Honor Magic8 Lite review

Design, build quality, handling

The Honor Magic8 Lite looks a lot like the previous iterations of the model. But there is one notable improvement - its durability. The phone is now IP68/IP69-rated for dust, water, and pressurized water jets resistance. Its drop resistance is better, too, rated now at 2.5m height.

The Magic8 Lite has a pretty straightforward build with flat panels and a flat frame. It has a sort of signature camera housing - oversized, but recognizable for being Honor's.

The screen is protected by an aluminosilicate glass, while the frame and the back panel are made of plastic with a matte finish, with this particular frosted feel. While the frosted layer makes for a cool feeling while handling the phone, it also makes it slippery and prone to smudges that are quite tough to clean.

Color options include Forest Green, Midnight Black and Reddish Brown.

Yes, we do appreciate the durability upgrades and the signature design, but a more secure grip would have been nice, too.

Let's take a closer look at the phone now.

The 6.79-inch AMOLED screen is at the front, surrounded by an incredibly thin bezel. There is a small punch-hole for the 16MP selfie camera.

The earpiece is above the screen, and together with a top-facing secondary sound outlet, it makes for a stereo speaker, too.

Also at the front, hidden behind the screen, is the optical fingerprint scanner. It works incredibly fast.

The huge round camera housing is at the back. It contains the 108MP primary and the 5MP ultrawide cameras, plus the LED flash. Everything else is there for aesthetic reasons.

The whole camera island is surrounded by a silver plastic ring that looks like a cog wheel.

We already mentioned the top stereo speaker and its second outlet at the top of the frame. You can also spot a microphone nearby.

The bottom has the other stereo speaker, the primary microphone, the USB-C port, and the dual-SIM tray.

Honor Magic8 Lite

Finally, the volume and power/lock keys are on the right side of the Magic8 Lite.

The Magic8 Lite measures 161.9 x 76.1 x 7.8 mm and weighs 193 grams, in line with phones of a similar size and build.

We liked the Magic8 Lite a lot; it's a solid phone of reasonable size and weight. It's just a bit of a slippery one, and we had a hard time cleaning it of all those fingerprints on its otherwise cool, frosty finish.