Daily Authority: ✨ Delivering on Magic

☕ Good morning! Welcome to March! MWC 2022 hits the second official day, with a few less front-loaded announcements, and a chance to really scour the booths and exhibitions on show here. We’re keeping the live blog updated, here.

Honor’s Magic 4 series, Magic V on show

Honor’s big launch yesterday was for its HONOR Magic 4 series, with the Magic 4 Pro and the Magic 4 packing some very high-end spec sheets that match the best Android flagships so far in 2022.

It reads well:

• “The HONOR Magic 4 Pro, launched today, aims to have the specs sheet to end all specs sheets. Its triple-lens camera system has a 64MP periscope zoom and it has a 120Hz refresh rate on a WQHD+ display. It charges at an astounding 100W both wired and wirelessly. And yes, it has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 under the hood.”
• It also has what HONOR is saying is a third-generation LTPO OLED panel. LTPO first added adaptive refresh rates, with the second-gen dropping to lower refresh rates with more efficiency, and now the third-generation adds “high-frequency dimming,” which supposedly “causes less eye strain” in low-light environments.
• The Magic 4 cuts a few corners, including the display dropping back, losing the IP68 rating of the Pro for an IP54 rating, and a different periscope camera setup. It also loses the 100W wireless charging, but packs a bigger battery: 4,800mAh vs the 4,600mAh of the Pro.
• With the vanilla model starting at €899 (~$1,007), and the Magic 4 Pro at €1,099 (~$1,231), neither are exactly a bargain, but the parts list is as strong as you can get outside of the likes of the S22 for now.
• That said: HONOR is still proving its brand in the separation from HUAWEI.
• And it’s not exactly bold or groundbreaking yet.
• HONOR hasn’t given out a clear update policy on long-term Android and security updates.
• And on the Magic 4 series, we don’t yet know when they’ll be on sale, nor what will emerge in terms of camera quality, software, and so on.
• The real magic isn’t the hardware, but the complete package.

Honor’s foldable on show – quietly:

• HONOR has also been happy to show off the HONOR Magic V in private settings. It’s not on general show, but it’s available to check out, and my colleagues are busy putting together a comparison between the Magic V, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, and the OPPO Find N back at our shared accommodation. (That’s the order of the three you see above, too, from left-to-right.)
• The Magic V, of course, is the foldable HONOR announced and put on sale in China earlier this year.
• But HONOR confirmed to Android Authority that the Magic V isn’t coming to global markets at all.
• The reason to keep this to a regional release only, as explained by a rep, is that HONOR is still building up its brand image and positioning in the West.
• It’s more likely that the second-generation foldable from the company will launch as a big event with wider availability.
• There was no clear timeline as to when exactly that might be, but HONOR is busy working on it.

First look thoughts:

• As for the device itself: it’s the biggest foldable outside of the Z Fold 3 and the OPPO Find N. HONOR says it opted for as much screen as possible when unfolded, but it’s almost unwieldy.
• Still, that does make the outer phone screen basically a big, normal smartphone size. It’s wider, easier to use, and easier to type on.
• In comparison to the others, there’s a sense that the Find N’s more squared-off ratio might suit some people better, but having more options is always welcome. And it’s not so much the Z Fold 3 that is super interesting now, but what Samsung might do with the Z Fold 4.
• As for the Magic V, it’s certainly a close relative to the HUAWEI Mate X2 though there are small differences, and of course it could have Google Mobile Services unlike the HUAWEI.
• The back cover features a burnt orange plain leather look and feel which felt pretty good, too.

Roundup

• 🔌 OPPO announces 240W charging: Get a 100% charge in under 10 minutes. Really, 240W! I saw it on the show floor here and you gain 11% in a minute, or 1% every 5.5 seconds. Obviously, cool and all, but lots of questions about battery life, heat generated, long-term battery health with this kind of particularly aggressive charging. But, OPPO is on the offensive talking about its “Battery Health Engine” or BHE, so we’ll see how it looks as the technology matures. The demonstration was on a purpose-built prototype device, complete with a special app OPPO uses to discharge the phone as fast as possible which was fun to watch: full haptics, screen brightness max, and dummy workloads fo the processor, all while under temperature management (Android Authority).
• 📱 OnePlus 10 Pro: We go hands-on with the flagship’s global edition (Android Authority).
• 💻 Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Pro 360 hands-on: Slim machines, impressive specs, but we wish the display was a little clearer… (Android Authority).
• 📅 Global launch date leaked for Xiaomi’s 2022 flagships: March 15th could be the day (Android Authority).
• 👉 MediaTek has announced the Dimensity 8000 and Dimensity 8100: New 5nm TSMC SoCs that are aiming to take on the Snapdragon 870/888 affordable flagship spec. Still waiting for a phone with the Dimensity 9000… (Android Authority).
• 🔦 Android 13 might bring controls to brighten or dim the flashlight, like on iPhone (Android Authority).
• 📺 DisplayPort 2.0 labels specify bandwidth to avoid HDMI 2.1-like confusion (Ars Technica).
• 🚗 Cyberattack forces Toyota to suspend vehicle production in Japan (Engadget).
• 🏖️ LinkedIn wants to “normalize career breaks” with new feature (CNET).
• Here comes the full Amazonification of Whole Foods: Revamped stores have Amazon One tech like palm sign-in and cashierless walk-out (NY Times, gift link for Daily Authority subscribers).
• 😬 “Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system” (Wired).
• 🛰️ A wartime plea to Western satellite companies: “We need this data, please” (Ars Technica).
• 📡 After questions about Starlink’s ability to really get to Ukraine as per Elon Musk’s promise, a shipment did arrive (The Verge).
• 🤔 “ELI5: Do tanks actually have explosives attached to the outside of their armor? Wouldn’t this help in damaging the tanks rather than saving them?” (r/askscience).

Chart Tuesday

Do you use more data from your desktop device or your mobile device? That might depend on where you live.

Details from Statcounter pulled together by Statista show:

• 57% of internet traffic was generated with mobile phones in 2021: as much as 70% in Africa.
• 63% of web traffic came from the Google Chrome browser, Safari made up 25 percent of traffic share.
• Despite Samsung’s market share of smartphones, the default Samsung Internet browser did just 6% as most people installed Chrome.

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.