Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR assessment: Taking issues to a complete new stage

The Magic 6 Professional is one among my favourite telephones of the yr; it has appreciable digital camera upgrades from final yr, a stunning design that stands out, highly effective {hardware}, and attention-grabbing software program options. So when Honor introduced it was making a Porsche Design variant of the machine, I used to be clearly .

I used the Porsche Design Magic V2 RSR foldable when it debuted, and it had loads of distinctive design traits that made it distinctive — much more so than the usual Magic V2, which is not a nasty telephone to take a look at by any measure. With the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR, Honor is popping issues up a notch, delivering what’s presumably top-of-the-line telephones of 2024.

The Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR has customized styling and is on the market in attention-grabbing colour decisions, and it comes with 1TB of storage and 24GB of RAM, which is simply overkill. I used the machine as my each day driver for over two weeks, and this is why I feel it’s the finest model of the Magic 6 Professional.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Pricing and availability

Honor unveiled the Magic 6 RSR Porsche Design on March 18 in China, and the telephone made its debut within the U.Okay. on Might 2. The telephone can also be headed to the Center East, Malaysia, and Germany within the coming weeks.

The Magic 6 RSR is on the market in a single variant that has 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and it prices £1,599 ($2,004) within the U.Okay. That is significantly greater than its retail value of 9,999 RMB ($1,380) in China, and a sizeable premium over the usual model of the Magic 6 Professional, which is on the market for £1,099 ($1,378) within the U.Okay. Honor is operating a deal proper now that reductions the machine by an extra £250 ($313), bringing the fee all the way down to £849 ($1,064). That mentioned, the usual mannequin has 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Design

Design is the most important level of differentiation with the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR, and there’s a lot to go over. The usual Magic 6 Professional has a pillow digital camera island (Honor’s phrases, not mine) that appears nice in its personal proper, and with the Magic 6 RSR, the model went with a brand new design that stands out a lot better.

The digital camera module makes use of Porsche’s “iconic hexagonal construction” that evokes the “essence of precision and high-performance traits of sports activities vehicles.” The digital camera island is made out of titanium, and it contrasts nicely with the glass again.

The telephone is on the market in two colour variants — Agate Gray and Frozen Berry — and whereas I wished to try the gray mannequin, the pink Frozen Berry variant stands out a lot better. Honor says the colour “exudes a way of boldness and fearlessness, including a component of exclusivity to the machine.” I do not know in regards to the fearlessness, however the colour is certainly daring, and it grabs various consideration. And on that topic, the identical colour extends to the mid-frame as nicely.

What I do not like in regards to the design is that the glass again has a shiny coat, and it’s a smudge magnet. If something, the vegan leather-based of the usual Magic 6 Professional feels a lot better to carry and use. The shiny texture continues on the edges too, and Honor ought to have used a matte coating on each variants.

Though I do not like utilizing circumstances with my telephones, the shiny again of the Magic 6 RSR necessitates one, and Honor bundles a minimal leather-based case within the package deal that does a terrific job. The case makes it considerably simpler to carry the machine, and it has a a lot better really feel — Honor ought to have used this on the again as commonplace. And sure, the case has Porsche Design branding highlighted prominently, and there is even pointless stitching alongside the center.

Anyway, the opposite distinctive design trait is the flyline on the again that creates a wedge, and it instantly differentiates the machine. There’s Porsche Design branding for good measure, and whereas I wasn’t initially offered on the colour, I’ve grown keen on it within the two weeks I used the machine.

The telephone remains to be heavy at 237g, but it surely has good weight distribution, and the curvy profile means it’s simple to carry. It retains IP68 ingress safety — vital function on a tool that prices over $2,000 — and whereas the in-screen module sits a bit of decrease on the display, it is not notably awkward to entry.

On the entire, the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR has all of the accouterments you’d need in a customized variant, and it’s completely different sufficient to the usual Magic 6 Professional that it has its personal visible identification.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: {Hardware} and display

I am not going to speak an excessive amount of in regards to the {hardware} because the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR is almost an identical to the usual Magic 6 Professional on this regard. It has the identical 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED panel that goes as much as 5,000 nits in HDR content material, and there are completely no points in each day use. 

The panel will get vivid, has excellent colour vibrancy and distinction ranges, and there is a first rate quantity of customizability. What’s completely different is that Honor is utilizing a dual-layer OLED that ensures panel longevity, and whereas the display is simply as vivid because the common variant, it should keep that manner loads longer. 

