Honor’s gimbal-equipped smartphone is here at MWC, and unlike at CES, it’s actually turned on. I got to see the phone unfold, look around, and dance to Imagine Dragons, and Honor has promised me I should see a few new demos on its booth tomorrow.
Honor’s new foldable is the thinnest one yet (though only just), but packs a bigger battery than any before. Here are a few of my first impressions from playing around with the upcoming phone.
The MagicPad 4 is thinner than any other iPad or Android tablet, but with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and 165Hz OLED display it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s not exactly bargain-basement tech. It costs £599.99 / €699.99 (around $820) with 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage, though launch offers will save you £100 / €100.
Honor’s press pass for its MWC press conference is a cute tease for the planned reveal of more details on the Robot Phone. Less cute? The pre-recorded applause being piped through the auditorium at regular intervals.
I just reviewed the Leitzphone, a special edition of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra with a load of Leica twists: a refreshed industrial design including the iconic red dot, Leica-tweaked software, and a novel rotating camera ring that can control zoom and more. Thanks to great haptics, it’s also a top-tier fidget spinner.
The Vision GT was designed to split the difference between performance on straights and corners, with a chassis that was “sculpted by the wind.” Apparently it’ll be on display at the MWC show floor, where hopefully I’ll get a better look at it.
The Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 is just 6mm thin thanks to its silicon-carbon battery, and only weighs 98g. It’s €59.99 (about $70) in Europe, but there’s a €5 premium if you want it in iPhone orange.
The Pad 8 and Pad 8 Pro have launched alongside the Xiaomi 17 phones. They’re not as thin as Honor’s upcoming MagicPad 4, but I suspect they’ll be good — the Pad 6 has been my go-to Android tablet for two years. Pick the €599.99 Pro ($700) for a faster chip, better cameras, and a matte display option.
