Leion Hey2 Brings First AR Glasses Built for Translation to CES 2026

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Cross-language conversations create a familiar kind of friction. You hold a phone over menus, miss half a sentence while an app catches up, or watch a partner speak fast in a meeting while your translation lags behind. Even people who travel or work globally still juggle apps, hand-held translators, and guesswork just to keep up with what is being said in the room, which pulls attention away from the actual conversation.

Leion Hey2 is translation that lives where your eyes already are, in a pair of glasses that quietly turns speech into subtitles without asking you to look down or pass a device back and forth. The glasses were built for translation first, not as an afterthought on top of entertainment or social features, and they are meant to last through full days of meetings or classes instead of dying halfway through, when you need them most.

Designer: LLVision

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Glasses That Care About Conversation, Not Spectacle

Leion Hey2 is a pair of professional AR translation glasses from LLVision, a company that has spent more than a decade deploying AR and AI in industrial and public-sector settings. Hey2 is not trying to be an all-in-one headset; it is engineered from the ground up for real-time translation and captioning, supporting more than 100 languages and dialects with bidirectional translation and latency under 500 ms in typical conditions, plus 6–8 hours of continuous translation on a single charge.

Hey2 is designed to wear like everyday eyewear rather than a gadget. The classic browline frame, 49g weight, magnesium-lithium alloy structure, and adjustable titanium nose pads are all chosen to make it feel like a normal pair of glasses you forget you are wearing. A stepless spring hinge adapts to different faces, and the camera-free, microphone-only design, which follows GDPR-aligned privacy principles and is supported by a secure cloud infrastructure built on Microsoft Azure, helping keep both wearers and bystanders more comfortable in sensitive environments.

Subtitles in Your Line of Sight

Hey2 uses waveguide optics and a micro-LED engine to project crisp, green subtitles into both eyes, with a 25-degree field of view and more than 90% passthrough so the real world stays bright. The optical engine is tuned to reduce rainbow artifacts by up to 98%, keeping text stable and readable in different lighting conditions, while three levels of subtitle size and position let you decide how prominently captions sit in your forward field of view.

The audio side relies on a four-microphone array that performs 360-degree spatial detection to identify who is speaking, while face-to-face directional pickup prioritizes the person within roughly a 60-degree cone in front of you. A neural noise-reduction algorithm uses beamforming and multi-channel processing to isolate the main voice, which helps in noisy restaurants, busy trade-show floors, or classrooms where questions come from different directions, without forcing you to constantly adjust settings.

Modes That Support Work, Learning, and Accessibility

In translation and Free Talk modes, foreign speech is converted into your language as subtitles in your line of sight, so you can mix languages freely and still follow long-form speech without constantly checking a screen. In Free Talk, Hey2 provides subtitles for what you hear and spoken translation for what you say, turning a two-language conversation into something that feels more like a normal chat than a tech demo, with the charging case extending total use to 96 hours across 12 recharges.

Teleprompter mode scrolls your script in your line of sight and advances it automatically as you speak, useful for lectures, pitches, or keynotes where you want to keep eye contact without glancing at notes. AI Q&A, triggered by a temple tap, taps into ChatGPT-powered answers for discreet look-ups, while Captions mode turns fast speech into clean text, helping students, professionals, and Deaf or hard-of-hearing users stay on top of what is being said, even in noisy environments where handheld devices struggle.

A Different Kind of AR Story

When Leion Hey2 steps onto the CES 2026 stage, it represents a quieter kind of AR story. Instead of chasing spectacle, it narrows the brief to something very human, helping people speak, listen, and be understood across languages and hearing abilities. For a show that often celebrates what technology can do, Hey2 is a reminder that sometimes the most interesting innovation is the one that simply lets you keep your head up and stay in the conversation.

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The post Leion Hey2 Brings First AR Glasses Built for Translation to CES 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Microsoft is now integrating shopping directly into Copilot

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Have you ever wanted to save approximately three seconds and two mouse clicks when shopping online? Microsoft has something special just for you. The company just introduced something called Copilot Checkout at the NRF 2026 retail conference. This is exactly what it sounds like. It's a shopping assistant embedded within Copilot.

The feature is rolling out now in the US and integrates with PayPal, Shopify, Stripe and Etsy. It lets people complete purchases directly inside of Copilot without having to withstand the grueling experience of being redirected to a retailer's website. Participating partners include Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Ashley Furniture.

