Huawei P9 - Review 2022 - Steadman Pilly1987

When I received the new flagship from Huawei—the Huawei P9—I knew what had been in store for my review experience. Full disclosure: I had the Huawei P8 for a year earlier I took on this role at PCMag SEA and, I must say, that 12 months have been a re-defining journey of wonderment, awe, and immersion.

Personally, that flagship smartphone is both the turning and tipping point for Huawei. Amazingly, its immediate successor continues this trend.

Refinement had been the goal Huawei had in mind when it developed the Huawei P9. Where its predecessor utilised sharp-edges and more divers chassis design that shows-off the fullmetal unibody, the updated flagship finds the perfect residuum with the metal and glass elements used for its build. This, Huawei claims, is farther complemented with the high-spec operation its newest top-cease smartphone has to offering.

Having spent close to a month with the Huawei P9, which pales in comparison to the length of time I had with the Huawei P8, I can declare with certainty that this new flagship smartphone hits all the right notes.

Pattern: Top Course Redefined

On the front of the is a two.5D glass element, which I discovered to be somewhat scratch-resistant when I unwittingly placed this smartphone with some bunch of keys, element that I immediately found to my liking every bit it gave the Huawei P9 a prissy and very secure treatment experience. The backplate besides has this slight curved design element, further accentuating the curved chamfered await and feel that Huawei is going for.

The metal elements used—all of it aircraft grade aluminium—cover the sideframes, which come up in a shinier tone than the rest of the chassis, and nearly 85% of the backplate. Interestingly plenty, the fingerprint sensor that is parked at the rear and the only buttons present on the Huawei P9 are likewise done upwardly in metal, where the former sports the same brushed finishing and the latter has its own silvery etched hues.

The chamfered sides and power push button re-designs are a huge plus equally the predecessors for Huawei flagships lack these specific updates. If anything, they give the Huawei P9 that extra touch of swish refinement.

Accompanying the buttons are the USB Blazon-C port (a legit one!), the dual SIM (Nano with hybrid blueprint for microSD expansion), and the three.5mm audio-jack.

Similar to another flagship that Huawei released recently, specifically carrying the Google Nexus branding, the Huawei P9 sports a familiar looking glass segment that is placed at the acme of the backplate. Just like the Google-optimised smartphone from Huawei, this section is where the Leica-optimised rear-mounted main camera assortment is located forth with its ii-tone flash accompaniment.

In the hand, this five.2in Full HD device managed to pack in the correct corporeality of materials used to create that the nice counterbalanced handling that the Huawei P9 seems to naturally offer. With every aspect of the device within achieve, there is really no event when I used it with i hand.

As per how PCMag India garnered many positive feedbacks for the Huawei P9, those that had a good await at the newest flagship smartphone felt the Chinese networking vendor has gone above and across to deliver a well-fabricated loftier-spec mobile device.

Given how slim and sleek the course gene of the Huawei P9 really is, information technology had been very easy for me to brand it my go-to smartphone.

Performance: Like Grease Lightning

Roaring within the Huawei P9 is the HiSiicon Kirin, now renamed Huawei Kirin, 955 Octa-Core System-on-Bit (SoC) processor, 32GB RAM, and 32GB storage. While there is a 64GB variant in the wild as well, Huawei Malaysia sent over the 32GB variant to The PCMag Review Lab for this extensive test-run.

The loftier-powered specs alone ensure the Huawei P9 can deal with the massive multi-tasking demands of enriched apps that now populate most smartphones. From videogames to Full Hd videos and running multiple tabs on Google Chrome, zip slowed down this flagship device. Content that requires heavy graphic rendering or consistent connection to the Internet is dealt with easily due to the innovation that Huawei has packed into the 16nm FinFET compages of the SoC. This includes enhanced retention optimisation and advanced antenna technology for both mobile broadband and wireless connectivity.

Interestingly, the final aspect—the antennas—have been updated to fit into the design philosophy that the Huawei P9 employs. This includes utilising the dual antenna bands that can be plant in the rear along with a 3rd antenna system being used to supplement connection capabilities. Similarly, the Wi-Fi feature also uses this triple antenna setup along with a progressive algorithm that detects and ranks the strongest wireless network connections available.

Even without a seamless link to the Spider web, offline games fire upward on the Huawei P9 pretty fast and switching between them, for testing purpose generally, did not cause any crashes, irksome downs, or system freezes. Even offline videos on iflix had no issues and this is fifty-fifty when I jumped in between scenes to test how fast pixels would render with sudden change of scenes.

Putting in Pokémon GO, likely the most graphic render heavy game that requires constant Internet connectedness and will ask for heavy processing due to its augmented reality (AR) feature, also did not crusade whatsoever problems for this flagship smartphone. My only one concern, and this has to do with the Niantic game, is how the GPS doesn't really sync very well with the game. My best guess is how this mobile take on the popular Nintendo videogame and navigation satellites are not playing nice with each other. Information technology is very obvious when the hand-over takes longer than necessary to keep the game going.

Well-nigh times, this mistake resulted in the game'due south avatar moving abroad from the zone where the player properly halted at. While this is considered a bonus to most, as the extra coverage widening the reach without having to move effectually, having discover that the Pokémon GO is not syncing with the GPS does disrupt the quest to go the "Very Best" and becoming a Pokémon Primary.

It's a proficient thing this trouble is isolated to Pokémon Become.

Sound: Punchy to a Indicate

Allow's become this out of the way: I'm a audio junkie. I love listening to my music with a decent pair of over-the-ear cans. While no smartphone tin can ever replicate that, there are some that practise offer proper loud-speaker operation that try to match the sound nuances of earphones. Huawei P9 is one of those that managed to do only that fifty-fifty if it only has a unmarried speaker driver doing all the work.

