HONOR X9d - A Lot of Tough for Not Many Bucks

Compromise.

Not everyone has $2000+ to drop on a phone. 

So if you've just dropped yours. Or drowned it. Or cracked it. Or just lost it... What features are you prepared to give up in order to keep the price down?

Bearing in mind, if your new phone isn't dust or waterproof or particularly robust, it might only be a matter of time before you're having to replace it again. So you won't have saved any money at all.

However, if you work or play in demanding environments - building sites, outdoors - or you're just a bit of a klutz, destroying your phone might just be an unfortunate inevitability.

But it doesn't have to be.

The HONOR X9d is built to take a knock. Or two. Or all of them. And it'll cost you less than eight-hundred bucks.

Let's talk what this phone doesn't do shortly but first; its strengths. Which are mostly about its strength.

These days, most flagship phones carry an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. Essentially, that means you can submerge the device in question down to a metre or so for up to half-an-hour.

The X9d can do that too.

Some other devices carry an IP69 rating. This means they can resist high-pressure, high-temperature jets of water. Why you would want to steam-clean your phone is a bit of a mystery, but...

Yes, the X9d can do that too. In fact, throw in IP66 and IP69K too. What the hell?

Okay then. How about the SGS rating that proves triple resistance against drops, water and dust? Has it passed the IEC 62262 impact resistance test?

Apparently. And I haven't even heard of some of those before.

The X9d isn't just built to keep water, dust and extreme temperatures out, it'll definitely take a knock or two. The display is covered by "ultra tough tempered glass" - and also a factory-fitted TPU screen protector which HONOR insists on putting on these devices, even though the aluminosilicate glass underneath is probably more scratch-resistant and much harder to crack.

There are six layers of cushioning built into the handset which has earnt it a 2.5m drop-resistance rating.

Remember, this isn't just HONOR talking. These are highly-regarded, independent tests.

It's indisputably one of the most durable phones I've ever reviewed.

To capitalise on the amphibious abilities of such a device, you'll even find an underwater mode in the camera app, as you'll see me demonstrate in the video below. While in this mode, you can use the physical buttons on the side of the phone to take still pictures or videos - complete with sound.

The camera setup is where we start to see a little of the trade-off in order to bring the price down. The dual array on the rear module consists of a 108MP main shooter and a 5MP wide lens - perfectly respectable and still capable of 10X digital zoom and 4K video. But you're not quite achieving the masterful low-light performance, or consistency of colour and contrast between lenses that you would expect from a much more expensive flagship like the HONOR Magic8 Pro I reviewed earlier in the week.

In saying that, regardless of whether you're using the rear-shooter or the 16MP selfie-cam, you still have access to a mind-bending array of effects, filters and post-shooting AI editing tools. As a quick example I just clicked off a shot from my desk of a badly lit picture on the wall, about 3 metres away from where I'm typing right now. In this first shot, there's a lot of reflection in the glass, essentially obscuring that part of the picture completely.

Using HONOR's on-board AI eraser, I was quickly able to remove almost all the reflection, as if by magic, in a matter of seconds.

So I certainly have no issue with the performance of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 CPU, or the Adreno A810 graphics chip, both supported by a healthy 12GB of RAM.

Just like the Magic8 Pro, the X9d sports both an in-screen fingerprint sensor and face unlock - and just like its flashy cousin, I've found these to be quick and reliable. Meanwhile, this phone costs $1600 less.

In fact, as I go about my day using the X9d as my primary handset, I find myself not really missing that previous flagship at all.

Okay, it doesn't charge wirelessly and there's no eSIM capability - which I'd usually find pretty frustrating. But with its enormous 8300mAh li-ion polymer power cell, the X9d actually outperforms the Magic8 Pro in terms of battery life. I really only need to plug it in to charge every third day or so.

Finally, the X9d looks a lot more premium than its price-tag would suggest. My review device is Sunrise Gold, which features a fetching coral-coloured cloud effect on the matte back panel, brushed gold-coloured side rails and a classy gold ring around a rear camera module that doesn't protrude very far at all.

