Honor Magic7 Pro tested: small improvements and less battery
Honor has made few changes to the Magic7 Pro. There are subtle improvements, but these are offset by a smaller battery.
There's not much going on with the top smartphones this year. The Honor Magic7 Pro is no exception. With a new chipset, Android 15, one year longer updates and slightly more focal length and resolution in the telephoto camera, there are improvements compared to the predecessor. However, the smaller battery also has a disadvantage
More zoom and more megapixels - at least for a camera
Only minimal changes have been made to the design of the Magic7 Pro. That's perfectly fine for me. The display is also identical to that of its predecessor - and still very good.
The camera setup also remains the same except for two changes to the periscope telephoto camera. The Magic7 Pro now has an image sensor with a resolution of 200 megapixels. That's 20 megapixels more. The photos still only have a resolution of 12.6 megapixels. This is due to so-called "pixel binning". This involves several neighbouring pixels being added together. This is intended to improve light sensitivity and image quality.
In addition, Honor has slightly increased the range of the telephoto camera - without revealing exact focal lengths. The only information: The Magic7 Pro offers a triple optical zoom. Its predecessor had a 2.5x zoom.
This means I can get a little closer to the subject with the Magc7 Pro. The increase in resolution from 180 to 200 megapixels has no discernible effect for me. Overall, the camera system remains very good by smartphone standards.
More power than its predecessor
The Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Magic7 Pro means a clearly recognisable increase in performance in benchmark tests compared to the previous smartphone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. However, this already had more than enough computing power, so the increase is hardly noticeable in everyday use.
A side effect of the new chipset: the supported Bluetooth version increases from 5.3 to 5.4 - but this does not bring any significant innovation for private use.
New AI tools and one more Android update
Honor is installing Android 15 and its MagicOS 9 user interface on the Magic7 Pro. The smartphone will receive five operating system updates, one more than its predecessor. Security updates are available for at least the same period of time. On the negative side, I have to mention the numerous pre-installed apps from third-party providers. When I pay a four-figure sum for a smartphone, I don't want to have to uninstall any adverts.
In addition to the general new features of Android 15, Honor has added AI tools to the Magic7 Pro. Google's Gemini is pre-installed and will be further integrated into the system. The manufacturer announced this at the Mobile World Congress - where it presented further AI functions, which are not yet available on the device.
The manufacturer summarises its AI tools in the "Honor AI" menu item. An AI translator has been added to the Magic7 Pro. It can translate chats and other texts as well as conversations in real time. This is now standard. Honor is only catching up with the competition here.
I haven't seen eye-tracking, which opens notifications when I look at them, in other manufacturers. It sounds practical and the training works perfectly in the menu. Nevertheless, in practice I can't manage to open a notification with my eyes. It's a shame, as this function could be really helpful.
On the plus side, Honor also has its own ideas for AI functions. But overall, the manufacturer is still lagging behind the competition. However, this could change when the innovations announced at the MWC appear.
Honour's AI functions are already very useful in the field of photography. For example, annoying tourists disappear without destroying Rosenborg Castle:
The more the AI has to add during generative expansion, the more likely it is that errors will occur. Honor offers a maximum expansion of 200 per cent. The AI is surprisingly good at guessing what might be in the image. The original image can be easily localised by the turbulent water. On the left, it extends to the silver car - the fourth from the left - and on the right to the centre of the outboard motor.
The AI continues with the houses and parked cars and also correctly guesses that it is a canal - even if the other side starts too early. For the foreground, it decides in favour of water and nothing else.
If you're lazy, you can simply give the AI 20 holiday photos. It edits them into a video including background music. I could make a number of changes in the app before saving, but I'm only interested in the first result without any further editing:
The result is a presentable slideshow. I don't feel I need to change anything in the editing. The music is a matter of taste and can be changed quickly if you don't like it. However, the "subtitles" don't make any sense to me. I would remove them.
Smaller battery charges faster
Honor continues to use a silicon-carbon battery in the Magic7 Pro. This has a higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries and therefore requires less space in the smartphone for the same capacity. However, Honor is installing a 5270 mAh battery in the Magic7 Pro in Europe, which has less capacity than the global version of the smartphone (5850 mAh) or its predecessor (5600 mAh).
Not surprisingly, I also measured a shorter battery life than the Magic6 Pro with the PC Mark Work 3.0 battery test. At 7:43 hours, the Magic7 Pro lasts almost exactly one hour less than its predecessor. That's not good. While Samsung, for example, has significantly increased the battery life of the S25 series this year. Even current mid-range smartphones such as the Nothing Phone (3a) achieve a battery life of over eleven hours.
Honor has increased the charging power to 100 watts instead of 80 watts, but this increase brings me less than a longer battery life. The same applies to wireless charging, which now manages 80 watts instead of 66 watts with a suitable charger.
In a nutshell
Very good smartphone with one major weakness
The Honor Magic7 Pro is very good in many respects: it has an excellent display, a very good camera system and offers plenty of performance. The manufacturer has also extended the update period.
The fact that the AI tools are not on a par with the competition is not a problem. After all, other manufacturers are not yet where they would like to be with many functions. On the other hand, the comparatively short battery life is a big minus point, which makes me want to invest my money in another top smartphone. The battery technology used actually raises completely different expectations.
Honor is not alone with the few changes compared to the previous model. Samsung and Xiaomi, among others, have also made such changes this year. If you like the Magic7 Pro and don't mind shorter software support, the Magic6 Pro could be an option for less money.
Pro
- excellent display
- Lots of computing power
- Update period extended
- Good image quality
Contra
- Comparatively short battery life
- Pre-installed third-party apps
- AI tools not on a par with the competition
Header image: Jan Johannsen
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As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
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