Honor MagicPad 2 Review: Shooting for the stars
Honor MagicPad 2 Intro
The Honor MagicPad 2 is the latest generation high performance tablet from the Chinese company, and it aims to give iPads and Galaxy Tabs a serious run for their money. It comes with all the right ingredients, and its specs sheet looks pretty impressive.
From the big and bright OLED screen, the fast processor, and the big battery, down to the eight-speaker sound system, and great keyboard and stylus integration, the Honor MagicPad 2 seems to have it all.
But can this 12.3-inch beauty compete with big guns such as the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra or the 13-inch iPad Pro? We're here to find out!
From the big and bright OLED screen, the fast processor, and the big battery, down to the eight-speaker sound system, and great keyboard and stylus integration, the Honor MagicPad 2 seems to have it all.
What’s new about the Honor MagicPad 2
- 12.3" OLED with 1,600 nits of brightness, 3K resolution, and a 144 Hz refresh rate
- Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset
- 12GB RAM, 256/512/1TB storage
- 5.8mm thickness, 555 grams
- 13 MP, f/2.0 wide camera on the back
- 9MP, f/2.2 front camera
- 8-speaker IMAX enhanced audio system
- 10050mAh battery with 66W wired fast charging support
Table of Contents:
Honor MagicPad 2 Specs
Flagship written all over
If you're trying to challenge the flagship players on the tablet scene, you need flagship specs. The Honor MagicPad 2 ticks that box. The display specs alone are enough to make you consider this device.
| Specs | Honor MagicPad 2 |
|---|---|
| Size and Weight | 274.5 x 180.5 × 5.8 mm 555 grams |
| Display | 12.3" OLED 144Hz 1,600 nits peak brightness |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 |
| Software | Android 14 with MagicOS 8 on top |
| Cameras | 13MP main, f/2.0 aperture 9MP front, f/2.2 aperture |
| Battery Size | 10,050 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 66W via cable no wireless charging |
| Memory configurations | 12/256GB for £499 in the UK (roughly $600) 12/256GB 12/512GB |
Honor MagicPad 2 Design & Colors
Sweet mother of pearl!
The bezels around the beautiful OLED are quite thin, with a screen-to-body ratio of 92%. The back of the white color model (Moonlight White) is quite interesting, hence the strange subtitle. Honor says that the back has been fortified with feather fiber materials (whatever this is), and it's also validated by the SGS Five-star Anti-bending Certification (which might be an anti-JerryRigEverything organization, if you catch my drift).
Whatever the material is, it feels very nice to the touch, and it looks a lot like mother of pearl. It feels papery and has a greenish tint at certain angles. As a bonus, it completely fends off fingerprints.
The power button is on the left side (holding the tablet in landscape), and the volume rocker is right on top. There's nothing on the bottom frame, and the four big speaker grills are on the left and right sides, respectively.
There's a 66W fast charger in the retail box (Image by PhoneArena)
The retail box of the Honor MagicPad 2 is not the most lavish one, but it's also not the worst. We have the tablet itself, a 66W fast charging brick, and a USB-A to USB-C cable. This guy comes with a pretty hefty 10,050 mAh battery, so the fast charging is almost a must.
There's a brand new MagicPad 2 Smart Bluetooth keyboard, and the tablet supports the Magic Pencil, but you have to buy those separately (hint, both are quite good, but more on this later).
Honor MagicPad 2 Display
Shine like a diamond
12.3 inches of pure OLED joy (Image by PhoneArena)
The best feature of the Honor MagicPad 2 is hands down its display. This 12.3-inch OLED panel. It has a resolution of 1920×3000 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 290 PPI, and can go up to 144 Hz. These metrics put the Honor MagicPad 2 on top of both the Galaxy Tab S9+ and the iPad Pro 13 (2024).
There are also some Honor-specific display features onboard, namely the AI Defocus Display, Pusle Width Modulation (PWM) technology, Circadian Night Display, and Dynamic Dimming. The first one helps with nearsightedness through some clever defocus tech.
The PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) dimming normally produces flicker; instead of controlling the current to dim the organic diodes, PWM just switches them on and off really fast. The higher the frequency, the less perceptible the flicker is, and we have 4320 Hz, one of the highest in the industry. Honor (and the TÜV Rheinland certification body) says it's basically flicker-free.
