So the year 2022 seems to be pretty exciting because not only Honor is back again but they actually now have a foldable smartphone!

But is it better than something like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3?

Build Quality

Let’s first start from the build quality, my first impression when holding the phone was that it felt nice in the hands.

Now, the weight of the phone is very close to Samsung’s Z Fold 3 but because it has a symmetrical design, with no gap when it is closed and the multi curves cover screen making it feel way better in the hands.

And this is because Honor uses an advanced water drop hinge technology compared to a traditional ball and bat hinge.

This Honor Magic V is crafted with Zirconium Liquid Metal, high strength carbon fibers and titanium alloy where unofficial word confirms up to 200,000 folds which was nice to know as if you are looking at closing and opening this phone about 100 times a day, it could probably be used for more than 5 years.

However, this could probably be because this is still a production unit, while I did find that while close felt really nice and satisfying, but when I opened the phone, it felt not so seamless like how it felt on other foldable smartphones like the Z Fold 3.

Also worth mentioning is that this Honor Magic V is not IP rated as well.

Then this cool eco leather-like finish at the back also made it look and feel very premium indeed.

Speaking of finishes, the one which I have is called Burnt Orange, where it is available in Black as well.

The camera arrays are towards the left, with a medium-sized camera bump, where this camera bump has a 3D Dual curved lens glass protector to actually reduce the size of the camera bump and make it nice and flat as well.

Next, looking at the ports and buttons, when folded and looking below, there is the USB-C port with one of the dual stereo speakers over there.

On the right, there is the volume rocker and the side mounted fingerprint sensor and power button, then on top there is the IR blaster, the other stereo speaker and a dual SIM card slot with no micro SD card slot expansion.

Display

Now looking at the displays on the Honor Magic V, when it is folded it has a 6.45-inch OLED display, which is larger than the Z Fold 3’s 6.2-inches and the resolution is also higher at 2560 x 1080 pixels, but what is interesting is the refresh rate over here at up to 120Hz but when it’s unfolded, it is at 90 Hz instead.

Speaking of unfolded, the screen size is once again bigger at 7.9-inches OLED display, with a resolution of 1984 x 2272 pixels, once again, compared to 7.6-inches on Samsung Z Fold 3, now screen refresh rate aside, playing videos unfolded was really nice.

And while there are lots of people talking about creases in the middle, which I totally don’t understand, it’s like complaining that if you fold your cash into half and it has a crease. And I have already subconsciously ignored the existence of that, just like how when camera notches took over our lives. Yes it’s not as visible as the Z Fold 3 but it is still there.

Based on my first impressions using the phone unfolded over here, there is a difference in experience because I’m very used to a higher refresh rate especially when it comes to using another foldable like the Samsung Z Fold 3 or even a tablet as well.

There are also some nice multitasking features to take advantage of the nice and big screen where it allows up to 4 screens, which is surely a huge plus and apparently there is a unique anti-fingerprint coating technology over here that not only is great to make it more durable, but it is also anti dust and anti oil as well.

Cameras

As for the camera department, Honor has decided to go all out in their specs, where it has not one, but three 50-megapixel sensors, where other than the main and the ultrawide cameras there is also the unique Spectrum Enhanced Camera, which is apparently used to capture more details in a more complex environment.

Then there are two selfie cameras, which are a massive 42-megapixel lens on the cover screen and another 42-megapixel camera inside of the unfolded screen.

Based on my quick image test shots, it did turn out very nice, but keep in mind that since this is an unofficial unit, so the results will be better like how Honor smartphones usually are.

Specs

Next, looking at the specs of the phone, the Honor Magic V comes with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 4nm which has 5G support and WiFi 6. And yes, this means that this is the very first and currently the ONLY foldable which has that chipset.

It has the Adreno 730 GPU and it comes with either 256 or 512 gigabytes of storage and both variants have 12 gigabytes of RAM.

Then as for battery, similar to other foldables, the batteries is divided into both parts of the phone, that totals up to 4750 mAh of battery which is also bigger than the Z Fold 3’s 4400 mAh and the phone supports up to a massive 66W Super Fast Charge, also better than the Z Fold 3.

In terms of software, the phone comes with Honor’s Magic UI, which I always liked and appreciated over a MIUI software and since this is a unit from China, so there is no Google, as there is no official word on whether or not they will be releasing it over here, but IF and WHEN they release it globally, I am pretty sure that they will have Google Play Services since they are back on having Google on their smartphones.

Speaking of which, do check out my Unboxing and First Impression of the Honor 50 that I have done over here and also the Z Fold 3 review over here in case you haven’t seen it.

Honor 50 – https://youtu.be/l1Ue-7yqnlA
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 – https://youtu.be/yjeCsYTZbM8

Thanks for stopping by!