A month has passed since the release of theHONOR Magic 4 Pro (here the review) but, never like this year, from the technological point of view it is as if much more time has passed. In just 30 days the market was practically flooded with new smartphones, some cheaper, others (much) more expensive than the top of the Honor range.

And after about a month of use, an update released by the company, and many hours spent stressing the smartphone, let's talk about him again: HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is certainly among the top of the range with the best value for money, it has features that can hardly be found in other competing smartphones but, like every product, at the time of the review we found some "discordant notes" here and there.

Let me be clear, it was not about major problems, but now after having tried practically all smartphones of 2022, I'm ready to tell you the 3 things I liked (and didn't) about HONOR Magic 4 Pro. And I do it with a single purpose: to give you all the elements to be able to evaluate a possible purchase, without second thoughts, perhaps also taking advantage of the promotion on HiHonor with which the company will give a couple of HONOR Earbuds 3 Pro for each smartphone purchased.

The 3 best features of Honor Magic 4 Pro

Photo and video

Before talking to you about the reasons why I was positively impressed with the photo and video sector of HONOR Magic 4 Pro, a quick recap. Sensors are a 50 megapixel ƒ / 1.8 main, 50 megapixel ƒ / 2.2 wide angle, 64 megapixel ƒ / 3.5 3.5X zoom, dTOF laser focus system and anti-flickering sensor.

I said it in the smartphone review and I repeat it now: the photos taken with theHONOR Magic 4 Pro they are among the best in the category and there is well poco to criticize the photographic sector of this top of the range, if not the lack of optical stabilization in the main sensor. The Ultra Fusion technology, which allows you to use multiple sensors at the same time to obtain images with greater clarity, makes the photos taken with the device very good, both day and night. There is poco to do. But, if you remember what I said in the review, initially I was not very happy with the images taken with the periscope zoom, especially at night.

Well, in the image above you can see a quick comparison between a night photo taken with a 10x magnification factor and with HONOR Magic 4 Pro than with Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (here the review). And you will surely notice how, since the last update, things have improved a lot. Assuming that these are images taken in very difficult conditions and that, you know, at night the zooms are best never used, in the photo taken with HONOR Magic 4 Pro you can read the writings of the plug while in the photo taken with the Samsung no.

True, in the image produced byHONOR Magic 4 Pro the contrast and sharpness are very strong, but this is actually the most tangible result of Ultra Fusion technology and the thing I liked the most was the big step forward the company took with just one update.

The front camera can also be used in an ultra-wide mode, precisely because it integrates two sensors that are also used to unlock the phone with the face.

There are also a lot of recording modes for videos. There is the Multi-Video mode which is certainly one of the most complete that you can find on a smartphone and which allows the recording of movies with double framing, with different modes: you can use the Dual Picture with the quality you will record both with the front than with a rear lens or with two rear lenses, or there is the Picture-in-Picture with which you can position the image framed with a camera in a corner, to give more relevance to another shot, in addition to the the fact that you can use the TWS earphones as a wireless microphone.

HONOR Magic 4 Pro then it also introduced a "Cinema" mode, with which you can record videos in 4K HDR or in VLOG, in order to change the color of the videos being produced, or take advantage of one of the many LUTs available directly in the camera app .

Then there is a good function for recording night videos, which actually lowers the framerate a bit, but which works quite well. When activated, it really tends to make scenes much brighter and more enjoyable even when recording in low light conditions. It is an option that does not always pay off, but under certain conditions the differences between a video recorded with this mode and a video recorded without, are truly remarkable.

In short, from the photo / video point of view HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is among the most complete smartphones in circulation and the fact that the company is improving the performance of the cameras over time is certainly a plus.

And finally a little gem. As well as the other smartphones of the brand, too HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is natively compatible with DJI gimbals. Just turn on the OM5 (here the review) for example, and the smartphone will automatically recognize it, without the need to use any third-party application.

3D face unlock

Few evaluate it as a plus, but in my opinion it is important: HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is practically the only Android smartphone to be equipped with a 3D face recognition system, as well as a more traditional sensor for fingerprints which is however of the ultrasonic type. This means that, unlike all the other smartphones in circulation, with the Honor device you can take advantage of a much more secure and precise biometric recognition system.

All this is possible thanks to a dual camera system positioned at the front, which integrates, among other things, an IR blaster to be used even in low light conditions. Through this system, for example, you can activate the direct unlocking of the device, or block the execution of the apps you prefer or even increase the security in the automatic compilation of passwords.

Do you remember? We have only seen such a system in Huawei's Mate series, and I was very happy to find it also in Honor's new top of the range, but with improved speed.

Charging system

HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is one of the few smartphones in circulation to be equipped with a wired fast charging system and wirelss of the same power. The smartphone can not only be recharged at 100w using the charger that is included in the package, but can also do it with the same power wirelessly, but using a compatible charging base.

This means that if via cable in 15 minutes you would reach 50% of charging and in 32 minutes you would reach 100%, even using wireless charging you would have practically the same charging times. And having the same performance, with two different charging modes, is something that I find very comfortable.

What I liked least about HONOR Magic 4 Pro

Edges too curved

I know, it's definitely personal, but I'm not a huge fan of smartphones with curved edges. Ok, the panel is among the best around and has a PWM dimming of 1920 Hz (if you don't know what it is, I'll explain it in depth in the smartphone review), but I find the edges of theHONOR Magic 4 Pro too, too curved. Among the comments in the review I read about people who love this type of curvature but, personally, I just can't find it.

I repeat, it is a purely personal matter, but I would have preferred that the company had opted for a less evident curvature, in order to facilitate the management of the side swipes a little more. In short, de gustobus.

Dimensions:

Lately I have been taking a step back about the size for me "acceptable" in a smartphone. And yes, let's go back to personal tastes. HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is 163,6 x 74,7 x 9,1 mm large and weighs 209 grams. Of course, the handle is very comfortable and the weights are well balanced, but there is nothing to do: in the hand it feels and feels a lot even when you put it in your pocket.

If it had been a few millimeters less and weighed a few missing grams, it would have been a perfect device for my needs also because, with the cover that comes in the box, the bulk tends to increase even more.

Fingerprint sensor

The fingerprint sensor of HONOR Magic 4 Pro it is of the ultrasonic type. And this can only be an advantage, especially considering that the vast majority of smartphones in circulation use optical ones, but precisely because the company has used better technology, I would have expected a slightly faster speed in unlocking.

Let's be clear, it is still a faster and more accurate sensor than 99% of those found in circulation, but from a company like Honor I would have expected that quid more. However, it is true that with the 3D unlocking through facial recognition you will not even have time to place your finger on the display to unlock the device.

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