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The HONOR V Purse is a very interesting foldable product. We first encountered this smartphone at IFA in Berlin last September. HONOR managed to surprise us with it, as the event was about the HONOR Magic V2. The HONOR V Purse was an added bonus that HONOR spent a lot of time talking about. Back then, HONOR said that there wouldn’t be a global variant of the phone, at least that was the company’s plan. I didn’t even think I’d have a chance to use the device after that event. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a package appeared at the office, and surprise surprise, it was the HONOR V Purse. I’ve been using the HONOR V Purse since then, and you can read more about it in this review.
As mentioned already the HONOR V Purse is an odd device, but it’s also quite interesting at the same time. At the time of writing this review, I still don’t believe HONOR has any plans to launch this phone globally, but who knows, it may be a surprise as the phone’s launch was. With that in mind, let’s get to it, shall we?
Table of contents
HONOR V Purse Review: Hardware / Design
The HONOR Magic V is a foldable smartphone, but it’s not a book-style foldable. In fact, it’s the exact opposite, it opens in the opposite direction. This is not something we haven’t seen before, but it’s not nearly as common as your regular book-style foldables. I haven’t really handled a device like this since the Huawei Mate Xs 2. Speaking of which, the HONOR V Purse is actually a very similar device to the Mate Xs 2, as far as the design is concerned. That’s not a bad thing, though, not at all. It is similar to that phone, but it’s also much lighter, and thinner too. More on that soon.
The design is the main attraction of this phone, as it sure is different, and chances are you’ll get plenty of attention with it. When folded, the HONOR V Purse is very compact for a foldable. Keep in mind that there is only one display here, not two, which enabled HONOR to make it as thin. Yes, this phone is even thinner than the HONOR Magic V2, which is the thinnest book-style foldable to date. It measures only 8.6mm when folded, and 4.3mm when unfolded (not counting its thickest part/handle when it’s unfolded). It is also very light for such a foldable at 214 grams, which makes it lighter than all book-style foldables in the market.
When folded, the HONOR V Purse is extremely comfortable to hold
When folded, the HONOR V Purse is very comfortable to hold. HONOR did an excellent job curving up the phone, and making it seem like a regular phone when folded. It sits in the hand nicely, and considering it’s not heavy at all (for what it is), it can easily pass for a regular smartphone. When you press the button on the left side of the phone’s back, then the fun starts. The right side of the display will detach from the back, and you can unfold the phone, and get access to a 7.71-inch panel. When folded, only part of that display is active, as you’re getting access to a 6.45-inch panel.
Truth be said, the unfolding and folding of this display is nowhere near as satisfying as on the HONOR Magic V2. You’ll need to force-open it, and force-close it. I tried handing it to people who never used something like that, and they thought they’d break the screen. That’s the way it is, however, as you’re folding the display outwards, not inwards. Once you get used to it, it’s not a big deal at all, but still… it’s not as satisfying as doing the same on book-style foldables. The back side of the phone has a somewhat nice material, it’s plastic, but with a pattern on it, and it feels really good to anchor your fingers too. The phone would be far more slippery if the company used glass or something like that. The thickest part of the phone, when unfolded, is the strip on the right side, next to which the display sits next to when it’s folded. That’s a great place to hold the phone, and it really feels unreal to use when unfolded because of how thin it is.
The display crease is well-hidden
It is worth noting that the display crease is not that noticeable at all. It is a bit more noticeable than on the HONOR Magic V2 I’d say, close to it, but far less noticeable than the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 5, for example. There is one camera hole on the display, and it sits in the top-right corner, regardless of whether the phone is folded or not. What did bother me while using the device were the bezels. They’re not thick, but they’re uneven. When the phone is folded, the right bezel is considerably thicker than the left one, and the left one is already different than top and bottom bezels. Things are way closer when the device is unfolded, but still, it’s something you notice at first. In my case, I was able to ignore it real fast, the same goes for the display camera hole.
Considering its display folds outwards, you’ll need to be careful when you place it on the table, and during general usage, of course. That’s the main reason inwards-folding devices are more popular. Still, the hardware here is really, really good, and refreshing after handling so many inwards-folding phones.
