Exclusive First Look: Honor's Magic Portal 2.0 Brings Revolutionary Updates to One of the Best Software Features on Android.
Honor's AI quick access tool becomes more elegant, intelligent, and compatible with a wider range of applications.
The Magic Portal interface in Honor’s MagicOS 9.0 brings significant enhancements to the user experience. Despite technological advancements in artificial intelligence for smartphones over the past year, many still view this technology as merely a gimmick. While major brands have focused their marketing on less practical features, the tools supporting them are improving significantly. Honor has stated that artificial intelligence should be centered on solving real-life problems for people, and with MagicOS 8.0, it introduced an intention-based user interface (IUI) that simplifies navigation between applications.
Magic Portal, one of the key features, allows users to switch between applications with a simple gesture. However, with the arrival of MagicOS 9.0 on the Honor Magic 7 Pro, this system has received a noteworthy update. In its current version, Magic Portal allows users to select and drag text, images, and files to a sidebar capable of interacting with relevant applications. This has made it a standout feature on Honor phones, now complemented by Portal to Anywhere.
With Portal to Anywhere, users can use their knuckle to draw around any interesting element on the screen, such as an address or an image. Honor's artificial intelligence will recognize this and suggest relevant applications in the Magic Portal sidebar. For example, if a user draws around the cover of a book, the system will facilitate interaction with e-commerce apps to make a purchase. If someone mentions a café in a message, it is possible to drag the name to Google Maps or navigation apps.
This new feature is more efficient than the previous method of pressing, holding, and dragging. While some might think that Portal to Anywhere is simply a rebranded Circle to Search, there are key differences. Circle to Search is a shortcut to Google, while Portal to Anywhere allows for broader interaction with multiple applications.
Magic Portal 2.0 also improves its semantic understanding, enabling it to recognize various points of interest and movie properties seamlessly. Regarding application support, version 1.0 was limited in Western markets. Throughout the past year, Honor has worked to increase the range of compatible applications, and now Magic Portal is useful in a broader context, including tools like Uber, YouTube, and TikTok.
Magic Portal 2.0 will be launched alongside MagicOS 9.0 on the Honor Magic 7 Pro, which is anticipated to arrive in European markets soon.
