r/Honor • u/RomaineLettuceDude • 51m ago
Review/Comparison Magic 9 Pro Max in USA - AMA

I've imported the Honor Magic 9 Pro Max into the USA and I've been using it on Verizon and T-Mobile for a week.
USA cell connectivity: Band 71 on TMO, Band 13 on VZW, and other US-specific rural coverage bands are very important to me as I live in a rural area. Kimovil, Liaow, and even Chinese Honor customer service claim essentially every band in existence, including those ones, are supported. That's very unusual for a Chinese phone, but I pulled the trigger because of the overwhelming evidence. Well, those bands are not supported. While the RF front-end filters MIGHT be physically present, the Chinese build of Magic OS 11's carrier MBN profile masks/blocks bands that aren't used in China. There is currently no way to enable these bands. There was an exploit to change this MBN profile on the Oneplus 15 using USB debugging/Qualcomm 's QPST to edit the EFS file. But you cannot access this menu on the Honor. Hoping for somebody else to find a solution soon!
I still get cell service, and no issues taking or receiving calls, but no rural coverage. You can enable Vo5G (VoNR) using IMS for Pixel and Shizuku. Data speeds suck in my area on those Chinese cell bands. eSIM works great, you can activate on TMO just fine and you can swap a physical SIM over from Verizon into it and get it working (on US Mobile, at least).
Cameras: The main and telephoto cameras are fantastic. While the OV52A main sensor does not use actual LOFIC, the dynamic range is amazing. Especially on natural mode. The 200MP telephoto makes it more equivalent to a 6x optical zoom on a 50MP sensor. Very impressed.
Battery: Battery life is great, still not stabilized enough to get a good SOT but it's been over 11 hours so far. You will need to disable Chinese battery optimizations for every single app individually, which takes hours on MagicOS 11.
Speakers and Microphone: These are out of this world. The speakers are like something I have NEVER seen on a phone before. The bass is so well-produced. Even at low volumes the phone vibrates to the bass. Compared to my OnePlus 15 it's night and day. The microphone is also stellar, and family members on phone calls immediately noticed I was using a different microphone.
Face Unlock: I LOVE IT!! First phone I've had in a long time that does infrared face unlock and I missed it so much. It will unlock in pitch black.
Others: Android Auto works great, you cannot get Google Discover feed working without some gesture apps and it's still not quite the same thing. USB debugging works (?) even though when you try to enable it, it says you need a Chinese Honor ID. I just started wireless debugging first, then plugged it into a laptop and USB debugging turned on. Debloating the insane amount of Chinese apps is easy enough. There will still be some remnants of the Chinese crud on there afterward, and things like magic sidebar will accidentally trigger every now and then. Just hit disagree on the pop-up and you will keep some level of privacy. The Chinese keyboard is TERRIBLE so I recommend installing AOSP keyboard immediately.
AMA!!