Accessories
From what I can tell, there are no accessories included in the actual retail box of this phone. However, HONOR did send us an accessory to check out. You can see it in the provided images below. This is a plastic attachment that attaches to the right side of the phone, where most of the components lie, and where you’ll be holding the device. A chain is attached to that case, and it allows you to carry this phone as a purse, kind of, hence the name of the phone. HONOR made a big deal out of all this back in September at IFA.
This attachment has a number of sticky pads on the inside, just to keep the phone secure. The case itself does attach itself rather tightly, but these sticky pads are there for the piece of mind. Do note that taking off this attachment is not easy, it gave me a headache, and I was actually worried I’d break the screen while doing it. I had to do it twice, and quite honestly, the second time was not easier. Also, the chain that comes attached to the case itself, it can be easily removed.
HONOR V Purse Review: Display
The HONOR V Purse comes with a single display, but a foldable one. That display becomes one huge display when the phone is unfolded, and shrinks down when the phone is folded. In the folded state, part of the display sits on the back of the device. There is a pre-applied protection included on the display, of course. Despite that, however, you’ll need to be careful when handling the device. You are, after all, placing it down on a part of its display when you put it on the table, for example. When folded, that display sits next to the “lip” on the back of the phone, the strip that includes the phone’s cameras and other components. That way, the back side is flat when the phone is folded, save for the curves towards the sides, of course.
There is one camera hole in the display, in the top-right corner. It is not exactly round, it’s more of an oval-shaped camera hole. As I already mentioned in the design section, the bezels are kind of distracting at first. That is especially true when the phone is folded, as the right bezel is considerably thicker than the left. You can read more about that in the previous section.
The display is good, even though it’s not top-tier
In terms of the display itself, it’s very good. This is a 7.71-inch Foldable OLED display with a resolution of 2016 x 2348 pixels. That display has a refresh rate of 90Hz, but truth be said you’d be hard-pressed to notice during usage. Even after using tons of premium 120Hz displays, this one seemed very smooth. It can also get very bright when needed, it goes all the way up to 1,600 nits of theoretical brightness. The PPI you’re getting here is 401, and the panel can show up to 1 billion colors. When folded, that display becomes a 6.45-inch panel. Everything said above still applies, but it becomes smaller and with a different resolution due to the size difference, of course.
With that being said, what is it like in actual usage? Well, very good. Best of all, you do have additional options in the settings, if you’re not a fan of the color setup, for example. You can choose between normal and saturated color profiles. If none of those work for you, there’s always the option to manually tune the display. You have all the control you may need. There are also light and dark color profiles for the entire UI. The touch response is good, and even though I did notice that this is a 90Hz panel while using it, that’s not obvious at all. After using tons of 120Hz displays, I did notice it, but otherwise, I would not. The fact it’s a 90Hz panel really shouldn’t bother you, not at all.
You’ll need to be careful not to scratch this display, however
The main test will be trying to keep the panel scratch-free due to the fact it’s on the back half the time, depending on how frequently you use the phone in folded mode, of course. For all intents and purposes, though, this is a good display that is bright, has good viewing angles, and good touch response. It doesn’t really feel plasticky or hollow either.
HONOR V Purse Review: Performance
The HONOR V Purse is not technically a high-end device, but a mid-range one. Its form factor is odd, and unique, but its specs are not exactly flagship-grade. It is fueled by the Snapdragon 778G 5G processor, which is a 6nm chip, and years old at this point. In addition to that, there’s 16GB of RAM included here, and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. We used the 256GB storage model, even though both will perform the same.
The performance is very good despite a mid-range chip
The thing is, despite this chip, the HONOR V Purse does offer very good performance. Well, unless you’re trying to play the most demanding games offered on the Play Store, in which case there are much better options out there. I’ve enjoyed using this phone, though. The performance was better than I expected, it was actually flagship-grade most of the time. Everything ran smoothly, apps opened fast, and I was able to jump between them and multitask without a hitch. Even the animations were great, but I had to speed them up a bit. I do that on every phone through developer options, so… that’s beside the point.
