Honor Magic 4 Lite review

The Honor Magic4 Lite 5G is a good mid-range smartphone. However, this review shows that it has nothing more than the name in common with the manufacturer's flagships. If we adjust our expectations accordingly, the Magic4 Lite 5G is especially pleasing with its large 120 Hz display.

It’s challenging for any newbie to stand out in the budget market due of its oversaturation. Before we make a final judgment on the Magic4 Lite, we’ve gathered a few rivals that are priced about €300 to put things in perspective. A capable all-arounder, the Xiaomi Poco X4 Pro 5G is available for as little as €260. Xiaomi’s product is far less expensive, exhibits a comparable level of performance (SD 695), and offers a noticeably superior viewing experience because of the OLED panel.

Unquestionably, the camera’s performance has improved as well. Stereo loudspeakers, dust and splash resistance, and compatibility for microSD cards are all excellent extras. In terms of feature set and hardware, the Realme 9 Pro is fairly comparable to the Magic4 Lite. It has the same processor and an identical IPS LCD display operating at 120Hz. However, it costs far less roughly €260 and has superior camera performance, a microSD cards slot, flawless battery life, and feature-rich, sophisticated software.

The Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G is another excellent alternative from Xiaomi, albeit more pricey. The phone has a better cheap cameras, a far better OLED screen, a nicer construction, stereo gaming speakers, support for microSD cards, and lightning-fast charging. It also offers a MIUI with a ton of features and good support. Therefore, compared to the Magic4 Lite’s €300, the additional €40 may be well worth it.

Honor Magic 4 Lite review: Design

The Titanium Silver, Midnight Black, or Ocean Blue colors of the Honor Magic 4 Lite 5G are available. The device’s front is dominated by that enormous LCD panel, as I keep emphasizing, with narrow bezels all around and a somewhat wider chin at the bottom. A hole-punch camera with a 16MP sensor is positioned in the center of the display at the top. It’s impressive that the phone is only 8mm thick and weighs 189g for something so big.

Along with a volume rocker, the sleep/wake button also houses a fingerprint scanner for unlocking the device. However, there are no additional physical controls, so don’t count on pressing a hardware button to activate Google Assistant. The top includes an earbuds that is only used for hearing calls, while the bottom has a USB-C charging connector, a SIM slot, and a speaker grille. There isn’t a headphone jack either.

However, when you turn the phone over, you’ll find a substantial collection of sensors arranged in a circular outer ring, just as the Honor Magic 4 Pro. It certainly sparks conversation, and even though it was unsettling at the initial unwrapping, I eventually came to appreciate Honor’s attempt at something novel. Speaking of opening the box, there is also a slim clear case inside. That’s helpful because the Honor Magic 4 Lite 5G is a fingerprint collector extraordinaire. The phone, however, lacks any sort of waterproof rating.

Honor Magic 4 Lite review: Display

The 6.81-inch (17.3 cm) LC display on the Honor Magic4 Lite 5G operates at a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. Another option is dynamic rate control, which adjusts to the content being shown. Three levels are available on the panel: 60, an oddball 80, and 120 Hz. In the menu, a fixation at 60 or 120 Hz is also an option.

The panel’s brightness is typically sufficient for daily usage, but when used outdoors, where screen details are harder to read, a preference for additional brightness develops. Although HDR video can be played on the smartphone, higher brightness levels would have been preferable. The panel is not nearly as bright in the lower part as it is in the upper section, according to the measurements, although this is not evident in normal use.

However, there is a very little shadow on the review device between the edge of the display and the front camera. Overall, the Honor Magic4 Lite 5G’s display exhibits a balanced color reproduction. Only variations in the colors yellow and yellow-orange are visible on the display. Up to 94.5% of the sRGB color space is covered by the 2D CalMAN test. However, the panel’s black value and therefore contrast degrade. The display always appears a little bit pale because the contrast ratio is just 673:1.

Honor Magic 4 Lite review: Cameras

The Honor Magic 4 Lite 5G has four cameras: a 48MP main camera on the back, a 2MP depth camera, a 2MP macro lens, and a 16MP selfie camera. The photos are clear and provide a lot of detail, however it seems like there may be a problem with the ISP because we frequently had to reduce the exposure. The images of children’s toys and Duplo blocks show that everything is just overexposed. This therefore has the knock-on effect of having poor color fidelity.

The Honor portrays the basketball hoop on the side of the kids’ slide as being more pink than red, despite the fact that it is truly red. However, the Magic 4 Lite 5G performs significantly better in dark mode, where you would anticipate less light. Details are visible in the photograph of the baseball cap, as is the model who is seated at a desk in the evening. Fortunately, exposure can be changed, although it could take some practice to find the ideal mix.

