Honor Magic8 Lite Review: A Deep Dive into Its Display, Performance, and More
Display:
The Honor Magic8 Lite boasts a stunning 6.79-inch AMOLED screen with 10-bit color depth and a resolution of 1200 x 2640 pixels (427 ppi). It supports a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10 streaming, ensuring a fluid and visually appealing experience. The typical brightness reaches 800 nits, while the high brightness mode peaks at 1,800 nits, and the maximum brightness soars to an impressive 6,000 nits.
Our tests confirm these claims. The automatic brightness adjustment delivers 788 nits in maximum mode, and 1,771 nits in automatic, while the minimum brightness on a white screen is a mere 1.6 nits. However, achieving the full 1,800 nits requires HDR content, as lowering the white patch on the screen didn't yield higher results.
Refresh Rate:
The display offers three refresh rate modes: Dynamic, Standard, and High. Dynamic intelligently switches between 60Hz and 120Hz, optimizing performance for various apps. It uses 60Hz for idle screens and popular apps like Play Store, YouTube, Netflix, and Music. Interestingly, it also employs 90Hz in Chrome. The High mode consistently runs at 120Hz for compatible apps and drops to 60Hz during idle.
Standard mode, as the name suggests, maintains a fixed 60Hz refresh rate.
HDR:
The Magic8 Lite's screen is HDR10 and HDR10+ certified, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of HDR content. It successfully streams HDR10 on YouTube and Netflix, enhancing the visual experience. The Video Enhancer offers two enhancements: Super Dynamic Display boosts brightness and contrast on streaming apps, providing a minor but noticeable improvement, albeit at the cost of increased battery consumption. Vivid Display, on the other hand, enhances color and clarity, but it also drains the battery more, which might not be necessary given the already vibrant visuals.
Battery Life:
Powered by a massive 7,500 mAh Silicon-Carbon battery, the Magic8 Lite delivers exceptional battery life. Our tests yielded an impressive Active Use Score of nearly 18 hours, thanks to the efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset. This ensures you can stay connected and productive throughout the day.
Charging Speed:
The device supports up to 66W Honor SuperCharge, but it ships without a charger. To unlock the full potential, purchase the Honor 66W SuperCharge combo, including the adapter and 6A-rated cable. Using only the adapter will limit charging to 30W.
Speakers:
The Magic8 Lite features dual stereo speakers, one at the bottom and an earpiece that doubles as a front- and top-facing speaker. While the earpiece is slightly quieter, the audio balance is satisfactory. The speakers reach a respectable volume, and an additional 400% boost step enhances the sound, elevating it from good to very good. This extra boost is a welcome feature, adding depth and clarity to the audio experience.
Connectivity:
The Magic8 Lite supports dual Nano-SIM cards with simultaneous SA/NSA Sub-6 5G connectivity. Unfortunately, it lacks eSIM support. Positioning is ensured by GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, and BDS. Connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 with LE, aptX HD, and aptX Adaptive. NFC is onboard, but there's no IR blaster or FM radio. The Type-C port supports USB 2.0 data at a theoretical maximum of 480 Mbps, and OTG/Host functionality is available.
