Huawei Honor 9 — review, reviews of Huawei Honor 9 |

A year ago I reviewed the HONOR 8X smartphone, at that time it was one of the best smartphones on the market. In this review, we will get acquainted with the successor in the person of HONOR 9X and find out how much better the new product is than last year’s model.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Case material – plastic.
• Screen size – 6.59 inches.
• Resolution – 2340×1080 (IPS).
• Operating system – Android OS 9.0.
• Processor – Kirin 710F.
• Video processor – Mali G51.
• RAM – 4 GB.
• Built-in memory – 128 GB.
• Memory card type — micro SD.
• Main camera – 48 2 MP.
• Front camera – 16 MP.
• Battery capacity — 4000 mAh.
• Support for GPS/GLONASS/LTE – yes.
• Headphone jack – 3.5 mm (mini-jack).
• Charging and connection – USB Type-C.
• Support for two SIM cards – yes.
• NFC support – yes.
• Fingerprint scanner – yes.
• Weight — 196.8 g
• Dimensions (WxHxD mm) — 163.5 × 77.3 × 8.8.

DELIVERY SET

Here’s what you can find in the depths of the box:

1. Smartphone
2. USB – Type-C cable
3. Network charger
4. Tray Release Clip
5. Quick Start Guide
6. Warranty card
7. Protective case
8. Protective film (pasted on the screen)

APPEARANCE

HONOR 9X is the brand’s first smartphone with a retractable camera. Personally, I like it when the front camera can be hidden in the body of the smartphone. Considering that I don’t use a front camera, this is just the perfect solution for me.

The smartphone is quite large and this point is worth considering before purchasing. In the review I had the option in the color “sapphire blue”. You can also choose the Midnight Black colorway.

The smartphone case is plastic and for me this is a plus. There is no fear that the glass back will break. But at the same time, plastic weakly resists scratches on the body. So I advise you to immediately use the case included in the package.

HONOR 9X has a standard arrangement of elements on the back side. In the upper left corner there is a dual camera unit and a flash. In the middle part under the cameras there is a fingerprint scanner. The location of the scanner is very convenient; your finger immediately fits in the right place. At the bottom is the manufacturer’s logo.

If you look closely, you will notice that the texture of the plastic on the back side is shaped like the letter «X». Moreover, the texture is noticeable only when light hits the back side. The corners of the smartphone are quite rounded, and the ends on the back are quite sloping.

Thickness 8.8 mm. Quite a normal indicator for a rather large smartphone.

The main point of this smartphone is the retractable front camera. When you open the module, you can hear the motor inside the housing working. But you can’t set a melody to the operation of the retractable mechanism.

Also at the top end there is a microphone and a combined tray for two nano SIM cards or one SIM card and a memory card.

On the right side there is a paired volume button and a power button.

At the bottom there are: a 3.5 mm jack, a second microphone, a USB – Type-C connector and a speaker for calls.

The corners of the screen matrix in the smartphone are quite rounded. The frames around the perimeter of the screen are minimal. The screen is really big! The view is not interfered with by any bangs or cutouts for the front camera.

The call speaker was placed at the junction of the screen and the top end. Touch buttons are located on the screen, but there is no status indicator. The auto-brightness sensor and proximity indicator are located in the bottom frame.

Build quality is excellent. If you’re being really picky, on the back side in the scanner area the plastic cover is slightly pressed in, but this is almost unnoticeable.

SCREEN

The screen size of the HONOR 9X is 6.59 inches, resolution – 2340×1080 pixels (FHD), density 391 PPI, IPS LCD matrix. This screen is called Ultra FullView. Aspect ratio 19.5:9. Viewing angles are the maximum possible, multi-touch for 10 touches. The illumination of the matrix is ​​quite uniform.

The screen brightness is quite high. In the screen settings you can configure: color temperature, sleep mode, eye protection. The screen resolution can be reduced to 1560×720 pixels (HD).

We will analyze the screen settings in more detail using the ColorMunki Display calibrator from X-Rite.

Gamma curves show a fairly large scatter in relation to the reference (white line) curve.

Color channels are also not entirely stable. There is a lack of red color saturation.

Color temperature is too high relative to the 6500k standard. The colors on the screen will have a cool tint. In the screen settings you can set the “warm” display mode.

According to the sRGB standard, we see a deviation from the reference triangle. The colors will lack saturation.

The points of the gray wedge lie far beyond the border of the circle DeltaE>10. In our case, spurious shades will be present.

CAMERA

The main camera in the smartphone is represented by a dual module of 48 MP (F/1.8 aperture) and 2 MP (F/2.4 aperture). The 2MP module only serves to more accurately blur the background. The camera speed is quite high. Autofocus is also fast and accurate. The camera settings are simple, there is an Artificial Intelligence system. Zoom is digital only.