The retailers remain the actual merchant of record, so they'll still get customer data and all of that jazz. Microsoft controls the interface.

We don't know what kind of safeguards are in place to prevent the AI from hallucinating its way into buying you a giant bounce house when you wanted to order some Bounce dryer sheets. Engadget has reached out to Microsoft to inquire about these safeguards and how exactly the money is handled.

This is a pretty big moment for AI shopping. OpenAI introduced a shopping assistant several months ago that seems to work in a similar way. However, the company said that a related shopping assistant "might make mistakes about product details like price and availability" and it encouraged people to visit the merchant site for the most accurate details.

Microsoft is advertising Copilot Checkout as a way to avoid the merchant site entirely, so maybe all kinks have been worked out. A recent report from The Information suggests OpenAI has had trouble integrating merchant partners for its own initiative, so maybe not. 

It's also worth noting that automatic shopping isn't exactly a new concept. It's just the AI wrapper that's new. Remember those weird buttons from Amazon that would complete a purchase with a simple press? That was over ten years ago.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-is-now-integrating-shopping-directly-into-copilot-181022989.html?src=rss

I can’t get over this goofy, long-necked ‘cyber pet’ robot at CES

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Cute, alien-inspired companion robots are a fixture at CES, but have I ever seen one with a furry telescoping neck that's also warm to the touch? No, I can't say I have before this year. OlloBot — which had possibly the cutest booth at CES 2026 — is a home robot and "cyber pet" that looks something like if you put ET's head on a penguin's body, plus a splash of fur and color. 

Its face is essentially a large tablet that displays its expressions, pictures and videos, and allows it to communicate with people in the home. OlloBot speaks its own language, but will put text on the screen when it has a message that's meant to actually be understood. There's also a companion app where family members can message with the robot, see its diary updates and play games. Like other family-oriented robots, OlloBot is designed to capture special moments and "grow" with the people using it.

Based on the interactions, it will over time develop a personality based on the Meyers-Briggs personality types. The robot responds to voice and touch, and can do tasks like make calls and help find lost objects. It will be able to control Matter-compatible smart home devices, too. All data is stored locally in a heart-shaped removable module underneath one of its flapping arms. Not only is that intended to be a privacy move, but if the robot ever breaks, the family's cyber pet (along with its "memories") can be restored by putting the old heart into a new body. 

A hand is seen lifting OlloBot's arm to reveal a red heart underneath, which serves as a removable module that contains its data
OlloBot's heart
Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget

According to a member of the OlloBot team, a Kickstarter campaign to fund the robot's production is planned for this summer. There will be two versions of OlloBot to choose from: a small one with a fixed, short neck that will cost around $1,000 and a more advanced model that can extend its neck by two feet or so (just eyeballing it) to see from different vantage points, which will run you about $2,000. At the booth, the team also showed off several outfits for OlloBot, including a plush giraffe suit and a sort of cottagecore apple and gingham outfit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/i-cant-get-over-this-goofy-long-necked-cyber-pet-robot-at-ces-175900062.html?src=rss

You can get a four-pack of Samsung SmartTag 2 trackers for just $45

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Samsung SmartTag 2 trackers are back on sale if you're willing to pick up a bundle. Woot has a four-pack down to just $45, which undercuts the previous all-time low we’ve seen on Amazon ($55) by $10. That's a discount of 55 percent from the retail price of $100. It's a compelling opportunity to stock up if you're already in Samsung's ecosystem.

We named the SmartTag 2 the best Bluetooth tracker for Samsung devices. The companion SmartThings Find app is easy to use, showing locations on a Google Maps-based interface. Much like Apple's Find My network, the location of a SmartTag is pinpointed using nearby Samsung phones. While nothing can beat the sheer size of Apple's tracking infrastructure given the number of iPhones in the US, it still worked well in our tests.

The SmartTag 2's design is more practical than some competitors since the oblong fob has a built-in hole that lets you easily attach your keys without buying an extra accessory. It’s IP67 rated for water and dust resistance, and uses a replaceable battery that Samsung says offers about 16 months of juice. The volume on the tag is pretty loud and users can select from multiple ringtones. Additionally, a double-squeeze of the SmartTag 2 will ping your handset, something you can't do with an AirTag.

