HONOR Magic6 Lite test — a big gap between Lite and Pro

I am mainly confused by the association with the phone of the same name. Some people think that they will only get a slightly reduced version of the premium phone, but in reality this gap is huge. That's why I was happy this year that Xiaomi didn't decide to prepare a Lite version for the 14 series, because in my opinion it's unnecessary. Xiaomi has the POCO, Redmi and also the (13)T series of phones in this class, which cover well everything that users need up to 400-500 €.

HONOR should do the same. They can start by renaming the HONOR Magic6 Lite phone to differentiate it more clearly from the Pro version. attention, how to overshadow the competition and not fall behind, because that's what happened with HONOR Magic6 Lite.

HONOR Magic6 Lite price in Slovenia?

• HONOR Magic6 Lite 8/256GB: 399 €

HONOR Magic6 Lite — like I like leather and its appearance in general

If I had to point out one feature that stands out most about this phone, it's the looks, but only in the case of the leather version. The rest work for me with serial ones, which I can find on every other phone. I like the orange leather, which is probably the epitome of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, but it doesn't collect stains like glass or plastic. The edges are nicely rounded and the reason why the phone fits so nicely in my hand. When I look at the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which gave up the curves, and this one, I like the HONOR Magic6 Lite even more. The Samsung phone, which is undoubtedly 10x better, feels like one big brick in comparison.

The screen is also curved, which can cause problems when or if you want to install a protective glass, which I can say from personal experience. I always check if there are any issues with content spilling over the edges or if the screen is less responsive at the edges. I didn't see them on the Magic6 Lite. The screen is therefore fully functional and at the same time looks very premium.

On the back there is a huge array of cameras, from which one would think that we have at our disposal some kind of professional set of cameras. Unfortunately, this is not reality, so this larger circle is just an aesthetic decision.

The phone has a basic protection rating of IP53, which prevents the ingress of dust and drops of water. There is no official screen protection, but a base film is installed so that the screen will not be scratched at the slightest contact. The bezels around the screen are not excessive, nor are they the thinnest I've seen so far. Like I also like that the leather rises on the physical buttons and thus somewhat "breaks" the symmetry of the phone.

I can also praise its slimness (8 mm) and lightness (only 185 g), which, in addition to its curvature, is the biggest contributes to the ease of using the phone. However, I blame HONOR for removing the protective cover and charger from the packaging. 

The speaker is the only one that can't play anymore. than just an average sound.

A good AMOLED panel that is easy on the eyes

At 6.78 inches, it belongs among the giants. If you want to reach the top edge of the phone with one hand, you will need larger palms. This is not a rebuke, but just a concern that should be taken into account. Inside there is an AMOLED panel, which, according to the tests, is very good. The colors are accurate, the brightness is high (1200 nits), but not the best in this class, and the PWM dimming, which refreshes at 1920 Hz, is excellent. If you are sensitive to the flickering of the screen, which you cannot detect with the naked eye, and it often gives you headache and eye pain, you should not have these problems with the HONOR Magic6 Lite. This applies to all newer HONOR phones, which is one of the few manufacturers that puts so much focus on dimming.

The screen refreshes at 120Hz, great for general use and gaming. The phone also intelligently switches between 60 and 120 Hz. I turned on the internal frequency monitoring tools and the display was quick and mostly accurate about when to save battery and when to turn on a higher speed.

Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 delivers only average performance

The Snapdragon 695 chip never grew on me, especially since I've seen it too many times in €300 phones, where it doesn't belong at all. It was replaced by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and HONOR chose the #141. It is progress, but not so much that I would like to see it in other phones as well. Yes, I was able to play most mobile games with it at medium or lower resolutions. For example, the chip can't deliver 120 frames per second (fps) in Call of Duty: Mobile, or play Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail at the highest resolution, only on medium or more consistently the experience is preferred at slightly lower settings.

There is 8 GB of RAM, which is enough for such a phone, as you will not do more demanding tasks on it. Do not play emulators as it is impractical, with the exception of those older consoles (Nintendo DS, GBA …). There is 256 GB of space, which should also be sufficient. It supports the UFS 3.1 standard, which means more like solid read and write speeds.

Only Android 13 is installed and not Android 14, which should still be present on new phones in March 2024. HONOR has promised 2 Android upgrades, which means that after updating to 14, you only have one more upgrade left. Nič very friendly. The phone will receive security patches for 3 years.

The battery (5300 mAh; Li-Po) is the component that HONOR has boasted the most since its launch. They say that it is enough for two days of use, which is also true if you are really gentle with it. But there is a good reason for this good autonomy. The processor is average, the screen brightness isn't too high, and the tasks I expect to be mostly done on this phone aren't exactly wasteful (web browsing, Instagram …). Add prolonged gaming or serious photography to the mix, and autonomy drops very quickly, but there is still more. as one day.

Another strange feature is the support for Wi-Fi 5 and not newer standards.

I wouldn't crown him a good photographer

Not the firstč this year that I have to warn against pushing cameras into phones at all costs. The number means nothing if the camera will never be used. The 2 MP macro camera and the 5 MP ultra-wide camera are just numbers on paper. In really good conditions, I could still argue the use of an ultra-wide-angle sensor, but these appear too rarely. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ also got burnt in the same way, but the main sensor saved it.

Photo gallery

Even with the Magic6 Lite, the decisive factor is the main 108 MP camera, which takes quite good photos during the day. Again, it lacks one feature that would significantly raise the quality of (night) photos, and even more so of — optical image stabilization (OIS). It's a shame that it didn't make the shortlist, because now you have to be careful that those vibrations don't ruin the picture. At night, the sensor is still trying to take a good photo, but any minor vibration can quickly nullify all its efforts. It is better not to use the ultra-wide camera at night, unless you are surrounded by more people. light sources.

It offers too little for these čases

The HONOR Magic6 Lite would have been a perfectly adequate mid-range phone in the past. The screen is good, the design is on the premium side, the performance is average, and the main camera is good enough for everyday users. In 2024, however, this is not enough. The competition has made moreč steps forward, and the HONOR Magic6 Lite can't keep up, so I have a hard time recommending it, unless you get it at a really amazing price through your carrier and you're really happy with what it has to offer.

Otherwise, I recommend that you wait for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A55, POCO X6 (Pro) or choose the Redmi Note 13 and for me the best phone in this class at the moment is the Xiaomi 13T.