The first phone I planned to review this year was this stunning sunrise orange Magic 6 Lite mid-range handset from Honor.
It should have adorned this website the very first week in January, but thanks to the joys of Brexit, the device got stopped by customs, ended up back in London and eventually arrived in my hands safely towards the end of March.
Headline features are a 108MP main camera and a large 5300mAh battery that should last most users two days.
READ MORE: I tested Honor Magic V2 foldable smartphone and now I don’t want to go back to non-folding phones
Design, build and display
So, what is it like to use? In short, Honor Magic6 Lite combines the features of a mid-range smartphone with the more premium design of a high-end device. I love the brushed metal on the top and bottom edges of the device and the metallic sides, for example.
I also love the vegan leather sunrise orange colour but if you find that too bold then there are alternatives such as green and black. The screen is protected by anti-drop technology so it should be more durable than the average €349 smartphone. The company said it is protected from all angles against drops of up to 1.5 metres. The device feels well-crafted and is relatively lightweight at 185g, while super slim at just 8mm.
The curved 6.78in FHD+ AMOLED display is stunning and one of the best features of the device. It has a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,200 nits of peak brightness. It makes the phone a joy to work or play on. The display also boasts 1920Hz PWM dimming, so if you’re sensitive to flicker, this handset is a good option as you are unlikely to see any flicker on this screen.
The display supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision and is colour accurate as it covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut.
On the rear of the device, the camera system is set up in a ring-shaped array that does not protrude much so the phone does not wobble when placed on a desk or other flat surface.
Camera system
The main 108MP camera with an f/1.75 aperture is capable of pleasing images in decent lighting conditions and uses pixel binning to deliver 12MP images with plenty of colour and contrast. You can switch to high-res mode and take advantage of the full 108MP resolution but in my tests the default automatic mode is the better option as it’s quicker and offers more consistent results. However, if you want to use the 3x digital zoom, then high-res mode works best.
Magic 6 Lite can capture video at up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps), but the stabilisation is not great.
For most consumers, this camera will be fine. But it’s not in the same league as the firm’s Magic 6 Pro flagship phone which has one of the best camera systems you can buy but costs almost four times the price.
There are 5MP ultrawide and 2MP macro cameras on Magic 6 Lite, but these are nothing to write home about and are included more for marketing purposes than any practical use. This is a common tactic used by many manufacturers of mid-range and budget phones.
You also get a 16MP front facing camera that captures pleasing selfies in good lighting.
Performance
There’s a 4nm mid-range chip under the hood, Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, and while it does not impress in benchmark test scores, to say the least, it is fast and responsive in everyday use and handles anything you might throw at it including a bit of casual gaming. I didn’t notice any instances of stuttering or lag. Animations are as fluid as devices costing many times the price.
You get 8GB of RAM and can choose to double that capacity in the settings using the Honor RAM Turbo software feature.
The reliable and solid performance of the Magic6 Lite is complemented by the slick MagicOS 7.2 atop Android 13. MagicOS has plenty of customisation options.
Battery life
Most users of this phone will get close to two full days from the large 5300mAh power pack. Even in days of heavy testing I had more than 30 percent left at midnight after an 8am start.
There’s no charger in the box which is like other 2024 mid-range phones such as Pixel 8a that costs €200 more.
There is support for 35w wired charging and it will take about 95 minutes to fully recharge your handset.
Other Magic 6 Lite features
There is only one configuration, with 8GB RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. And it is IP53 rated for dust and water resistance.
You get WiFi 5, NFC, Bluetooth 5.1 and the USB-C port is the 2.0 iteration which does not support fast data transfer speeds. The exFAT and the Microsoft standard NTFS file formats are supported. You set a single mono speaker at the bottom next to the USB-C port which is acceptably loud.
Security upgrades for three years are promised along with two OS updates.
The device has an accurate and reliable fingerprint sensor along with 2D face unlock.
There is a pre-installed screen protector.
Magic 6 Lite verdict
If you are on a budget, Honor Magic 6 Lite is one of the best bargain buys of 2024.
Pricing and availability
Honor Magic 6 Lite costs from free on Three Billpay and €279.99 on Prepay. It costs from €49.99 on Tesco Mobile Billpay and €379 on Prepay. You can get it SIM-free from Harvey Norman, DID and Expert for €339; from Currys for €349; from Very for €379.99.
Competition
This is a great 2024 device, and it is telling that the main competitor at this price is a 2023 phone, Google Pixel 7a.
It has half the storage (128GB) and only a 90Hz refresh rate, but it includes a superior camera system.
However, Pixel 7a costs at least €100 more at €466 on Amazon and €509 on Google Store.
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