Honor Magic 8 Lite Review | Battery Life For Days!

Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's Magic 8 Lite. But is it good or is it? There you go. Does MKBHD ever sing you an intro? Does he bollocks? The Honor Magic 8 Lite is a fresh new blower cast into the ever-expanding sack of budget-friendly smartphones. Offering similar styling to that Pro flagship, but with cheaper design, less power, and camera tech that's not quite as spooge-worthy. Still, there is solid value to be had here, while battery life is absurdly good. I've had my SIM stuck away in the Honor Magic 8 Lite for a few days now, using it as my full-time phone. So, here's my in-depth review. And for more on the latest and greatest tech, please do poke subscribe, ding that old notifications bell. Cheers.

Design and Build Quality

So, the Honor Magic 8 Lite ain't bad looking for a more affordable device. It's a pretty standard size, 6.79 inches. So certainly not compact, but at least the skinny bezels surrounding that display mean no unnecessary girth. It's not a chunky boy, but not particularly skinny either. Though the old camera bump around back is barely a protrusion at all. It's certainly not sticky-outy enough to use it as an actual finger shelf, which is kind of a shame. I do like a good finger shelf. But the Honor Magic 8 Lite certainly glides with ease into any pant pocket and weighs a mere 189 grams. So, it is relatively lightweight.

And I got to say, this here forest green model is rather lovely. It's not a bold in-your-face finish, just a pleasant common hue and kind of looks like you've delicately smeared the surface with a mushy pea. But if you're not really a fan, you can also grab the Magic 8 Lite in midnight black or reddish brown. And sadly, it is a plastic frame on here, not a metal one, which does give it budgety vibes, but at least they keep the color consistent. And both the edges and the rear end sport a matte finish, which is pretty resistant to smudges and greasy grime. Just need to give the occasional wee buffing just to be sure.

And the old Honor Magic 7 Lite was a proper hard case. And the Honor Magic 8 Lite certainly continues that theme. It's apparently constructed from ultra-tough tempered glass and features the super fun sounding Ultra Bounce anti-drop technology. The Ultra Bounce sounds great. So, I'm kind of imagining if I was to hoy this phone at the ground right now, it would just magically spring right back up into my grasp. Update: It does not. But hey, the Magic does appear to be tougher than a cyborg Jackie Chan. So far, no scratches or scuffs or nicks anywhere on that frame. And that's despite the fact that this past week, I've been treating it like a disrespectful child. You do also have a pre-installed screen protector just for an added bit of reassurance. Honor reckons it'll survive drops of up to 2.5 meters, which is pretty damn good. And also IP68 and IP69 dust, water, and spurt resistant.

Biometrics and Security

Now, to unlock the Honor Magic 8 Lite, you've got a basic optical in-display fingerprint sensor, which works absolutely fine. Occasionally, I'll need to do a double tap if my hands are a bit dry or a bit buttery or something. My only proper gripe is it is quite low down on the display, so it's kind of an awkward reach. You've also got face unlock as a backup option as well.

Software Experience: Magic OS 9

And then when you do unlock your smartphone, you're greeted with a bit of Honor's Magic OS version 9. Lovingly massaged on top of Android 15. That's right, not the latest, freshest Android 16, which is slightly disappointing. Not that version 16 adds anything particularly critical. And while Honor's flagships are usually treated pretty well when it comes to the software update side, I wouldn't expect the same level of care and attention when it comes to this Lite model. I'd reckon maybe a couple of OS updates and a couple of years of security patching at best, and even then the security patching will be quarterly.

And overall, Magic OS is fine. It's a lot better than it used to be. That's for sure. It does require a wee bit of setting up to get it just the way I like it. But then it's reasonably intuitive and it is deeply customizable. But I do have a few grievances I would like to air. So, brace yourself.

Now, first of all, Honor always slaps on Microsoft's Swift Keyboard by default, which I do not find particularly swift. Remove the W and the F and insert an H and you're bang on. And also, that always-on display isn't actually always on, unless the definition of always on has changed to whenever you furiously stab the display with your finger. Although, hey, you can always counter this by having the Magic 8 Lite not actually hibernate until an hour has passed. And app notifications in general are still pretty bloody shonky here on Magic OS. You got to do a lot of fiddling around in the background, mess around with a lot of settings just to make sure that you're actually given a heads up whenever a new Gmail message lands in your inbox or whatever.

