With the appearance on the market of the new BQ-6040L Magic of the domestic brand, we can safely say that the manufacturer tried to do everything possible so that the end user gets the maximum for little money (up to 8,000 rubles). A capacious battery, a large frameless display, and... even the presence of an NFC module. At the same time, its technical characteristics allow it to successfully compete with Chinese-made phones such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Honor. Let's take a closer look at it.
BQ-6040L Magic: configuration and design
As usual, at a low price, we don’t expect rich equipment: in addition to the device itself, in the box you will only receive a power adapter and a USB-microUSB charging cable. The protective film is glued to the smartphone from the factory, but there is no cover included and, perhaps, this is a bit of a minus for this particular phone model. A little lower in the text we will return to this issue and tell you why we came to this conclusion.
You've probably already noticed that BQ likes to experiment with case colors. So the BQ-6040L Magic is offered not only in traditional black colors, but also in dark blue and cherry. It is more pragmatic to take a black smartphone - it uses a different type of plastic and the surface is matte rather than glossy. The fact is that the glossy back of the smartphone became covered with small scratches after a week of use and was slightly worn out. At the same time, the smartphone was in a soft case most of the time.
But we must pay tribute: thanks to the gradient tints, the body looks fashionable, beautiful and expensive. Purely visually, the smartphone does not look like a budget smartphone, but rather a middle-class one. It’s a pity that the glossy finish in general is easily soiled (this applies in principle to any smartphone). If you don’t paw it too much, holding the BQ-6040L Magic by the side edges made of matte plastic, then the aesthetic appearance will last longer, but it’s better to still buy a case or protective glass for the back side so as not to “overwrite” such beauty. After all, the “magic” of iridescent colors is one of the model’s calling cards.
Once again, we emphasize that the smartphone in black is made of matte plastic, so it is not in danger. Otherwise, the device feels solid and reliable, despite its light weight of 161 grams. Operating it with one hand is also convenient, although the diagonal is large - 6.09 inches with narrow frames (no more than 2 mm). The tray for installing SIM cards and microSD drives is not combined here, which is another unconditional plus.
Interface
BQ Magic L runs on Android 10. There is no proprietary shell announced here. Thus, the model has a very simple and logical interface. In addition to Google services, there are applications from Mail.ru - ICQ, Atom browser, Cloud, Look, Marusya. There are also applications such as State Services, Dr.Web, Mir Pay, Wink, VK and an electronic guarantee for the device. All of them can be easily removed, so you can free up space if necessary.
Otherwise, everything is very simple and standard. The phone does not offer any additional settings or advanced features and, in my opinion, this is a plus. Those who need some specific third-party software will install it themselves from the Play Market. And those who are looking for a device to perform standard tasks will not have to understand the abundance of settings or search for a long time for the desired option.
I mentioned above that older people will appreciate the device with detailed instructions. The interface is no less convenient for such users, because it will be very problematic to get confused in it or not find something. And with the manual at hand, this device can even be used to learn how to use smartphones and Android.
BQ-6040L Magic: display and operating system
As we noted above, the smartphone screen has a diagonal of 6.09 inches with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9, a resolution of 1560 × 720 pixels (that is, HD+) and is built on an IPS matrix. At the top there is a drop-shaped cutout for the selfie camera. The 2.5D glass is almost invisible, but if you look closely, you can see a black edging above the sides, which compensates for the roundings on the sides. The picture of the BQ-6040L Magic is bright and contrasty, and the brightness reserve is no worse than in expensive flagship Samsung smartphones.
The factory calibration of the display is at a good level, but to protect your eyes, you can add warmth to it by turning on the appropriate “Eye Comfort” function in the screen settings. There is no usual Gorilla Glass protection here, but... you're not going to drop your phone's screen on the asphalt, are you? Handle him more carefully and you will be happy.
Android 9.0 is installed as the operating system on the smartphone. Pre-installed sponsorship applications do exist, so you will have to uninstall them from the system if you do not use Sberbank, AlfaStrakhovanie, etc. The main thing is not to accidentally delete the electronic guarantee application (see screenshot). We have already written that all modern BQ smartphones are equipped with an electronic warranty card, which will be needed if you contact the service.
