If you happened to read our Boracay photo walk with the HONOR Magic4 Pro, you may already have an idea how “magical” its triple rear cameras are — not just the wide sensor, but also its ultra-wide and periscope telephoto zoom lens whether day or night.

But what if we totally focus on the HONOR Magic4 Pro’s 64MP periscope telephoto lens? Is it all just a gimmick? Or does it actually deliver ever-desirable zoomed photos?

One of the best ways to test its zoom superiority (other than trying to capture the moon) is bringing it to the nearest indoor arena before the actual show starts. After all, DSLR and mirrorless cameras are prohibited inside the venue.

Spoiler alert: You won’t think they were all taken using just a smartphone.

TXT: ACT LOVE SICK World Tour in Manila

TOMORROW x TOGETHER / 투모로우바이투게더 (shortened as TXT, read as T by T) is a five-member K-Pop boy group debuted in 2019 under BIGHIT MUSIC. They recently had their two-day concert here in the Philippines.

Just like its world-renowned senior labelmate BTS, TXT is also one of the most sought-after and very in-demand K-Pop boy group acts not just in this country, but probably in Asia and every major part of the globe.

Known for their hyper-eargasmic debut song ‘Crown’ to their recent hits ‘0x1= LOVESONG’, ‘Good Boy Gone Bad’, and the all-time hit ‘Blue Hour’, TXT has successfully dominated the stage along with the powerful cheers and chants of MOAs inside SM MoA Arena (pun intended) two days in a row.

Trust Fund Baby

0x1 = LOVE SONG

Opening Sequence

Crown

Runaway

Blue Hour

Zoom in? Zoom in!

Even though the HONOR Magic4 Pro only promises a 3.5x optical zoom capability, it can zoom in further to 100x — but no one would really use that. But having that zoom prowess also means you can zoom in farther than its usual optical zoom range.

If it ain’t getting more obvious, my friend’s sister took a lot of photos of her bias using this phone. Don’t ask me why there are a lot of Yeonjun photos in this set 👀

There are some Taehyun and Beomgyu looking at the crowd…

…my bias since Crown era, Soobin 🤩

…and some OTP interaction that MOAs didn’t ask for but liked very much — including ✨ SooGyu (Soobin x Beomgyu) ✨

+ ✨ SooKai (Soobin x Huening Kai) ✨

The concert shots above and below were taken around within the 7x to 15x zoom range, depending on how close or far the idols are.

Sweat

Note: The closer portrait shots of the members were taken from the VIP Section while the wider group shots were taken from the Lower Box (LB) Section.

I-POP U 2022 in MANILA

The I-POP U 2022 happened exactly a week before the TXT: ACT LOVE SICK World Tour in Manila. Unlike the former which featured only one K-Pop group, this is a joint concert featuring 5 K-Pop acts in the roster.

ALICE

They are probably the only girl group you’ll see in this section. Previously known as ‘ELRIS‘, the group has been rebranded to ‘ALICE‘ after switching to a new agency (IOK Company) that houses some of Korea’s popular actors and actresses.

Fun fact: ALICE’s DOA (previously had a stage name of Bella under ELRIS) has even garnered some attention for having a huge resemblance to the A.I-generated Kwangya avatar of aespa called ‘Nævis’.

Xdinary Heroes

If you know TWICE, Stray Kids, NMIXX, and most probably DAY6, you should be aware that Xdinary Heroes is the agency’s latest boy band (not to confuse with a boy group since the young members superbly handle instruments).

Golden Child

Any veteran K-Pop fan out there from the 2010s? If you’ve been an INSPIRIT like me, you’d know that Golden Child (or GolCha) is the second boy group of the agency after INFINITE.

WayV

“We are your Vision” — the literal meaning of the sub-unit’s name. WayV is a C-Pop group that comprises six members (iykyk 👀) — but only four of them were able to perform.

Fun fact 1: They’re managed by SM Entertainment’s Chinese sub-label, ‘Label V’.

Fun fact 2: The one writing this article is also labeled as ‘V’.

🤯

NCT Dream

With a lot of NCTzens filling the venue, another star of the show has got to be one of NCT’s sub-unit, NCT Dream.

The popular sub-unit performed their 2022 hit song ‘Hot Sauce’ — not suitable for those sensitive to anything spicy and HOT 🥵👀

The best concert companion

Admittedly, there are very few instances where gadget reviewers test smartphone cameras during concerts. And as the world changed due to pandemic, the concert scene has also halted its operations and productions over the last two years.

Luckily, as borders opened and restrictions get lifted, the concert announcements have also been being revealed one by one.

For the past decade, my friend and her sister have been the biggest concert-goers I know. After lending them the HONOR Magic4 Pro, they truly admired its zoom capabilities. She even dared to say she can now become a “fansite master” after taking such concert photos with just a smartphone.

‘Fansite masters’ are the fans who bring long-ass telephoto lenses and full-frame DSLRs inside — even if it means hiding their gear somehow by putting them between their bodies. But as mentioned earlier, concert venues don’t officially allow it — especially when official photographers are around.

The periscope telephoto zoom lens of the HONOR Magic4 Pro is not just for moon or creepy stalker shots. It’s best as a concert companion.

P.S: We are honestly deprived from the concert drought for the past two years, but not to the point of announcing them all at the same time 😭.

SEE ALSO: Shot on Google Pixel 6 Pro: TWICE III concert

SEE ALSO: GadgetSnaps: HONOR Magic4 Pro in Boracay

Very special thanks to my friends Dyan Carelle and her sister Rica Clarice for bringing us the concert experience with their jaw-dropping concert shots using the HONOR Magic4 Pro