Features

GadgetSnaps: HONOR Magic4 Pro in Boracay

Quintessential cameras, consistent overall output

Published

November 7, 2022

Vincenz

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)

Huawei P50 Pro

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.

Obviously not sponsored

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.

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.

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).

Features

Can the REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G Survive?

REDMI Titan Durability Challenge!

Published

January 17, 2026

GadgetMatch and Michael Josh Villanueva

As someone who travels and is outdoors a lot, THE Michael Josh will be the first to admit that he is NOT gentle with his phones.

They live in his pockets, bags, hands. They get dropped, they get wet, and they get dusty.

So when REDMI asked him to test something they call “REDMI Titan Durability,” he figured the only fair way to do it was to put the REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G to the ultimate durability test.

Reviews

POCO M8 Pro review: Goin’ loco over this POCO

POCO starts 2026 with some bang

Published

January 15, 2026

Vincenz

Looking back at my first few months with GadgetMatch back in 2018 nostalgically evoked my Pocophone F1 core memory. It was touted as THE “flagship killer for less.”

Pre-pandemic, that “Pocophone” simply became “POCO” and became an “independent” kiddo who moved out of its parent’s house.

Almost eight years after that very first iteration, I’ve finally had my first (and long overdue) POCO-perience with the latest POCO M8 Pro.

Design: Repurposed with a purpose

While I have not held a POCO phone until very recently, I am still aware of the brand’s offerings over the years.

Seeing the POCO M8 Pro for the first time instantly reminded me of last year’s Redmi Note 14 Pro series. That’s not me saying POCO blatantly ripped the aesthetics as the POCO X7 also had the same design language.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Like a full circle moment, the aforementioned phones were launched back a year ago.

In all honesty, it still confuses me which direction Xiaomi is heading, especially with the non-stop rebadging of existing POCO and REDMI phones — just with scrambled internals and CMF (color, materials, finish).

Having said that, I still consider the M8 Pro a level up from the last M7 Pro. The former’s design felt like it was not given much importance.

The centered camera island with a squircle cutout seemed like a signature design element of Xiaomi’s newer midrange line moving forward.

I also love how the phone felt in my hands. Even with that plastic back, it felt grippy enough when held.

You have to be wary of fingerprint smudges though — especially if you rock the black colorway. Luckily, the green shade I have still looks clean despite those unwanted smears.

And, if you’re brave enough to clean it in running water, the POCO M8 Pro boasts not just one, not two, but quadruple IP ratings: IP66, IP68, IP69, and even IP69K. These used to be exclusive only among 2025 flagships.

Now Playing: IDOL I

Much like my fanaticism to anything tech, the same can be said with Korean Pop Stars. More known as “K-Pop Idols”, I have been a huge geek of K-Pop for 16 long years (and still counting).

Interestingly, after finishing a series that just ended in Netflix, IDOL I swiftly came by. Even if I am the type of viewer who values the drama’s synopsis more than the cast involved, this K-Drama instantly hit two birds in one.

For one, its starred by a true iconic idol herself: Choi Sooyoung — or one of the nine members of SNSD / Girls’ Generation a.k.a the ultimate 2nd generation K-Pop girl group I’ve been stanning since my youth.

Although Maeng Se-na here is a heartless and “selfish” lawyer, she is the opposite for being a huge (yet silent) fan of “Gold Boys” with Do Ra-ik as his “Ult” (or Ultimate Bias).

In a wild turn of events, the idol became a “murderer” overnight — blaming him for the sudden death of his co-member after waking up from their drinking session.

But, no matter how the general public looks at him as the prime suspect, finding faults against Ra-ik is difficult. That’s pointing out the fact that he was just sleeping in his bed while his former bandmate slash loyal friend got stabbed without clear answers.

I can pretty much say the same thing with the 6.83-inch screen of the POCO M8 Pro: I cannot see any fault at all.

For one, it’s an AMOLED display that made me enjoy binging the first four episodes non-stop. But, being able to display 68.7 billion Colors and 12-bit color depth aside from the usual HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support? That’s likely unusual for a phone in such price point.

And, with a 1.5K display resolution plus a pixel density of 447 ppi, it’s as crisp as it could get. Watching it outdoors is neither a problem with its mighty 3200 nits peak brightness.

While my eyes aren’t very sensitive to light and flicker, its 3840Hz PWM dimming and TÜV Rheinland Flicker-Free and Low Blue Light certifications are still worth mentioning — especially if you stay up all night binge-watching hours worth of titles like yours truly.

On Queue: Apink’s RE:LOVE + Chuu’s XO, My Cyberlove

Pumping up the volume by 60%, it’s expected that the POCO M8 Pro possesses a louder than ever sound output. However, my audio assessment doesn’t end just there.