The BQ-6040L Magic any left launchers , so controlling the smartphone will not cause confusion in the settings items. By the way, if compared with previous state employees, this one has definitely improved the speed of touch input and launching applications, so let’s move on to the next point. What hardware made it possible to add power to the phone while maintaining a reasonable price at 8,000 rubles?
Screen
The gadget received a 6.1-inch IPS matrix with a resolution of 1560 by 720 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5x9. The PPI value is not high - only 282 pixels per inch. However, the grain is only noticeable when looking closely at the labels and font.
The calibration of the matrix is not bad - among the positive aspects, we note viewing angles, contrast and color rendition. But the engineers clearly overestimated the color temperature. Manual adjustment does not help either - the screen is either too blue or yellow. We also didn’t like the brightness - there is no reserve, so you won’t be able to use your smartphone outside on a sunny day.
BQ-6040L Magic: equipment and performance
Under the hood of the phone there is an 8-core Qualcomm Unisoc SC9863A processor (1.6 GHz). This CPU has been produced since 2022 using the 28 nm process technology. In the Geekbench test, the BQ-6040L Magic was equal in single-core performance to the LG Nexus 5 - 848 and 859 points, respectively. And in terms of multi-core performance, the smartphone scores 3481 points, ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (3043 points), and comes close to the Xiaomi Mi 5 (3721 points).
The PowerVR IMG8322 (510 MHz) chip is responsible for graphics performance. It is slightly worse than the Mali-G71 MP2 (770 MHz), but this does not prevent you from running productive games like PUBG or World of Tanks on your smartphone. With medium graphics settings you can get FPS over 30 fps. The manufacturer also did not skimp on internal memory: there is 32 GB of it, of which 24.7 GB of space is available to the user. RAM is limited to 2 GB, although the processor supports modules up to 4 GB.
Internals (iron)
| AnTuTu | 29299 (v6.2.6) |
| AnTuTu | 25620 (v5.7.1) |
| Chipset | Mediatek MT6737 |
| Cores | 4 x Cortex-A53 1.25 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-T720 |
| RAM (free) | 2 GB (1 GB) |
| ROM (free) | 16 GB (9 GB) |
| Micro-SD | Up to 128 GB |
The Mediatek MT6737 processor is already familiar to me. Exactly the same as in the BQ BQS-5520 Mercury. Only works in 64-bit mode. However, it is hardly possible to feel the difference in performance. The number of bits with two gigabytes of RAM makes no difference to you and me. Sort of.
Low-end processor. However, the performance is, in my opinion, quite satisfactory.
Special thanks for not being greedy with memory, especially RAM.
Sensors - to a minimum. Accelerometer, illumination, proximity. There is no compass, no gyroscope, no fingerprint sensor.
Some synthetic tests
BQ-6040L Magic: wireless modules
The main feature of the BQ-6040L Magic is the presence of an NFC module, which many manufacturers of budget mobile devices refuse. The BQ company took a different path and nevertheless began to add this element to its public sector employees. Check trips on Troika, pay for purchases with a virtual card - now all this is possible. To connect to the Internet, support is provided for 4G LTE and Wi-Fi standard “n”. During a cold start, the GPS module searches for satellites for about 10 seconds.
Benchmarks
Below we present the results of running Magic L in popular programs for measuring performance.
Let's look at the internal storage.
Data transfer rate.
And processor performance.
BQ-6040L Magic: cameras
The front camera of the smartphone has a resolution of 5 megapixels and does not excite the imagination. It is quite typical for smartphones in the budget segment, but allows you to implement the AI FaceUnlock face unlocking function in the device, which works without “blunts”. The main camera is dual (13+2 megapixels) with a very simple and intuitive interface. The photos come out good for a budget class.
At night, as usual, there is not enough lighting and noise appears, but in the daytime you can take decent, clear shots. In general, as a standard camera for everyday mobile photography, the BQ-6040L Magic is quite suitable if you are not chasing camera phones with “ringing” image quality. Perhaps this is even one of the best cameras in BQ smartphones: it is as good as in the BQ-5517L Twin Pro and BQ-6015L Universe smartphones, only the latter cost 2,000 rubles more: 9,990 rubles each.
