, last 2 years)	1998 ms * ∼63% -1%
Honor Magic 2 (Huawei Browser 9.0.1.331)	1984 ms * ∼62%
Huawei Mate 20 (Chrome 70.0.3538.80)	1948 ms * ∼61% +2%
Apple iPhone XS (Safari Mobile 12.0)	609 ms * ∼19% +69%

WebXPRT 3 - ---
Apple iPhone XS (Safari Mobile 12.0)	159 Points ∼100% +64%
Huawei Mate 20 (Chrome 70.0.3538.80)	124 Points ∼78% +28%
Average of class Smartphone (28 - 292, n=145, last 2 years)	112 Points ∼70% +15%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (86 - 124, n=10)	105.1 Points ∼66% +8%
Honor Magic 2	97 Points ∼61%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium (Chrome 68)	75 Points ∼47% -23%

WebXPRT 2015 - Overall Score
Apple iPhone XS (Safari Mobile 12.0)	345 Points ∼100% +51%
Huawei Mate 20 (Chrome 70.0.3538.80)	328 Points ∼95% +44%
Average HiSilicon Kirin 980 (228 - 334, n=5)	277 Points ∼80% +21%
Honor Magic 2 (Huawei Browser 9.0.1.331)	228 Points ∼66%
Xiaomi Poco F1 (Chrome 68)	223 Points ∼65% -2%
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium (Chrome 68)	211 Points ∼61% -7%

* ... smaller is better

Neither Honor nor Huawei tend to forgo the microSD slot on their devices; however, in this case Honor had to sacrifice storage expansion to the sliding mechanism design. To make amends, Honor also offers a model with 256 GB of internal storage, and our review unit’s 128 GB was quite decent as well. As a bonus, they also turned out to be pretty fast.

	Honor Magic 2	Huawei Mate 20	Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium	Xiaomi Poco F1	Average 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash	Average of class Smartphone
AndroBench 3-5		-7%	-31%	-40%	1%	91%
Random Read 4KB	143	157.9 10%	136 -5%	101 -29%	151.6 ?(92.6 - 239, n=108) 6%	207 ?(22.2 - 543, n=235, last 2 years) 45%
Random Write 4KB	250	158.1 -37%	21.75 -91%	17.81 -93%	130.9 ?(18.2 - 290, n=108) -48%	217 ?(13 - 572, n=236, last 2 years) -13%
Sequential Write 256KB	185	196.7 6%	171 -8%	155.6 -16%	297 ?(13.6 - 719, n=108) 61%	741 ?(13.6 - 3062, n=235, last 2 years) 301%
Sequential Read 256KB	908	840 -7%	749 -18%	705 -22%	772 ?(427 - 1011, n=108) -15%	1180 ?(215 - 4512, n=235, last 2 years) 30%

Gaming

Whether or not it makes sense to play Fortnite on a small smartphone screen is up for debate, however the Honor’s big high-contrast screen is most likely better than average for this scenario. Tapping and swiping were instantly recognized, but it was impossible to locate enemies by sound alone due to the device’s single speaker. A headset is thus inevitable.

Emissions

Temperature

Our review unit did not break any performance records in our benchmarks, but in return it also remained fairly cool overall and did not throttle under load at all.

Surface temperatures remained at a very comfortable level during everyday use.

Max. Load

Idle


37.3 °C 99 F	34.9 °C 95 F	33 °C 91 F
37.1 °C 99 F	34.5 °C 94 F	33.8 °C 93 F
37 °C 99 F	34.6 °C 94 F	33 °C 91 F

Maximum: 37.3 °C = 99 F
Average: 35 °C = 95 F


32.5 °C 91 F	34.5 °C 94 F	39.2 °C 103 F
32.5 °C 91 F	35 °C 95 F	39.4 °C 103 F
32.7 °C 91 F	34.5 °C 94 F	39.4 °C 103 F

Maximum: 39.4 °C = 103 F
Average: 35.5 °C = 96 F

Power Supply (max.) 36.6 °C = 98 F | Room Temperature 21.8 °C = 71 F | Voltcraft IR-260

(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 35 °C / 95 F, compared to the average of 32.6 °C / 91 F for the devices in the class Smartphone.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 37.3 °C / 99 F, compared to the average of 34.9 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 52.9 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 39.4 °C / 103 F, compared to the average of 33.7 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.2 °C / 83 F, compared to the device average of 32.6 °C / 91 F.