Most of the games I’ve tried out ran perfectly fine, without a problem. That includes Subway Surfers, Geometry Dash, and Mini Football. What the phone did struggle with is Genshin Impact. That is basically still the benchmark I tend to use on phones, just to test their gaming limits. You can play it, but this phone is definitely not made for high-end gaming, and that’s mainly due to its processor. Other than that, everything else runs great, so no worries.
Benchmarks
We usually run both Geekbench 6 and 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test benchmarks on the devices we test, but that was not the case on this phone. Why? Well, because both benchmarking apps are blocked on the device, as shown below. Not only was I not able to download Geekbench 6 and 3DMark, but I wasn’t able to sideload them even when I downloaded their APKs on the side.
Video export test
Export time: 31:02 seconds. It was exporting a 1-minute video, and it was exporting it in fullHD resolution at 30 FPS.
HONOR V Purse Review: Battery
HONOR Included a 4,500mAh battery inside of the HONOR V Purse. Now, the battery life itself would suggest it’s comparable to some book-style foldables out there, but that’s not the case, unfortunately. It flies below the nearest competition in the battery life segment. Both the OnePlus Open and Galaxy Z Fold 5 offer better results than this phone, both in benchmarks and in actual usage, from what we’ve been able to see.
The HONOR V Purse doesn’t offer bad battery life, but we expected more
If you check out our battery-draining test, you’ll see where the HONOR V Purse stands. That being said, the battery wasn’t bad, it was just not as good as I thought it would be. The device doesn’t really have a reason not to offer comparable battery life to the other phones mentioned. Still, chances are that its battery life will be more than enough for most of you. Also, it’ll depend on your usage, of course, as you can use this phone in both folded and unfolded states. So, your mileage may vary… considerably.
If you do run out of battery life ahead of time, you can recharge it with a 35W charger. The HONOR V Purse does come with a charger included in the box, by the way. Its 35W charging is not particularly fast, though, so do take note of that. It took me 67 minutes to fully charge this phone from scratch. It reached a 60% mark in about half an hour. In any case, it’s faster than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 in terms of charging. Wireless charging is not supported, in case you’re wondering.
HONOR V Purse Review: Camera
This is, in its essence, a mid-range phone. The same can be said for its cameras. They’re okay, but not too impressive. HONOR used a 50-megapixel main camera with an f/1.9 aperture lens. That is Sony’s IMX800 sensor, by the way. In addition to that, you’ll also find a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera here with an f/2.2 aperture lens. That camera has a field-of-view (FoV) of 120 degrees. What was very disappointing, however, is the fact that neither of the two cameras offer OIS.
Remember, this is not a camera smartphone
What is there to be said about camera quality? Well, don’t expect too much, and you may be okay with it. This is not a camera smartphone after all. The details are good when the lighting is good, but that does change when the light goes away. The images still look passable, but the drip in details is noticeable. I blame the lack of OIS for this part, very much so. The colors are not the most accurate, regardless of the lighting you’re in. Also, the difference in color profiles between the main and ultrawide cameras can be quite jarring. Sometimes it’s not, but most times… it sure is. You’ll notice that once you check out the camera samples below. Images from that ultrawide camera can look rather dull, as the colors tend to be quite muted. That’s not always the case, but in most instances, it sure is.
Zooming in will cause the phone to provide you with a crop of the main camera
If you do decide to zoom in, do note that the phone will be using a crop from its main camera. On the camera viewfinder, you’ll notice 0.6, 1x, and 2x zoom ranges on offer. HONOR obviously doesn’t want you to zoom in any farther and for a good reason. You can, of course, via the manual zoom, but you shouldn’t.
Now, when it comes to low light, the images can be passable, but the less light there is in the scene, the more of a dip in quality you’ll notice, and it will be more noticeable than on better setups, of course. Once again, OIS is to blame for this, most likely. I had to hold the phone really still in order to get some decent low-light images, as shaking did manage to mess up an image rather fast.
The front-facing camera is passable
The front-facing camera is good enough. It’s nothing special, but it’s fine for what you’ll use it for, it’s good enough. It has good contrast, and the colors are not that bad either. Having said that, when the phone is folded, you can always use its main cameras for selfie stuff, regardless of whether we’re talking about video calls or selfie images. You can easily turn on the rear screen to act as a viewfinder in such cases.