The tracking is not quite as precise as Apple's AirTag, but it's a solid option for Samsung users looking to keep track of their things and can be scooped up at a bargain price.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/you-can-get-a-four-pack-of-samsung-smarttag-2-trackers-for-just-45-173936230.html?src=rss

The GE Profile Smart Fridge stops you from buying too much kale

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If you’ve ever bought a bag of spinach only to come home and realize you already had a bag of spinach, you may appreciate this fridge. I had a chance to check out the GE Profile Smart Fridge with Kitchen Assistant at CES and was surprised to find I kinda wanted one. To be perfectly honest, most attempts I’ve seen at the show to “stick some AI in it” are at best amusing but usually completely unnecessary.

Here, though, the AI has a purpose. After seeing how the autofill water dispenser worked, I asked the GE Appliance reps how easy it was to change the fridge’s water filter. Jason May, a GE Appliances product management executive, walked up to the fridge’s (appropriately sized) touchscreen and said “Hey HQ, where’s my water filter?” (HQ is short for SmartHQ, GE Profile’s assistant). Then, relying on information it had gathered from this model’s user manual, the AI assistant explained exactly where to find it (in the left hand door below the ice maker). It took another rep about two seconds to pop out the filter and, justlikethat, the task was on its way to done.

As for the spinach conundrum, that’s handled by a crisper drawer camera, called Fridge Focus. Each time you open the drawers, a built-in camera (that you can physically shutter or turn off in the app) takes a video snapshot of what’s left when you’re done. So if you’re at the store and wondering how much kale you already have, you can take a peek and see.

Checking out what's in the crisper drawer using the Fridge Focus feature.
Checking out what's in the crisper drawer using the Fridge Focus feature.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Wendy Treinen, GE Appliances’ senior director of product communications, told me the camera can see what’s in the crisper drawer, but can’t see who accessed it. So if you’re hoping your fridge will rat out whoever at the last of the grapes, you’re out of luck. It can however, help that grape-eater easily add more fruit to the family shopping list.

That’s the most unique feature the fridge offers: a patented, built-in barcode scanner. It lives in the water dispenser and when you walk up, a little green light activates and scans the barcode of whatever you hold up to it. So if you’re drinking the last of the almond milk, you scan the container and it’ll automatically add it to your list.

That list can be accessed through the SmartHQ app which you can either check off at the grocery store or, if you really want to get deluxe about it, use the Instacart integration and have it delivered to your door. I scanned a few products — a box of vitamin C mix and a package of cinnamon raisin bagels — both of which quickly popped up on the screen and joined the running list.

Adding grocery items to Instacart with one button.
Adding grocery items to Instacart with one button.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The scanner can recognize four million products, including household items like paper towels and trash bags, but you can add things a other ways too. The easiest is probably just asking your fridge to do so, saying “Hey HQ, add paper towels to my shopping list.” The app allows manual additions and you can add items using the recipe function as well.

For the launch of the fridge, GE Profile has partnered with Taste of Home and will send 50 recipes each month to the fridge for users to try. Once you see the ingredients list, you can add anything you’re missing to your shopping. Those 50 recipes will cycle out at the end of the month to make way for a new 50, so if you cook something and like it, you’ll need to to add it to your personal recipe vault.

The AI assistant can also create recipes for you. The GE rep snapped a picture of an array of produce and asked SmartHQ what he could make with it. A list of recipe suggestions popped up and they all looked quite tasty (to be fair, I hadn’t eaten yet and it was already 2PM).

The recipe created from a picture of produce. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The recipe created from a picture of produce. Sam Rutherford for Engadget

I mentioned the water dispenser’s hands-free auto-fill feature earlier. That’s been available on GE Profile fridges for a while and lets you select your glass capacity and walk away while it fills. You can also ask for, say, a half cup of water for a recipe. A new “precise fill” feature will dispense larger amounts in sequence. Say you need ten cups of water for soup. Since you can’t fit a huge vat in the water dispenser tray, you can instead use a smaller jug and the auto-filler will fill it the correct amount of times.

Another of my favorite bits is the screen. Fridges with giant, interactive screens make my eyes roll. Yes, it’s novel and eye-catching and perhaps amusing, but what possible problem is it trying to solve? The screen here is eight inches, which is enough to display scanned items, show recipes, and display the weather atop a pretty image when you’re not actively using the interface.

Finally! A reasonably sized fridge screen.
Finally! A reasonably sized fridge screen.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The GE Appliances reps were eager to point out that this is just the beginning of what they want to do with the fridge. My college Sam Rutherford asked whether the fridge would be able to alert you before your lettuce went bad, and we were told something that addresses that problem is on the horizon. It would likely work by recognizing when you purchased a perishable, and how long that perishable typically lasts. The company is also working with a chef on a feature that can reimagine your leftovers to create something new.

