We've been following Honor's progress for years. Despite the good value proposition that its phones typically offer, however, there's always been a lingering sense that they often seem like tweaked Huawei phones ( that's the parent company, so no surprises there) .
The Honor Magic 2, however, largely flips that on its head. This slider phone – its screen moves to expose the front cameras, thus avoiding any notch for maximum display design – feels independent and different. It's Honor spreading its wings.
There are a number of ways this can be done, with Honor opting for the manual motion approach, much like that of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3. Technically the two phones have different internal designs and patents, but the feeling of pulling down on the screen firmly to see the cameras almost pop-up is almost identical in both handsets.
In any case, the removal of the front-facing camera from the display area means more screen real-estate, no black-out 'notch'area to worry about. In the case of the Magic 2 that makes for a very display-forward device, with mere millimetres of bezel surrounding its screen on all sides. It's impressive to look at.