It's also available in Midnight Black - yawn - or you can go for Reddish Brown, which is gutting for me because that's undoubtedly the option I would have gone for if I was given the choice - because after all, who doesn't want a red phone?

I'm aware there are other phones out there that claim to be extra tough - perfect for the pocket of a tradie on a building site or clamped to the handlebars of a mountain bike in the weekend. Trouble is, most of those look like a brick... and operate just about as smoothly as a brick does too.

The HONOR X9d isn't that.

It looks like an expensive phone. Runs like an expensive phone. Has more battery life than most expensive phones and has been independently tested to be straight out tougher than most other phones. 

If eight-hundred bucks is all you have to spend (or all you WANT to spend) you're not cutting too many corners here to get a phone that'll go the distance.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the HONOR X9d.

HONOR Magic8 Pro - Shaking Up the New Zealand Market

For a very long time, Kiwis looking for a flagship handset really only had a choice of two brands - unless you were prepared to import something else directly from overseas, which your telco may or may not have supported once you got it up and running.

Then, slowly but surely, more and more Android devices from different brands started appearing on New Zealand shelves, giving us access to different cameras, faster charging times and various other features we'd been missing out on while the rest of the smartphone world moved forward.

More recently, you even got a choice with foldable phones and late last year, HONOR finally found its way to our shores with the Magic V5, impressing me with one of the most polished foldable flagships I'd come across to date.

Now HONOR keeps the momentum going with a more conventional flagship form-factor.

The HONOR Magic8 Pro is a very solid piece of kit, straight out of the box. Quite literally. My first impression was one of serious heft - it's quite heavy and the circular rear camera module positively dominates the back of the phone.

But that doesn't worry me because the reason this phone feels heavier than it looks is HONOR has packed so much into it. I'm not exaggerating.

There's a big battery for starters - 7,100mAh - which puts the 4,500-5,000mAh cells more commonly found in other flagship phones to shame. Not only will it absolutely cruise through two full days on a single charge, it's lithium polymer - so it won't heat up when charging. Which is good, because you can charge it at a whopping 100W. Even more amazing, with the right charger, you can juice up wirelessly at 80W! That's significantly faster than most other handsets charge using a cable.

All the controls are on the right-hand side, which means you can keep a decent grip on this thing without accidentally putting yourself on mute. That includes a dedicated AI button, towards the bottom, which doubles as a customisable shortcut button if you double-tap. I've got it set to quick-launch the camera, for example. Meanwhile a single long press brings AI Screen Suggestions to the fore - making it easy to circle-to-search or bookmark an "AI Memory" - kind of a snapshot of whatever you're doing so you can come back to it later.

Between the brute-force of the latest generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform chip, the 12GB of RAM and that beast of a battery, you can imagine how this handset scythes through even the most demanding tasks and 3D graphics manipulation like a hot knife through butter - except, without getting hot.

But it's the camera setup that probably deserves the most attention. Again, here, HONOR has held nothing back. The primary, rear-facing array consists of a 50MP Ultra Night main sensor, a 50MP Ultra Wide and an impressive 200MP Ultra Night Telephoto lens. It's this last component that really sets the Magic8 Pro apart from the rest; night-time and low-light shooting has come a long way on smartphones recently, but it's rare for that to be just as true for more specialised zoom lenses.

HONOR has achieved a massive jump in long-distance night shooting, thanks in no small part to something called CIPA 6.5-stop image stabilisation. Essentially, what this means is each shot is kept stable - even for the longer exposure pics after dark - so you still let the extra light in without any of the blur.

As you'll see me demonstrate in the video below, that also results in some crazy-stable action shots too.

Colour reproduction is also next level, and you even have the option to tweak things further, post shooting. Although, as you can see from my açaí bowl in the sunshine the other morning, no post-production fiddling was required. The Magic8 Pro's AI recognised I was taking a food shot and automatically created a masterpiece; I just had to point and click.

Similarly, the portrait options are also outstanding. I'll let doggo here speak for himself...

Continuing the theme of "all that, and a cherry on top" - HONOR hasn't pulled any punches with the forward-facing selfie-cam either. The 50MP high-res sensor is teamed with a 3D depth-sensing camera which means you can professionally fix focus on your selfie videos and shoot them in 4K at 60fps.