During the demo, May told me that the whole idea around the fridge’s design was to do something other than just “put a big screen on it with a bunch of apps that don’t have ay relevance to anything.” Instead the engineers started with problems people actually have — knowing what to buy at the store, knowing what’s already in the fridge, answering the eternal, unrelenting “What’s for dinner?” question — and designed the fridge around that.

I’d have to live with it a while to know whether those problems were solved, but so far, I can say this is the most intrigued I’ve felt about a smart fridge yet. The GE Profile Smart Fridge with Kitchen Assistant will be available in March from geappliances.com for $4,899.

A good amount of organization.
A good amount of organization.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/the-ge-profile-smart-fridge-stops-you-from-buying-too-much-kale-172433059.html?src=rss

NASA delays spacewalk due to a ‘medical concern’ with a crew member

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NASA has postponed an International Space Station (ISS) spacewalk that was scheduled for Thursday. "The agency is monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon aboard the orbital complex," the agency wrote. On Thursday, NASA added that ending Crew-11's mission early was on the table.

The unnamed crew member is stable, according to NASA. Space News notes that Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was heard on an open comms channel on Wednesday requesting a private medical conference with a flight surgeon. However, those requests are routine on the ISS, so we can’t assume the events were related.

"The matter involved a single crew member who is stable," NASA wrote. "Safely conducting our missions is our highest priority, and we are actively evaluating all options, including the possibility of an earlier end to Crew-11's mission."

NASA astronaut Zena Cardman in her pressurized spacesuit, checking its comms and power systems ahead of the (now postponed) spacewalk
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman in her pressurized spacesuit, checking its comms and power systems ahead of the (now postponed) spacewalk
NASA

Crew-11 was scheduled to remain on board the ISS until at least the second half of February. Its replacement, Crew-12, isn't slated to blast off until February 15 at the earliest.

NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman had planned to exit the airlock on Thursday for the six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. The short trip’s mission was to install a kit and cables in preparation for a new roll-out solar array that will arrive on a future mission.

The agency said it will provide further updates within 24 hours.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-delays-spacewalk-due-to-a-medical-concern-with-a-crew-member-171900024.html?src=rss

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy deftly balances teen drama with intergalactic intrigue

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Star Trek is in a weird place right now. Less than three years ago we were living in a golden age with five shows on the air, all with different styles and intended audiences.  But the universe rapidly contracted, with Picard ending while four other shows were cut short. Strange New Worlds still has another two seasons left, sure, but even that final season got truncated. As it stands, there’s only one project with a firm future right now, and that’s a brand-new show, Starfleet Academy, premiering January 15 on Paramount+.

How this show is received could very well determine the future of Star Trek. That’s a lot to put on it, but there’s something very appropriate given the subject matter. Starfleet Academy takes place in the 32nd century, 900 years after the adventures of James T. Kirk and company, and it takes place at the titular academy, meaning its principal cast is a collection of teens representing the next generation of Starfleet officers. That focus on a younger cadre has led to fans online derisively calling the series “CW Trek” without seeing a single episode. 

As Starfleet Academy is technically a Discovery spinoff, it picks up some of that series’ traits. The sleek, shiny sets are back, as well as a few plot threads originally set up in Discovery. The most notable is the collapse of the United Federation of Planets and the rebuilding of both the Federation and Starfleet. In fact, the series picks up on that as early as its second episode, with the Academy hosting a delegation from a once stalwart Federation planet that’s now gone isolationist. 

Scenes from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Scenes from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
John Medland/Paramount+

While many complaints about the series have focused on how what fans wanted was an academy show set during the 24th century (the time of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, et al.), this particular episode plot works precisely because of the distant future in which it is set. In a fully-functioning galactic democracy like the United Federation of Planets, there’s no logical reason for the average 18-year-old college freshman to be involved in interplanetary diplomacy. But in the 32nd century, the Federation is a lot scrappier and the individuals involved might be asked to wear many hats. It’s a lot like an early-stage tech startup.

