Honor Magic V2: Two-minute preview

Foldable phones haven’t yet come close to meaningfully disrupting the candy bar-shaped mainstream, but there’s no denying that mobile manufacturers the world over are committed to investing heavily in the foldable ideal. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 arrived in July 2023 to shake up our list of the best foldable phones money can buy. But Chinese smartphone brand Honor – which has fast become a major industry disruptor – also has a new foldable flagship in its shop window; one that may have already left its American counterparts in the dust.

The Honor Magic V2 arrives as the successor to the excellent Honor Magic VS (head over to our hands-on Honor Magic VS review for our full thoughts on that device), and represents Honor’s third foldable offering since the Honor Magic V debuted in early 2022. 

Thinner, lighter and more powerful than both of those devices, the Magic V2 packs a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and a display that borrows heavily from the excellent Honor Magic 5 Pro, while its camera setup – on paper, at least – rivals that of the Google Pixel Fold.

Honor’s latest foldable flagship was officially unveiled in China earlier this year, before being announced globally at IFA 2023. I haven’t spent enough time with the Magic V2 to deliver a full verdict on its value for money – or position in the foldable market – just yet. But after some brief hands-on time pre-IFA, I can safely say that the early signs are promising.

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Price and availability

As above, the Honor Magic V2 was first unveiled in China on July 12, 2023, before being showcased globally at IFA 2023 on September 1.

The phone has a starting price of 8,999 yuan overseas, which converts to around $1,250 / £980 / AU$1,920, but we’re still waiting on Honor to confirm international pricing (additional shipping and tax costs mean that those converted figures are likely to be much, much higher).

For reference, the Honor Magic VS started at £1,399 (for the 8GB RAM / 256GB model), while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 starts at $1,799.99 / £1,749 / AU$2,599 (for the 12GB RAM / 256GB model). In other words, this is a competitively priced, albeit outrageously expensive, handset.

As with most Honor devices, the Magic V2 is unlikely to be made available in the US or Australia any time soon, though its imminent release in the UK and Europe has been confirmed.

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Specs

Check out the Honor Magic V2's full specs below:

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Design

It’s fitting that this hands-on review should begin with our verdict on the Honor Magic V2’s design, because, quite frankly, that’s the most important aspect of any foldable phone. And what a design this is. 

The Magic V2 is a large, book-style foldable that looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google Pixel Fold. But measuring just 156.7 x 74.1 x 9.9mm when folded and 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.7mm when unfolded, it’s also the thinnest foldable smartphone available in the world right now. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold measure 6.1mm and 5.8 mm at their thinnest, respectively, so for Honor to undercut both models by more than a millimeter is seriously impressive. To help you visualize just how thin the Magic V2 is when unfolded, imagine two Euro coins stacked on top of each other. Or, to put it another way, you could probably pass this phone underneath your bedroom door.

The Magic V2 trumps the competition at its thickest, too, measuring just 9.9mm when folded (versus 13.4mm for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and 12.1mm for the Pixel Fold). In candy bar mode, Honor’s latest foldable is just one millimeter thicker than the conventionally-designed Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and at 231g, it’s also 3g lighter.

So, yes, the Magic V2 is the thinnest and lightest book-style foldable money can buy right now, which likewise makes it the most physically practical device of its kind. Foldable phones – not least the Honor Magic VS – have often been criticized for being heavy, un-pocketable devices, but Honor has gone some way to mitigating that criticism here.

The Chinese manufacturer claims to have used “proprietary steel” and a titanium hinge – one that can supposedly be folded up to 400,000 times – to achieve such impressive design credentials on the Magic V2, with the phone’s dual “silicon-carbon batteries” also measuring just 2.72mm thick (that’s about the thickness of a credit card).

The major downside of all that aesthetic innovation is that the Magic V2 offers no official IP rating, meaning it’s not as water resistant as, say, the Galaxy Fold 5. In a pre-briefing for the device, Honor told us that the Magic V2 can comfortably withstand the odd shower sprinkling, but this is definitely not a phone to be taken for an underwater photoshoot.

On the colors front, the Magic V2 is available black, gold, Silk Black and Silk Purple. The black model has an eco-leather rear panel, while the other three models have glass backs.

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Display

Being a foldable phone, the Honor Magic V2 has two displays. The first is a 7.92-inch, 2156 x 2344-pixel foldable OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. The second is a 6.43-inch, 120Hz OLED cover display with a 1060 x 2376 resolution, which uses drop-resistant nanocrystal glass.

Both screens have around 402 pixels per inch, and both use Honor’s proprietary dynamic dimming display technology to achieve an impressive 3840Hz PWM dimming cycle rate, which essentially helps to minimize strain on the eyes (you’ll find the same display smarts inside the Honor Magic 5 Pro and Honor 90).

