Honor Magic 8 Pro Review: 200MP Zoom Wins at Night

Name: Honor Magic 8 Pro Review: 200MP Zoom Wins at Night
Uploaded: 2026-11-11T15:03:38+00:00
Duration: 15 min 21 s
Channel: HowToMen

00:00This is the Honor Magic 8 Pro,

00:01and it's actually only the second phone

00:03that I've ever used from Honor.

00:05Well, technically it's my first slab phone from them

00:08because my first one was the Magic V5 foldable,

00:11and I've got to say, I mean,

00:13the 8 Pro has been a real pleasure to use.

00:16Magic OS just keeps surprising me

00:18with so many clever little features

00:19that I found myself actually using every day.

00:22Now, quick heads up, this video is sponsored by Honor,

00:25but all that means is they sent me the phone to check out.

00:27It doesn't mean I'm here to sugarcoat anything.

00:30I'm gonna walk you through what's new

00:31and what I liked, what I didn't,

00:34and by the end, you should have a pretty good idea

00:36if this phone makes sense for you.

00:38So starting with what I like the most

00:40about this phone is the software.

00:42I mean, it's running Magic OS X on top of Android 16,

00:45and again, I was really impressed

00:46with a lot of the things in there.

00:48I mean, the lock screen alone just looks really beautiful.

00:50It's super customizable.

00:52The depth effect looks amazing,

00:54and it's really got smooth animations

00:56when you unlock the screen.

00:57Just a really polished experience overall.

01:00And then we got the Honor Home Launcher,

01:02which has honestly become one of my new favorites

01:04because it can do so much

01:06that most other stock Android launchers don't do.

01:09Like, you can stack widgets,

01:11change folder sizes to pretty much any size that you want.

01:15I mean, short, small, thin, large, whatever.

01:18And there's even this new transparency mode

01:20that makes your widgets, folders, and the dock see-through.

01:24I'll admit, it does feel very iOS-like,

01:27but I think it still looks very clean.

01:29Plus, you can adjust how intense the transparency is too.

01:32And beyond just looking good,

01:34Magic OS X also has some genuinely useful features.

01:37Like one of my favorites is Magic Portal.

01:40Sharing stuff between apps just feels way more effortless.

01:42You can long press something on the screen,

01:44like a photo or a text, and then drag it towards the edge,

01:47and this carousel of apps just randomly slides in

01:50so you can drop it wherever you want.

01:52The app you share it to even opens up

01:54any little floating windows

01:55so you can confirm what you're sending.

01:58No other OS does sharing this well.

02:00There's also a new physical AI button on the side.

02:03It's kind of like the iPhone's camera button,

02:05but honestly, better because you can reprogram it.

02:08By default, a double press launches the camera instantly,

02:11and from there, you can tap it to take a photo

02:13or start recording depending on the mode you're in,

02:16or you can even long press it for burst shots.

02:19But you can also map short presses or even long presses to it

02:23to launch other AI actions.

02:25For example, I set a long press to trigger AI memories,

02:29so if I'm reading an article online

02:30and then I get hit with some ads that I don't want,

02:33I can just long press the button,

02:35and then it captures the screen

02:37and sends it to the memories app.

02:39That way, it lets me read the whole thing

02:41without any intrusive ads, just text and pictures.

02:44For a short press, I even set it to open AI Photos Agent,

02:48which is this powerful editor,

02:49which can pretty much fix any photo I have really quickly.

02:53It lets me enhance the quality, for example,

02:55remove photo bombers in the background,

02:58even iron out wrinkles on a shirt.

02:59I mean, you name it.

03:00You can also transform a photo into different AI styles too,

03:04like turning it into a sketch or a cartoon with one tap.

03:08And it doesn't stop there.

03:09I mean, there are way more AI options

03:11that you can remap to this button.

03:12There's AI Settings Agent, where it brings up this AI,

03:16and you can tell it what setting you want changed,

03:18like enabling hotspot or turning off Bluetooth,

03:21and it'll automatically do it for you.

03:24No more need to dig through menus.

03:26That one actually comes in handy for older folks,

03:28or for those who aren't so tech savvy.

