if you keep Huawei smartphone Mate 9 in hand at the right angle, it looks almost like Galaxy Note 7. In the light of the failure of the latter, I want to hope that he It looks like it only outwardly, but if you forget about the problems with the battery, the device of Samsung was distinguished by a skillful appearance. On the other hand, there are obvious differences between two models.
You are reading a review from the GreenBot.com portal, The original material was published on February 1, 2017.
Do not think that the Chinese manufacturer decided to copy Korean. Even if the design has common features, Huawei Mate 9 has unique advantages. It uses the Huawei's own production processor, the camera under the Leica brand and its own Android Nougat shell. As a result, Huawei shows that it is able to withstand other manufacturers of premium smartphones.
Screen
The main component for each smartphone is the screen, to the MATE 9 and its screen with The diagonal of 5.9 inches is fully true. Above the screen and under it are very thin frames, therefore the large screen fits in a relatively compact package. Screen resolution IPS LCD is only 1080 x 1920 pixels.
Of course, this smartphone can be called compact with stretch. If you are not a fan of the category of tablet phones, Huawei Mate 9 is unlikely to make you love them, but if you like such devices, you should like this. For comparison, it is 2 mm longer and 3 mm wide compared to the Pixel XL model at the same thickness of the case, while the screen size is only half a half.
Lovers of all the best can complain to the pixel density of everything in 373 ppi, but the resolution of 1080p does not spoil the convenience of working with this smartphone. The side glass edges of the device are similar to the Galaxy S7 Edge or Galaxy Note 7, but the screen ends even before the bend begins. The thin case makes it easier to work with a smartphone of such a large size with one hand.
Buttons
With such subtle frames, the developers had to be placed the fingerprint scanner to the opposite side of the body. The scanner is smaller than on Nexus Pixel devices, but this does not prevent it from quickly recognizing a print. It sits unconventionally, about 1/8 inch below the camera and half an inch away from the normal finger placement. For this reason, it is often necessary to change the grip of the device in order to place the finger where it is needed.
If you prefer to use vibration instead of sound, the Mate 9 has a very powerful tactile engine. The vibration is such that you can jump in surprise, so you may want to turn it off. Even the vibration when pressing the keyboard buttons is strong, the intensity slider would not hurt.
There are also physical buttons. The volume rocker and power button are on the right side of the case, but unlike the Google Pixel smartphones, the volume rocker is above the power button. For this reason, users can often confuse them and turn off the screen instead of changing the volume.
Speed
Huawei Mate 9 runs on 8-core processor Huawei Kirin 960. It uses four Cortex- A73 at 2.4GHz and four Cortex-A53 at 1.8GHz. Thanks to him, the interface, applications and games work quickly and smoothly, the device rarely heats up even under the heaviest load. Apps launch quickly, videos play almost seamlessly, live streams are very clean. Benchmarks show performance at the level of Google Pixel, but in everyday use the experience is even better than when working with a smartphone with a Snapdragon 821 processor. For a device with such a large screen, this is quite an engineering feat. If the resolution was not 1080p, this would be the perfect smartphone for the Daydream virtual platform. In the meantime, Google recommends using a Huawei Mate 9 Pro smartphone, where the processor is the same, but the screen resolution is 2K.
Battery life is also impressive. The battery capacity is 4000 mAh, but even this large value may not be enough with such a large screen. Fortunately, these fears were not justified and the smartphone was able to work throughout the day even with a high level of load. Super Charge fast charging technology allows you to quickly charge the device in the morning, from almost zero to almost 100%, it charges in about an hour. Testing showed the operation of the smartphone with the screen on for 9 hours and 38 minutes, which exceeds the capabilities of the Google Pixel XL by almost three hours.
Camera
As a few other flagship smartphones on sale, Huawei Mate 9 has a double rear camera, a monochrome sensor 20 MP and RGB 12 sensor are used. MP. Together they bring the depth and purity of the image. There is also a popular photographing of the brand Leica in the world.
The quality of photographs does not disappoint. Camera features are approximately one level with Galaxy S7 smartphones and Google Pixel. Among the premium functions are offered optical stabilization images and 2x Optical zoom, there are simple manual configuration elements, so experts will be able to take photos to their taste.
Even if you use automatic settings, photos are coming clear and saturated. Some images are increasing compared to photos on the Pixel smartphone, but it does not cause any complaints of the level of detail and focus even with weak lighting. Portrait mode is not limited to persons, it is possible to change the depth of the image, which does not know even iPhone. F / 2.2 lights leads to some blurring of the image with weak lighting, but optical stabilization and double LED flash support quality at a good level.
The camera with a resolution of 8 MP with several functions for selfie is located. Autofocus helps to shoot several people simultaneously, the decoration mode improves the skin. When shooting in the dark, the screen lights up white, which is used as an outbreak.
These cameras do not contain anything innovative in themselves, which does not prevent them from being among the leaders in the mobile photography market.
Software
All this would not matter with a bad operating system. The Huawei EMUI 5.0 interface is used here. Although this is a good shell, she is unlikely to be satisfied with the fans with a clean version of Android.
Huawei Usually, a lot changes in their shell, it was on Android Marshmallow, so it remains on Android Nougat. Judging by the icons, animations and gestures, EMUI 5 is based on Android 7.0, while changing almost every aspect of the operating system.
The system looks quite pleasant and small touches add to her intuitiveness. For example, the + icon after the last application in the folder allows you to quickly select one of the recently used applications and add it to the folder without having to drag manually. There is an index in the address book style to the right of the application list, which allows you to switch to a specific letter. When you open a multitasking carousel, a small window shows the amount of RAM and allows you to free it with the closing of unnecessary tabs by one pressing. Complete the feeling of transitions and animation.
Digital Assistant
Thoughtful customizable interface, navigation and gestures carry the feeling that Huawei Mate 9 is less than it is in fact. In addition to unnecessary preset applications, you can complain that the icons are too skierphic, but the simplicity and elegance of the interface replenish this disadvantage.
In the test version of the smartphone, the ALEXA digital assistant has not yet worked. This is the first smartphone with the support of Amazon Alexa, which has so far been only in household appliances, but will it interact with Google services? Is it possible to give voice commands to third-party applications or only Amazon's programs? Will synchronization of data with household devices?
Digital assistants gradually become important components of smartphones and Alexa can become a strong or weak side of Huawei Mate 9.
Is it worth buying this smartphone?
This is a difficult question. This apparatus can be called one of the best in its price category, but it has some drawbacks. For example, in the United States there may be problems with support for mobile networks, although Russian users carefully worries.
On the other hand, the smartphone costs $ 250 less compared to the Galaxy Note 7 and in the light it looks very attractive. Although the price of $ 600 is still high, such a device would have done the honor of any global manufacturers of smartphones. It is difficult to find another smartphone with a 5.9-inch screen, on which it would be just as convenient to work. Such a smartphone could easily cost $ 800, then its manufacturers would most likely samsung or Google.
The success of Huawei Mate 9 will largely depend on the quality of integration with the ALEXA digital assistant. If everything is done as needed, the device will receive an attractive functional opportunity, which will be advantageous to distinguish it from competing smartphones. If the assistant will only fad or work poorly, the smartphone will remain another model from China, which few people buys outside of this country.
Pros:
- Small frames around the screen;
- Huawei EMUI 5.0 user interface;
- Excellent duration of autonomous work.
Minuses:
- Unusual position of the power button and Volume controller.