It also means the Magic8 Pro performs perhaps the fastest face-unlock of any phone I've used to date.

Alternatively (or as well as) you can rely on the 3D ultrasonic fingerprint sensor built into the screen - and I do mean "rely on" - it's been nothing but speedy and consistent every time.

The screen - as you would expect after everything else - is nothing short of sublime. 6.71-inches with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and capable of dazzling HDR brightness; up to 6,000nits.

Yet here HONOR shows masterful restraint, with a host of AI controlled screen adjustments to ensure less exposure to blue light, taking the temperature down in dim conditions, reducing eye fatigue and even relieving motion sickness and preventing screen-induced myopia.

Oh, you get great speakers on this phone too. I mean, who even cares about phone speakers these days? Well, Honor does, apparently. Genuine spatial sound reproduction for a more immersive gaming or streaming experience and the bass response actually isn't terrible - and for a phone, that's saying something.

Seriously, HONOR has poured about every high-end ingredient they can into the Magic8 - even the water and dust-proofing is like nothing I've seen before - not just IP68 and IP69 but now there's something called IP69K, which as far as I can make out, means you can spray it with hot lava out of a fire hose and it'll just shrug it off.

Which is why I'm mystified they still ship the handsets with a factory-fitted screen protector. I scratched the screen protector on the first day I used it. Useless. Meanwhile, the actual screen beneath is protected by HONOR NanoCrystal Shield and has a five-star SGS drop resistance certification. Needless to say, I've now peeled off the so-called protector and the phone has been blemish-free ever since.

People complain about paying more than $2,000 for a flagship phone, but when it's as feature-packed as the Magic8 Pro, I reckon this one's a bargain.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the HONOR Magic8 Pro.

OPPO Find N6 - Meet the New Leader In Foldable Flagships

Over the last year I've been able to trial quite a selection of folding phones that for the first time, really feel like polished, fully finished products - rather than the next step in something experimental that may or may not actually be going somewhere.

Suddenly there's a more solid, reliable feel to these handsets. That's important, given their wincingly high price tags.

The operating systems, generally, seem to have evolved into something more useful for the form-factor too. After all, is there any real point in having a screen twice the width if it doesn't offer anything more than what a standard sized display does?

Then there's the crease.

Something we've just come to expect from folding screens. Yes, the crease has been getting less and less noticeable but if you're going to bend a phone in half, surely there's only so much you can do.

Apparently, OPPO disagrees.

Yep, they've actually done it. Open the OPPO Find N6 and you'll discover the new Seamless View Display. I knew OPPO was claiming this was a thing. I'd heard other people talk about it. I'd even seen people demonstrate it. And yet, I still didn't believe it.

Then I saw it - and even more importantly - FELT it for myself. No crease. Barely the tiniest evidence of some kind of line if you hold the Find N6 up to a bright light in just the right way but that's it. A completely flat foldable. Who'd have thought it?

This miracle is achieved using what OPPO describes as Auto-Smoothing Flex Glass - literally 3D scanning each Titanium Flexion Hinge on every phone to then 3D print the corresponding smoothing system, unique to that phone and that phone alone.

Some poor robot has been tasked with folding and unfolding these things up to a million times and as a result, the Find N6 is certified to stay flat for at least 600,000 folds. Truly pioneering tech.

But the best thing about the Find N6 is OPPO wasn't just content to do the world's flattest folding screen and leave it at that. This is a true flagship phone in every other way too.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform is the engine driving everything - from AI photo editing to triple-A gaming. The latest iteration of ColorOS is a UI truly deserving of the 8.12-inch internal display, letting you open 3 or 4 apps simultaneously with a simple gesture - finally delivering on the productivity boost devices like this have been promising since their inception.

Another tool to help boost the Find N6's usefulness even further is the optional OPPO AI Pen - a feature-packed bluetooth stylus that charges wirelessly via its rear cover case. Not only is this a precise writing and sketching accessory, thanks to its smart button it can also be used as a media controller or even a laser pointer.