Speakers

The Honor Magic 2’s single speaker was loud enough even for video playback at less than maximum volume. At 89.7 dB(A) it was louder than the average smartphone. Very low bass frequencies were present, however at a frequency range that is inaudible to the human ear. Like on all other smartphones Huawei’s Histen Sound effects can only be enabled with a connected headset.

Frequency diagram (checkboxes can be checked and unchecked to compare devices)

Honor Magic 2 audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (89.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 21.3% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (12.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.7% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (5.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 8.3% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (3.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.6% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 48% of all tested devices in this class were better, 11% similar, 41% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 68% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 25% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%

Huawei Mate 20 audio analysis

(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (78.4 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 18.1% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (12.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.5% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (4.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 7.5% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (6.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (21.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 37% of all tested devices in this class were better, 11% similar, 51% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 61% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 31% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%

Apple iPhone XS audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (87.3 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 16% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5.6% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (5.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 10.5% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (3.8% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (20.2% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 28% of all tested devices in this class were better, 10% similar, 61% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 53% of all tested devices were better, 9% similar, 38% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%

Battery Life

Power Consumption

This is where the magic happens. The highly anticipated 40 W power supply was able to charge the Magic 2’s 3,500 mAh battery from near empty to 50% in just 18 minutes, and to 100% in just slightly over an hour (1:10 h).

Power consumption itself was less than magical, though. When idle and in low load scenarios the Magic 2 was the most efficient smartphone in our test group. This quickly changed under load, but the device remained inconspicuous throughout the test.

We should also mention that Honor’s Super Safe Charging Technology has been certified by the TÜV Rheinland, a German Technical Inspection Association that provides inspection and product certification services.

Power Consumption

Off / Standby	0 / 0.2 Watt
Idle	0.6 / 0.9 / 1.9 Watt
Load	6.3 / 7.05 Watt


Key: min: , med: , max: Metrahit Energy Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.

	Honor Magic 2 3400 mAh	Huawei Mate 20 4000 mAh	Apple iPhone XS 2658 mAh	Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium 3540 mAh	Xiaomi Poco F1 4000 mAh	Average HiSilicon Kirin 980	Average of class Smartphone
Power Consumption		-41%	-4%	-37%	-26%	-34%	-14%
Idle Minimum *	0.6	0.69 -15%	0.95 -58%	0.67 -12%	0.65 -8%	0.802 ?(0.6 - 0.97, n=10) -34%	0.884 ?(0.12 - 2.37, n=172, last 2 years) -47%
Idle Average *	0.9	2.28 -153%	1.34 -49%	2.5 -178%	1.97 -119%	2.07 ?(0.9 - 2.6, n=10) -130%	1.485 ?(0.65 - 2.98, n=172, last 2 years) -65%
Idle Maximum *	1.9	2.52 -33%	1.48 22%	2.51 -32%	2.01 -6%	2.38 ?(1.83 - 2.77, n=10) -25%	1.699 ?(0.69 - 3.11, n=172, last 2 years) 11%
Load Average *	6.3	5.21 17%	4 37%	4.3 32%	4.29 32%	4.87 ?(3.74 - 6.3, n=10) 23%	4.27 ?(2.1 - 10, n=172, last 2 years) 32%
Load Maximum *	7.05	8.49 -20%	5.13 27%	6.87 3%	9.05 -28%	7.46 ?(6.15 - 9.85, n=10) -6%	7.08 ?(3.56 - 13.7, n=172, last 2 years) -0%

* ... smaller is better

Battery Life

As with power consumption, battery life was largely inconspicuous as well, and the Magic 2 lasted for a decent amount of time. In direct comparison with its competitors it outperformed Sony's Xperia XZ2 Premium and Apple's iPhone XS in our Wi-Fi test, during which it lasted for almost 13 hours before it ran out of power. The Mate 20 and Xiaomi's Pocophone F1 lasted significantly longer, though.