In practice, the Magic V2’s dual displays are big, bright, smooth and more than suitable for gaming and watching movies (thanks in part to that aforementioned HDR10+ support). They’re largely in line with what you’ll get from the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold, though the former has slightly smaller bezels around its edges.

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Cameras

Foldable phone manufacturers have yet to make cameras the core focus of their foldable devices, and that doesn’t change with the Honor Magic V2.

That’s not to say that the cameras on offer here aren’t worth shouting about, mind. The Magic V2 boasts three rear lenses: a 50MP (f/1.9) main, a 50MP (f/2.0) ultra-wide, and a 20MP f/2.4 telephoto, with the latter offering 2.5x optical zoom. The main and telephoto cameras also have optical image stabilization (OIS). 

There’s a 16MP, punch-hole front camera on each screen, too, and on the video front, you can shoot in up to 4K quality at up to 60 fps.

The Google Pixel Fold represents the current standard for foldable phone cameras, and since that phone’s rear setup comprises a 48MP (f/1.7) main lens, a 10.8MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide lens and a 10.8MP (f/3.05) telephoto lens offering 5x optical zoom, the Magic V2 has a good chance of challenging for that crown. 

Honor’s Falcon Capture system is also carried over from Magic 5 Pro, and some clever AI optimization should help to keep pictures taken with the Magic V2 looking bright and sharp, so we’re excited to put the phone through its photographic paces in our full review.

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Performance and software

Under the hood, the Honor Magic V2 is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which is the chip you’ll find inside many of the best Android phones in 2023. 

It comes with 16GB of RAM and a choice of either 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage – i.e. the same options offered on the Honor Magic VS. But whatever configuration you choose, the Magic V2 will almost certainly deliver the level of performance you’d expect from a four-figure Android flagship. 

Browsing, streaming and gaming are a breeze for this phone, with its 16GB of RAM making even the most power-hungry creative or professional tasks easy to perform. I’ll be running full benchmark tests for the Magic V2’s full review, but it’s safe to expect comparable performance from this device versus others running the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Other performance specs include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, 5G support and stereo speakers, and the Magic V2 supports a stylus on both of its screens, too – though this isn’t included with the phone, as is the case in China.

On the software front, the Magic V2 runs MagicOS 7.2 – which is based on Android 13 – and comes pre-equipped with Google apps, meaning the likes of the Play Store, Maps and Gmail are ready and waiting on first boot-up. 

As you’d expect from a foldable Honor device, the phone also packs a raft of enhanced smart features. Parallel Space, for example, lets you use two apps independently of each other split across the foldable screen. 

We’re waiting on Honor to confirm its update support commitment to the Magic V2. But since the Magic 5 Pro and Magic VS are both getting five years of security updates and three major operating system upgrades, we’d expect similar pledges for Honor’s latest flagship.

Hands-on Honor Magic V2 review: Battery life

Like its predecessor, the Honor Magic V2 packs a dual 5,000 mAh battery that can be fully recharged using Honor’s 66W SuperCharge tech in under an hour.

That’s a larger battery than you’ll find inside both the Galaxy Z Fold 5 (4,400 mAh) and Pixel Fold (4,727 mAh) – so in theory, the Magic V2 should last longer than either phone. And it’s worth remembering that this larger cell doesn’t come at the expense of weight (quite the opposite, in fact). Honor’s 66W SuperCharge cable comes included in the box, too.

I’ll be running full battery tests for the phone’s full review, but suffice to say, those on-paper battery credentials are impressive, and I haven’t yet found myself wanting for charge with the Magic V2. There's still no wireless charging, though, so the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold win out on that front.

First tested August 2023

After plenty of leaks and buzz surrounding the Lenovo Legion Go, the portable gaming device has finally been officially revealed. For those not in the know, the Legion Go is a PC gaming handheld system similar to both the Steam Deck and especially to the more recent Asus ROG Ally. 

I was able to get my hands on it and take it for a test drive, thoroughly checking out its many features while seeing how well it handles some of the best PC games. Similar to the ROG Ally, this system is breaking through into a new market with features that set it apart from its competition even as it slots into the market of powerful PC portable.

And though both the Legion Go and ROG Ally owe its existence in this growing market to the Steam Deck, the former two are far closer to each other in terms of specs and unique design choices, as well as the use of Windows OS.

It'll definitely be interesting to see how the Legion Go shapes up as we get closer to its launch later in 2023.

Lenovo Legion Go: Price and availability

So far we know that the Lenovo Legion Go I personally tested will be coming to the US on October 2023 for a pretty steep price point of $699 (around £555 / AU$1,090). And though the details are still unknown, Lenovo confirmed with me that there will be additional models coming at a later date, with one being a less expensive version equipped with the AMD Ryzen Z1 rather than the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme that the current model has.