The setting also lets the show be a little more creative with its cast: where TNG featured the first Klingon in Starfleet (Worf), 900 years of progress have created a Starfleet where no one bats an eye when a Klingon cadet like Jay-Den Kraag (played by Karim Diané) shows up to study science. There’s also a holographic cadet, Sam, who is the first of her kind to attend the academy (and she’s super excited to do so). A few new species are present as well: Darem Reymi (George Hawkins) is a Khionian and Genesis Lythe (Bella Shepard) is a Dar-Sha, both aliens making their debut in the Star Trek universe.

The cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
The cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
John Medland/Paramount+

However, the show does still lean on some Trek stalwarts, and it’s these characters that have gotten the most chatter from fans. Mary Weisman as Sylvia Tilly was originally slated for the cast, and there was even a backdoor pilot-esque episode of Discovery to tie her in to the new show, but she’s no longer a regular and is nowhere to be seen in the first two episodes. Instead, we have Jett Reno (played by the wonderful Tig Notaro) as supporting cast, and Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) appearing in a few episodes. And old school fans have been abuzz by the inclusion of The Doctor, who first appeared on Voyager (and later Prodigy). As a hologram, he’s practically immortal so his presence doesn’t need any convoluted explanation, and after 800 years he’s still the same gregarious blowhard (and it’s delightful).

They’re joined by new characters like Lara Thok, a part Klingon, part Jem’Hadar security officer and a Lanthanite chancellor, Nahla Ake, played by Academy Award Winner Holly Hunter. And Hunter isn’t even the only Oscar winner on the cast, with a major villain, Nus Braka, being portrayed by Paul Giamatti.

It’s a stellar cast, and the show’s sets certainly rise up to meet the challenge. Like in the shows of old, a good portion of Starfleet Academy is clearly shot on location, though not in the familiar water reclamation plant that was used back during the TNG and DS9 era. This time it’s all being shot in Ontario, with the outdoor scenes in particular being filmed in Waterloo. Regardless of where it’s shot, it looks enough like sunny California to work. 

Scenes from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Scenes from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
John Medland/Paramount+

The indoor scenes, shot at Toronto’s Pinewood Studios, have a pleasant convention center quality to them, with lots of wide hallways and large windows in contrast to Discovery’s cramped ship corridors. The hallways are full of students and teachers going to and fro, including some from species that would normally be off-limits to a show with a limited budget. But here robots and strange aliens roam freely in the background. The CGI can’t have been cheap.

And that’s ultimately my biggest question about Starfleet Academy. Exactly how much is this costing Paramount? So much of it is being shot on real sets instead of green screens, established actors like Hunter and Giamatti couldn’t have been cheap, and plentiful CG points to a robust special effects budget. Though Paramount doesn’t release official numbers, estimates have put an average episode of Strange New Worlds at $10 million, so it figures that Starfleet Academy is probably more than that, with some online estimates as high as $20 million per episode. 

With 10 episodes scheduled, that’s on par with a major motion picture budget but without the promise of blockbuster box office returns. No wonder Paramount has been doing so much cost-cutting, which includes axing every other Star Trek show.

That said, Starfleet Academy is carrying a lot on its shoulders. Just as the success or failure of its class of Starfleet cadets will determine the future of Starfleet and the Federation, the success of the show may even affect whether this era of Star Trek continues. As a Star Trek fan, this can be nerve-wracking; no one wants the franchise to go dormant again. But Starfleet Academy has so far shown itself to be up to the challenge.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/star-trek-starfleet-academy-deftly-balances-teen-drama-with-intergalactic-intrigue-170253808.html?src=rss

Bose made the consumer friendly move to open source its SoundTouch speakers

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Bose recently announced the pending end of cloud support for its SoundTouch line of home speakers. This will, in effect, turn the smart speakers into dumb speakers as they will no longer have access to many features and any related software updates. Well, there's a spot of good news for SoundTouch owners. The company is turning to an open source model for the software, allowing third parties to keep the music playing.

The company has already begun mailing out the API documentation to customers so "independent developers can create their own SoundTouch-compatible tools and features." This will take some time, so Bose is also extending the end-of-life (EoL) date for the SoundTouch speakers. They were set to stop receiving cloud updates in February, but that has been moved to May 6.

It made a couple of other changes to make life a bit easier for SoundTouch owners. The speakers will still be able to use AirPlay and Spotify Connect after EoL, which was something that had been in doubt. The app will also continue to work in a stripped-down format. That app was originally set to stop working altogether, so all of those angry customer comments on Reddit must have done the job.