Main camera samples:
Ultrawide camera samples:
Telephoto samples (from the main sensor):
HONOR V Purse Review: Software
Software is usually the thing I like the least when it comes to HONOR smartphones. Don’t get me wrong, MagicOS doesn’t work badly, not at all. In fact, it’s very fluid and everything runs fine, but the look of it, and some of the missing features usually don’t sit well with me. The same is the case here, actually. HONOR did an outstanding job when it comes to optimizing MagicOS for this device, as it usually does for its phones. There’s no denying that. So, if you like MagicOS, chances are you’ll enjoy it on this phone.
MagicOS 7.2 offers very fluid animations, and smooth performance overall
The animations are very fluid, and at every point during my usage, I felt as if things ran smoothly. MagicOS, does, however, remind me a lot of iOS. It has that see-through background style for some of its widgets, the notification shade, and quick toggles. Speaking of which, the Quick Toggles section is reminiscent of what iOS has to offer, and so is the way notifications are handled. MagicOS wants you to use the lock screen for notifications first and foremost. The notifications appear in cards towards the bottom of the screen, once again, this is something iOS does too. That change is welcomed on large devices, of course. The thing is, when you see a notification, it disappears. No, you don’t need to open it, you just need to go to the lock screen and then leave it, that’s it. It doesn’t work the same way for all apps despite the fact the settings are the same, though. For example, my Gmail emails stay there until I open them, but the same cannot be said for the vast majority of other apps.
Quite a few features are missing, and it’s… different
There’s no swipe from top-down to call upon the notification shade option, HONOR Search is the only option for that gesture. You also don’t get access to double-tap to lock screen, and so on. These are features that pretty much every major Android skin has, which is why you may expect them to be included here. Well, they’re not. HONOR’s MagicOS does have a number of other features you may like, however,
It has a great Always-On Display (AOD) implementation, while there are also large folders that you can utilize on the home screen. HONOR even included some live wallpapers for the AOD screen that react to the movement of the phone, in case you’re carrying it as a purse. There’s the Multi Dock feature that allows you to move between apps quickly, and also launch them in windows plus utilize Multi Window. HONOR also has a really great one-hand usage feature. You can simply swipe from the bottom center to the bottom right side of the display, and pause a second, for the screen to navigate to your finger (it becomes way smaller). And so on.
If you’re okay with a different software experience, go for it
What I’m trying to say is, that MagicOS is different. Don’t expect it to be similar to stock Android or many other Android skins out there. If you’ve used it in recent years, and you liked it, you’ll be right at home here. Also, if you’re coming from iOS, chances are you’ll like HONOR’s UI. By the way, Android 13 comes pre-installed here with MagicOS 7.2. So it’s not the latest iteration of Android, but that doesn’t really matter here (at least not to most of you), as MagicOS is different on its own (and so are its features), so… it doesn’t matter all that much.
HONOR V Purse: Should you buy it?
The HONOR V Purse is… well, it’s an interesting phone, first and foremost. This device started off as a concept phone, as HONOR was unsure whether to launch it or not. It decided to push it to the market, but only in its homeland, China. The company is trying to see what works, probably, and how will the consumers react to something like this. If we push the accessory with a chain to the side, this is a nice outwards-folding device. Sure, it doesn’t exactly have flagship specs, but it will sure grab people’s attention. On top of that, it’s one of the most compact foldables on the market, at least as far as flip phones are concerned. It’s difficult to explain how thin this phone feels in the hand even when folded. We have a different experience here that may appeal to some of you. It’s always interesting to see different products, especially when they’re actually good, so we’re definitely glad HONOR decided to push the HONOR V Purse to the market.
You should buy the HONOR V Purse if you:
…want a phone that is different than anything else
…want the thinnest (non-flip phone) foldable around
…like the idea of outwards-folding phones
…want good performance in a foldable
…like the idea of carrying around this phone as a purse
You shouldn’t buy the HONOR V Purse if you:
…are not very careful with your phones
…live in a rainy place
…want a great camera experience
…want a smooth folding/unfolding experience
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