The 2800 x 1200 decision is not fairly as excessive because the QHD+ panels that you just get on most different telephones on this phase, but it surely holds up nicely for all each day utilization situations. Honor eschewed Corning and went with its personal NanoCrystal Defend coating, and it does a superb job safety the telephone — it took a tumble onto a tiled floor per week after I began utilizing it, and got here away unscathed. By the way, I made a decision to make use of a case after that incident (that again actually could be very shiny).

Honor’s always-on mode permits you to have your complete display awake, together with the background — much like the way it works in iOS — or you’ll be able to change to only having a clock or a customized fashion. Whereas the machine is not fairly as vivid as its rivals in out of doors use, it shines at media playback, and HDR content material specifically is a delight.

As for the {hardware}, the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR is powered by the identical Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 as the usual mannequin, and it comes with 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. Look, 24GB of RAM is pointless on a telephone as you’ll be able to’t actually use that a lot reminiscence, however I like that the telephone has 1TB of storage. I are likely to take quite a lot of movies nowadays, and storage is an actual downside; this is among the the reason why I do not like utilizing the Pixel 8 Professional and its pitiful 128GB of storage.

There aren’t any points with the Magic 6 RSR in each day use, and the telephone handles intensive gaming with out breaking a sweat. I did not see any slowdowns on my unit, and even with prolonged gaming, there was no overheating. Equally, I did not run into any points with connectivity — the telephone had a secure sign all through.

The one problem with the {hardware} is the haptic engine — it simply does not do something. This has been a difficulty on Honor telephones for some time now, and even in case you allow system haptics, you do not discover any suggestions whereas utilizing gestures. I used to be capable of manually set off it whereas utilizing Gboard, however that is about it. The vibration motor is not energetic whereas utilizing the again gesture, navigating the UI, or in another state of affairs.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Battery

The Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR has the identical 5600mAh battery because the common mannequin, and it makes use of the identical silicon-carbon tech to extend longevity of the battery. You get 80W charging and 66W wi-fi charging, and there is 5W reverse charging as nicely. Honor bundles the requisite charger within the field.

Whereas I did not see any points with the battery on the common Magic 6 Professional, that is not the case on the Magic 6 RSR. The telephone has unusually excessive battery drain in idle, and it solely manages to final a day. It bought to as little as 7% with heavy use by the top of the day, and as I do not cost my telephones in a single day, I made a decision to plug it within the subsequent day. Nonetheless, idle draw is so excessive that the telephone switched off by the point I bought up the next day; this hasn’t been a difficulty on any telephone in latest reminiscence.

Most different telephones with 5000mAh battery final significantly longer with the identical utilization patterns, and whereas most gadgets I utilized in 2024 go as much as a day and a half, the Magic 6 RSR is woefully quick on all measurable metrics on this space. It nonetheless lasts a day, however you’ll need to plug it in by nighttime.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Cameras

We’ve got a devoted digital camera assessment of the Magic 6 Professional, so I am not going to speak in regards to the cameras an excessive amount of right here. The Magic 6 RSR retains the identical digital camera configuration as the usual mannequin, and meaning you get a 50MP principal digital camera with an attention-grabbing variable f/1.4-2.0 lens and a 1/1.3-inch sensor. It is not fairly as massive as a 1-inch sensors within the Xiaomi 14 Extremely and Discover X7 Extremely, but it surely takes standout pictures and movies.

The principle digital camera is joined by a 50MP f/2.0 wide-angle lens, and a 180MP f/2.6 telephoto lens that shoots at as much as 2.5x optical zoom. The digital camera interface is much like what you get with most manufacturers, with loads of toggles, modes, and scenes obtainable. What I like in regards to the Magic 6 RSR is that it’s in a position take pictures of fast-moving objects extremely nicely; I put that to good use to take photographs of our ten-month-old child.

There’s AI-assisted scene recognition as nicely, and also you get three customized types — Pure, Vibrant, and Genuine. The Genuine mode has a vignette to it, so I went with the Vibrant mode. And like with most different telephones, you get a good Professional mode.

This goes with out saying, however the Magic 6 RSR takes excellent photographs in daylight situations. Photographs have loads of element and good colour rendition, and I haven’t got any points with the standard of the resultant photographs. The telephone does a powerful job in low-light conditions as nicely, and whereas the Xiaomi 14 Extremely and Discover X7 Extremely have a slender edge on this regard, the Magic 6 RSR will get fairly shut.

