The Honor Magic 7 Lite skimps on specs in favour of durability (Image: Honor)
A couple of weeks ago a package turned up on my doorstep with a smartphone inside. As a tech reviewer this is far from unusual. These parcels usually contain a single box with the device ready to test and use like any other device. But this one held not only the new Honor Magic 7 Lite, but also an egg timer, bottle opener, tape measure, pop socket, mini thermometer and target sticker.
This was either the makings of a table top game, strange night out, or some sort of challenge.
It turned out to be the latter. Honor’s newest phone costs £399, which is a mid-range price that puts it in competition with the £499 , £429 and £439 .
Though the Magic 7 Lite stands out for undercutting the price of its closest rivals, Honor also claims it is a particularly durable smartphone, despite having a large 6.78-inch curved glass OLED screen and matt finish plastic back. The side rails are glossy plastic and on the back there’s a large but not too bulky circular camera module.
So far, so smartphone.
But Honor says I can put the phone in the freezer for ten minutes and it will still work. I threw it in my freezer and set a timer and sure enough, it was still working without a hitch, with the thermometer showing -4.7C temperatures (see below image).
The Honor Magic 7 Lite survived ten minutes in the freezer at -4.7C (Image: Express Newspapers)
The firm also challenged me to scratch the display with the metal bottle opener, and even use that same screen to – for some reason – smash open some walnuts.
Without walnuts to hand I settled on the bottle opener. It appeared to do zero damage to the screen, which is impressive. Ditto with the back of the phone, which here is an attractive purple hue. I guess I can thank the ‘Anti-Drop Display’ that Honor says allows resistance to drop from heights of up to two metres.
“Its ultra-tempered glass and resistance shield provide comprehensive protection, while the unique bézier curve design safeguards the corners from impacts,” as Honor also puts it.
I gladly obliged, dropping the Magic 7 Lite onto my hardwood floor as well as the solid floor in the stairwell of my block.
The phone held up remarkably well. Neither screen or back smashed, and there is only one scratch on the edge of the curved screen after repeated drops:
The only scratch (circled) that the phone received from repeated drops onto hard floors (Image: Express Newspapers)
Aside from this, other specs also impress with an absolutely enormous 6,600mAh battery that Honor claims can last for up to three days (though there’s no fast charger in the box to take advantage of the potential 66W speeds).
So, what’s the catch? If you want a durable smartphone this one seems like a good choice. But in this price range I’d recommend spending a sliver more and getting a more powerful phone with a better camera.
Honor has cut corners by opting to use the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, a processor first seen in September 2022 that now feels quite underpowered paired with 8GB RAM. Even fresh out the box the phone stuttered when opening simple apps, and occasionally apps crashed altogether. It’s not great to see a £399 phone sluggish in the first week of use.
You do get IP64 water and dust resistance but this means it’s not certified for submerging, and there’s no SD card slot. My uni had 256GB storage, which should be enough.
The main camera lens is also passable but not up to the quality of the Pixel 8a, which at the time of writing is on sale for £369, £30 less than the Magic 7 Lite. While it boasts 108MP, images are over-saturated with too-bright colours, though sharpness is generally good and it’ll be fine if you’re not fussy about cameras. I did see some weird results though, such as a moving car half disappearing like there was a glitch in the Matrix:
The camera struggled to capture a moving car (image cropped from main sensor) (Image: Express Newspapers)
Pictures of people also appear very washed out with too soft colours for my liking, but it will be fine for most.
The 5MP ultra-wide camera is terrible with poor resolution and bad colour levels. It’s there to give the phone more than one camera on paper. Honor should use a better one or not bother at all. The 16MP selfie camera is good enough.
It’s worth noting Honor is only promising three Android platform updates, so this phone that launches with Android 14 will only get up to Android 17 in 2026. Buy the Pixel 8a, and you’ll be getting Android updates till 2031.
At this price I can forgive MagicOS’s software quirks compared to Honor’s pricier phones. Most casual phone buyers for this device should be more interested in the excellent durability and industry-leading battery life, which I found as good as Honor claims. But I stop short at whole heartedly recommending the Magic 7 Lite thanks to only average cameras and the worry that its underpowered processor won’t keep it ticking over for the years you’d expect it to.