Honor MagicPad 4

The Honor MagicPad 4 is built around one headline idea: thinness. At 4.8mm and 450g, it is the kind of tablet you notice the moment you pick it up. Honor also claims it is the world's thinnest tablet, although that claim comes from a single source. Thinness alone doesn't make a great tablet, though. What's encouraging is that Honor hasn't treated it as an excuse to cut corners elsewhere.

The return to OLED after the MagicPad 3's LCD panel is the change we're most pleased to see. A 12.3-inch 3:2 OLED panel running at 165Hz suits both media and work. The eight-speaker setup with IMAX support points the same way, toward people who watch a lot of content. Add the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and PC Mode, and Honor is clearly aiming at people who want one device for streaming, gaming and getting some work done.

It looks best suited to frequent travellers, commuters and anyone who wants a premium Android tablet that disappears into a bag. It is less suited to buyers who need mobile data on the go or who want a clean, minimal software experience.

On paper, the MagicPad 4 gets most of the fundamentals right.

• Display: The OLED panel, 3:2 shape and high refresh rate make a strong combination for both media and productivity.
• Performance: The flagship-class processor, together with up to 16GB of RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, suggests it should have headroom for demanding apps and games.
• Battery: A 10,100mAh silicon-carbon battery is a notable capacity for a chassis this slim. We can't judge real-world endurance from the information available.

The drawbacks are real, though.

• Software: Reviewers criticise a cluttered interface and heavy preinstalled bloatware. That undercuts the premium feel and is the biggest weakness we can identify.
• Connectivity: The tablet is Wi-Fi only, with no eSIM option. That limits its appeal for exactly the on-the-go users its thin design targets.
• Extras: There is no charger in the box, and the Smart Keyboard and Magic Pencil 3 cost extra. Getting the most out of PC Mode means spending more.
• Durability: IP40 is only modest protection.

We don't have a confirmed price, so we can't judge value, and that is a significant gap in this assessment. Based on the hardware alone, the MagicPad 4 looks like one of the most compelling Android tablets around. The software polish and missing extras keep it from a top score.