Like its Chinese language rivals, the Magic 6 RSR does a powerful job with portrait photographs. There’s the choice to select from varied focal lengths, and you’ll alter the bokeh. The one factor to notice is that magnificence results are enabled out of the field on this mode, and it’s aggressive — you will have to disable the mode to get correct photographs.

In an analogous vein, the telephone does a terrific job with photographs going as much as 2.5x, and whereas there may be some fringing with the wide-angle lens, it delivers usable photographs in all conditions. 

Whereas I do not take many selfies, the few that I managed to take with the entrance digital camera had poor colour steadiness and simply did not measure as much as the rear cameras. As a complete, the Magic 6 RSR has top-of-the-line digital camera packages of any telephone right this moment.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Software program

The worldwide model of the Magic 6 RSR comes with MagicOS 8.0 based mostly on Android 14 out of the field, and it contains all of the AI options that Honor launched, together with Magic Portal. However as I bought the Chinese language model of the machine, I wasn’t capable of check the function; sarcastically, I bought two variants of the Magic 6 Professional so far, however neither has the worldwide construct.

As such, there is not a lot to speak about on this part. MagicOS 8.0 is a particular improve, and it brings much-needed tweaks to Honor’s telephones. That mentioned, points from earlier model of the interface are nonetheless intact; lengthy urgent on an app does not pull up the app information, so you will have to enter the settings, go to the Apps checklist, and manually find the app if you wish to change its notification settings.

The overview pane can also be in want of an overhaul, and I do not just like the break up notification pane with the toggles to 1 aspect and notifications on the opposite. Aside from that, the interface itself is fluid, and also you get a superb quantity of customizability. Honor ensures 4 platform updates as commonplace, however the model is not as fast to roll out these updates.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: The competitors

The Xiaomi 14 Extremely continues to be my advice in case you want a flagship that takes the very best photographs and movies. The 14 Extremely has a stunning design in its personal proper, and it’s the solely telephone I used this yr that outshines the Magic 6 Professional within the imaging part. Coming in at £1,299 ($1,628), it is not reasonably priced by any measure, but it surely prices lower than the Magic 6 RSR, and I like its software program higher. That mentioned, the Xiaomi 14 Extremely solely goes as much as 512GB, and there is not a 1TB mannequin obtainable.

In fact, there’s the common Magic 6 Professional to think about. The telephone has the identical internals because the Magic 6 RSR, and it prices loads much less. You continue to get terrific cameras, a terrific design with a leather-based again, vibrant display, and unimaginable {hardware}. The Magic 6 Professional has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and it’s obtainable for as little as £849 ($1,064) as of writing.

Porsche Design Honor Magic 6 RSR: Do you have to purchase it?

You can purchase this if:

• You just like the look of the Magic 6 Professional and need a customized variant
• You want terrific cameras
• You want a vivid AMOLED panel with loads of customizability
• You want all of the extras

You should not purchase this if:

• You need the very best worth
• You want multi-day battery life

In case you’re contemplating the Magic 6 Professional and wish one thing that stands out a bit extra, the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR could be the telephone for you — offered you are able to shell out the premium. The Porsche Design label continues to hold a premium, and whereas the Magic 6 RSR has double the reminiscence and storage, it prices £500 ($626) extra. But when that is not a consideration, you will love what the telephone has to supply.

The design is distinctive, and the hexagonal digital camera island mixed with the colour decisions permits the Porsche Design Magic 6 RSR to show heads. I nonetheless do not like the choice to make use of a shiny coat on the again on the Frozen Berry mannequin, however the bundled leather-based case solves that problem with out obscuring the design an excessive amount of.

The remainder of the machine is not too completely different to the usual Magic 6 Professional; you continue to get the identical terrific cameras, the display is among the finest round, and it has top-of-the-line {hardware} packages obtainable right this moment. The battery life is not pretty much as good as different flagships I used, and the vibration motor does not do a lot. However outdoors of that, there are no noticeable points.

Finally, selecting between the Magic 6 Professional and Magic 6 RSR comes all the way down to pricing; in case you do not thoughts paying a premium, the Magic 6 RSR is the way in which to go. It has distinctive styling and 1TB of storage, and I feel that is Honor’s finest telephone but.