Smartphones with folding screens are slowly starting to mature for a big commercial breakthrough. The just globally released Honor Magic V3 is currently the thinnest and lightest cross between a phone and a tablet, and its dimensions are no longer different from normal large-screen phones. Trying the device forces you to think about whether all smartphones will soon be like this.
The choice of a power user looking for the best possible smartphone is becoming more difficult all the time, because the concept of a top model is already quite vague for many manufacturers. Instead of one model, two parallel or slightly different phones often compete for this title.
Sony and Apple still rely on the traditional rectangular bezel, which tries to accommodate the largest possible screen, a versatile camera unit, a large battery and still compact the body of the device as thin as possible. Increasing the size of the screen is no longer possible in this structure, as both pockets and the size of people’s hands set limitations.
In the range of Samsung, Google and Honor, there are practically always two top models, as a model with a strong folding screen is sold alongside the traditionally shaped phones.
None of the manufacturers has yet dared to declare that the foldable display structure is the only and true thing of the future, because for example at the Made by Google event the new traditional model Google Pixel Pro 9 flagship phone was presented side by side with the foldable Pixel Pro 9 Fold model. The devices are technically almost identical, except for the screen that opens.
In Honor’s selection, the traditional top model is currently the Magic6 Pro, which differs from the now tested folding display Magic V3both in terms of screen size and camera details. However, both basically compete for exactly the same customers.
READ ALSO: Test Honor Magic6 Pro phone – A convincing return to the top of the line
Honor Magic V3 is the thinnest and lightest phone with a folding screen among the models on sale in Finland. When opened, the body of the phone is only 4.35 millimeters thick, which makes even small tablet devices feel thick and clumsy. Unlike many other phones, the body is not made of aluminum or other metal alloy, but rather Honor’s own fiber material (Special Fiber), whose impact resistance the manufacturer says is up to 40 times better than Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra. Of course, we didn’t test this.
When folded, the device can quite easily stand up to comparisons with traditional top-of-the-line phones. The strategic dimensions of the Magic V3 are 156.6 x 74 x 9.2 millimeters and 226 grams. If the phone is compared to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (162.3 x 79 x 8.6 mm, 24 g) or the iPhone 15 Pro Max (159.9 x 76.7 x 8.25 mm, 221 g), the difference is only noticeable in terms of thickness and even then we are talking about less than a millimeter.
The most important point of opening the screen is, of course, to hide the large tablet-like screen in a package that fits in your pocket like a normal smartphone. The charm of the solution is really easy to understand, because browsing any website, using various web services or reading in general is significantly more comfortable on a large screen.
A day with a phone with a folding screen is enough to underline how often the screen image of a normal smartphone has to be zoomed by pinching or turned between horizontal and vertical position. Honor’s large screen brings peace of mind when using the device.
Among the fresh foldable phones, the main competitors are the newly updated OnePlus Open Apex Edition (153.4 x 73.3 x 11.7 mm, 239 g), Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 (153.5 x 68.1 x 12.1 mm, 239 g) and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (155.2 x 77.1 x 10.5 mm, 257 g). All of these are either significantly thicker or also heavier than the Honor Magic V3.
The Magic V3 finally puts an end to the debates that a foldable screen inevitably makes the phone thick and heavy. The sleek frame has not been achieved by compromising on the battery or other features, as Honor has packed a battery of no less than 5150 milliampere hours into its device, the capacity of which is 7-17 percent greater than that of the aforementioned competitors.
Despite this, the device has been able to accommodate wireless charging with a power of no less than 50 watts, which was completely missing from the predecessor model Magic V2. Wired charging is possible with a power of 66 watts.
In its marketing materials, Honor also uses images where the large screen is folded open, making the device look a bit like a small laptop. The software supports this mode by splitting the screen in half between the content and the keyboard or touchpad.
Using the keyboard with two fingers is quite clumsy, and for typing, you prefer to pick up the device in your hands and open it completely to tablet position. Using the lower half of the screen as a touch pad works well for moving the ball that acts as a mouse pointer, but the pad completely lacks the recognition of the intensity of the pressure, and thus you cannot, for example, select part of the text with the touch pad. For these reasons, the benefit of “laptop mode” will ultimately be quite non-existent.
The device comes with a two-part protective cover, the back of which clicks by pressing around the corners of the device’s body and stays in place quite well. The ring around the camera opening can be lifted up using a very sturdy hinge. This way the device can be supported either horizontally or vertically with the screen closed. In tablet mode, the device cannot be properly balanced, and therefore there is no joy in the support.
The international model of the phone is offered in three different “colors”, of which only full black is completely bare. In the brown model (Reddish brown), the back surface of the closed phone is covered by a brown leather-like coating, and the metal parts of the frame are bronze instead of black. The back of the green model is green and the rest of the body is black. A white model with light metal parts is also available in China.
The Honor Magic V3 was released on the Chinese market earlier this summer, and international media and enthusiastic buyers have been speculating since then on the date of the start of international sales and the selling price of the device.
Well, now the device is also available here in Finland and the price tag says 1999 euros. This alone is enough to say that it is unfortunately still a rare marginal product. But let’s not let that stop us from taking a closer look at the device’s features.
Source: muropaketti.com
