Honor Magic7 Lite 5G

Our detailed test

Honor launches, in parallel with its standard bearer, the Magic7 Pro-which you can discover our laboratory test right here-, a technically less ambitious model, but which does not lack arguments: the Magic7 Lite. Two colors are offered in France: a classic black or, like the copy that the brand has lent us for our grip, a much more original purple. As a reminder, the Fnac lab tests were carried out on a trade copy.

This mid -range smartphone is marketed at a price of € 379.90 with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of internal storage. This price comes to position it against the new Poco X7 Pro and Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G. As a reminder, the Honor Magic6 Lite (our grip is here) still appears in the brand’s catalog at a price of around € 280. Also note that the Honor 200 is offered at € 399.90.

Design and handling

The Magic7 Lite is very like its predecessor at first glance. There is indeed a large curved screen of 6.78 inches which occupies almost 91 % of the facade. An informed eye will note, however, that the front camera now takes place in an extended punch, but we do not really have a technical explanation about this change. The slab always receives a fingerprint reader whose sensor surface is placed a little too low for the thumb to position itself naturally. But it works very well, rest assured.

The back takes up the principle of the circular photo block of the previous generation, but, despite appearances, it only welcomes two cameras, against three previously. The optics seem well protected and the details are neat. The shell presents a very pleasant mat cover to the touch and which is quite well with fingerprints. The design of the flanks is thinned due to the curved screen and the shell which follows the same path.

The volume switching buttons are located at the right height to be effortlessly handled. At the bottom, the smartphone has a USB-C socket and a hatch that can accommodate nanosim. There is also a small grid through which one of the two speakers is expressed, because yes, this Lite version finally benefits from a pair of speakers allowing a stereophonic rendering. As a reminder, the Magic6 Lite (taken in hand by us here) only offered.

The Honor Magic7 Lite plays the card of robustness more than ever, which would still be largely improved compared to the previous generation. The brand announces resistance to falls 2 meters high or a shell supporting 3,000 cycles of friction with steel wool. On the other hand, and it may seem paradoxical, the smartphone is not really waterproof. However, it meets the IP64 standard (IP53 for its predecessor): it can support projections of water and dust on 360 °. The Honor Magic7 Lite measures 162.8 × 75.5 × 8 mm for a weight of 189 g, almost the same as its counterpart from last year.

The screen

The smartphone offers a large 6.78 -inch screen which is based on an Amoled slab displaying a definition of 1,224 × 2,700 pixels, a density of 437 ppi. Figures that guarantee a large display area and a detailed image to benefit in the best possible conditions of content and multimedia applications. The screen offers, like that of the previous generation, a maximum refresh frequency of 120 Hz, but no LTPO technology. It is possible to choose manually between several settings, including a dynamic mode which automatically rocks between 60 and 120 Hz.

Compared to the Magic6 Lite, the brand announces that it has worked a lot on the brightness of the screen, which goes peak from 1,200 to 4,000 nits. In practice, we have indeed noted increased comfort outdoors and rather precise colors, provided that we opt for natural mode. This screen has of course passed into the hands of the Fnac lab experts, who had rather appreciated that of the Magic6 Lite. Well, our smartphone of the day does even better on all levels. The laboratory probes note to start a contrast rate that progresses to reach 410: 5, a figure that some high -end would not deny. Color fidelity is simply perfect. Here is an excellent screen.

Performances et interface

Small disappointment from the start since Honor chose to keep exactly the same mechanics as the previous version of his Lite. On the program, therefore, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, a chip engraved in 4 Nm and having a total of eight physical hearts for a maximum frequency of 2.2 GHz. This processor and the accompanying graphical circuit are enough to offer a coherent and pleasant user experience in most daily tasks. Faced with the different tests of the Fnac lab, this smartphone behaved perfectly with excellent notes.

The smartphone is launched under Android 14 with the Honor Magicui 8.0 overlay. This brings a few more well felt, especially in terms of ergonomics and personalization. There are a few bloatware, but these are not really unnecessary applications, most of them – we find for example Facebook and Tiktok. Honor has slipped some functions implementing artificial intelligence, as a magic portal which allows you to carry out research directly from an image surrounded with the finger, or magic text to quickly extract a text from an image.

Admittedly, the Lite is not going as far as the pro in terms of artificial intelligence, but that’s always taken. Congratulations for the update policy which is simply excellent for a mid -range, with six years of software follow -up, whether for security corrections or for Android versions.

Communications

By keeping the same platform as that of its predecessor, the Honor Magic7 Lite does not evolve in terms of communications. We are not really in the best today, including in this price range. We must always be satisfied with WiFi 802.11ac, in other words WiFi 5, while the smartphone is blocked with version 5.1 of Bluetooth. However, in the context of conventional use, the mobile behaved rather well. His grip of mobile networks is fast and offers stable flows.

The passage in the anechoic chamber of the Fnac lab makes it possible to grasp differences compared to the previous generation, equipped with the same radio equipment signed Qualcomm. The Honor Magic7 Lite progresses a little in 3G and 4G as well as in Bluetooth, but the two vintages remain very close. The network hooking capacity is therefore very good.

Photo

You will certainly have understood: the Magic7 Lite is a wise evolution of its predecessor. And we find the same status quo in the photo part. The main camera and the ultra large angle are identical, with a 108 megapixel sensor coupled with a ƒ/1.8 optics for the first and a 5 megapixel sensor for the second. The third module of the Magic6 Lite, a dispensable macro sensor, therefore goes to the hatch.

The quality of the camera of a smartphone is the result of a complex alchemy and if, in this case, the material is identical, including with regard to the ISP, the experts of the lab manage to highlight differences. Obviously, Honor has largely optimized the software processing operating on his smartphone. Indeed, the colorimetry measured is even better and the behavior of the main camera in low light is simply excellent. Ultra Grand Angle is a great success, just like digital zoom.

We have taken some series of photos with the default adjustment which activates the Binning pixels to obtain 12 megapixel images in the end. During the day, the images are detailed and their colorimetry balanced.

The Honor Magic7 Pro can film in 4K at 30 frames per second with optical stabilization.

Unsurprisingly, we find the same frontal camera of 16 megapixels as on the previous generation. Selfies are attractive, with lots of details and skin textures very well transcribed. Qualities that have been confirmed by the Fnac lab which notably notes a great optimization of colorimetry and low light management compared to the previous generation.

Autonomy

The Honor Magic7 Lite displays an 8 mm thickness, like its predecessor, a figure that classifies it in the relatively fine smartphones category. However, Honor managed to slide a huge silicon battery of 6,600 mAh, or 1,300 mAh more than the Magic6 Lite! Just that!

We are a little disappointed with the results of the smartphone in the face of the autonomy measurement protocol developed by the Fnac lab. If, when we take control, we were able to use the smartphone almost two full days without the need to recharge it, the gain measured after the protocol in question is tenuous. Indeed, the Honor Magic6 Lite had obtained for a time of 10:54 am while its successor and its huge battery barely exceeds the 11 hours.

Honor does not provide a mains block. Too bad, because the power eligible by the Magic7 Lite is now 66 W, against 35 W for the previous generation. It must be said that the battery to be recharged is enormous. We used the 100 W charger for our grip which also served us for the Magic7 Pro. The smartphone is completely recharged in 59 minutes according to the particularly picky test of the Fnac lab. It’s a great performance.

Wireless recharge is still not present; Too bad, because it brings additional comfort and above all a certain universality.