There is a downside; the rear cover the OPPO AI Pen slots into is too thick for the handset to charge through on a wireless pad. And that case is also really tricky to get off once you click it into place. So you pretty much have to choose between the convenience of wireless charging or the usefulness of a bluetooth stylus.

This is emblematic of OPPO's historically reluctant attitude around wireless charging. OPPO phones have always been about the fastest charging around, thanks to the awesome power of wired SuperVOOC charging - it's been that way for many years now.

Unfortunately, this determination to focus on fast wired charging has meant many OPPO handsets don't offer wireless charging at all - and now we've got this weird situation with the AI Pen case. There's also a more generic, two-piece cover included in the Find N6 box. Thankfully, this is much thinner and doesn't prevent wireless charging getting through.

The really weird part is, with the right AirVOOC charger, the Find N6 will actually charge wirelessly at up to 50W - faster than any other device I've ever reviewed.

Fast charging is helpful, because we're talking some serious battery here; 6000mAh. This is yet another area where OPPO has seen the opposition produce under-powered foldables with batteries that may or may not last out a whole day. Meanwhile, as I explain in the video below, I got several days use from my Find N6 on a single charge without even meaning to.

The other bizarre compromise to be found on early foldables is the camera setup. You'd think if you're asked to pay over three grand for a phone, you might expect it to take some of the best pictures and videos possible. That hasn't always been the case.

On the Find N6, it is the case.

The primary rear camera module, distinctive in its round housing and marked with a silver "H" for Hasselblad, sports a 200MP wide main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide, a 50MP periscope telephoto and a dedicated True Colour camera. This results in consistent, real-life colour, detail and lighting across all focal lengths - including distance shots and extreme closeups.

I've raved on and on about how good OPPO's phone cameras are before - especially since collaborating with Hasselblad - the camera name famous for bringing us images of the original moon landings. The results from this generation certainly don't disappoint, complete with 20MP selfie-cams on both outer and inner screens too.

We've talked a lot about that magical, folding display but the 6.62-inch external display definitely deserves a mention as well. For a book-style foldable, the Find N6 is remarkably light and thin - even more so than some more conventional, unfoldy flagships. The aspect ratio when folded is less tall and skinny than many other, similar devices and I think this goes a long way to why I feel so comfortable using it as my every day handset. The cover display features a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, it gets incredibly bright when it needs to and the wider aspect ratio leaves plenty of room for apps and widgets on my home screen.

The only downside is OPPO's insistence on installing factory-fitted screen protectors - which are usually far more prone to damage and scratches than the screen they're purportedly protecting. I've certainly found that to be the case on this phone, somehow scratching it just by placing it face down on my work desk yesterday morning. I'm fairly certain if I peeled this "protector" off, the ceramic guard on the display proper would prove much more scratch resistant, which has certainly been my experience with most high-end phones for the last few years. I mean, thanks for the free screen protector, OPPO. But you shouldn't have. Really.

Note: Don't go trying to peel anything off that inner screen - any layers there are integral to its functionality.

Not that this phone feels delicate in any way - which is another reason I feel comfortable casually dropping it in my pocket - and even dropping it out of my pocket and onto my hard wooden floor. Twice. So far. With no damage whatsoever. It also carries IP57, IP58 and IP59 ratings against water and dust. 

Whether you go for Stellar Titanium or Blossom Orange, it's a special phone. However, that doesn't mean you have to give it special treatment. Which is ultimately what I love about the Find N6. It's probably the most advanced collection of mobile phone technology ever built into a single device - and yet I'm not afraid to use it.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the OPPO Find N6.

Apple iPhone 17e - Try to Find a Reason Not to Buy This One Apple iPhone 17e - Try to Find a Reason Not to Buy This One

 Don't you just love it when a tech brand brings out a cheaper version of their flagship product that essentially does all the same things?

What's the catch?

Good question.

That's what I'm still trying to figure out after a couple of weeks with Apple's latest handset.

Starting at NZ$1,199.00, it's a bit of a misnomer to refer to the iPhone 17e as "entry level" - although it certainly makes it a lot more affordable than the base-model iPhone 17 launched late last year at NZ$1,699.00.