Camera
The smartphone has a dual camera (12+0.3 MP) on the back and a single camera (8 MP) on the front.
The camera interface is quite familiar and is the same for the front and main cameras. At the bottom there are modes, access to pictures, switching cameras. At the top are filters, flash activation, and access to settings.
Camera features include:
- Photo (standard mode).
- Masks (applying masks to a portrait).
- Portrait (background blur).
- Night (shooting in low light conditions).
- Panorama.
- GIF.
- Stickers.
- QR code.
The HDR mode is not provided separately, but is provided and is located in the camera settings. There is no smart shooting here, but when taking selfies or portraits, you can choose to enhance the frame, however, the result is not very natural and it is clearly clear that the processor worked hard on the photo.
Video recording is possible in 1080p/720p/480p (no stabilization), there are additional modes - slow motion and time lapse.
The photo quality is average. Perhaps the device would have performed better in bright sunlight, but the weather was not encouraging. An example of photographs is presented below:
Front-camera
Blur background
Night mode
BQ-6040L Magic: Autonomous operation
The battery capacity here is 4000 mAh, which is not bad at all for a smartphone costing 7,999 rubles. To fully charge the battery it will take about 3 hours from a standard 5V/1.5A charger (included). Unfortunately, there is no support for Quick Charge technology. According to the manufacturer, the battery capacity is enough for 13 hours of video playback, but in fact it is only enough for 8 hours of watching 720p HD video at maximum screen brightness. However, this is a very good result compared to competitors.
In mixed mode of use (navigator, photographs, communication in instant messengers), the smartphone lasts for one and a half to two days. With constant activity, the battery drains within a day. For example, using the phone as a navigator and camera for a week, the battery ran out within 10 hours with the screen always on and brightness at 80%. Thumbs up. And if you also correctly configure the energy saving mode, autonomy will increase.
Audio
The sound quality during phone calls is excellent - both parties can hear loudly and clearly.
The main speaker has an average volume. Watching a movie at home without headphones is quite possible, but somewhere on public transport you might miss a call. However, the vibration here is very sensitive and it will be problematic not to notice it. The sound quality is not so good that you can listen and enjoy the subtle features of the compositions, but turning on music in the background is enough.
The sound in the headphones is loud - about 70% volume is enough for comfortable listening. Bluetooth 4.2 is used to connect the wireless headset; no problems with search, connection stability or delays were noticed.
BQ-6040L Magic: test results
We tested the BQ-6040L Magic on AnTuTu Benchmark, where it scored 73,724 points. The smartphone also went through several runs in the 3DMark, PCMark and Geekbench benchmarks. To measure the speed of your Internet connection via Wi-Fi, we used the Speedtest utility. In addition, we ran the VR Checker test on the smartphone, which found that this mobile phone is not suitable for playing VR and 360-degree content due to the lack of a gyroscope and accelerometer. Detailed test results can be found below.
| Benchmark | Test results |
| AnTuTu Benchmark | 73,724 points |
| AnTuTu Multitouch Test | Recognizes 5 clicks |
| Geekbench 4 Single-Core | 848 points |
| Geekbench 4 Multi-Core | 3481 points |
| PCMark Work Performance 2.0 | 4807 points |
| PCMark Computer Vision | 2805 points |
| PCMark Storage | 15,814 points |
| 3DMark Ice Storm / 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme | — / — |
| 3DMark Sling Shot / 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme | 585/- points |
| Speedtest (max. download speed over 4G/Wi-Fi) | 5.39/5.45 MB/s |
| Speedtest (max. download speed over 4G/Wi-Fi) | 1.59/5.38 MB/s |
| VR Checker | Not suitable for working with VR content |
System software
BQ has been preferring pure Android with virtually no intervention for several years now. Many users approve and welcome this.
Note that BQ was previously actively friends with Yandex, judging by the pre-installed partner applications. Now cooperation has begun with Mail.ru.