AI Features

And of course, Honor is leaning rather heavily into all of the AI shenanigans, but mercifully, you don't get too much stuffed here on the Lite model. A couple of features which work pretty well if you need them, like AI subtitles, got a bit of AI translate, of course. You got the old Magic Portal, which is basically just another take on Circle to Search. It does also allow you to quickly stash things away in your favorites space so you can recall it later. The AI feature I've actually used the most this past week is a simple one that ticks on whenever you're on a phone call or doing a bit of video chatting. Just helps to muffle any background chicanery that's going on if you're in a kind of noisy environment. Make sure your voice is coming through loud and clear.

And naturally, if you want them, you've got the usual AI photo editing tools. This can touch up your photos and get rid of other pesky human beings that you don't want getting in the way of your lovely photo. And uh, you've got all the regular Google bangers like Circle to Search and good old Gemini now version three. And you'll probably notice a few wee iOS style influences here in Magic OS as well, including the now obligatory Apple style floating turd up top.

Storage and Connectivity

But on a more positive note, there's pretty much zero crapware here on the Honor Magic 8 Lite, which is rather refreshing. Although Honor does still slap its own app market on here which is entirely superfluous to requirements. And the same storage options as the previous generation. So my review model came with a highly generous 512 gigs of stuff. You can also grab it in a 256 gig flavor. Either way, pretty bloody good. Not expandable, of course. We do have full eSIM support on this bad boy, too. Good news if you do a bit of traveling every now and then.

Display

Now, this might be a lighter phone, but you still get a cracking display slapped on there. Same as the old Honor Magic 7 Lite. It's a 6.79-inch OLED panel with a 2640 x 1200 pixel resolution. So, rather spacious, but still pretty crispy. Nice sharp contrast as well. Deep inky blacks. You got HDR10 streaming support in the likes of Netflix. And the good news is I found that the Magic 8 Lite's panel was easily bright enough to keep everything clear and visible when you're outside and the sun is actually peeking out through that dense layer of winter clouds.

120 Hz refresh so reasonably smooth even though Magic OS is not the most fluid out there, certainly compared with Color OS, Oxygen OS, etc. And you got 3840 Hz PWM dimming if you are sensitive to that OLED flicker. And that screen thankfully is still pretty responsive even when moist. I've had to use it in the rain a few times this past week. And it does limit the responsiveness, but it's not super bulky like some smartphone screens get.

Audio

And Honor has also slapped a respectable enough stereo speaker setup on the Magic 8 Lite. It's pretty loud when you boost it all the way up. The volume goes up to 400% for some reason, as if that's a thing. Bugger all bass, of course. Everything is still quite tinny like it is on most smartphones, but absolutely fine for YouTube, Netflix, etc. And bugger all complaints with the Bluetooth streaming that's behaved very well this past week, even in central London. Zero issues.

Performance and Gaming

Now, performance might be where you think that the Honor Magic 8 Lite really earns that Lite moniker cuz it makes do with a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 backed by just 8 gigs of RAM. But thankfully, this is at least an upgrade over the creaky old 6 Gen 1 which inhabited its predecessor. I found that the everyday experience was absolutely fine, perfectly smooth for running all of your apps, even side by side.

And hey, if you are into your gaming, well, I was quite surprised to see that the likes of Wuthering Waves not only ran on the Honor Magic 8 Lite, but it's actually surprisingly playable, too. As long as you leave it on the default graphics settings, keep them as low as possible. It's still not exactly a buttery smooth experience. Certainly, don't attempt to fiddle around with those visuals either to make them look even nicer and prevent all of that endless pop-up as you're dodging about the place, cuz then you really will end up with a frame rate in the single digits. But hey, the game actually plays. I didn't get my ass completely handed to me by every little gribbly thing that I came across. Screen is nice and responsive, as responsive as you would expect. And also the Honor Magic 8 Lite didn't heat up at all. Got ever so slightly warm after like an hour of Wuthering Waves action, but that was it.

But if you are into your massive open-world mobile titles, I would say try and bump up your budget a bit. Grab something with a bit more grunt. This thing's certainly more geared towards more optimized titles like PUBG or Call of Duty Mobile. Oh, and hey, the Magic OS gaming mode is actually pretty decent as well. Packs all the basics that you would expect as well as the ability to record the action etc. So yeah, thumbs up there.

Battery Life and Charging

But it's the battery life where the Honor Magic 8 Lite is particularly trouser-rousing. You've got a 7,500 mAh battery stuffed in there. It's a bit of silicon-carbon tech. Naturally, that's a pretty significant upgrade over the already sizable 6,600 mAh battery from the Honor Magic 7 Lite. In fact, it's right up there with the Oppo Find X9 flagships, the OnePlus 15, etc. So, between that and the energy-efficient Snapdragon chipset, I found that the Honor Magic 8 Lite would comfortably last me two full days between charges. And that's not with particularly light use either. I'm talking a solid sort of 6 to 7 hours of screen-on time per day, bit of camera play, the occasional video chat, etc.

