Huawei P9 Lite review: less is more?

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The Huawei P9 Lite has a 3000 mAh battery. With continuous HD video playback (maximum screen brightness, system in Flight mode), the smartphone lasted seven hours – this is a good result. But during the day, the charge, nevertheless, has to be saved, albeit without the need to give up everything.

The gadget lasts until the evening (or almost until the evening), if you use it for communication, on the Internet, in social networks and as a camera. More than once, software power-saving modes came in handy, capable of extending the work of the gadget for an hour or two. In sleep mode, if the smartphone is not used, it is discharged by no more than a couple of percent per night. And as a gaming platform, Huawei P9 Lite is not very autonomous: a quarter of the charge, or even more, takes an hour of play.

Appearance and ergonomics

Textured matte plastic adorns the back of the Huawei P9 Lite, which looks very stylish. There is a side metal frame. In this case, all corners of the body are rounded, and the edges are beveled. The smartphone is thin and attractive, but the translucent insert on the back spoils the appearance somewhat, which is why it is glossy here.

The fingerprint scanner is located on the back, it is implemented in the shape of a square. The memory card slot is already habitually combined with the second SIM, and the volume buttons are made of plastic. The device does not tire the hand at all, it is really pleasant to use it. Moreover, thanks to excellent ergonomics and compact size, the gadget will fit in any palm. Dimensions P9 Lite: height – 146.8 mm, thickness – 7.5 mm, width – 72.6 mm, weight – 147 g. Color – silver, gold, black and white.

Display

The manufacturer decided to equip the Huawei P9 model with a 5.2-inch screen with an effective anti-glare coating. It uses an IPS matrix (InCell technology) with Full HD resolution. Thanks to the increased contrast, the display does not fade at all in the bright sun, although the brightness could be higher. The image is very rich and juicy. Gorilla Glass 4 protects the screen from damage.

Hardware and performance

Depending on the version of Huawei P9, the amount of memory may vary. It can be a variant with 3 GB of RAM 32 GB of internal storage, or a solution with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of free space. If this is not enough, then the storage for files is expanded by microSD cards up to 128 GB. The heart of the P9 is the Kirin 955 chip, which consists of eight cores.

Moreover, half of them belong to the Cortex-A72 architecture, which automatically makes such cores extremely productive. The maximum frequency is 2500 MHz. Engaged in graphics and effects 3D accelerator Mali-T880. It hosts the Android 6.0 OS with the new-generation EMUI 4.1 shell installed.

Literally all tests state the highest speed of the smartphone. The metal heats up a little under excessive load, but not critical. With the performance of the gadget, everything is in order, since no brakes are observed. This favorable picture will continue in the future, because the processor has a solid headroom for the future. In AnTuTu, the P9 scores 94,000 points. Absolutely all games are easily launched at the maximum of their capabilities.

Minuses:

• There are problems with night shooting.
• Not enough memory.

Application huawei p9 lite

Huawei P9 Lite was officially announced in the spring of 2020. This smartphone is a light version of the famous flagship P9. This device has somewhat lost in terms of power relative to its older brother, but successfully retained the overall design and some unique features.

Pros:

• Fast fingerprint scanner.
• Juicy screen.
• Attractive appearance.
• Great sound.
• Beautiful shell.

Software and multimedia

As a software platform, Android OS version 7.0 with a proprietary shell EMUI 5.1 is used, this is currently the latest version of the interface for Huawei mobile devices. The capabilities of the EMUI shell, used in all modern mobile devices of the manufacturer, have been well studied by us and have been described in detail more than once in reviews.

Of the features: the EMUI 5.1 interface studies user habits and predicts their behavior. The developers claim that over time, this increases the speed of opening applications. Launcher offers two options for displaying the workspace, with and without a menu of installed applications. In the settings menu, an additional panel now slides out on the side, and the proprietary timeline has disappeared from the notification panel.

There is a dual-window mode and the ability to reduce the size of virtual keyboards. That is, in principle, the organization of the proprietary shell has become as close as possible to the pure Android interface. There are very few additional programs: only a comprehensive phone manager, file manager and HiCare health monitoring program.

To listen to music, its own player is used. Previously, it did not have any manual settings at all, now there is a Huawei Histen audio effects section, in which you can turn on the 3D sound effect and choose from equalizer presets. But all this becomes available only with connected headphones.

Equalizer Honor Purity, by the way, was developed in partnership with Monster. In headphones, the smartphone sounds high quality, the sound is loud, clear, thick and rich. The loudspeaker also sounds good, but, of course, produces a simpler sound. The microphone has good sensitivity, but there is no built-in FM radio in the smartphone.

Connection and sound

The Huawei P9 Lite has surprisingly high-quality speakers. Melodies have become not only clearer, but also louder. The situation is similar with listening to music through headphones. And with the help of an equalizer, you can easily enhance the bass or volume of the sound. The gadget supports standard networks as well as LTE Cat 4.

Specifications huawei p9 lite

Specifications huawei p9 lite (vns-l21)

• Screen: IPS LCD, 5.2″, 1920×1080, 424 ppi
• Processor: Octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 650 (4x 1.8GHz, 4x 2.0GHz)
• Graphics accelerator: Mali-T830
• Operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Huawei EMUI 4.1
• RAM: 2 GB
• Built-in memory: 16 GB
• Memory card support: microSD up to 128 GB
• Communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz || UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz || LTE 1, 3, 7, 8, 20
• SIM: 2x nano‑SIM
• Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.1 (A2DP, LE), NFC
• Navigation: GPS, GLONASS
• Cameras: main – 13 MP (f / 2.0, pixel size 1.12 nm), front – 8 MP
• Sensors: position in space, illumination, accelerometer, microgyroscope, compass, pedometer, fingerprint scanner
• Battery: non-removable, Li-Pol, 3000 mAh
• Dimensions: 146.8×72.6×7.5mm
• Weight: 147 grams

Packaging and equipment

As often happens, the smartphone was brought to the editor for a test without a box. The official website states that the Huawei P9 Lite will come with a charger, a micro-USB cable, a headset and a user manual.

Outcome

As a result of a detailed acquaintance, it turned out that the hero of the review, being the flagship of his own line, differs from the flagship Huawei P10 more than it seemed at first glance. Here is a more pampered, glamorous look of a glass case, certainly attractive in its own way, but still an amateur, and a lower (for some reason) level of autonomy.

You can also note the lack of support for LTE Cat.12. Yes, and the cameras here are not Leica, and the lenses are not Summarit H. And although in general Honor 9 is a fairly advanced device with a high-quality screen, platform, sound, good cameras and a set of communication options, it is not at all as affordable as former members of the Honor family.

Meanwhile, users are not quite satisfied with the fact that the budget line of devices in the past, once even called folk, is now replenished with newer and more expensive smartphones. The price has not yet grown enough to completely discourage fans of the brand, but it is difficult to call a smartphone for 25 thousand rubles a budget solution.

conclusions

What does the user get for 20,000 rubles? A solid middle peasant with great ambitions. P9 Lights comes with a charging unit, instructions and a micro-USB cable, as well as a branded headset. The smartphone successfully retained the remarkable design of the flagship, and also got, though not powerful, but modern hardware, which makes the device work quickly enough.