- HONOR’s new premium bar-type smartphone series, the Magic 6, features upgraded specifications, new designs and an emphasis on AI capabilities.
- Magic OS 8.0 introduces an ‘Intent-based User Interface’, enabling the OS to understand and predict user intentions.
- The development points towards future smartphones equipped with AI agent functions, altering the user experience and the dynamic between smartphone OEMs and app developers.
- Magic OS 8.0 supports intuitive user interactions beyond traditional text and voice commands, like clicking and dragging, to aid task completion.
- The Magic 6 series is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and features advanced camera specifications.
HONOR recently launched a premium bar-type smartphone series, the Magic 6. In addition to upgraded specs and new designs, what is notable is the transfer of app-based AI features to an OS-based AI agent, capable of substantially altering the current smartphone ecosystem.
Powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the Magic 6 series’ on-device AI makes it unique. The Magic 6 features a 7-billion-parameter Large Language Model (LLM) on the device. Users can search for photos using vague descriptions and use AI to create video clips even when offline. Besides, Magic OS 8.0 supports other regular AI features such as generating texts, summarizing articles and smarter voice assistant.
But more importantly, Magic OS 8.0 also introduces a concept called ‘Intent-based User Interface’, under which the OS can understand and even predict the user’s intention, and then assist in completing the task. To realize this vision, Magic OS 8.0 has launched a function called the ‘Magic Portal’ function.
To provide an example of this feature, consider when you receive a 50-word text message that includes an address from a friend for a gathering. By long-pressing the text, a menu bar pops up on the right side of the screen, displaying possible apps you might want to use. In this case, the apps could include maps for navigation and Uber or Lyft for taxi hailing. Further, you don’t have to separate the specific address from the 50-word message or copy and paste the address into another app’s specific area. What you need to do is simply drag the entire text box to the map app, and then the navigation plan for the address is created in seconds.
In the future, we may see these types of AI-agent functions on our smartphones. The AI agent will help users find services and complete tasks. This new user experience could substantially change the relationship between smartphone OEMs and app developers. To stay competitive, apps will have to find their niche and provide unique services that users cannot find elsewhere. Besides, to leverage the power of AI, many developers tend to limit themselves to texting in the chat box or speaking. However, intuitive interactions like clicking and dragging could also greatly assist users in completing tasks.
Magic OS 8.0 will first be available on the Magic 6 series and later on other HONOR smartphone models and tablets.
The Magic 6 series also features other spec updates in addition to the SoC. It boasts a 50MP main wide camera with an f/1.9 aperture, a 32MP telephoto camera, and a 50MP ultrawide camera. The Pro version elevates the main wide camera with an f/1.4-2.0 adjustable aperture. This f/1.4 aperture improves photo quality in low-light environments and creates a better bokeh effect. The Pro version replaces the regular version’s telephoto camera with a periscope camera at 180MP. This periscope camera employs a 1/1.49-inch CIS imaging sensor with 2.24μm equivalent sensibility and an f/2.6 aperture.
Both the Magic 6 and Magic 6 Pro feature an LTPO OLED display, with peak brightness reaching up to 5000 nits.
Furthermore, the Magic 6 Pro supports two-way satellite communications. HONOR claims to have greatly optimized the device’s power consumption for satellite communication. The Magic 6 Pro can support 8 minutes of real-time voice communication or send 16 two-way text messages in super-low battery (just 5%) scenarios.