In New Zealand, the timing of the 17e's release couldn't be better, as apparently quite a few people still haven't figured out the 2G and 3G networks are in the process of shutting down across the country and it's definitely time to upgrade old phones.

In 2025 we saw Apple pivot from its much more stripped-down SE line of cheaper iPhones, instead launching the 16e - much less of a misfit member of the family with a lot more of the premium features included.

This year's model "e" takes that philosophy even further, starting with the inclusion of MagSafe, which was missing on the 2025 version. For those of you unfamiliar with MagSafe, it's essentially just a ring of magnets built into the rear panel of the handset so you can attach accessories like wireless chargers and card wallets, as if by magic. Sounds silly - right up to the point you try it and realise it's going to change your life.

Being able to attach your phone to car cradles and bedside chargers without plugging in and unplugging all the time is weirdly freeing. I love it.

Better still, the iPhone 17e now charges wirelessly at twice the speed; 15W. Even betterer stiller, the battery life on this thing is impressively decent. Although this is a mid-priced phone, it will outlast many flagships. It's not unusual for me to get to the end of the day with 70% charge still in the tank. It certainly helps that I can just plonk it down on the nearest available wireless charging pad.

The 6.1-inch display is protected by Ceramic Shield 2 - making it three times more scratch resistant than the iPhone 16e. This is something I don't think Apple makes enough noise about; for generations now (iPhone generations, not human generations), iPhone users just haven't really had to worry about scratching or cracking their screens - an expensive inconvenience that used to be a given for any smartphone owner sooner or later. These days iPhone screens are pretty much as tough as they come. Shout it from the rooftops, Apple - it makes an already reasonably-priced phone even better value.

By now you must be wondering - as indeed I was - where has Apple cut corners here in order to cut the price? Surely they've used older hardware under the hood, like so many other phone-makers do with their less-than-premium offerings. Well, no actually.

The 17e runs on Apple's proprietary A19 chip, just like the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro do. Admittedly there's a GPU core or two less in this version - but that's really only going to hold you back if you're planning to edit a 3D feature film on your phone. It still handles AAA gaming perfectly well, with the Super Retina XDR display looking great. 

Wait... there is ONE downside display-wise; you don't get ProMotion on the 17e so that means no Always On Display and no Dynamic Island either.

What do you mean, you can't remember exactly what Dynamic Island is? It's that tiny widget that replaced the infamous "notch" around the selfie camera at the top of the screen. It does things like display what media is playing or shows the progress of AirDrop file transfers. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, you probably won't miss it but yes, the 17e still has the infamous notch instead.

Speaking of the selfie-cam, this is definitely one area of compromise - in comparison to the rest of the iPhone 17 family that is. The 12MP TrueDepth camera is still great, it just doesn't do the aspect-ratio swap trick the other 17s do, thanks to their square, 18MP CentreStage sensors. Again, no major drama.

You do lose a few actual lenses on the primary camera array around the back though. Just a single lens there. Apple calls this a 48MP Fusion camera and it's still capable of 24MP and 48MP "super-high-resolution" pics and Dolby Vision 4K video. Just to make things even more confusing, the all-new iPhone Air that came out at the same time as the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro also only has one rear-facing camera, although technically, it's a Dual-Fusion sensor so it's supposed to be better than what the 17e has. I've used both. They both seem to take great pics. Neither do Ultra-Wide or zoom particularly far - but other than that portrait shots look amazing and low-light shooting is damn good for any phone too.

Perhaps the one last place where the 17e comes up a little short - when compared to the other 17-series iPhones I mean - is there's still no Camera Control sensor, the relatively new iPhone innovation that lets you open the camera app with a press, click off photos and slide your zoom in and out, along with a few other photography shortcuts. I'm going to keep it real here and argue that's no great loss either - for a couple of reasons.

1: As we've already discussed, there's not much zooming in and out to be done with this camera anyway and...

2: The iPhone 17e (just like the 16e before it) does have the Action button - the customisable shortcut key that can be set to launch the camera app anyway.