The SoundTouch speakers were introduced in 2013 and were on the expensive side, starting at $600. Nobody likes spending hundreds of dollars on something only to have it become a useless brick several years later. Good on Bose for listening to their customers on this.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/bose-made-the-consumer-friendly-move-to-open-source-its-soundtouch-speakers-163459024.html?src=rss

Honor Magic8 Pro Review: Brilliant Night Shots, Big Battery, Built to Last

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PROS:


  • Versatile camera system with great low-light performance

  • Comfortable ergonomics

  • Comprehensive AI features

CONS:


  • Some users will prefer a completely flat screen instead of the gentle curve.

  • Slower shutter speeds, especially in low light

  • No teleconverter-style telephoto option like some close rivals offer

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Honor Magic 8 Pro feels like a carefully considered flagship, not a spec stunt. It mixes bold battery life, a genuinely comfortable design, and a playful yet reliable camera system with impressive low light performance, then adds long-term software support to tie it all together.

You might already have seen the Honor Magic 8 Pro, and you might already know all the specs. You might have caught its debut in China or noticed it arriving in parts of Asia and the Middle East last year. Now, Honor is finally bringing this big battery, big camera flagship to Europe, where it steps onto a larger global stage.

On paper, the Honor Magic 8 Pro is all about a trio of promises. It leans on a suite of AI features that aim to make the phone feel smarter and more helpful in the background. It builds around a camera system that claims strong low-light performance and long-range telephoto power. It wraps everything in a premium OLED display that is bright, sharp, and clearly meant to impress the moment you turn it on.

Aesthetics

At first glance, the Honor Magic 8 Pro looks like a confident evolution of modern flagship trends rather than a radical break. It will look very familiar if you have seen the Honor Magic 7 Pro, with a similar silhouette and camera layout that signal continuity rather than reinvention. The proportions, curves, and overall stance feel like a refined second draft rather than a fresh sketch, which can be reassuring if you liked the previous generation.

Honor uses a large camera island that feels more like a sculpted element than a simple bump, and the overall back design reads as deliberate and composed rather than purely functional. The round camera unit sits on a raised, rounded square plate with ring chamfers, which adds depth and a sense of jewelry-like layering when light hits the edges. The black camera unit houses four circles, three of which are actual cameras, plus a small oval-shaped LED flash that tucks neatly into the composition instead of looking like an afterthought.

Color choices for the Magic 8 Pro include Sunrise Gold, Sky Cyan, and Black. The black unit I received features a matte, frosted glass-like finish that feels understated and professional in the hand. The other two color options also use a matte finish, but they add a subtle wave-like pattern, which gives the phone a more playful, tactile character. All three color variants use a color-matching camera island base and side frame, which helps the phone read as a single, continuous object rather than a sandwich of mismatched parts.

Ergonomics

The Honor Magic 8 Pro measures 161.15 mm x 75 mm x 8.4 mm, and weighs 213 g, which puts it on the lighter side of premium flagship smartphones in this size class. The slightly narrower width and relatively low weight make one-handed use more manageable than you might expect from a phone with such a large display and battery. Honor also sticks with a curved screen while many premium flagships have moved back to flat panels, yet the curve here is very slight, so it feels like it borrows the best parts of both approaches without the usual drawbacks.

The curvature of the side frame and back is carefully tuned, which matters a lot for comfort over a full day. The edges of the otherwise flat side frame curve just enough to soften the contact points without creating a slippery, knife-like profile that digs into your palm. The back panel has a gentle bow that nestles into your hand and helps the phone feel slimmer than the numbers suggest, even when you use it without a case.

Button placement is conventional, with the volume rocker and power button located on the left side where your fingers naturally rest. These are joined by a new AI button placed just below, which works a bit like the camera button on an iPhone and gives you quick access to Honor’s smart features. The AI key is slightly raised and has a distinct click that helps avoid accidental presses, and the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner sits high enough on the display that unlocking and general use feel smooth and natural.

Performance

Honor gives the Magic 8 Pro a 6.71-inch LTPO OLED panel with a 1.5K resolution of 2808 x 1256 px and a 120 Hz refresh rate. The company claims 6,000 nits of HDR peak brightness and 1,600 nits of global peak brightness, and while you will not see those numbers all the time, outdoor visibility is excellent even under strong sunlight. In everyday use, the screen feels crisp, fluid, and bright enough that you rarely have to think about legibility or glare.