What this 75dB empowered soundstage produces is akin to mid-range Bluetooth speaker units that offer slightly more the basics. Voices, mids, and lower tier highs come out very nicely, especially when the songs played are of a certain level of audio quality. Admittedly, the bass is lacking only not and then much that i cannot relish a couple of cruising tunes.

The overall audio performance of the Huawei P9 goes up a few notches when the flagship smartphone is paired with in-ear or over-the-ear headphones. When either jack into the three.5mm sound port, the 24-flake sound processor and active dissonance cancellation will automatically come online to provide infrequent studio-like sound reproduction. While it isn't Sony Hi-Res Sound, this concept does the job well enough still. From the drum snare in multiple Michael Jackson tracks, to the bass drops on different Eurobeat numbers, and the clear vocal option-ups for classic hits from the 80s, each came out with distinctive clarity.

My only gripe with the Huawei P9 when it comes to sound delivery, is it merely has room for one speaker driver. That, I feel, is unbecoming of a flagship. Almost all summit-end smartphones, those that are currently bachelor or are on their way out, utilise a singular grill with one speaker output design. I'd look this flagship class equalizer to go all out and try new ideas that would ramp up the overall soundstage. Functioning wise, the Huawei P9 on loudspeaker fashion is softer than I imagine. I used the honour 7, a flagship under the Huawei sub-make, as my daily driver earlier this review and that had a more wholesome audio delivery.

With incoming calls, everything sounded just right.

Thankfully, this shortfall has been covered because of one very specific reason: the Huawei P9 packs in a main camera array that Huawei and Leica worked together on.

Photographic camera: It's a Leica!

This aspect of the Huawei P9 is both highly anticipated and controversial. Many look forrad to what this Dual-Lens 12MP camera array as to offer since it boldly carries the Leica branding. At the same time, it is considering of the professional camera proper name that most question how exactly it contributed to the evolution to this interesting partnership.

Another feature that drew attention to this joint venture is how the chief photographic camera is not every bit straightforward as the competition. Where previous iterations use a depth camera every bit an accompaniment to the principal shooter, what Huawei and Leica did is equip the Huawei P9 with an individual RGB and monochrome sensor to ensure sharp, crisp, and bright snaps are taken. Understandably, the old is used to capture pictures that have infrequent colour balancing. Every bit for the latter, it is supposed to generate deeper blacks and richer white hues that make sure grey tones pop out more than, making them more visible.

In terms of user performance, I have to say that the Huawei P9 impresses me to no end. Starting up the camera app is virtually seamless and the same goes for when I switch from the rear-facing Dual-Lens 12MP shooter to the forepart-loaded 8MP snapper. Almost all the photos I took with both cameras turned out to exist pretty crawly.

Daytime shots came out vivid while dark shots, and even those in low-lite, had minimal noise. I peculiarly dearest the Manual Fashion that the Huawei P9 camera app offers as it provides some semblance of command over how I want the settings to be. This allowed me to take the shots I want with relative ease and is one of the main reasons shots in dim environments are a non-upshot.

Cheers to the RGB and monochrome lenses, most of the photos taken expect absolutely stunning. When zoomed in at 100% in that location is no colour vignette or distortion over the pixels. This can be seen specially in night shots where the dual camera system work to bring out almost, if not all, the details in a not so well-lit environment.

In the hands of an expert, photos of the Milky way accept been taken every bit well. Keep in mind that the photos below are taken at Carey Isle, Selangor—a developed Malaysian state infamous for its massive light pollution.

As for the front 8MP shooter, it should not be under-estimated as everything turned out vivid and bursting with clarity.

Video recording is a mixed bag for me as I captured some decent clips on the Huawei P9 but nothing likewise impressive. It can record in Full HD and have no bug in well-lit areas. It is in dark locations when things get a little tricky as the quality drops slightly. Personally, this new Huawei flagship should be used for what information technology does best—stills.

Battery: All in a Twenty-four hour period

For what it is worth, the bombardment used on the Huawei P9—all 3,000mAh—is fully utilised in all aspects. Even with multiple games running, twenty-four hour period-long employ of social media apps like Facebook and Twitter, and chatting on multiple instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype, the battery lasted close to a mean solar day after existence fully charged the night before.

Multiple checks throughout the review run showed that the battery would run from 100% to near flat for about xi hours or so. On standby with minimal deportment, the Huawei P9 managed to last close to two and a half days before needing to be plugged in.

The Huawei P9 has a quick charge ability due to the Huawei Kirin 955 chipset used inside. It's unfortunate that the Quick Charging Adapter isn't included. If it is, this new flagship is able to go from ten% to threescore% nether 30 minutes. I'g pretty certain the bombardment can get back to 100% under an hour.

Determination: The All-time Notwithstanding

If anything, the Huawei P9 is, past far, the best smartphone I have ever laid my eyes on. Coupled with the equally as competent user experience and first-class photograph-taking features, this flagship is the very definition of perfection. While it does autumn brusk in some aspects, similar the overheating on occasion or slightly dismal soundstage, the other positives more than fabricated up for them.

All in all, the Huawei P9 and its larger variant, the Huawei P9 Plus, are more than up to the task of giving the Chinese networking turned smart device brand the much needed heave it needs to be a premium industry player. In that location is also a Huawei P9 lite in the wild that specifically targets users who want a taste of grade that the main flagships offer but cannot afford information technology just yet. While the specs have been downgraded, information technology even so holds its own inside the mid-range category and does well plenty to keep a positive impression for Huawei.

For me, it'due south most definitely a Huawei.