However, we don't have any confirmation on whether it'll launch in other regions like the UK or Australia, or what pricing could look like for said regions. Considering that its competition launched in those regions, we should be seeing the Legion Go in other countries as well.

Lenovo Legion Go: Design

Unlike the Asus ROG Ally's distinctive and stylish white, honeycomb chassis, the Lenovo Legion Go is clearly built for practicality. It's all black, larger and bulkier, and quite a bit heavier at nearly 1.5 pounds. It's packing some serious specs and the handheld is built to handle it, as well as the ventilation.

Its practicability doesn't stop there, with design choices meant to address general console controller issues. The biggest example is the hall effect joysticks which, according to Lenovo, ensures no joystick drift and minimal dead zones. Considering how commonplace those issues are with literally any other console controller or handheld, this improvement sounds like music to my ears.

My favorite part of the Legion Go is its built-in kick stand on the back. It's ideal for long gaming sessions in which holding up a larger portable will not be feasible. I had the Legion Go propped up on the table while playing and by the end I was lamenting that the Steam Deck and ROG Ally didn't have this same feature to make long gaming sessions that much easier.

There's also an incredible mode called FPS mode, in which you can detach the controllers from the side of the system and use the included platform to prop up one of them. This creates a sort of joystick/mouse hybrid that makes FPS and strategy games much easier to play, as you can now simulate the point-and-click ease of a regular mouse. 

Lenovo Legion Go: Performance

It has some pretty impressive specs with an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor with AMD RNDA Graphics, 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, up to a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, and a micro-SD slot supporting up to 2TB of extra storage. I played both HiFi Rush and PowerWash Simulator to test out the system and see how well it all holds up.

Much like the Asus ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go uses a Zen 4-powered AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU, which had been first developed by the chip maker specifically for the ROG Ally in order to better optimize for a mobile device. And thanks to that initiative, other PC handhelds can benefit from the tech. The GPU is an AMD RNDA Graphics, also featuring AMD’s graphical RDNA3 technology which is a holdover from the ROG Ally.

Ventilation was also impressive - while I played I didn't noticed any exssesive heating during my gaming session, not even from the top where the largest vent is location. This was a huge issue with the ROG Ally, with it feeling much hotter within a few minutes of gameplay, so it's great to see the larger size of the Legion Go being put to use. It's most likely due to the Coldfront thermal technology featuring a liquid crystal polymer 79-blade fan, keeping the system comfortably cool.

The display is quite good: 8.8-inch QHD+ 16:10 display, up to 500nits brightness, featuring a 97% DCI-P3 color gamut, and up to 144Hz refresh rate. Compared to the ROG Ally, the display is also rather premium and should theoretically run smoothly. However, like the ROG Ally pre-launch, the Legion Go had issues with framerate and latency, with visible stuttering that, while not interfering with gameplay, was still glaringly noticeable. 

It would be a shame if the latter was hamstrung by its own powerful specs and unable to reach its full potential, much like the former did when the framerate was only improved by lowering resolution which trivialized the point of the 1080p display.

The single haptic touchpad on the bottom right is great for navigating the Windows 11 screen, which is the same OS that the ROG Ally runs. But that single addition of the pad makes it much easier to move the cursor around. There was one issue I came across with the haptic touchpad on my test handheld, and that was a bizarre buzzing noise it made when in use. It was only my unit that had the problem, the other ones worked perfectly fine. Hopefully, this is a hiccup that's hammered out of every version of the device upon launch.

The touch screen itself makes it a cinch to open up the main menu directly and switch between installed games. There are also options to have other storefronts like Xbox Games Pass, Steam, EA App, and Epic Games Store’s libraries.

Much like the ROG Ally, you can turn the Legion Go into a mini desktop replacement by connecting a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse thanks to that same Windows 11 OS. Unlike the ROG Ally, the Legion doesn't use Armoury Crate CE, and considering how clunky it could be at times, I don't miss the software in the slightest.

Lenovo Legion Go: Early verdict

Coming from my hands-on experience, the Lenovo Legion Go is a PC gaming portable with tons of potential. It has some great quality-of-life changes and truly innovative modes that fit nearly every playstyle or game genre. It has great specs, an impressive display, and a truly excellent ventilation system. In these areas I believe it to be superior to the ROG Ally and Steam Deck.

However, there were hiccups as well, ranging from minor ones that can easily be fixed before launch, while others could cause performance issues that directly impact how the player needs to configure the system to avoid. 

But if these issues clear up once the Legion Go releases, we could be looking at a true ROG Ally and Steam Deck killer. It has the potential and clearly Lenovo put a lot of love and attention into making this far from a throwaway hunk of plastic. And though this version is priced quite high, the release of cheaper models should help smooth things over with more budget-minded gamers.

