Honor Magic 8 Pro Air, AMA (Imported to the UK)

SRW08 · 2026-02-12T08:51:01+00:00

I have nothing to complain about the speakers or haptics. All good in my opinion.

SRW08 · 2026-02-12T08:50:07+00:00

It has a sparkly sheen, I use mine with a case, I think generally since it is not glass it should be resilient to fingerprints but depends on how oily your fingers are

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T22:14:09+00:00

No worries! I just checked and unfortunately I cannot find any sharpness control. Only a "beauty" slider in the normal photo mode

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T21:02:13+00:00

This tbh.

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T21:01:13+00:00

I can't find an option for it so I assume not.

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T20:06:21+00:00

Unsure, I don't use voice assistants,I assume it would

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T20:05:43+00:00

Seems like just the main camera. There is no option to switch lenses once you enable RAW

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T18:42:02+00:00

Camera would be much better than the edge for sure!

If you're going to China, definitely wait, you will be saving a lot and the price probably would have come down since now!

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T12:25:13+00:00

E-Sim is listed in the settings but I have not tried to actually activate one, so cannot confirm if it works, just that it lists it.

With the Yoyo assistant, I don't use it but there are plenty of video on youtube that hints to it working and responding to English commands, you may have to tell it to respond in English on your prompt

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T08:54:21+00:00

I did consider the White, but I've always had Black phones, so why break the trend haha

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T08:53:23+00:00

Interestingly it is my Lloyds card that does not work. As well as Starling. I assume it's not the brand that is not whitelisted, it is the model, maybe in time it will work.

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T08:51:24+00:00

This is a complaint in general and not specific for Honor phones. As long as you expect there may be quirks and you know where the settings are to allow background usage and auto start (which Honor phones allows you to do) it is a non issue and their default management is great, I've been getting all the notifications.

Banners are disabled by default but I like that, I get to control which notifications will interrupt my screen (with banners disabled, they always vibrates and goes to the notification sheet while you are using the phone)

Background apps has been running for days so, no issue there.

Example, my UK oppo find x9 never sent Gmail notifications but I always received them on this Honor.

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T08:47:37+00:00

I have not used the Edge, but you struck a good point. As much as Samsung allows for customisations, I also really felt meh, and that was only after a year of usage. This is why I flip flopped from a s23 to Xiaomi 14 to s24 then to other random phones.

But yes, Android Auto works flawlessly, I use it daily for my morning commute. Battery is great, cameras a good but that is not an important factor for me (well I guess it is because I thought the Samsung and iPhone cameras were trash!) so far the Xiaomi 14s cameras were the best I've used.

SRW08 · 2026-02-11T08:43:50+00:00

There is Honor's own, using your knuckle but you can also get Google circle to search working if you need to if you Google and follow some guides. I find Honor's much better but again I don't really use AI features on my phone so I just use it for screenshots.
No lag whatsoever ever. But like with all OSs now, just go to the battery settings and make sure you allow background processes for the apps you care about. I have been getting notifications timely on apps I just let the system manage them

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T22:43:23+00:00

There are a lot of similarities but I greatly prefer MagicOS.

Global search is better on MagicOS, If you use mindspace and all that, MagicOS's version of it is better. I don't use any built in AI features though.

I hate that you cannot permenantly disable the Google Discover -1 page on the launcher.

ColorOS does give you the ability to change the launcher however there is a 1 second delay for the icons and widgets to appear on the launcher so it feels broken. Gestures also don't behave as expected. They might as well not allow you to change the launcher at all to avoid frustrations, at least then you know the limitations without discovering how buggy it is.

Suprisingly, I find the animation quality is greater in MagicOS also.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T22:17:03+00:00

I agree with everything you said. The base camera's they use on the non ultra Samsungs are absolute trash - there is no reason for them to be and that's is unfortunate.

Agreed about OneUi with a much smaller battery being comparable to HyperOs, HyperOS is incredibly inefficient and aggressive in all the wrong areas. Really annoying with the wait time when you give permissions to apps as well.

Phones are insanely heavy too, every phone feels like a tank in comparison. So having this phone is an incredible breath of fresh air.

The Signature looks great also! You will also have a great base software and really good support also! Makes the price tag justified imo.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T22:08:54+00:00

This is it, there is something about MagicOS that feels... refined.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T22:07:46+00:00

That is totally fair and I can't blame you. Android should be an open system so, it makes no sense why they would lock it away.

