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Honor’s resurgence within the final two years has been dominated by foldables just like the Magic V3, however the model is doing a great job within the pill class as properly. The price range Pad 9 delivered a large 12.1-inch panel and standout battery life, and it was ideally suited to consuming content material on the go. Honor adopted it up with the Pad V9 final month, and it does an incredible job.
The model is constructing on that momentum with the MagicPad 2. When you get an honest variety of choices nowadays if you’d like a great Android pill, most merchandise nonetheless include an LCD panel. The MagicPad 2, in the meantime, has a 12.3-inch OLED panel, and that in itself is a large differentiator. The change to OLED means you get richer colours and glorious distinction ranges, and the MagicPad 2 is an leisure powerhouse.
There’s terrific built-in sound, highly effective {hardware}, and the pill has glorious battery life. When you want a tool to eat media on the go, the MagicPad 2 is well one of the best mid-range pill at present accessible.
Honor MagicPad 2: Pricing and availability
Honor debuted the MagicPad 2 in July 2024, and the pill is accessible in choose world markets. It’s offered in a single 12GB/256GB mannequin within the U.Ok., and it retails for £399 ($518) on Honor’s web site while you use the code APD2FE50. It prices £499 ($628) on Amazon U.Ok. as of writing.
When you’re trying to choose up the pill, I would counsel doing so from Honor. The model completely sells the white variant of the pill on its website, and one of the best half is that it bundles the MagicPad 2 Sensible Bluetooth Keyboard and Magic Pencil 3 with all orders, which is a further financial savings of £160 ($200).
Honor MagicPad 2: Design
The MagicPad 2 appears and looks like a high-end pill, and the white colour choice that I am utilizing is incredible. It would not have a glass again, with Honor as a substitute going with a fiber materials that brings down the load. The white mannequin has a definite sample that evokes reminiscences of the OnePlus 11 Marble Odyssey, and the satin texture is nice to carry.
You may discover a slight inexperienced tinge when viewing the again at an angle, and a bonus of not utilizing a glass again is that it would not choose up any smudges. The mid-frame is made out of metallic, and the pill is comparatively skinny at simply 5.8mm. Coming in at 555g, it is on the lighter facet of the size when you think about the dimensions of the panel.
The rear digicam island would not draw an excessive amount of consideration to itself, and it would not protrude from the chassis, so there is not a wobble when utilizing it on a desk. The ability button is situated up high, and the quantity buttons are on the best, and so they’re simple sufficient to entry.
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Honor did a great job minimizing the bezels, the digicam is accurately positioned alongside the vanguard. If something, the one level of rivalry with the MagicPad 2 is that it would not have a fingerprint sensor — you solely get a PIN or passcode unlock and face unlock. I get that utilizing an optical fingerprint sensor provides price to the system, however Honor ought to have at the least bundled a fingerprint module that is baked into the ability button; not having it in any respect is a notable omission.
Aside from that, there aren’t any issues with the design of the MagicPad 2. It feels good to carry and use, and it is skinny and lightweight sufficient that you do not fairly understand you are utilizing an outsized pill.
Honor MagicPad 2: Show
Honor outfitted the MagicPad 2 with one of the best panel on this class; the pill has a 12.3-inch OLED display with a decision of 3000 x 1920 and 144Hz refresh, and it will get HDR10. It goes as much as a most brightness of 1600 nits, and whereas that is when viewing HDR content material, I did not see any issues viewing the panel outdoor. It would not get fairly as brilliant because the iPad Professional M4 — Honor would not use a tandem OLED — however it’s nonetheless greater than ample.
If something, the inclusion of the OLED panel offers the pill a definite edge over nearly each different mid-range Android pill. Colours are vibrant and distinction ranges are glorious, and Honor continues to guide the trade relating to eye safety options. The pill will get Defocus Eyecare tech — which is on the Magic V3 and Magic 7 Professional — alongside 4320Hz PWM dimming, and a blue gentle filter.
Better of all, Honor’s e book mode is accessible on the pill, and it makes the MagicPad 2 an absolute pleasure to make use of for studying books and long-form content material. Whereas I would nonetheless select an e-reader whereas touring, the monochrome mode is considerably simpler on the eyes when studying textual content, and I am glad Honor retained it.
On the different finish of the size, HDR content material appears fabulous on the pill, with Netflix and YouTube benefiting from the function. The pill has highly effective built-in sound, and it is loud and detailed sufficient that you simply need not use a headset or earbuds whereas watching a TV present or film. Gaming is equally gratifying, and I did not have any points even in demanding titles.
General, the huge OLED panel and the feature-set mix to make the pill one of the best in its class, and for those who want a tool to eat multimedia on the go, that is the most suitable choice within the mid-range class.
