This Week at Mark Ellis Reviews

👋 Happy Friday! This week, Apple dropped the news that it would be hosting a live event in September, but more on that later. Most of my week has been occupied by the Honor Magic V5 and the Google Pixel 10. You can find my full review of the latter below, but the Magic V5 really got me thinking about phone design, so much so that I wrote a bit about it in this newsletter. I would love to know your thoughts on the matter of hardware innovations, so please do let me know! Enjoy!

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Is Phone Thinness A Worthy Selling Point?

This week, Honor launched their new foldable in the UK, the Honor Magic V5. We’ll skip over why they decided to go from V3 to V5 without a V4 because nobody seems to know, but in my review, which you can watch below, I begin by addressing the thinness (or thickness) debate.

Honor is leading with the line that the Magic V5 is the thinnest foldable ever made. And it is, just 8.8mm when closed. This sounds impressive, and again it is, until you compare it to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which came out last month and is, drum roll please, 8.9mm thick when closed. There is just 0.1mm between the two.

And let me tell you, you absolutely do not notice it. The main differentiator between the two phones is actually the centralised camera bump on the V5, which means the phone feels more balanced in the hand. Thinking about this has led me to one conclusion: we have already reached the thinnest a foldable can be (until USB-C ports are removed or modified) and therefore hardware is fast becoming a non-issue in this category.

What really matters now is what’s inside: the software optimisations, cameras and the user interface. I suppose this is good, all things considered, but it does pose a problem for brands. Where does the marketing go from here? The Z Fold7 is so attractive because of how much thinner and well-proportioned it is compared to the Fold6. What is going to make the Fold8 or V6 worth our attention? Have a watch, I’d love to know your thoughts!

HAVE YOUR SAY

Apple Confirms ‘Awe Dropping’ Live Event On 9th September

Just in case you missed it this week, Apple announced their next live event in September. This will almost certainly be related to the new iPhone lineup. There are a load of rumours flying around relating to what we might see. Some are suggesting the design of the event logo is a reference to a new vapour chamber cooling design, whilst others think it links to the widely expected blue and orange colour options. This leads me nicely onto my question for you all this week!

ICYMI

I Switched from iPhone to Pixel 10 — Here’s What Shocked Me

I’ve used so many great Android phones over the last year that it can be hard to settle on a single recommendation. But whenever it’s time to test the latest Pixel, I get a familiar feeling of satisfaction; Google just has the Android experience down to a T. The hardware is great, the handset looks beautiful and the software feels so refined and identifiably Google.

I understand that that last point might not be seen as a positive for everyone, but I would really urge anyone who hasn’t yet to try a Pixel phone. It’s kind of like the iPhone of the Android world in a weird way. Find out why I like it so much in my full review!

TIP OF THE WEEK

iOS Tip 👉 When you’re buried a few layers into an app like Settings, you don’t need to keep tapping the back button over and over to return to the main menu. Instead, press and hold it — a list of the previous pages will appear, letting you jump straight to where you want.

TOP FINDS

What I Watched On YouTube This Week

🏎️ Richard Hammond Road-Trips The New Mustang GTD!(Drivetribe) - You can’t beat The Hamster driving a load of beefy Mustangs around a track, can you?

🔧 ATTEMPTING TO DRIVE MY WRECKED MERCEDES AMG GT63S (Mat Armstrong) - If you like being nerdy about cars, you’ll enjoy this!

🍗 Could We Lose Rick Beato from YouTube? Come On Now: It's Gone Too Far. (Justin Hawkins) - Rick is a YouTube music legend. Mr Hawkins summarises the stupidity of the situation very well.

ELSEWHERE

The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra

I’d heard A LOT about the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra camera before I received a review unit. The word among my tech reviewer friends was that it was one of the best snappers they’d tested.

So, I took it with me on a family holiday to Greece and grabbed loads of photos of the pool, drinks, food, drinks, cats, and drinks. None of these photos were touched up in any way - they’re all straight out of the camera.

I’m mightily impressed (as I was with the Pura 70). What do you think?

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! Next week is IFA, the tech tradeshow in Berlin, where companies usually reveal their next big projects. I’ll be there to keep you posted!

~ Mark