Honor Magic 4 Lite review: Performance

The Honor Magic4 Lite 5G is equipped with a Snapdragon 695 5G, an Adreno 619, 6 GB of RAM, and 2 GB of HONOR RAM Turbo. This combination is also offered by the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G and the Realme 9 Pro. In the Geekbench 5.4 multi-score test, both outperformed the Honor, while the Magic4 Lite 5G triumphed in BaseMark OS II. Performance rates are at a good level overall. An intriguing finding: Our evaluation device’s Geekbench 5.4 performance mode results were marginally lower than those obtained in regular mode.

The Magic4 Lite 5G wowed users in daily use with its slick performance and rapid app opening. There were no apparent stutters or delays when opening apps. The Honor smartphone has a 128 GB storage capacity, of which 17.06 GB are already used in the delivery state. There are no further storage options or memory card expansion options provided by Honor.

The Honor Magic4 Lite 5G lagged behind its rivals in memory speed. In three of the four test categories, the Realme 9 Pro is the only device that is slower. The Samsung Galaxy A 53 is substantially quicker than all other comparative cellphones.

Honor Magic 4 Lite review: Battery Life and Connectivity

A good but not enormous 4,800mAh battery powers the Honor Magic 4 Lite. Interestingly, it’s actually a little bit larger than the Honor Magic 4 Pro’s 4,600mAh battery, but costing three times as much. In actuality, the Magic 4 Lite’s life is only a little bit better than we had anticipated. If you’re prudent with your use, you’ll have no trouble getting through a day and might even manage two.

Even more remarkable is how quickly (66W) it charges. In just 30 minutes, the battery will reach 81% of its capacity. Even higher charging capacity is sometimes offered by phones, although few at this price do. Wireless charging is not available, though.

There is no microSD card slot and 128GB of storage available for memory. The majority of customers should be able to get by with that, but given the paucity of expansion options, that’s about the bare minimum we’d be willing to accept. 5G, which is ubiquitous but not a given at this price, as well as Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC are among the connectivity possibilities.

Honor Magic 4 Lite review: Price and availability

The Honor Magic 4 Lite 5G is available in the UK and Europe now priced at £299/€349 for a 6+128GB model. You can buy it from the Honor store as well as Amazon. As mentioned earlier, the phone is also called the Honor X9 5G in Malaysia where it costs RM1,299 and gets you the 8+128GB version tested here.

The spanner in the works for this handset comes in the form of the Xiaomi Poco X4 Pro 5G, which as mentioned earlier has similar specs and features but a better AMOLED display. It’s also cheaper at £259/€299. You might also consider the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G at £299/€349, which also offers AMOLED.

Final Words

It looks that the Honor Magic4 Lite lacks the necessary tools to compete. The sound quality is poor, the camera experience is simply not good enough, the software feels incomplete and isn’t very feature-rich, the display is LCD while most competitors provide OLEDs, and there is no microSD card port.

Unfortunately, the Magic4 Lite doesn’t have much going for it outside the 5G connectivity, strong battery life with rapid charging, and the large screen. Furthermore, we doubt that Honor will be able to harness prior brand loyalty to persuade customers to purchase a product that is, to put it mildly, unbalanced.

Amy Hinckley
Amy Hinckley
The Dell Inspiron 15 that her father purchased from QVC sparked the beginning of her interest in technology. At Bollyinside, Amy Hinckley is in charge of content editing and reviewing products. Amy's interests outside of working include going for bike rides, playing video games, and watching football when she's not at her laptop.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related Articles

Hubspot Service Hub review 2024: a comprehensive platform

When it comes to customer support operations, HubSpot Service Hub is an all-encompassing customer service platform that is meant to...
Read more
When players on Windows 11 or 10 try to log in to Steam, they may get the error code E87....
Users of Windows 11 or 10 may find it frustrating to deal with the error number 147-0 in Microsoft Office....
The Microsoft Store is an important part of the Windows operating system because it gives users a single place to...
It can be hard to find the right balance between usefulness, durability, and cost when it comes to kitchen storage....
Both AirDroid and Vysor are well-known tools that help Android users control their devices and mirror them. One of the...
Honor's mid-range 5G phone has a lot to be happy about: The battery life is longer than its rivals, but there were problems with the camera and it lacked an AMOLED panel - all at a higher price than its main competitors, making it hard to recommend.Honor Magic 4 Lite review