03:30Or there's also AI Screen Suggestions,

03:32which analyzes what's on your screen

03:34and then suggests what AI actions you can use,

03:37like editing a photo better

03:38or saving any content on the screen to AI memories.

03:42It's pretty cool.

03:43I just wish the AI button were a bit more open.

03:46Like I'd love to be able to map it to any app

03:48or toggle a system setting directly.

03:51It doesn't really let you do that.

03:52Hopefully that's something that they expand later on though.

03:55I also really liked the security feature

03:56on the Magic 8 Pro called AI Deepfake Detection.

03:59It's super helpful for stopping scammers

04:01during a call or video chat,

04:03because it lets you know if the person on the other end

04:06is real or completely fake.

04:08During video calls, it can analyze the other person's face

04:11for signs of AI synthesis.

04:13And then during voice calls,

04:14it listens for signs of cloned or synthetic audio.

04:17And if anything seems off, it'll warn you.

04:20It also works across a bunch of different apps too,

04:22like Google Meet, Zoom, Facebook, and more,

04:25which is honestly reassuring

04:27when you never fully know who you're really talking to.

04:30And it doesn't stop there.

04:31The Magic 8 Pro even comes with Gemini pre-installed.

04:34Most phones do now.

04:35I mean, yeah, but Honor even includes a three-month trial

04:39of Google AI Pro at pretty much no extra cost.

04:42So you get access to smarter models, advanced features,

04:45and two terabytes of cloud storage.

04:48Now I'll be real, no software is perfect.

04:51And Magic OS does have a few quirks that I do want to see fixed.

04:54One thing that really bugged me is that the quick settings

04:56and notifications are separated and there's no option to combine them.

05:00That's just how it is right now.

05:02And I'd also love more lock screen shortcut options,

05:05especially for third-party apps.

05:06Right now you only get a few options.

05:09But even with these nitpicks,

05:10Magic OS X gave me a consistently smooth,

05:13fast, and a really intuitive experience.

05:15The animations feel polished,

05:17the features are actually useful,

05:18and overall it was just a pleasure to use.

05:21The second thing I really like about this phone,

05:23outside of the software, is just how comfortable it is to hold and use.

05:27It's lighter and thinner than the last model, which helps,

05:30but it's more than just that.

05:32It's got this aluminum frame with flat sides,

05:35and then slightly curved edges on both the front glass and the back,

05:39so it just sits really nicely in your hand.

05:41Nothing digs into your palm and even the button placement feels spot on.

05:45My fingers naturally just land right where they should.

05:48You're also getting really solid durability here.

05:50It comes with a nano crystal shield that's up to 10 times stronger than standard glass.

05:55Plus it supports IP68, IP69, and even IP69K,

06:01which means that it can handle full water immersion,

06:04high pressure water jets, and dust without any issues.

06:08Pretty great.

06:09And by the way, you may have even noticed that on the front,

06:11there's two cameras instead of one, like other phones.

06:14But the secondary one is a depth camera,

06:16which is basically used to build a precise 3D map of your face to make face lock way more secure

06:22and way more reliable too than just using a 2D image from the normal selfie camera

06:27that most other phones do.

06:28So overall, there are just a lot of positives on the hardware.

06:31That said, there are a couple of things I like to see improved.

06:34The haptics aren't the best I felt on a phone.

06:37It's got the whole back vibrating, even with tiny vibrations.

06:40The speakers are also not that great.

06:42They definitely distort at the highest peak and design wise.

06:45I mean, it's not the most eye catching phone out there,

06:48but I honestly don't mind it either.

06:50It does look really professional and really clean.

06:52There are a few color options to pick from too.

06:54You've got sky cyan, black, but I've got the sunrise gold,

06:58which has this sleek metallic finish that plays with light as you move it around.

07:03And yeah, the camera module is huge and centered.

07:05You'll either love it or hate it.

07:07I think it looks balanced, but I do wish it were a bit smaller,

07:10like on the Magic V5 foldable device.

07:13And by the way, this phone actually did get a bit smaller this time

07:16when compared to its predecessor.

07:17It's got a 6.71 inch curved display

07:20instead of the 6.8 inch display on the Magic 7 Pro.

07:24But honestly, the 8 Pro never felt small to me.

07:27It's still plenty of screen and it's a really nice one too.

07:30Just like before, you're still getting a 1.5K LTPO OLED panel

07:35with 120 Hertz refresh rate.

07:37So everything looks sharp and feels super smooth.

07:39Where it really steps up is brightness too.

07:42This thing can hit a peak brightness of 6,000 nits, which is incredible.

07:47Using it outdoors and direct sunlight was absolutely no problem at all.

07:50It's easily one of the brightest phone displays that I've ever used.

07:54And on top of that, it's also one of the best displays when it comes to eye comfort.

07:57It has a 4,320 Hertz PWM dimming rate, which does an insanely good job at reducing screen flicker.

08:05So long sessions of scrolling or watching videos at night are just going to be way easier on your eyes.

08:11It actually handles this noticeably way better than phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which sits much lower in comparison.

08:17As for the performance, I was really impressed here too.

08:20The Magic 8 Pro is powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which not many phones have yet.

08:26And it's paired with 12 gigabytes of RAM.

08:29And yeah, this thing absolutely flies.

08:32Animations are buttery smooth.

08:34Apps open almost instantly.

08:35Switching between things is super quick.

08:37And even heavy 3D graphic games, especially big open world ones,

08:42ran smoothly at max settings without breaking its sweats.

08:46I rarely saw any stuttering, if at all.

08:48And when you compare it to something like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip,

08:54the Magic 8 Pro actually does feel a bit faster.

08:57Apps launch slightly quicker.

08:59Games feel a bit smoother.

09:01And Magic OS just has this fluidity to it that just feels snappier than One UI as a whole.

09:06That said though, in normal day-to-day use, both phones are still insanely fast.

09:10You won't really notice the difference unless you're heavy gaming or

09:13doing some really intense multitasking or video editing.

09:16When it comes to battery life, I also found the Magic 8 Pro to do a fantastic job.

09:21Just like its predecessor, it's using a silicon carbon battery.

09:25But not only does it have a larger capacity this time,

09:286,270 milliamp hours instead of 5,850.

09:33But the whole phone is even thinner.

09:35And that's because Honor bumped the silicon content up to 15%,

09:39which basically crams more energy into a smaller space.

09:43But let's talk about the real world.

09:44What does that translate to?

09:46I was getting around seven to eight hours of screen on time,

09:49which is absolutely incredible.

09:51Way better than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which usually tapped out for me

09:55around five to six hours.

09:57And keep in mind, I'm a pretty heavy user.

09:59I'm constantly multitasking, gaming, using GPS navigation, watching content,

10:05and running a ton of apps and background services for my smartwatch

10:09and other connected devices as well.

10:11And even with all that going on, the Magic 8 Pro held up really well.

10:15And if I dial things back a bit, this thing could probably stretch to around two days on

10:19a single charge as well.

10:20And speaking of charging, this is another area where this phone just really shines.

10:24It supports 100 watt wired charging with Honor's supercharged tech,

10:28which means you can go from zero to 100% in about 48 minutes.

10:33Or you can hit around 41% in just 15 minutes.

10:37That's seriously fast. And again, way faster than something like the Galaxy S25 Ultra,

10:43which tops out at 45 watts.

10:45What's even crazier is that it also supports 80 watt wireless charging,

10:50which is really mind-blowing.

10:52Now, the only catch is that you do need Honor's proprietary wireless

10:55supercharged stand to hit those speeds.

10:57But still, that's really impressive.

10:59Even with all that power being pushed into the battery too,

11:02Honor says the phone uses a power-enhanced chip called the Honor E2.

11:07Basically, it intelligently adjusts the power delivery based on what you're doing and the

11:12environment around you, which helps protect the battery and improve long-term health.

11:17That way, your battery life doesn't get damaged from all those fast speeds,

11:21which was a big concern for me when I was charging the 8 Pro.

11:24Now, moving on to the cameras.

11:26As I said, you've got that big camera module on the back and it comes with a triple lens setup.

11:31You get a 50 megapixel main, a 50 megapixel ultra-wide,

11:35and a massive 200 megapixel telephoto with 3.7x optical zoom.

11:40And then on the front, you get a 50 megapixel front camera.

11:43And again, that second 3D depth camera for depth sensing

11:47and the advanced biometric security.

11:50Overall, I was really impressed with the photos that this phone produced.

11:53Daytime shots look really sharp with great colors,

11:56plenty of details and solid dynamic range.

11:59Night shots also really impressed me, especially from the 200 megapixel telephoto.

12:04Thanks to its larger sensor and strong light intake,

12:07zoom photos at night came out really bright and beautiful.

12:10And when you compare the photos to something like the Galaxy S25 Ultra,

12:14daytime performance is pretty similar,

12:16but I do still think the Honor phone pulls a bit more ahead in terms of quality.

12:20But the real differences show up at night.

12:22The Magic 8 Pro tends to pull out more detail and brighten the scene a bit more.

12:26But then when it comes to zoom, the Magic 8 Pro really takes the lead,

12:30both during the night and the day.

12:33Even around 10x zoom, textures on buildings and objects just look cleaner and more defined.

12:39Portraits are another strong point on the Magic 8 Pro.

12:41Edge detection is excellent.

12:43The subject separation looks really natural.

12:46Even in low light, it did a great job of keeping faces well lit,

12:49while still maintaining a nice realistic background blur.

12:52Again, way better than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, especially with the telephoto lens.

12:57Honor also packed in a bunch of genuinely fun and useful AI camera features,

13:01some of which I haven't really seen elsewhere.

13:04For example, when you enable moving photo when taking pictures,

13:07which is basically Honor's version of motion photos or live photos, if you didn't know,

13:11you're now getting higher resolution and better stabilization.

13:15And it doesn't stop there.

13:16My favorite part is that you get these new creative AI options.

13:19There's one called Slow Motion, which as you can guess,

13:23it lets you slow down fast moving objects.

13:26And then there's Motion Trail to capture traces of people as they walk by,

13:29or even Motion Clone to make it look like someone appears multiple times in the same shot.

13:34It's pretty fun to play with.

13:36And of course, you've got all the classic AI editing tools like AI Eraser,

13:40reflection removal, image upscaling, and a lot more.

13:44There's a ton to play with.

13:45It's just nice knowing that even if a shot isn't perfect straight out of the camera,

13:49you've got plenty of AI-powered tricks to clean it up afterwards.

13:53So after spending weeks with the Honor Magic 8 Pro,

13:55I can confidently say that this is one of the most well-rounded Android phones

13:59that I've used in a long time.

14:01It just nails all the fundamentals.

14:03You've got incredible battery life, absurdly fast charging, top-tier performance,

14:07and one of the brightest, most eye-friendly displays out there.

14:11But what really sets it apart is the software.

14:13Magic OS X just feels really polished and packs in a bunch of useful AI features

14:19that actually made using the phone feel smarter and more secure.

14:23Sure, the entire phone is not perfect.

14:25I mean, the haptics and the speakers could be a bit better.

14:28And the software does have a few quirks that I've talked about.

14:31But none of them were actually deal-breakers for me.

14:33Day-to-day, this phone just felt smooth, reliable, and honestly really fun to use.

14:38And that's something I can't say about every flagship these days.

14:41So if you're someone who cares about battery life, fast charging, great cameras, especially Zoom,

14:47and you want something that feels different from the usual Samsung or Pixel experience,

14:52without sacrificing polish, the Magic 8 Pro is absolutely worth checking out.

14:56It's actually one of those phones that wins you over the longer you use it.

15:00Anyway, if you want to keep it going, tap on this video to learn about the Honor Magic V5,

15:04the thinnest foldable that I've ever tried, or you can get,

15:07or this one to learn about the future of Android in 2026.

15:11Thanks for sticking around to the end.

15:12Let me know what you think about the Honor Magic 8 Pro,

15:15and drop a thumbs up if you enjoyed this review.

15:17I'll catch you guys in the next one.

15:19Kapow!

Honor Magic 8 Pro Review: 200MP Zoom Wins at Night

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