The panel supports 1.07 billion colors and covers 100 percent of the DCI P3 wide color gamut, so photos and video look rich and saturated without instantly blowing out detail. Color profiles and temperature sliders let you nudge the tone toward either punchy or more neutral, depending on your taste. It is an easy display to enjoy, whether you are scrolling social feeds, reading long articles, or watching HDR content in a dark room.

Honor also pushes very hard on eye comfort. The Magic 8 Pro stacks features like 4320 hertz PWM dimming, Circular Polarized Display 2, Chip Level AI Defocus Display, Dynamic Dimming, Circadian Night Display, Natural Tone Display, and Motion Sickness Relief. These are meant to reduce eye fatigue, support healthier sleep patterns, and adjust color temperature more intelligently over the course of the day.

Audio gets similar attention. The Magic 8 Pro features dual speakers with a large 8 cubic centimeter sound chamber and Honor’s own spatial audio algorithms, which together offer a richer and deeper sound than you might expect from a slim phone. Volume is strong enough for video watching and gaming, and there is a satisfying sense of width and body to music and dialogue.

Portrait Mode

The Honor Magic 8 Pro’s camera system is built to impress on paper and feels very capable in real use, especially once the light starts to drop. At the hardware level, you get a triple rear setup built around a 50 MP main camera with an f/1.6 aperture, a 1/1.3 inch sensor, optical image stabilization, and CIPA 5.5 rated shake compensation. This is joined by a 50 MP ultra wide with an f/2.0 aperture and a 122 degree field of view, plus a headline-grabbing 200 MP telephoto with an f/1.6 aperture, a 1/1.3 inch sensor, optical image stabilization, and CIPA 5.5. Turn it around, and you find a 50 MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls. Beyond the hardware, Honor has pushed its AiMage system with upgraded image engines that aim to improve detail, color, and low-light performance across all lenses.

The main camera and the telephoto handle most everyday scenes well, with good dynamic range, pleasing color accuracy, and a natural look that avoids heavy over-sharpening. Skin tones in particular look natural, which helps portraits feel more believable and less filtered, even when taken with the phone. Focus is quick and decisive in most situations, so you can frame and shoot without feeling like you are waiting on the phone.

Ultra-wide

In low light, the processing leans toward brightening the entire scene, often making it look noticeably more illuminated than what you actually see with your own eyes, while highlights stay well controlled, so streetlights and signs do not immediately blow out. The trade-off is that shutter speeds tend to be on the slow side, whether you use Night mode or stick with the standard Photo mode, yet stabilization works very well, so handheld shots still come out sharp more often than you might expect from the exposure times involved.

Honor also layers on a few creative tools that make the camera feel more playful. Magic Color gives you professional-like color tuning in a single tap, letting you mimic golden hour warmth or blue hour coolness even when you are not shooting at those exact times of day. Moving Photo now includes Motion Trail, Motion Clone, and Slow Motion effects, which let you capture a bit of motion around your subject and then stylize it without leaving the gallery, so everyday scenes can turn into something closer to a mini motion poster.

Video recording is similarly flexible, though not perfect, with the main camera able to shoot up to 4K at 120 frames per second, while the rest of the rear cameras and the front-facing camera are capped at 4K at 60 frames per second. Stabilization and exposure are solid, but colors can look a bit washed out compared to still photos, and while there is a Log recording option for more serious creators, it is limited to the main camera and only up to a 2x zoom range.

Magic Color – Warm Sunset

Motion Clone

Motion Trail

Inside the Magic 8 Pro, Qualcomm’s latest top-tier processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, handles everything you throw at it. It is built for high performance in both traditional workloads and AI-heavy tasks. Day-to-day navigation feels snappy, with apps opening quickly and multitasking between social networks, messaging, and media happening without visible stutter. Even with many background apps, the phone maintains a fluid feel that matches its premium positioning.

Honor gives the Magic 8 Pro a dedicated AI button and plenty of AI features, including tools for image editing and productivity. A long press on the AI button analyzes whatever is on screen and suggests context-aware actions such as Circle to Search, AI Photo Agent, AI Summary, and Blur Private Info. It does not always guess exactly what you want, yet it genuinely reduces the number of steps between seeing something on screen and acting on it, which makes AI feel like a physical part of the phone rather than just another icon in the app drawer.

If you do not fancy AI, you can still customize its behaviour, so a single press, double press, or press and hold can trigger different actions. That flexibility turns the AI button into a handy shortcut for whatever you use most, whether that is voice control, the camera, or a specific app you open dozens of times a day. Over time, it starts to feel less like a novelty and more like a small, well-placed tool that quietly adapts to your habits rather than forcing you into a specific way of using the phone.