Honor MagicPad 2: {Hardware} and battery
Whereas it is not utilizing the newest silicon, the MagicPad 2 is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, and it does an admirable job in its personal proper. It handles demanding video games properly, and there aren’t any issues with overheating or aggressive throttling. It is available in a solitary 12Gb/256GB configuration, and there is not any solution to get the 512GB mannequin globally.
Regardless, the pill would not have any shortcomings on this space, and it does a great job with routine duties in addition to intensive workloads. The pill would not have mobile connectivity or NFC, however the Wi-Fi 6 modem maintains a robust sign, and I did not see any issues with connectivity. There’s Bluetooth 5.3 as properly, and also you get AptX HD and LDAC.
There’s an 8MP digicam up entrance, and whereas it is not noteworthy, it does an honest sufficient job in video calls, and that is probably the most I used the module. The again of the pill homes a 13MP digicam, however even entry-level telephones have significantly better cameras, and I would not recommendation utilizing the one in the back of the MagicPad 2.
The MagicPad 2 comes with a ten,500mAh battery, and it simply has over ten hours of display time between fees. That’s in keeping with different tablets of an analogous dimension, and there aren’t any points on this space. Honor bundles a 66W charger within the field, and it takes the pill simply over 100 minutes to totally cost the battery.
Honor MagicPad 2: Equipment
Honor sells two equipment with the pill: the MagicPad 2 Sensible Bluetooth Keyboard, and Magic Pencil 3. The keyboard accent does a great job safeguarding the pill, and it positions the panel at a 60-degree angle, making it handy to make use of. The keys do not have backlighting, however the important thing journey is astonishingly good, and I used to be capable of get an honest quantity of writing carried out on the keyboard.
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I did not see any points with Bluetooth connectivity both, and it stayed paired to the pill after setting it up. The Magic Pencil 3 can be respectable, and it’s good to take notes with. Handwriting recognition is respectable, but it surely consistently corrected my title to Danish, and that simply made me wish to eat a pastry.
Honor MagicPad 2: Software program
Honor debuted the pill with MagicOS 8, but it surely picked up an replace to the Android 15-based MagicOS 9.0, bringing a cleaner UI and loads of new options. Honor is positioning AI as a key level of differentiation, and that is evident when utilizing the pill; with utilities like Magic Portal, real-time translations, and a set of image-editing instruments, there’s lots to love on this regard.
Honor additionally did a great job rolling out multitasking options on the pill, and the one quibble I’ve with the interface is the break up notification shade. The Management Middle sits to the best and homes all of the toggles, and notifications get a devoted pane. A unified resolution would have been higher, but it surely’s clear that Honor desires to take care of consistency with its telephones.
Outdoors of that, there aren’t any issues with the interface. The UI is fluid — because of the 144Hz refresh — and there is sufficient customizability accessible. The most important difficulty with the pill is that it’ll solely get one software program replace and three years of safety updates, and that simply is not sufficient in 2025. With the MagicPad 2 making the change to MagicOS 9.0, it won’t get every other platform updates, and Honor wants to alter its insurance policies.
Honor MagicPad 2: The options
I just like the OnePlus Pad 2 on this phase; it additionally has a large 12.1-inch panel, but it surely makes use of an IPS LCD as a substitute of OLED. It has beefier {hardware} and higher multitasking utilities, however the battery would not final fairly as lengthy. It’s the closest various to the MagicPad 2, however I would nonetheless counsel getting Honor’s pill because it has an OLED panel.
Honor MagicPad 2: Must you purchase it?
You should purchase this if:
- You want a pill with an OLED panel
- You need good {hardware}
- You want terrific battery life
- You need helpful equipment
You should not purchase this if:
- You need long-term software program updates
- You want dependable biometrics to unlock the pill
Honor bought the fundamentals proper with the MagicPad 2; it has a modern design, standout battery life, and good internals. The most important cause to choose up this pill over its mid-range rivals is the OLED panel; the standard of the panel mixed with 144Hz refresh makes the MagicPad 2 the final word alternative for consuming multimedia at dwelling or the go. This alone permits the pill to tell apart itself from its rivals, and whether or not you are trying to stream TV exhibits, films, play video games, or learn ebooks, the MagicPad 2 simply will get my advice.
The one level of rivalry with the pill is that it will not choose up any platform updates; it made the change to the Android 15-based MagicOS, and apart from three years of safety patches, it will not get every other updates. Honor claimed a win by promising seven years of software program updates to the Magic 7 Professional — changing into the one Chinese language model to take action — however that does not lengthen to its different units, and it is a disgrace {that a} pill with as nice a possible is being hobbled on this manner.
Even then, there is not one other system that is pretty much as good because the MagicPad 2. So if you’re trying to choose up a pill principally to observe TV exhibits and flicks, it’s your best option on this class.
The OLED panel offers the MagicPad 2 a definite benefit in opposition to its rivals, and the remainder of the {hardware} is kind of respectable too.