The Circadian Night Display filters blue light according to the time of the day, potentially helping you release the proper levels of melatonin and fall asleep easily.
Let's see how this panel handles our display tests.
There are also some Honor-specific display features onboard, namely the AI Defocus Display, Pusle Width Modulation (PWM) technology, Circadian Night Display, and Dynamic Dimming. The first one helps with nearsightedness through some clever defocus tech.
The Circadian Night Display filters blue light according to the time of the day, potentially helping you release the proper levels of melatonin and fall asleep easily.
Let's see how this panel handles our display tests.
Display Measurements:
Overall, the display of the Honor MagicPad 2 performs great, and this 635 nits of typical brightness over the big 12.3-inch screen is also subjectively quite bright. It's brighter than the Galaxy Tab and only loses to the iPad Pro 13.
In terms of minimum brightness, white balance, and color accuracy, the Honor MagicPad 2 is up there with the rest of the bunch.
Honor MagicPad 2 Camera
There is one! (Image by PhoneArena)
So, let's talk about the camera. Most people don't buy a tablet to take pictures with. But a good camera can still be handy for things like video calls, scanning documents, or snapping a quick recipe.
The Honor Pad 9 has a decent 13MP back camera and a 9MP front camera. They're not going to win any awards, but they should get the job done. Just check out the sample photos to see if they're good enough for you.
Honor MagicPad 2 Performance & Benchmarks
The Honor MagicPad 2 comes with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset onboard, and that little "s" in the name is pretty important. Don't be tricked into thinking that this is some overclocked version of the Gen 3. It's actually a completely different architecture, featuring 8 cores: one fast Cortex-X4, slightly underclocked at 3 GHz, compared to the regular 8 Gen 3, four Cortex-720 at 2.8 GHz, and three Cortex-520 cores clocked at 2 GHz.
The chipset is made on a 4nm node, so it's quite efficient, but the performance is quite different from a regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It's more akin to the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, even slower in some benchmarks.
Performance Benchmarks:
The synthetic benchmarks display this as clear as day. We don't have a problem with this chipset at all. It's plenty fast to do everything you throw at it on a daily basis, and you won't notice lag or stutter. But it's not on par with the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and this little "s" is so tiny in the name that some people might be deceived.
In terms of RAM and storage, the Honor MagicPad 2 comes in three flavors: 12/256GB, 12/512GB, and 12/1TB.
In terms of RAM and storage, the Honor MagicPad 2 comes in three flavors: 12/256GB, 12/512GB, and 12/1TB.
Honor MagicPad 2 Accessories
The new and revised MagicPad 2 Smart keyboard (89,90 €) has some upgrades onboard compared to the previous model. It connects via Bluetooth (which is expected), and it charges wirelessly from the tablet once you pop it in.
It's a nice accessory with big keys and a full number row, although it lacks a trackpad (something the OnePlus Pad has), and it's somewhat hard to get to the menu and add languages or tinker with the settings.
It's a nice accessory with big keys and a full number row, although it lacks a trackpad (something the OnePlus Pad has), and it's somewhat hard to get to the menu and add languages or tinker with the settings.
The keyboard doubles as a cover/stand, and one minor gripe we have with this setup is that you can't use it detached from the tablet. Well, you can, but then you lose the stand. OnePlus made theirs from separate parts, so you can still place the tablet on the stand a couple of feet away from the keyboard and use it this way. Or place it in your lap. With the Honor setup, these two are inseparable, and this limits the ergonomics a bit.
The Magic Pencil 3 (99,90 €) is another accessory you can get for your Honor MagicPad 2. It has 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and an ultra-low latency of just 2 ms. There's a magnetic spot on the frame of the tablet to latch the pencil on and charge it, as well.
There's some pretty cool integration inside MagicOS regarding using this stylus. You have the option to write everywhere you see a text field (Global Handwriting), and AI algorithms will recognize and transform it to text. You can use the stylus as a laser pointer, and, of course, paint and draw with it if you have the talent.