Whichever way you look at it, although the 17e has a midrange price-tag, it delivers a hell of a lot of premium features and performance. Although only single-lens, the camera will surprise you. The fast wireless charging and battery life are stellar. The display looks fabulous and is protected by Ceramic Shield 2. The chip is the latest generation Apple has to offer and it's pretty bulletproof. And yes, it'll do all the Apple Intelligence stuff too. To top it all off, you have the new addition of MagSafe, which is some absolutely excellent accessory icing on the cake.

If you want the pinnacle of iPhone technology Apple has to offer, Pro Max yourself up the wazoo, it's an unbelievable piece of tech and you won't be disappointed. But if you're just after a fantastic phone that does most of what those other iPhones do anyway, save yourself a significant amount of dosh and take the "e"asy way out.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Apple iPhone 17e.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy A17 5G - One of These Things Is Definitely Not Like the Other

My many years of tech reviewing has left me in the privileged position of being able to use most of the latest and greatest smartphones, pretty much from the moment they're launched - sometimes even before.

These days some of these devices can cost thousands and quite understandably, most people wouldn't dream of handing over that kind of cash for a phone, even if they can afford it.

That's why I also try and sample more budget-friendly devices - and I've often been surprised just how capable under $1000 handsets can be.

So it wasn't completely out of the blue when Samsung suggested I compare the latest offerings from each end of its 2026 range.

In fact, on price alone, the two phones I'm comparing today really couldn't be further apart. The Galaxy A17 5G is NZ$399.00 while the Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at NZ$2,549.00.

Today I'll be focusing more on the S26 Ultra than the A17 because... well... there's no easy way to say this; I found the A17 to be unusable.

Let me explain.

My usual method for reviewing any device is to unpack it, set it up and use it in my every day life, just as I would if I'd gone out and bought it myself.

With phones, this means adding both my work and personal email accounts, syncing my social media, music and podcast apps and even linking the camera roll to backup automatically to my cloud storage service.

Or at least, that's what I usually do. That's certainly what I did with the S26 Ultra - just as I have done with many generations of Ultra before it - and if I'm going to be completely honest, that process was so smooth and effortless it was almost boring. Especially given that on the face of it, not much has changed with this year's flagship Samsung handset. But we'll come to that.

Setting up the A17, on the other hand, was a mission. To begin with, although it has a dual SIM tray - which is useful if you run separate business and personal numbers or you do a lot of travelling - there's no eSIM option, which is what I use.

No matter, I thought. It's not like I can use the same number on two phones at once anyway. At least I can load up all my usual apps, connect to my smartwatch and other bluetooth devices and...

I got as far as using Samsung's SmartSwitch app to copy my settings, apps and other data to the A17 from my personal device and then I set about trying to log in to the various places I would need to, to go about my daily business.

But I couldn't. And here's why; although the A17 5G has a big battery and a triple-sensor primary camera setup - including a 50MP main wide lens - the phone itself is so underpowered in terms of RAM and processing ability, it's impossible to use.

The large, 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen might be good - Samsung claims a "fluid" 90Hz refresh rate - I wouldn't know, because every time I tried to do something there was such a delay, I'd give up and move on to something else, only to have the original function start working several seconds later, just confusing things even more.

And I'm talking about basic functionality, as I'll demonstrate in the video below. Just swiping from the top to pull down the notification or quick access windows seemed too much of an effort for this phone so no, I didn't even get up to testing the Optical Image Stabilisation that is now built into the camera but I fear, much like the boast of being able to use Gemini Live for its AI abilities, the effort and frustration wouldn't be worth the result.

It's 5G capable but if you were hoping this was the 3G replacement you needed for nana, take my advice, spend another few hundred dollars and get an exponentially more user-friendly experience.

Or...

Spend a few THOUSAND more and get one of the best phones available in the world right now.

Even though, as I hinted at earlier, not much has changed between the 2025 Ultra and today's - it was the hottest handset around then and most of the competition are still playing catchup.

And besides, some things HAVE changed, if not obviously so.

The S26 Ultra is thinner and lighter than ever and it's cooler too, thanks to Samsung's biggest vapour chamber yet.

As you'd expect, the processor is faster, more powerful and more efficient - although you might've expected that from the A17 too, but it's the same chip as last year in that one. The S26 Ultra boasts significant performance improvements across the board - with the NPU, GPU and CPU. All the Us.

