Honor Magic 5 Lite review: super autonomy and featherweight

In the Honor Magic 5 Lite package we only find the USB / USB-C cable, but the launch promo makes up for these shortcomings, allowing you to take home a cover and a 66W power supply.

Honor Magic 5 Lite it’s a smartphone that wants to impress right away. Its design is modern, clean and in any case distinctive, thanks to the large rear circle which contains the photographic sensors and the LED flash on the edge. The smartphone is very light, weighing 175 grams and only 7.9 mm thick. The profile is also very thin thanks to the front glass and the rear body (in plastic) which taper until they almost join. The physical keys have a good click and the “cheap” materials chosen pay off with an already mentioned very low weight.

Honor Magic 5 Lite is a smartphone that in everyday life is comfortable both to use and to keep in your pocket.

Too bad for the body, which at least in the black color we tested retains fingerprints a lot.

Honor’s Magic 5 Lite has an octa core CPU at its disposal Snapdragon 695 at 6 nanometers with Adreno 619 GPU, 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of non-expandable internal memory. The hardware from this point of view is the same as Magic 4 Lite from 2022, which we hadn’t had the opportunity to try though. It is a solid, well-tested base, even if not very powerful. It’s sufficient for all common day-to-day tasks, but don’t expect power and performance to a new level.

Fair connectivity: we have 5G, Wi-Fi B.C, Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC. Unfortunately we do not have an infrared emitter or especially an audio jack for headphones. You will have to rely on the USB-C port which you will also use for charging. The fingerprint reader is positioned inside the display: it is fast and accurate, but perhaps positioned a little lower.

Honor Magic 5 Lite it features a kit of 3 main cameras and a front camera. The main one is a 64 megapixel ƒ/1.8, coupled with a 5 megapixel ƒ/2.2 wide angle and a 2 megapixel ƒ/2.4 for macro. In these two cases we are dealing with additions of little value. The resolution in both cases is too low for the shots to be truly enjoyable.

The main camera, on the other hand, defends itself well, with good detail and a good color balance. Sometimes in certain photos the shadows are a little too dark but you can enhance your photos in the editor. Also good in the dark, thanks to the night mode which shows off by showing a clear difference compared to the shots taken in automatic mode. It is the dim light situations that put the camera in greater difficulty, with a little difficulty in focusing and with poorly defined results.

Well shots from the front camera from 16 megapixels: they are defined and also here with a good color balance.

The video sector stops at Full HD at 30fps. The results are not the most exciting but in any case we enjoy a decent electronic stabilization, at least from the main sensor.

Honor Magic 5 Lite it sports a nice panel 6.67″ AMOLED with FullHD + resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels) and 120 Hz refresh rate. It is a screen that has definitely surprised us positively. The panel is bright (up to 800 nits peak), has touch sampling up to 300 Hz and supports the technology DC dimming for less eye strain at low brightness.

One of its distinctive features is the fact that it is slightly curved at the sides. It obviously has no practical function, but only an aesthetic one. However, this allows it at least to differentiate itself from the competition on the current market.

Honor Magic 5 Lite comes to market with Android 12 pre-installed and with the customization of Magic UI 6.1. At the time of the test it had the January 2023 security patches on board. The software is fluid and has no bugs of any kind, but it has undoubtedly evolved little from the times when Honor was a rib of Huawei and it seems to be faced almost with the same interface. A refresh and the addition of some new functions would certainly benefit its “image”.

However, among the features present we have the RAM Turbo, the apps in the window and the sidebar to quickly open the apps in split screen mode.

Despite the thinness and lightness of Honor Magic 5 Lite we are happy to see that they managed to implement a battery from well 5,100mAh. This full-bodied battery has an objective confirmation in the autonomy of this Magic 5 Lite which manages to exceed two days of autonomy on a single charge if the use is “average”.

No problem completing a full working day on a single charge even with the most intense use. Honor Magic 5 Lite is definitely the smartphone to buy for those looking for the balance between excellent autonomy and a smartphone that is still light.

The fast charging that supports the power of 40W is also good, less than last year, but still many. There is obviously no wireless charging.

Honor Magic 5 Lite is sold in Italy at 389€, a figure certainly not shredded. Until the end of February it is also possible to have a pair of Earbuds 2 Lite, a 66W power supply, a cover, 6 months of display protection from accidental damage and a €20 discount if it is your first purchase on HiHonor. After that date the promo will convert to a Band 7 instead of headphones.

Net of the promos, the price is a bit high. Certainly the historical moment sees a sharp rise in prices in general, but we still hope for some discounts that will make it more attractive in the coming months.