Honor MagicPad 2 Software version
The Honor MagicPad 2 comes with Android 14 out of the box, and Magic OS 8.0 on top of it. Those of you who had the chance to try Honor smartphones or tablets are familiar with the experience. It's a strange blend between Android and iPadOS. This comparison might not be the best one, as Magic OS has things going on for itself, and only the looks are somewhat reminiscent of the aforementioned operation system.
Magic OS is looking more and more polished with each iteration. We have the usual AI Suggestions on the home screen, which are basically your most frequently used apps. You can split the screen and use two apps next to each other vertically or horizontally, and also use an app in floating mode. There's a desktop-like toolbar at the bottom with your recent apps, and also a couple of AI-infused features.
Magic Portal is a quick and easy way to extract text and images from basically anywhere and send them to an email, a Facebook post, or in a note. It's simple and works really well. You can also polish your drafts, formalize the style or write from scratch, and these all look suspiciously Gemini-powered but there's no official word on it. There's also a voice-to-text transcription in Notes, which is supposed to be AI-powered, although it has its kinks.
Honor MagicPad 2 Battery
Solid
A pretty big battery in a slim body (Image by PhoneArena)
And for the most part, the battery life is solid. Nothing to write home about, and it won't break our battery score rating, but it is on par with the competition. The Honor MagicPad 2 managed a little over 7 hours of video streaming and 8 and a half hours of browsing and gaming. You can see how these results stack against other devices below.
The 66W fast charging is a nice bonus, and the included charging brick complements it in a world where we're getting less and less extra stuff for our money. We expected faster charging times, to be honest, but filling this 10K mAh battery is not a fast process.
In all fairness though, the Honor MagicPad 2 managed to charge faster than the Galaxy Tab S9 family and the iPad competitors, so it's a win at the end of the day.
In all fairness though, the Honor MagicPad 2 managed to charge faster than the Galaxy Tab S9 family and the iPad competitors, so it's a win at the end of the day.
Honor MagicPad 2 Audio Quality
The 8-speaker audio system is exceptional! (Image by PhoneArena)
This is where the Honor MagicPad 2 shines, or should we say shouts? The 8-speaker IMAX enhanced audio system is a joy to listen to. The sound quality is great, detailed, and rich, and the bass is deep; you won't believe it all comes out of this 5.8 mm body.
Honor also has its own Spatial Audio feature that simulates Surround Sound and does it pretty well. It's almost too loud at times, and we ofter found ourselves turning the volume down when watching Netflix. But even at max volume, there's little to no harmonic distortion anywhere on the frequency range. Good job.
Honor also has its own Spatial Audio feature that simulates Surround Sound and does it pretty well. It's almost too loud at times, and we ofter found ourselves turning the volume down when watching Netflix. But even at max volume, there's little to no harmonic distortion anywhere on the frequency range. Good job.
Honor MagicPad 2 Competitors
Both cost more, and while we can make a case for getting the iPad Pro 13 for the sheer power and the brighter screen, we're not sure the $1000 price tag is justifiable.
The Galaxy Tab S9 series offers an alternative, but we're close to the official Tab S10 debut, so we suggest you wait and see what Samsung has been cooking in the past couple of months.
Honor's own Pad 9 series offers a very similar form factor, and if you want to save money (it's almost half the price), you can get similar experience with the sacrifice of the OLED panel and the flagship chipset.
Honor MagicPad 2 Summary and Final Verdict
Thake it home? (Image by PhoneArena)
The Honor MagicPad 2 is a very serious contender in the flagship tablet market. It manages to do a lot of things right: it has a gorgeous OLED screen that can go up to 144Hz, the design is sleek and stylish, and the build quality is top-notch.
The chipset inside is quite powerful, and even though it's not the regular 8 Gen 3, the "s" variant gets the job done. The software has some nice AI additions that won't leave you breathless, but what they'll do is help you get things actually done.
The battery life is solid, and the price is competitive as well. If you buy the smart keyboard accessory or the stylus (or both), you can end up with a nice backup device for the times when your laptop is not around or just too heavy to carry around.
The battery life is solid, and the price is competitive as well. If you buy the smart keyboard accessory or the stylus (or both), you can end up with a nice backup device for the times when your laptop is not around or just too heavy to carry around.
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