Battery Runtime


WiFi Websurfing (Chrome 71)		12h 53min

	Honor Magic 2 3400 mAh	Huawei Mate 20 4000 mAh	Apple iPhone XS 2658 mAh	Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium 3540 mAh	Xiaomi Poco F1 4000 mAh
Battery Runtime
WiFi v1.3	773	885 14%	570 -26%	547 -29%	808 5%

Pros

+ full-view display

+ triple-camera setup

+ plenty of storage

+ plenty of RAM

+ dual SIM, dual VoLTE

+ modern, sleek design

Cons

- not officially available outside of China

- lacks Play Store and international keyboard layouts ex-factory

- special features unavailable outside of China

- storage not expandable

- heavy

Verdict

No doubt, Honor’s Magic 2 is a very special smartphone. Its true full view display is going to please anybody who prefers a bezel-less display but dreads the existence of a notch despite the fact that these design abominations are getting smaller and smaller (see OnePlus’ recent attempts). In addition, the Magic 2 also features an amazing triple-camera system offering great photo capabilities to amateurs and professionals alike.

As long as the phone is not officially exported you will have to import it directly from China via established import channels. Prices start at around $730, and thus significantly above Huawei’s Mate 20.

In direct comparison with the Huawei Mate 20 the Magic 2 gets the short end of the stick.

But even if the price was lower the Mate 20 would still be the better choice over the Magic 2. The latter’s performance is significantly worse, and so is battery life. If you like the idea of a slider design you may also want to take a look at the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.

Honor Magic 2 - 2018-12-23 12/23/2018 v6^(old)
Inge Schwabe

Chassis

84%

Keyboard

65 / 75 → 87%

Pointing Device

95%

Connectivity

48 / 60 → 80%

Weight

88%

Battery

96%

Display

85%

Games Performance

63 / 63 → 100%

Application Performance

81 / 70 → 100%

Temperature

91%

Noise

100%

Audio

78 / 91 → 86%

Camera

85%

Average

82%

88%

Smartphone - Weighted Average

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Editor of the original article: Inge Schwabe - Senior Tech Writer - 139 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017

I initially earned my pocket money by filing paper records and earned my first salary by destroying them: For years I have supported digital transformation processes in both large and small IT projects. With two successfully completed degrees, in Computer Science and Technical Communications, I managed to combine my expertise with my passion for writing. I have written articles for connect, c’t, Mac & I, and the Microsoft and Samsung portals. With Notebookcheck, I sometimes move my workplace outdoors into nature so I can put fitness trackers and smartwatches to the test beyond the confines of my desk.

contact me via: @mobilewelten, Facebook, Xing

Translator: Finn D Boerne - Translator - 450 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017

Born in the United States and raised in Germany I became acquainted with both languages from an early age and turned this into my profession later in life. Computers have always played an important role in my life, and my love for all things digital is a huge part of my daily routine. Virtual Reality has captured my imagination and interest in particular, and I cannot wait to see what the (near) future will bring.

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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > Reviews > Honor Magic 2 Smartphone Review

Inge Schwabe, 2018-12-26 (Update: 2019-02-23)

Honor Magic 2 Smartphone Review

Case

Size Comparison

Connectivity

Software

Communication and GPS

Telephony and Call Quality

Cameras

Accessories and Warranty

Input Devices and Handling

Display

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

Display Response Times

Performance

Gaming

Emissions

Temperature

Speakers

Honor Magic 2 audio analysis

Huawei Mate 20 audio analysis

Apple iPhone XS audio analysis

Battery Life

Power Consumption

Battery Life

Pros

Cons

Verdict

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