Just like POCO starting the year with a bang, the K-Pop scene in January 2026 has already exploded with real hit bangers.

First and foremost, Apink finally gathered again to released their 11th Mini Album (their previous Mini Album dates back to 2020). As per usual, I used Apple Music to take full advantage of that Lossless format.

Their title track “Love Me More” not only brought a lot of the group’s nostalgic intro and dance break instrumental during their early days in the industry, it also reminded me of the pre-millennium K-Pop era back in the early 90s.

Pair that with b-sides such as “Sunshine” that sounded pure and soulful, this latest mini album will truly make Pink Pandas’ hearts flutter.

In addition, Chuu (LOONA) finally releases her 1st Full Album titled “XO, My Cyberlove.” It is a complete opposite of her first ever solo song “Heart Attack” almost a decade ago which highlighted her cutesy, innocent charms.

The comeback track of the same title is as quirky and whimsical as it gets. Not only does it highlight Chuu’s light yet ethereal vocals, but it shows her newer, more mature side.

Furthermore, lyrics that evoke unexpected budding love in this digital era where everyone enjoys making connections through the cyber world.

With POCO M8 Pro’s speakers, I fully enjoyed playing the entirety of her freshly-baked album while I was writing this piece. Teeny Tiny Heart and Love Potion are currently my fave b-sides from this release.

Such music fulfillment was possible with the Dolby Atmos stereo speaker setup and Hi-Res Audio support of the M8 Pro. Not only its proudly loud, the audio produced is full and immaculate with clear line between its highs, mids, and lows.

Performance: Adequate for most

On paper, the POCO M8 Pro runs Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 SoC based on a 4nm process. As confusing as it seems, this is different from the more powerful Snapdragon 7 Gen 4.

That being told, game settings will vary depending on how demanding one is.

For instance, CoDM (Call of Duty: Mobile) runs in Very High and Max settings upon first set-up.

Meanwhile, Racing Master (based on NVIDIA’s PhysX engine) can run Ultra settings at 60fps.

However, it throttles during the first two ranked races.

Fortunately, the game detects if it gets sluggish — suggesting lowering down the settings altogether.

Lastly, playing Zenless Zone Zero is doable but, at the lowest graphics by default.

You wouldn’t dare to go past it as Combat Mode will literally feel like combatting the phone itself due to how heavy the game is.

The only “remedy” for these hardware limitations? It’s none other than the Game Turbo mode that boosts graphics performance and input through Xiaomi’s software advancements. And it sort of helped make the gameplay smoother, but not fully.

For the rest of apps that are not graphics-intensive, the M8 Pro can breeze through various apps without hiccups, do split-screens, or multitasking along floating windows with ease.

I can truthfully say that the only thing dragging the POCO M8 Pro down is the software as a whole.

After experiencing the beauty of vivo’s OriginOS 6 and HONOR’s MagicOS 10, Xiaomi’s HyperOS still feels like an after-thought. While it can keep up with the modern-day Android features, its stability and optimizations simply don’t make the cut.

Besides, its built-in AI tools, device ecosystem, as well as cross-compatibility functionality aren’t as polished as what you get on other Chinese brands. Let alone, a rip-off from everyone’s fruit rival without much feature improvements.

Seriously, Xiaomi?

Worst thing? Maybe the ad slash bloatware infestation found not just on the lock screen. Even transferring personal files through Xiaomi’s native File Manager app plays an unskippable ad.

Battery: Eat it up! Eat it, eat it up! 🍝🎶

At 8.31mm, the POCO M8 Pro is as slender as it can get. How they were able to fit a 6500mAh battery inside its chassis is a true feat of engineering.

For the record, this is the first POCO M-series smartphone to have such a ginormous battery. It joins the same league as the POCO F8 Ultra, F7, and the X7 Pro (in India).

For added context, the M7 Pro, as well as the X7 with a similar form factor, only had a 5110mAh battery. But, numbers are just part of the story.

In day-to-day scenarios with light to moderate usage, the POCO M8 Pro can last you a full day — even more when you hit the bed with around 30% to spare.

As one would expect though, the biggest hogging can be felt when playing games.

During my gameplay stress test, downloading resources in Racing Master for about 30 minutes already consumed 5% charge (92% down to 87%). An hour of racing ate up 11 percent — from 87% down to 76%.

Letting it rest on my desk for 18 hours, the phone depleted to 51%.

At around 9 in the evening, I then started playing HoYoverse’s Zenless Zone Zero for exactly an hour. Battery charge went down further to 36%. Then, a 1.5-hour game in CoDM resulted to a 28% battery percentage. And, as of writing, the POCO M8 Pro still had a 3 percent charge left in its massive tank.

