Honor MagicPad 2 Review: Shooting for the stars

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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!

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.



Honor MagicPad 2 Design & Colors

Sweet mother of pearl!

The design of the Honor MagicPad 2 is nothing groundbreaking, but all the fine little details and the overall quality leave a nice premium impression. The tablet is pretty thin, only 5.8 mm, and the weight of 555 grams is actually lower than competitors with similar 12- to 13-iinch screens (the iPad Pro 13 is 579 grams, and the Galaxy Tab S9+ is 586 grams).

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.



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

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.

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


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:


Geekbench 6
SingleHigher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.31968
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+2122
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)3720
Honor Pad 9942
Geekbench 6
MultiHigher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.35164
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+5665
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)13280
Honor Pad 92731
3DMark Extreme(High)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.33051
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+3920
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)7311
Honor Pad 9610
3DMark
Extreme(Low)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.32233
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+3341
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)7009
Honor Pad 9605

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.

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.



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

The 10,050 mAh battery inside the Honor MagicPad 2 sounds impressive, especially considering the thin and lightweight body of the tablet. Coupled with the efficient Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset and the OLED screen (which doesn't need a backlight), this combo should result in decent battery life.

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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.

PhoneArena Battery Test Results:

Video Streaming(hours)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.37h 14 min
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+6h 21 min
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)8h 22 min
Honor Pad 96h 18 min
Web Browsing(hours)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.38h 36 min
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+8h 44 min
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)10h 54 min
Honor Pad 99h 40 min
3D Gaming(hours)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.38h 38 min
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+8h
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)8h 34 min
Honor Pad 98h 18 min

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.

PhoneArena Charging Test Results:


15 Mins(%)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.321%
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+14%
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)14%
Honor Pad 95%
30 Mins(%)Higher is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.335%
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+28%
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)30%
Honor Pad 917%
Full Charge(hours)Lower is better
Honor MagicPad 2 12.31h 43 min
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+2h 4 min
Apple iPad Pro 13-inch(M4,2024)2h 28 min
Honor Pad 92h 5 min

Honor MagicPad 2 Audio Quality


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 MagicPad 2 Competitors


Obvisouly, the Honor MagicPad 2 is gunning for a top spot on the tablet sky. With its 12.3-inch OLED screen, the main competitors are the likes of the Galaxy Tab S9+, and the iPad Pro 13 (2024).

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


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.

Pros

  • Great 12.3-inch OLED screen, 144Hz
  • Amazing audio quality
  • Premium design, lightweight

Cons

  • Accessories cost extra
  • Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a midrange chip in flagship's clothing

PhoneArena Rating:

8.5

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