In addition, the company has already begun to comply with the Russian government’s decree on pre-installed applications. That’s why we see “Government Services”, Mir Pay and some others on the device. It's nice that they are being uninstalled. You don't even need to unlock your smartphone's bootloader.
BQ-6040L Magic: characteristics and competitors
| Smartphone model | BQ-6040L Magic | Huawei Y6 | Honor 8A |
| Screen | 6.09″, IPS, HD+ (1560×720 pixels) | 6.09″, IPS, HD+ (1560×720 pixels) | 6.09″, IPS, HD+ (1560×720 pixels) |
| CPU | 8 cores Qualcomm Unisoc SC9863A | 4 cores, MediaTek MT6761 | 8 cores, MediaTek MT6765 |
| operating system | Android 9.0 | Android 9.0 | Android 9.0 |
| RAM/ROM | 2 GB / 32 GB | 2 GB / 32 GB | 2 GB / 32 GB |
| Cameras (main/front) | 13+2 Mpix / 5 Mpix | 13 Mpix / 8 Mpix | 13 Mpix / 8 Mpix |
| Battery | 4000 mAh | 3020 mAh | 3020 mAh |
| NFC | Eat | No | Eat |
| Price | 7990 rub. | 9490 rub. | 9990 rub. |
| Advantages | The BQ-6040L Magic has a more powerful processor, a dual camera, a higher battery capacity and NFC on board. The price is also better. | The BQ-6040L Magic has a dual camera module, a more capacious battery and a lower cost of 2,000 rubles. |
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Appearance
| Weight | 136 g |
| Size | 143 x 71 x 7.9 mm |
| Protection | No |
The appearance is in perfect order.
Six colors, and very entertaining ones.
My copy is white with golden sides.
Plastic. The front is normal glossy. The back is matte, as if it was painted with white paint on a gray background. Pleasant to both the eye and the touch. The chamfers beveled at 45 degrees - oddly enough, are also surprisingly appropriate.
The camera is nicely designed. A golden puck with a noticeably protruding edge.
The assembly is good. The back cover is removable (albeit with some difficulty), and so is the battery. Under the cover there are two slots for SIM cards (Nano-SIM + Micro-SIM) and a separate slot for a memory card.
Some boring details
Above the screen are sensors, a front camera, and a speaker. Unfortunately, there is no LED. They saved money on it.
Under the screen there is emptiness, android buttons on the screen.
On the back there is a camera with flash.
At the bottom rear there is a speaker.
The top edge is a 3.5 mm audio output and Micro-USB (the noise-canceling microphone is not visible).
Bottom - microphone.
The volume rocker is on the left side.
The shutdown button is on the right.
Sound
With sound, BQ Magic is at an acceptable level. There is a mini-jack if there is a fairly good sound channel that produces both normal power and acceptable detail. We did not notice any frequency accents. Of course, Magic cannot boast of supporting important wireless audio transmission profiles. The speaker is monophonic, located on the bottom edge, but does not overlap with your finger when covering it. It sounds loud, but at the same time it is compressed, and there is no need to talk about quality at all.
Battery
The lid is made of fairly elastic plastic, so prying it off with some plastic card and removing it is not difficult. Inside we find a 4920 mAh battery. The number is impressive, but given the size of the screen, even despite the energy-efficient processor, you shouldn’t count on miracles. Although the manufacturer claims that the smartphone can work for up to 5 days, most likely it means that it will lie idle in standby mode. With more or less active use, one charge will last for a day and a half.
Results
BQ Magic L 6630L is an entry-level device with the most affordable price tag. But this is a worthy representative of devices costing up to 9,000 rubles. If a couple of years ago, we would not recommend buying devices with such a price, enduring and saving a little more money to buy something more expensive, unless circumstances force you to buy right now, today the situation has changed.
This is a device that can handle all work tasks, even if it won’t be the fastest, and can entertain with puzzles and even 3D games, but at low settings. You can use it to take photos for social networks. And the battery here inspires respect.
Good prices for BQ Magic 6630L.
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Author: Andrey “zeleboba” Matveev
I wander around, listen and observe. I write texts.