Next, we will consider pictures in maximum resolution (48 MP), as well as pictures at 12 MP and using the AI ​​system.

Panoramic shot.

Portrait mode works great. The separation of the subject from the background is quite accurate. There is also a variable aperture mode. The parameter can be adjusted over a fairly wide range. In addition, the aperture in this mode can be changed on the finished photo.

There is a night shooting mode. In this mode, the camera takes several pictures (like in the Huawei P30 Pro) and in the end we get pretty good night shots.

NIGHT MODE OFF.	NIGHT MODE ON.

ORIGINALS PHOTO AND VIDEO: https://yadi.sk/d/4resztzs7vuRjQ

Video on the main camera can be recorded in 1080p at 60 frames per second. There is no optical stabilization. When shooting at night, the frame rate does not drop. Slow motion mode is also available at 120 and 480 frames per second.

FIRMWARE/SOFT/MENU

HONOR 9X runs on Google Android 9.0 Pie operating system with EMUI 9.1 shell. This is what the smartphone menu looks like when you turn it on for the first time. You can note a large number of pre-installed applications, but they can be completely removed. In the settings you can activate the main menu with applications.

The smartphone interface works quite quickly and smoothly. 4 GB of RAM is enough for most tasks. The exterior can be decorated with a variety of brand themes. There is a simple mode of operation, this is for those who do not want to bother with the settings.

You can assign specific actions to the fingerprint scanner. The scanner itself works very accurately and quickly. Touch control buttons can be replaced with gestures. The built-in radio only works when a headset is connected; you cannot record broadcasts. Various operating modes are available when interacting with a smartphone.

IN WORK

The Kirin 710F processor is responsible for the performance of the smartphone. The processor is manufactured using a 12-nanometer process technology. Four high-performance ARM Cortex-A73 cores with a frequency of 2.2 GHz are used. Plus four energy-saving ARM Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of 1.7 GHz. Architecture — big.liTTLE. Wi-Fi 802.11ac, LTE Cat.12, Bluetooth 4.2. RAM type — LPDDR4. Kirin 710F is equipped with an ARM Mali-G51 MP4 accelerator.

You can see the results of synthetic tests in these screenshots. Various 3D games can be comfortably played at medium graphics settings, but in some games you can also set the maximum settings.

The permanent memory in the smartphone is 128GB. By You can fully install applications on a memory card, which is very rare. Installed sensors in the smartphone.

The speaker volume for calls is quite high. The sound is clear without distortion, the speaker does not produce noise at full volume. Sound in mono format. The earpiece is also quite loud. The interlocutor can be heard perfectly, and there were no problems with speech reception and transmission. All modern geolocation standards are supported.

The smartphone has an NFC module. You can not only connect wireless gadgets, but also pay in the store. You can install two nano SIM cards. You can assign your own melody to each card. Forwarding between SIM cards is supported. 4G support is available on both SIM cards. Wi-Fi only works at 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 4.2 (BLE). Connecting peripherals via USB-OTG cable is supported. When there is an incoming call, the caller’s photo is displayed on the entire screen.

AUTONOMOUS OPERATION

The smartphone has a 4000 mAh battery. Complete charging at 5V=2A. The smartphone is fully charged in 2 hours 30 minutes.

If you activate the maximum screen brightness and FH screen resolution, the battery charge is consumed quite quickly. By lowering the brightness to 50% and lowering the screen resolution to HD, battery life increases significantly.

• Various games – 7 hours.
• Movie playback — 14 hours.
• Maximum load: full screen brightness, constant 4G connection, geolocation, social. networks, etc. — 7 o’clock.
• Work only in telephone mode – 4 days.

CONCLUSIONS

At retail, the smartphone is sold for 16,990 rubles. Of course, I would like to draw parallels with last year’s HONOR 8X. The HONOR 8X had: a metal body, a glass back, a full tray for two SIM cards and a memory card. In HONOR 9X, the back side is made of plastic and the tray is now combined. But the most interesting thing is that the new model uses the already obsolete Kirin 710 processor; by the way, the same processor is also in the HONOR 8X. It’s strange that they didn’t install Kirin 810 — that would have been more logical.

LIKED:

1. Smooth interface operation
2. Installing applications on a memory card
3. Huge screen without bangs or cutouts
4. Pop-up front camera
5. Good shooting quality
6. Night mode of the main camera
7. Loud speaker
8. Availability of NFC module
9. Fast and accurate fingerprint scanner
10. 4G connection from two SIM cards
11. Film on smartphone screen USB – Type-C connector
12. Excellent battery life

MAY NOT BE SUITABLE:

1. Combination tray for SIM and memory cards
2. No status indicator
3. No face unlock