Even though it was announced way back in February 2022, the HONOR Magic4 Pro is still the company’s top-tier flagship, offering a quintessential triple set of rear cameras plus dual front-facing cameras for that ultra-flagship camera madness.

For specifics, here are the camera sensors behind HONOR’s latest magical smartphone:

• 50MP f/1.8 wide (main)
• 50MP f/2.2 122º ultra-wide
• 64MP f/3.5 periscope telephoto zoom lens (3.5x optical zoom / 10x hybrid zoom / 100x digital zoom)

If that sounds familiar to you, the HONOR Magic4 Pro shares the same wide and periscope telephoto camera hardware with the Huawei P50 Pro minus the ultra-wide, B/W (Black and White) sensor, as well as the the last of its kind LEICA Optics.

And to celebrate HONOR’s long-awaited comeback in the Philippines, I’m writing this in a different PoV (Point of View). While I am the storyteller, my friend and her lovey-dovey will take us in a virtual Boracay trip through the magical cameras of the HONOR Magic4 Pro.

First Flight Experience

Just like anyone else (including me), my friend actually just had her first flight experience full of questions and some intrusive thoughts — even if it’s just a domestic flight.

But first, coffee! Here’s an Iced Caramel Macchiato to start the thrilling and exciting trip.

These people aren’t totally the type to take a lot of selfies but I still asked them to do so. This is to showcase the wide and ultra-wide front-facing cameras of the Magic4 Pro.

After some time, they were brought to their respective aircraft via a bus. That’s also because the planes are not tall enough to reach the boarding gates unlike most international flights.

Forget Business Class! Window Seats are da bomb

My friend told me that the only reason why they took a trip to Boracay isn’t because of the beach itself. Rather, she just wanted to experience riding an airplane without spending too much of her hard-earned savings. One check in her bucketlist done ☑️

Surprisingly, the HONOR Magic4 Pro was able to take crisp and clear wide/ultra-wide shots of the view despite the thick glass material of the plane’s window.

Some probably won’t feel what I felt in the shot above but I was utterly amazed by how my/our neighborhood looks like from above. This is specifically the Nuvali area (where the popular Republic Wakepark / oval-shaped man-made lake can be seen), alongside Carmelray Industrial Park 1 (a.k.a where the Jollibee factory is located), and Kapayapaan Village in Canlubang, Calamba City, Laguna.

Admittedly, my friend’s boyfie said it was very familiar to the area we live in so he captured it. This also shows that its periscope telephoto camera does the job very well (and how letting him use this phone is a very wise decision as he took a lot of great photos that you will all see until the end).

Here’s an IG-worthy window plane winning shot showing the aircraft’s wing and engine as well as a complete balance of clouds, land, and sea below.

Touchdown, Caticlan!

It was the pair’s first time flying to one of the Philippines’ highly-acclaimed tourist destination. While I’ve already been to Boracay last 2017 (not to confuse with my former colleague’s 24-hour feature of the same year), this photo set will actually show us how Boracay looks like after the 2018 closure and rehabilitation (plus another rehabilitation this pandemic).

After more than an hour of non-stop flight from Manila, they finally reached the shores of Aklan (the province where Boracay Island is located). Unlike other flights that bring you to Kalibo International Airport, this flight lands on Godofredo P. Ramos Airport instead (or commonly known as Caticlan/Boracay Airport).

That’s a lot closer to the Boracay Island. Coming from the provincial capital of Kalibo will make the trip longer with a bus/van ride that goes for another 1.5 to 2 hours via national highway (compared to Caticlan’s 10-20 minute journey).

And from Caticlan Jetty Port, you need to ride a boat that will be able to bring you to the island as fast as 5 to 10 minutes.

Some resorts do offer a special direct ride to their respective resorts along all the beach stations. But if that’s not the case, there are always the regular boats waiting for you.

SEE ALSO: 5 accredited Airbnbs you can book in Boracay

Heaven on Earth

If you don’t know Boracay, it is very well-known for its white sand beaches and crystal clear seawater.

Evident enough on the shots here, the wide, ultra-wide, and zoom lenses on the HONOR Magic4 Pro delivered exquisite results.

There’s even a panorama that will surely captivate anyone who will see the beauty of the island.

And this is one among the new highlights of the island for tourists — a long raft wherein you can walk towards the sea without getting yourself wet and sanded. It’s also a clever way to take some portraits or group photos.

The Magic4 Pro has an excellent periscope telephoto lens that can go beyond what a person’s naked eyes can see. Zooming in further from 3.5x all the way to 10x still gives you that crystal clear image of the sand, sea waves, and the sail boat.

The hidden side of the card

Another location worth checking out is found in the southernmost part of the island.

Dubbed as the “Secret Beach”, it’s a rare sight in the island’s clear shore. It has this mini cave-like formation that could actually be mistaken as something from Palawan or any other rocky and mountainous beach area in the Philippines.

Unfortunately, they were told to go off after taking some photos in the area. Going back to Station 3 gives you this very pleasing sight of the island’s northern side minus the usually crowded area.

Portraits (and selfies) for memory preservation

If you already had enough of landscape daylight photos, here are some portrait samples. These are pleasing to the eyes because of their natural color processing without the pesky oversaturation that other smartphones tend to do.