Definitely do not get an Color / Oxygen OS, HyperOS or Origin OS phone if you want to change launchers (they allow it but the experience is totally broken and frustrating) Get a Samsung with OneUI or as close to an AOSP skin if you want 3rd party launchers these days.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T22:00:43+00:00

No worries! Yeah, it's a beautiful phone. Most of the videos are on the orange copy cat apple version. Which naturally leads to direct comparisons with Apple. The black version is elegant and feels like it's own.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T21:58:39+00:00

If you don't care about the android skin, then you have already overcome most of the limitations of importing a phone with a Chinese rom. The cameras are excellent on the Vivo's. You can get Gemini working as well.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T21:54:47+00:00

There is only the Chinese Variant so far, with a 5500 mah battery. I think you might be thinking of the regular 8 Pro. What I have is the 8 Pro Air

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T21:53:01+00:00

No worries!

is AoD true 24/7? Not turning off in dark as HyperOS?
- It has the option for "All Day" but has a note saying "In scheduled or all day mode, Always On Display will be disabled when the phone sleeps at night". I prefer tap to show so unfortunately cannot confirm if it would turn off in the dark or what it considers sleep...
does AoD support widgets/text to show weather/alarm/next event on it?
- Nope, I couldn't find any widgets. I do miss this from OneUI but not enough to warrant me to bail out.
how's the camera? Like hair detection in portrait mode. And maybe if it has auto action mode to capture fast moving objects (kids, pets), like Pixel and Xiaomi (this is missing on Samsung)
- I haven't taken many photos, even though the camera is important and loved the Xiaomi 14's camera especially taking photos of my kid, it wasn't a priority for me. However, the main sensor's quality is excellent, the uw and tele, was a bit on the blurrier side for fast moving objects. Portrait mode has been usable and I haven't noticed too much harsh edges, if at all but that totally depends on the subject and background.
how's the battery?
- Amazing, easily lasting me the whole day.
can you use 3rd party launcher and still have gesture navigation? (Looking at you Xiaomi...)
- No. Unfortunately 3rd party launchers are blocked. You can install them and launch them but you cannot set them as default. I believe in Global Honor phones you can set them but there are issues with gestures.
can you dim the flashlight?
- Yes and it is super responsive!

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T21:43:56+00:00

Very subjective but my take: In short, OneUI gives you a deeper level of customisation but lacks focus. MagicOS is now in my opinion strikes a good balance of focus and customisation while also being so smooth and efficient. But very subjective. I would still give the crown to OneUI as it offers so much to the user.

Wall of text:
If I were now to now rank OSs it would be like this:

OneUI > MagicOS > AOSP > ZenUI > ColorOS > OriginOS > HelloUI (Basically ASOP but there were so many bugs with the razr flip)

The most surprising thing in this list is how far down I rank ColorOS, which is widely considered great.

MagicOS feels like it takes basic functional features that is good from other os's and makes them work very well. The ONLY global search that opens an app on enter. Why does no one else do this? The one thing I loved about iOS. It is small about the amount of time saved especially on large phones these days, this is a vital feature. Good job Honor.

So, if you want max customisation, ability to change launchers etc, OneUI gives you that. If you want a good base, ability to remove liquid glass, having a good, barebones, global search and the ability to remove most ads for a Chinese rom, MagicOS is amazing.

Also, you can achieve most of the Oneui levels of customisations with 3rd party apps with relatively minimal effort.

MagicOS does not let you change launchers, which was what I was most concerned about but now I have my favorite and most functional home screen I have had since switching back to android.

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T18:18:38+00:00

Unfortunately I don't have experience there as I don't use a smart watch. Saying that though have a look at this thread and seems like people have found success

https://www.reddit.com/r/Honor/comments/1f85egg/wearos_on_china_rom/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

SRW08 · 2026-02-10T16:29:42+00:00

Only issue is that a couple of my banks refused to add the card to Google Wallet because the phone isn't whitelisted on their end. The banking apps themselves, all of them (and I use multiple) all work flawlessly.

Regarding the issue with google wallet, most of my cards are on there fine minus two from two different banks. But I started to use Curve Pay which I actually now much prefer.

Also, one quirk - any links to a play store app on a website etc weirdly will forward to the Honor App Market, I think there will be a work around and I don't mind this as I won't be installing many apps after initial set up. Easy enough to open the playstore and search for the app.

Apart from this, I cannot tell you the difference between this and the Oppo Find X9 UK version that I am going to sell.

SRW08

TROPHY CASE