Actually, speaking of the Neural Processor, it almost goes without saying there are more A.I. tricks this handset can perform, although things have become quite confusing with Samsung's Galaxy AI revitalising its proprietary, on-device virtual assistant, Bixby, while delegating cloud-based A.I. functions to Google Gemini.

So... you want on-device translation? Or maybe just a timer or an alarm? Bixby's your man. Or woman. Or robot - whatever.

Meanwhile, when it comes to more connected requests like Circle to Search - which you can do with the S26 Ultra's on-board stylus, of course - that's more of a Gemini sort of a gig.

Both Gemini and Galaxy AI have excellent tools for photo and video editing so I guess it's a sort of two-robot-heads-are-better-than-one approach.

As far as photography goes, more broadly - there are noteworthy advances here too, with larger wide and telephoto sensors letting in more light for even better nighttime shooting, which is something the previous S25 Ultra wasn't too shabby at anyway. There's also now a Horizontal Lock mode which effectively turns your phone into an action camera, using the built-in gyros to sense gravity and keep your shots level, even if you're rolling down a hill backwards.

The headline upgrade for the Ultra this year is a feature called Privacy Display. You may have come across physical privacy screens before. These are aftermarket addons that keep people nearby from being able to see what's on your phone - not just a privacy measure but potentially a security issue, when you're typing in passwords or managing payment details. These external screens not only add bulk to your device but can affect image quality too.

Samsung's approach is far more elegant - it's built into the panel itself. You can activate Privacy Display manually and even set it up to work for specific apps and not others - including their notifications. Genius. 

Oh, and the S26 Ultra comes in a nice purple colour called Cobalt Violet, along with a choice of five other more subtle shades.

I still appreciate the fact that the onboard stylus, the famous S-Pen, is still on board - even though I hardly ever use it. I've seen people with medical conditions that affect their fine-motor-skills use the S-Pen to control their phone because it's more accurate than their shaky digits. Accessibility rules.

So I apologise. This wasn't much of a comparison after all. I simpply didn't have the patience to set up the A17 properly - but then, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't either. In fact, you shouldn't.

On the other hand, if you want the best Android chip available, in one of the world's smartest phones, with a sneaky display no-one else can read, the Ultra, as usual, will not disappoint.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G.

HONOR Magic V5 - Well, I Didn't See This One Coming

As a tech obsessed tragic, a large part of the time I'm not writing articles about gadgets, I spend reading articles about gadgets.

So it's always a bit frustrating when I see something cool being launched somewhere else in the world if it doesn't end up being sold here.

I get it. With a population of fewer than 6 million, the whole of New Zealand is a smaller market than most major cities.

And we're far.

Still, if we don't have access to more than one or two brands of a certain product, we can easily be held hostage, price-wise.

So I was surprised, fascinated and excited to see HONOR set up shop here a couple of weeks ago.

At the Auckland launch event, HONOR confirmed two phones, a tablet, a smartwatch and earbuds would all be hitting kiwi shelves in plenty of time for Christmas, but of course, it was the Magic V5 that really caught my attention.

In fact, whether it's Black, Ivory White or Dawn Gold - like my review unit - it's pretty safe to assume you'll get most people's attention when you pull the Magic V5 out of your pocket, firstly because at just 8.8mm, it's the world's slimmest folding phone.

That's not including its significant, octagonal camera module on the light-catching back panel of course - but even with that taken into account, the most striking thing about this full-sized foldable is how light and thin it feels - perhaps even more so than some other non-folding flagships.

Thin, light but in no way flimsy. Quite the opposite. HONOR's Mortise and Tenon Dampening Hinge feels as solid as any other I've tried - if not more so. In fact, it's rated to last for at least half a million folds. 

I don't think I'm rated for that many folds.

I certainly shouldn't be trusted to handle a device like this because I've already dropped it onto a hard floor at least once already. Luckily, the Magic V5 is tough enough to take that kind of mistreatment.

HONOR has really focussed on strengthening the area around the hinge and it shows. The 7.95-inch folding inner display is actually reinforced with carbon fibre, making it around 40 times more drop-proof than standard glass.