If you want to add some flair, you can switch easily towards the phone’s Portrait Mode feature that adds that creamy bokeh to your photos. IMO, it’s not the best in its class but still acceptable enough that it doesn’t show a bad hair cutout once you post it on socials.

Not for the bitter-minded singles (like yours truly) but the ultra-wide lenses were helpful in taking “couple selfies”.

And surprisingly, my friend’s baby boi took these jump shot photos only by himself through the Magic4 Pro’s front camera plus its timer feature. My friend told me she wasn’t aware of this as she was busy working in their hotel room when this happened 😭.

Mandatory #FoodPorn

It wouldn’t be a complete Boracay experience without trying out some of the food being served out and around.

The specific hotel they stayed at has complementary breakfast. If it’s about being particular, the meal has an egg fried rice, skinless Filipino sausage, sunny side-up eggs shaped in a weird triangular mold, beef tapa, blue lemonade / water, and two pieces of pineapple slices for each.

Taken at a different place and time, there’s this Chorizo Baked Mac & Cheese which costs as much as PhP 350. But hey, at least it includes four types of specialty cheeses like Gruyere, Jack Cheddar, Mozarella, and Parmesan.

On the other hand, there’s this Bacon and Egg Bun made with bacon, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, chives, and Japanese mayo in a bun.

Architastic

Don’t mind me. That’s just some of my weird name mashup (architecture + fantastic).

Tthe last two food items stated were actually from this cute and appealing café called “Sunny Side Café”.

The interior leans more into the industrial, modern-looking style that reminds us of a lot of pandemic co-working spaces and cafès around the Metro.

I suppose this was only a test shot. Weirdly enough, the portrait mode effect added some depth segmentation that made it looked like it was shot on a DSLR. But this is also a hard subject for the phone to process. Thus, the inaccuracy in subject cutouts and bokeh.

The particular hotel they stayed at is the Golden Phoenix Hotel. It’s a walking distance from the café.

Whether it’s day time, pre-sunset, or night time, the HONOR Magic4 Pro was able to tale these amazing photos. Then again, that’s a consistent output between its wide and ultra-wide cameras.

Night Magic

Sunset photos should be mandatory in every Boracay trip. After all, Boracay sunsets was part of my bucket list. Glad I was able to tick that off.

While this isn’t the best sunset that ever showed up in Boracay, these sunset photos still made me miss the island.

And as mentioned a while ago, this is the long raft that’s a new attraction in the island which wasn’t here when I went here five years ago. And as you can see, the night mode magic of the Magic4 Pro works on both the wide and ultra-wide lenses.

After some time waiting for the sun to set, the couple went to another nearby place called the Boracay V-Hub Food Market at Station 3. It wasn’t there yet during my 2017 visit.

Unlike other smartphones with their night mode algorithm, the HONOR Magic4 Pro managed to preserve the bright neon lights while keeping the overall photo fairly exposed. That’s without bumping up exposure, highlights, shadows, and contrast too much. This is also me saying that the “brightest” low-light photo doesn’t mean it’s the best.

Also, the experience wouldn’t be complete without trying the famous Jonah’s fruit shake. The pair tried the Banana / Vanilla (which was delightful) and Banana Milk (which was so-so).

Portraits can be exposed quite right even without that much natural / artificial light around thanks to the magic of the Magic4 Pro.

P.S: Although the people at the back are Koreans, the guy isn’t the globally-renowned gamer T1’s Faker.

There was even a fire dance performance at the center of the food market. Le friend’s boyfie took this split-second shots that I transformed into a GIF.

Going Back To Reality

While this article wasn’t too long, their trip actually took almost four days before they went back home.

Even if it was a shot of the island’s sunrise, night mode was still beneficial in making the subject and the overall photos color-accurate and well-exposed.

Going back to the island still requires you to ride a boat. But the thing I wasn’t able to mention earlier is that, the boats don’t run until the sun shows up.

We’e skipping the lengthy process of boat to bus to airport to airplane transfers. This here is one last shot of the sky from the view of the airplane’s window. The overall shot being gloomy just shows that there’s a sad feeling that you’ll go back to your usual life reality and routines.

And to end this, I just wanted to highlight this back end photo of an airplane. It honestly never looked cute up ’til I saw a face of a bear. This thing is definitely worth posting in a weirdly-fascinating and hilarious Facebook community I recently joined called “Things with Faces” 🥺

Quintessential cameras, consistent overall output

Flagship smartphones should at least have a great-performing wide camera paired with a diligent ultra-wide camera. Telephoto lenses should at least be clear when zoomed in 3x.

The HONOR Magic4 Pro delivered great photos. The results were very consistent all throughout. Not just through its 50MP main / wide sensor, but also with its ultra-wide and periscope telephoto lenses. It can zoom in like it has an optical zoom range as far as 10-15x.

Even its dual front-facing cameras are no slouches. They delivered great output minus the over-processing of software AI algorithm for faces.

No doubt, the HONOR Magic4 Pro is one among 2022’s best all-rounder smartphones around. It offers the quintessential triple set of rear cameras that other “flagships” fail to deliver.

SEE ALSO: Bringing back HONOR with Magic

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Many, many thanks to my friends Dyan Carelle and Paeng Felix for taking wonderful shots using the HONOR Magic4 Pro (and making me miss Boracay even more).