If you do start to introduce a bit of gaming, then that does kill the Honor Magic 8 Lite a wee bit quicker. But this thing honestly has the staying power of a 70-year-old porn star. And I was only playing Wuthering Waves obviously on the lower graphics settings cuz it couldn't cope with anything higher. We're still talking a full 6 and 1/2 hours of gaming action from a full charge. You'll get considerably more than that with the likes of Call of Duty or PUBG. And if you do manage to finally kill the bugger, well, good news. You got 66W wired charging as well, so it doesn't take forever to power back up again despite that enormous capacity, although there is sod all wireless charging support.

Camera System

And so kitties, let's put this lovely Honor Magic 8 Lite review right to bed with a bit of a squint at the camera tech. It actually appears to be similar, if not identical, camera hardware to the old Honor Magic 7 Lite, which in itself was basically the same as the old Magic 6 Lite.

Main Camera

Now, what you've got here is a 108 meg main sensor. It's a 1/1.67-inch sensor, so pretty small compared with sensors found on flagships naturally and some of the better mid-range mobiles out there, which does mean that low light performance is understandably limited. You will often get grainy pics in the evenings while colors are sometimes drained of any natural vibrancy. And in tricky HDR type situations, the Magic 8 Lite also stumbles at times. We're talking blanching of those lighter areas, while darker areas tend to come out basically black. But hey, if you're careful with the contrast, this blower can usually cope just fine. The Lite sped out some good-looking snaps with strong ambient light and natural daylight, including some pretty scenic efforts. And it's certainly good enough at capturing a bright blue sky for a bit of the Instas.

Now, the Achilles heel of a lot of budget and mid-range mobiles and the occasional flagship, to be fair, is subjects that won't bloody keep still. So, quite a few of my pictures this past week ended up in a virtual skip because my sprog or a bunch of grown men flapping hankies at each other were just moving too much. And likewise, the lack of decent stabilization means your arm needs to be perfectly still at night. Perhaps not ideal in this festive season where we occasionally quaff a Christmas ale or two. And portrait shots usually fine, though sometimes my subjects look overly smooth. That's even with the pesky beauty mode shenanigans switched right off.

Ultrawide and Zoom

I haven't got a telephoto shooter slapped here on the rear end of the Honor Magic 8 Lite. Just a basic 5-megapixel ultrawide snapper. And as you might imagine, it's pretty limited in low light with lots of noise and flaring, but it's all right in daylight as long as you don't ask too much of it. And if you do try to zoom in on the Magic 8 Lite, you will end up with a smooth, detail-free snap that looks like AI is giving it a proper good kicking.

Video Recording

If you want to shoot a bit of video as well, well, your home movies will be capped at 4K resolution and at 30 frames per second as well. There's no 60 frames per second option unless you bump the resolution down to HD. And the visual quality is fine during the day. Not too bad in the evenings either, as long as there's a respectable amount of light. Stabilization is fine and audio pickup is clear enough. If there is quite a lot of background noise, you will be asked by the Honor Magic 8 Lite if you want to activate a bit of AI to try and muffle the worst of it, which is all right, although it kind of makes everything sound like it's been shot underwater.

Selfie Camera

And then last up around the front end of the Honor Magic 8 Lite, you've got yourself a 16-meg selfie cam. Using that front-facing camera, you can record sadly only full HD resolution footage. No 4K option. And it is capped to 30 frames per second as well. No 60 frames per second option. Stabilization not fantastic either. You'll have to try and keep your arm as steady as possible. Otherwise, there's a fair bit of judder. The audio pickup is all right.

Verdict

There you have it, my lovelies. That in a tasty wee nutshell is what I reckon of the Honor Magic 8 Lite. And overall pretty solid package got to say. Gorgeous display, same as the previous generation, and even bigger battery. So all weekend battery life, no worries. Performance is actually better than I expected as well. You can if you want to feasibly play something like Wuthering Waves, although I would limit yourself to Call of Duty or PUBG if you want an actual satisfying gaming experience. But of course, yes, Magic OS can be a wee bit quirky to say the least, to the camera tech. Very basic indeed.

So I would say, you know, look at alternatives like the Nothing Phone 3a, which is still my favorite sort of budget to mid-range smartphone of 2025 and the likes of the Pixel 9a as well, if you really want some solid optics. Otherwise, good stuff. And that's what this hungover Northern Nin reckons. Anyway, it'd be great to hear your thoughts on the Honor Magic 8 Lite down in the comments below. Please do poke subscribe, ding that notifications bell for more on the latest and greatest tech and have yourselves a really wonderful rest of the week. Cheers everybody. Love you all.