That said, the POCO M8 Pro comes with Xiaomi’s 100W wired HyperCharge speeds — adapter still bundled in the box.

By default, the battery charging speed is set in regular with the prompt / option to enable boosting.

In my GadgetMatch Charge Test results, it can be seen that the difference isn’t too far off.

	*Boosted HyperCharge*	*Regular HyperCharge*	*PPS Charging* (UGREEN 100W Nexode)
*START TIME* *From 0%*	1:11AM	3:10PM	4:06PM
3 minutes	10%	8%	1%
5 minutes	17%	11%	4%
*10 minutes*	25%	18%	13%
15 minutes	40%	23%	21%
20 minutes	46%	32%	28%
*30 minutes*	70%	50%	46%
45 minutes	88%	71%	67%
*1 hour*	99%	91%	84%
1 hour 15 minutes	–	99%	96%
*END TIME* *100%*	2:14AM 1 hour 3 minutes	4:27PM 1 hour 17 minutes	5:30PM 1 hour 24 minutes

PPS Charging is also possible. Although the device only showed “Quick Charge” while being filled up, it’s safe to say that it performs as fast as Xiaomi’s regular HyperCharge with a super close margin of only seven minutes.

Cameras: Surprisingly Satisfying

Prospective buyers of the M8 Pro wouldn’t have a hard time dealing with its conventional camera configuration: a 50MP f/1.6 main (wide) camera based on Light Fusion 800’s 1/1.55-inch sensor. That’s paired with a less outstanding 8MP f/2.2 UWA (ultra-wide angle) camera.

For the most part, the main camera does its job very well considering this type of device.

With the satisfactory 1x image sensor, 2x zoom is also possible, thanks to in-sensor cropping.

I honestly used the 2x mode more than I thought — especially when capturing my cats and food I devour.

You can go beyond the bounds. But, with obvious hardware limitations, the camera processing can only do so much.

Once that natural light disappears, it will be tricky to take low-light shots as this has NO dedicated Night Mode feature. No luck if you are using them indoors with artificial light around.

Instead, regular Photo Mode automatically detects a low-light subject and toggles Night Mode processing by itself.

While most results are satisfying, it’s also a testament that its cameras are far from being flawless.

Good thing, the flash exists for a funkier look in subjects that suit it — food specifically.

Portraits weren’t missed. Although it only relies on some software-based processing, it still gets the job done of separating the subject away from the background — humans and pets alike.

Personally, the aperture function was a bit of a nuisance.

For context, these shots were set to a low “f/1.8 aperture.” But, the M8 Pro rendered DoF (Depth of Field) that isn’t as shallow as what it’s supposed to show.

My frustration continues as the setting defaults back to f/4.5 after quitting and re-opening the camera app. That’s not even the standard lens opening when taking portrait photos.

And while we’re already here, selfies taken with its front-facing shooter.

Is the POCO M8 Pro your GadgetMatch?

While this isn’t the “flagship killer” most expect from a POCO phone, it’s hard not to go loco over how well-rounded yet wallet-friendly this POCO phone is — especially in the year 2026 where inflation is still unstoppable alongside the almost instantaneous and ridiculous RAM price hike.

ICYMI, the POCO M8 Pro has a starting price of GBP 299 / SG$ 389 / RM 1199 / PhP 16,999 (around US$ 279) for the 8+256GB configuration.

Meanwhile, the 12+512GB variant that I handle is priced at GBP 349 / SG$ 449 / RM 1499 / PhP 19,999 (approx. US$ 359).

Its closest rival is none other than the HONOR X9d. Coincidental or not, it was launched just a day after the unveiling of the M8 Pro.

Frankly, the only thing you’ll let go from HONOR’s sweet treat are its monstrous 8300mAh battery and more polished OS. This POCO-ffering blows it out of the water with a greater chipset, faster wired charging, bigger and better display, capable cameras, durability never forgotten.

Although it wasn’t totally highlighted, the POCO M8 Pro is undoubtedly a rebadged REDMI Note 15 Pro+ — Xiaomi’s midranger that heavily markets its “Titan Durability” capabilities.

The POCO M8 Pro has them all: from its sturdy aluminum frame, four IP ratings, even the fully-shielded front glass care of Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The biggest disparity? REDMI has a 200MP main camera over POCO’s 50MP shooter.

Despite some inconsistencies, the POCO M8 Pro is still an all-around midranger that will satisfy most users who want to purchase a shiny new smartphone without burning holes in your pockets.

It is a Swipe Right, Super Swipe, and a worthy recipient of the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.