The Magic 8 Pro packs a 6,270 mAh silicon carbon battery, which is still huge by flagship standards even if it is not quite as oversized as some of the more extreme phones on the market. In everyday use, that capacity translates into very comfortable endurance, with enough headroom to get through a heavy day and, for lighter users, even stretch into a second. Charging is handled by HONOR SuperCharge at up to 100 W wired and up to 80 W wireless, so topping up never feels like a chore, whether you plug in or drop it on a stand.

Sustainability

Honor approaches sustainability on the Magic 8 Pro through durability and longevity rather than bold recycled material claims. The phone carries IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, so it is protected against dust, immersion, and even high-pressure water jets, which makes it easier to treat as a true everyday object instead of something fragile. On the front, the HONOR NanoCrystal Shield promises up to ten times better drop resistance than conventional glass and is backed by an SGS 5 Star Drop Resistance Certification, which should help it survive the usual pocket and desk-level accidents with fewer scars.

Software support is the other major part of the story. Honor promises seven years of OS updates for the Magic 8 Pro, which puts it among the longest supported Android phones and encourages you to keep it far beyond a typical two or three-year cycle. Combined with the robust build and strong water resistance, that long support window turns the Magic 8 Pro into more of a long-term device and less of a short-lived gadget, which is a practical, user-friendly angle on sustainability.

Value

In the UK, the Honor Magic 8 Pro is priced at £1,099.99, around $1,350, for the model with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. That puts the phone firmly in the ultra-premium flagship space, yet the pricing is aggressive in a quiet way when you line it up against the obvious rivals. An iPhone 17 Pro Max with 512 GB of storage sits noticeably higher on the price ladder, and a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with 512 GB tends to land in a similar or slightly higher bracket once you match storage. Honor counters with a bigger battery, a well-balanced, great-performing camera system, and very fast wired and wireless charging, which helps the package feel competitive even without the same brand pull.

If you look at closer competition, the Magic 8 Pro sits more naturally alongside phones like the Vivo X300 Pro and Oppo Find X9 Pro. All three offer well-rounded flagships with industry-leading camera performance and a strong focus on telephoto. Both the Vivo X300 Pro and Oppo Find X9 Pro add teleconverter-style lenses for extra flexibility, while Honor leans on well-integrated AI features, a display with one of the most complete eye comfort feature sets on the market, and long software support to make its case.

Verdict

The Honor Magic 8 Pro feels like a very confident statement from Honor. It is not chasing a single headline spec at the expense of everything else. Instead, it combines a sleek design, a genuinely comfortable in hand feel, a bright and eye-friendly display, and a camera system that is both capable and fun, then backs it all with a huge battery and long-term software support.

It is not perfect. Video colors could be richer in some scenarios, the shutter can feel slow, and the price is firmly in ultra-premium territory. Yet when you look at the full package, especially the 6,270 mAh battery, the long OS support, the AI implementation, and the well-tuned cameras, the Magic 8 Pro stands out as one of the more thoughtful big flagships of this cycle. If you want a phone that looks and feels high-end, lasts all day and then some, and leans into AI without feeling gimmicky, this is a very easy device to recommend.

The post Honor Magic8 Pro Review: Brilliant Night Shots, Big Battery, Built to Last first appeared on Yanko Design.

The next Xbox Developer Direct showcase is on January 22

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Xbox will kick off the fourth installment of its Developer Direct event on January 22 at 1PM ET. As usual, we'll get a glimpse at what the upcoming year has in store along with news, new gameplay footage and more directly from the teams behind this year's slate of games.

In a blog post announcing the event, Xbox Wire Editor-in-Chief Jon Skrebels said Xbox's 25-year anniversary will be marked by the return of some beloved franchises. Gamers will also get their first extended look at Fable, a reboot of the iconic series. The event will also be unveiling gameplay footage for Forza Horizon 6, the upcoming open-world racing game set in Japan. UK studio Playground Games is behind both titles.

The showcase will also include new details and gameplay from Beast of Reincarnation, the "one-person, one-dog" role-playing game. The game is being developed by Game Freak, the studio best known for its series of Pokémon games, and follows protagonist Emma and her canine companion in post-apocalyptic Japan.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-next-xbox-developer-direct-showcase-is-on-january-22-154444166.html?src=rss