This philosophy of durability extends to the 6.43-inch external screen. HONOR's "Anti-Scratch NanoCrystal Shield" purports to be scratch resistant, drop resistant and just plain wear resistant. The Magic V5 has both IP58 and IP59 water and dust resistance ratings too - making it splash-proof and the first foldable I've reviewed that I've felt comfortable jamming in my pocket when I'm out in the garden getting hot, dirty and sweaty.

It even comes with its own case in the box - and not just a token, cheapo one either. Its ombré effect looks really classy and the shiny camera surround isn't just for show - it folds out to serve as a kickstand for either folded or unfolded viewing.

But none of that matters without the performance to back it up.

Where should we start? How about everyone's most basic phone complaint; battery life? The Magic V5 has a 5820mAh lithium polymer battery, which is large, and in tandem with the market-leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile CPU, runs the phone more efficiently (and cooler) than many other high-performance handsets.

Admittedly, the MagicOS 9.0.1 U.I. (with Android 15 underneath) is particularly aggressive when it comes to battery "optimisation". As an interface, MagicOS is pretty similar to most other Android-based systems, although it did take me a little while to find the exact setting that would keep my home security apps running in the background so I would receive timely notifications from my cameras and video doorbell.

All that aside, by the time I put the Magic V5 on to charge at night, I'm seldom below 50% - even on work days when I get up at 2:50AM.

This phone will accept fast wired charging at up to 66W and incredibly, with the right charger, you can juice up wirelessly at 50W. Compare that to other flagships out there.

Like every other phone, HONOR serves up its fair share of AI tools - and like every Android phone, it's hard to tell where the native AI stops and Google's Gemini takes over. Rest assured though, tasks like photo and video editing are easy and you can quickly touch up your shots to make them postable - something that's a lot more user-friendly on the phablet-sized internal display.

There are some more niche little AI tricks too - the Magic V5 can alert you if you're being deep-faked on a video chat and even has a method to help prevent motion sickness if you're using your phone in a moving vehicle.

For such a premium device, it's nice to see it endowed with a genuine flagship camera setup - which hasn't always been the case with foldables in the past. Referring to "Front" and "Rear" cameras doesn't make much sense on a device like this - after all, you can take selfies with the main camera and that external display can even play eye-catching cartoons to get kids laughing in the right direction.

Instead, I'm going to call the little punch-hole selfie cameras (one on the edge of each screen) "selfie-cams" and the big kahuna in the gold octagon "the primary shooter". The selfie-cams are the same - which makes sense - 20MP wide lenses, capable of 4K video and can be used for face unlock. Which is the main thing I use them for because as I just said, why wouldn't you just use the awesome power of the primary shooter for selfies?

A 50MP wide lens is teamed with a 50MP ultra wide and - wait for it - a 64MP telephoto lens. That's a lot of zoom power - 3x optical and 100x digital - and this is where the AI really starts to pay off; even those 100x long-shots will look nice and clear once our robot slave has cleaned them up for us.

Nighttime photography is fabulous, image stabilisation makes shooting action videos a breeze - even the document scanner works fast and accurately.

It's simply a great phone. I think, because it's just so usable.

Swapping from external to internal screens and back again is smooth and seamless - as it should be. You can share files, photos and video to other devices easily - even to Macs and iPhones - as you should be able to. Little things like fingerprint-free surfaces, front and back, make holding the phone... well... nice. The Magic V5 even knows if there's any large bit of grit or debris caught inside when you close it and will notify you that you're risking damage to the screen if you don't clear it off.

Sadly, although it charges wirelessly, it's not magnetic, so it can't snap into place on a MagSafe charger. However, because of the position of the camera module on the back panel, I've found it sits quite securely on my chargers anyway - so even that works out.

What's more, it's HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than the competing handset with the same storage here in New Zealand - and the Magic V5 has more RAM.

Yes, I'm excited about this phone. I'm just excited HONOR decided to honour us with its presence. And I can't wait to share more thoughts on the HONOR Choice earbuds and HONOR Watch 4 in the weeks to come. This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

    

Click here for more information and on the HONOR Magic V5. In store now at Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming.