Back in June this year, Chinese smartphone brand OPPO launched the OPPO Find X with slider design. What that means is that the smartphone came with slider that accommodated the front (and rear) cameras for an almost bezel-less design. Fast forward to last week, Xiaomi unveiled its Mi MIX 3 which too came with slide-out camera design. And now, we have more smartphone brand joining this group – Honor. At an event in Beijing, Honor unveiled the Honor Magic 2 smartphone with slider design. The Magic 2 was teased back in August this year at the global launch of Honor Play.
The Honor Magic 2 comes with a slider that accommodates the front cameras, thus allowing the phone to achieve an almost bezel-less look without having to resort to a notched display. The Honor Magic 2 boasts a 6.39-inch AMOLED display that has a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. The bezels around all the four sides of the display are minuscule. As a result, the phone doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner on the bottom bezel, and neither front cameras on the top bezel. That said, you do have the earpiece above the display.
The front cameras are placed on the slider that can be accessed by sliding the screen down. However, unlike the Find X which houses both the front and rear cameras on its slider, the Magic 2 only houses the front cameras. The rear cameras are placed on the back of the smartphone that’s covered with glass.
Having said that, the Honor Magic 2 comes with a total of six cameras – three each on the front and back. The triple camera setup on the back of the phone is placed in the top-left corner in vertical orientation. This setup includes one 16 MP RGB camera, one 24 MP Monochrome camera, and one 16 MP Ultra-Wide angle camera.
The triple camera setup on the front consists of one 16 MP camera and two 2 MP cameras – one of which is a depth sensor to add bokeh effect, with the other one being used for 3D Face Unlock. That said, as this is 2018, the Honor Magic 2 also comes with AI-based camera features in addition to 3D Qmoji.
Speaking about the innards, the Honor Magic 2 is powered by Kirin 980 SoC which is the latest and greatest flagship chip from the company. The smartphone is offered in three different configurations – 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage.
Like we already said, the Honor Magic 2 comes with 3D Face Unlock that uses face recognition to unlock the smartphone, but, in addition to that it also comes with a fingerprint scanner. Of course, you won’t see a fingerprint scanner at the back of the phone or on the front on the chin. Well that’s because the Magic 2 comes with in-display fingerprint scanner that lets you unlock the smartphone by placing your finger on a designated area of the screen.
You can choose the Magic 2 from three colors – Gradient Black, Gradient Red, and Gradient Blue. The smartphone also packs in a 3500 mAh battery which supports 40 Magic Charge fast charging technology. Honor says it can charge the battery up to 50% in 15 minutes.
Honor Magic 2 Specifications
- CPU: 2.6 GHz Kirin 980 octa-core processor
- RAM: 6/8 GB LPDDR4X
- GPU: Mali-76
- Operating System: Magic UI 2.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie
- Display: 6.39-inch Full-HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) AMOLED display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 403 ppi pixel density
- Rear Camera: 16 MP (RGB, f/1.8 aperture) + 24 MP (Monochrome, f/1.8 aperture) + 16 MP (Ultra-Wide angle, f/2.2 aperture) with AIS and LED flash
- Front Camera: 16 MP (f/2.0 aperture) + 2 MP (depth sensor, f/2.4 aperture) + 2 MP (f/2.4 aperture)
- Internal Storage: 128 GB (with 6 and 8 GB RAM), 256 GB (with 8 GB RAM)
- SIM: Dual
- Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, VoWiFi, Dual Frequency GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, USB Type-C (no 3.5 mm headphone jack)
- Other: In-Display Fingerprint Scanner, 3D Face Unlock, 3D Qmoji, IPX2 certification, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC, Yoyo Virtual Assistant
- Colors: Gradient Black, Gradient Red, Gradient Blue
- Battery: 3500 mAh with Magic Charge 40 W (10V/4A) fast charging
Honor Magic 2 Price and Availability
- Price of 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant: ¥3799 (around $545/₹40,265)
- Price of 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant: ¥4299 (around $617/₹45,565)
- Price of 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage variant: ¥4799 (around $688/₹50,864)
- Availability: Goes on sale from November 6 in China. No word on availability in other markets.