Back in 2022, I covered Lenovo's break into the AR glasses market during its Tech Life | IFA event, which were then called the Lenovo Glasses T1. Fast forward a year later and I'm able to try out the updated version called the Lenovo Legion Glasses, announced (again) at IFA 2023. Originally they were meant to compete with the Apple Glasses, but a report released in January suggested that Apple might have delayed its production "indefinitely" - and since then Apple has been focusing on its Vision Pro AR headset.

I was surprised to see how much the Legion Glasses have changed in terms of both design and functionality, with one tweak in particular that makes them far more appealing to me. This is an especially impressive feat, considering that my interest in AR glasses tech is fleeting at best.

There's only one other major product on the market, the Xreal Air AR glasses, and unlike the Legion Glasses, its main use is with smartphones. Meanwhile, the Lenovo Legion Glasses can connect to many other devices like PCs and gaming handhelds, which gives it more range.

Lenovo Legion Glasses: Price and availability

The Lenovo Legion Glasses are set to launch on October 2023, at a starting price of $329 (around £260 / AU$515). For what they offer, the pricing isn't bad at all, though it's still far from being a budget accessory.

And unfortunately, we don't have any info on availability for regions outside the US, including the UK and Australia. But considering the kind of product it is, hopefully Lenovo will eventually launch it in a variety of regions. Then again, because it's a more niche product, the US market might be a solid way to test out popularity before committing to other countries.

Lenovo Legion Glasses: Design

Compared to the 2022 Lenovo Glasses T1, the updated Lenovo Legion Glasses have a more premium design. They feel sturdier, with better quality frames and lens material. Looking between images of the old and new models showcases how much more advanced the latter is. While testing them out, I had to verify with Lenovo that these were indeed the same product.

The tech a year ago was impressive, though there was a huge issue with them that prevented me from truly appreciating it - the simple fact that these glasses were clearly not designed for glasses-wearers (like me) in mind. While Lenovo did have the option to replace the default lens with one tailor-made to a prescription, requiring a buyer to purchase that on top of the price of the AR glasses themselves is quite the financial burden.

But the inclusion with the new model of special nose guards that fit over and secure the bridges of regular glasses allowed me to actually see the screens instead of being forced to remove my glasses to test them. Of course the fit isn't perfect, even Lenovo admitting that some glasses types don't mold well to the nose guard, but they worked well for mine and I have thick plastic frames.

The other feature, that you can outfit the lenses with your prescription, will continue to be available to those who need it, as it's a great alternative. However, as it currently stands, I can't see many people being able to afford both the glasses and the prescription lens.

But considering that the only other major option in terms of AR glasses, the Xreal Air AR glasses, only offers the prescription lens substitute option but not the switchable nose guards, the Legion Glasses are a step up already in usability and affordability.

Lenovo Legion Glasses: Performance

Unlike the first time I tried Lenovo's AR glasses, I was able to test out how well the Lenovo Legion Glasses pair with a gaming device. I tested out the glasses with the newly-announced Legion Go using two PC games, HiFi Rush and PowerWash Simulator, and they worked well for the most part. 

I was able to see a clear single image as if staring at a monitor, and its refresh rate, (despite being on the lower side) was still smooth and stutter-free, and the resolution was sharp enough to be nothing short of HD. The colors were clear and vibrant as well – surprisingly so.

Using the noseguard made to fit over glasses worked well, though there were times I had to readjust them to better see the entire display. And even then the edges tended to blur a bit, making the UI harder to read. Not enough to truly impact my gaming experience but still an annoyance.

One aspect that's truly exceptional is the sound quality, thanks to the built-in speakers on each side of the lenses. They were so high-quality, in fact, that I literally forgot the sound was coming from them and not from the Legion Go in my hands. It made the gaming experience that much more immersive.

Another caveat is that I do wish the Legion Glasses had more connection options other than just USB Type-C. Though USB Type-C is common enough in the wild to be compatible with most other devices, having more options available would be ideal.

Lenovo Legion Glasses: Early verdict

My opinion of the Lenovo Legion Glasses has significantly increased since I first demoed them in 2022, as the technology has improved since then. Not only is the design and build quality much better, but the quality of the AR tech is superior as well.

The addition of the swappable nose guard for glasses wearers is a brilliant alternative to the prescription lenses you can outfit the Legion Glasses with. It doesn't require shelling out more money or finding a place that can even customize them in the first place.

The image isn't perfect, as it can blur on the edges, but it's still very high-quality and clear. The sound quality is even better and serves to truly immerse you in the gaming experience.

All in all, I look forward to the Legion Glasses' launch and how much more Lenovo can refine this technology even further, considering that Apple may have already dropped from the AR glasses race.