Honor Magic 4 Pro Brings Potent Cameras and Google Services

    
    Honor/CNET
    Honor’s latest flagship phone, the Magic 4, brings a suite of top-end features including the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, an impressive-sounding camera system and the welcome return of Google services.
    Honor was a sub-brand of Huawei, but it was siphoned off into its own business last year. That’s a huge boost for Honor: While it was part of Huawei officially, it was subject to the same restrictions imposed on the company by the US. Most notably, it wasn’t allowed to use Google services, which limits the everyday use of the phone. That’s still the case with Huawei’s latest flagship, the P50 Pro.?
    Now that Honor is its own entity, it’s able to use Google services again, meaning its new handset can use all of Google’s products including Gmail, Chrome and, crucially, the Google Play Store, which allows access to all of the Android apps on its shelves.?
    The phone itself has some impressive hardware on board, including Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, backed up by up by 12GB of RAM. The large 6.81-inch display has a 2,848×1,312-pixel resolution along with a 120Hz refresh rate. The 4,600-mAh battery supports 100-watt fast charging, taking the phone from empty to 50% full in just 15 minutes.
    
    The Magic 4 Pro will come in a variety of colors.
    Honor
    On the back of the phone is a multicamera setup, with the lenses arranged in a cool-looking ring which Honor hilariously calls “The Eye of Muse.” The cameras include a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 64-megapixel telephoto camera which provides up to 3.5x optical zoom or 100x digital zoom. Both Huawei’s and Honor’s cameras have been good before now so I’m keen to see how this one compares to the likes of the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Pixel 6 Pro.?
    It can record video at 4K, but it can do it in Log format. Log format is typically used by professional video producers to capture more dynamic range, and it has more scope for applying effects in post-production.?
    At the time of writing, Honor hasn’t given pricing details, but the company has typically kept its prices affordable and I’m hoping the same will be true here. That said, with its range of top-end features, I’m not expecting a price much below $1,000.?
    
    The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro
    Honor/CNET
    The Magic 4 Pro will be joined by an entry-level model, the Honor Magic 4. The Magic 4 shares many of the Pro’s exciting features — including the processor and large display — but pares down some of the camera features and has a slower, but still fast, 65W charger.
    Honor has also launched the active noise-cancelling Honor Earbuds 3 Pro. There’s also the Honor Watch GS 3, an elegant-looking smartwatch with a 1.43-inch round display. The GS 3 uses a variety of sensors to track over 100 different workout types. No prices for any of the accessories were available at the time of writing.?