Getting Started with Huawei P9: a promising first step of Leica in the world of smartphone? – Frandroid

Subject rumors for many months now, the P9 Huawei has passed on the Mobile World Congress to prefer a more intimate event in London, where he could be the one headliner. “Unique”, not really, since he appeared alongside his cousin, P9 Plus. We had the opportunity to take over the two units to form our first opinion on them.

For its P9 P9 Plus, Huawei saw it big with its London conference and brought together journalists from around the world. Yet it is in a relaxed and without pressure that we had the opportunity to play with new smartphones of the brand for several tens of minutes.

Technical

more P9 P9 and are similar in many ways, but the second brings, as its name suggests, some elements more. Larger screen, larger battery, but especially his screen Force Touch, inherited Mate S Press Touch.

Model	Huawei P9	Huawei P9 Plus
Android version	Android 6.0 Marshmallow	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
manufacturer Interface	Emotion UI 4.1	Emotion UI 4.1
screen size	5.2 inches (2.5D)	5.5 inches (2.5D)
definition	1920 x 1080 pixels	1920 x 1080 pixels
pixel density	423 dpi	400dpi
Technology	IPS LCD	Super AMOLED Force Touch
scratch-resistant coating	TBD	TBD
SoC	Kirin 955	Kirin 955
Processor (CPU)	4x Cortex-A53 and 4x Cortex-A72	4x Cortex-A53 and 4x Cortex-A72
Chip Graph (GPU)	Mali T-880	Mali T-880
Memory (RAM)	3 GB or 4 GB	4 GB
internal memory (flash)	32 GB or 64 GB	64 GB
microSD	Yes	Yes
Camera (dorsal)	Double-sensor 12 Megapixels	Double-sensor 12 Megapixels
Camera (front)	8 Megapixels	8 Megapixels
video recording	1080p @ 30fps	1080p @ 30fps
Wi-Fi	802.11 a / b / g / n / ac	802.11 a / b / g / n / ac
Bluetooth	4.1	4.1
Networks	LTE (category specify)	LTE (category specify)
SIM	2 × nano-SIM 1x or nano-SIM + 1x microSD	2 × nano-SIM or nano-SIM + 1x 1x microSD
NFC	Yes	Yes
fingerprint Sensor	Yes, back	Yes, back
Ports (inputs / outputs)	micro-USB Type-C	micro-USB Type-C
Geolocation	A-GPS	A-GPS
Battery	3000 mAh	3400 mAh
DAS	N / A	N / A
Dimensions	145 x 70.9 x 6.95 mm	152.3 x 75.3 x 6.98 mm
weight	144 grams	162 grams
colors	gray, white	gray, white
Price	599 or 649 euros ( in France, 549 euros	749 euros

A design finesse

as for its P8 last year, Huawei emphasized the premium quality of its P9 and the word does not appear usurped. P9 P9 and more feature a hull “unibody” metal (or ceramic white model), very soft and warm to the touch. His back is simply covered with a thin glass strip on its top to protect both objectives and its flash and laser autofocus.

In their slightly rounded edges, their screen 2 5D and exemplary finesse (less than 7 mm), and P9 P9 Plus are very pleasant to handle and no edge just beyond under the finger or skin palm. Suffice to say here that Huawei shows its expertise in the design field and proves once again that the brand has come a huge way in a few years.

Despite the small size, it emerges an overall strength of printing, with the exception perhaps of the corners which seem slightly more fragile, as is the case on most devices also purposes.

the arrangement of the various elements is also sober and well thought out with a discreet infrared port on the upper edge, a single drawer SIM / micro SD on the left side and the volume buttons and power on the right. The latter is also slightly striated, making it easily identifiable fingertip. Finally, the bottom edge houses the 3.5 mm Jack port, a USB Type-C and its unique speaker.

Finally, the screen shows qualitative both in its version of IPS LCD (P9) that Super AMOLED (P9 Plus). The colors are bright and contrasting, brightness is high and the viewing angles allow a very good readability, whatever the conditions. Its banks are for their very fine, although a thin black band is added to the frame itself, which further reduces its impressive side. Part Force Touch seems meanwhile enough anecdotal and deserves a more precisely that we lean it at our full review of P9 Plus.

Marshmallow and EMUI

Huawei does not surprise the software side and the presence is noted on P9 P9 and More Android 6.0 Marshmallow well as EMUI 4.1 the home interface builder. The regulars of the mark will not be confused, since these are versions already available elsewhere, like on the Mate 8.

Emotion UI is one of China’s most interfaces worked. If it lacks an application drawer, which could in some cool (even if it can be solved by installing an alternative launcher), the few new additions such as finding application of a slip of the finger, the management of rapid settings, the Client or customization of the navigation bar are very nice additions.

it should be noted as always the presence of many unwanted applications (but désinstallables) as a part of the catalog Gameloft, a theme manager and a health app a little more sophisticated than previous smartphones from the manufacturer.

the Kirin 955 in action

first approached with Kirin 950 Huawei and P9 P9 Plus are actually equipped with Kirin 955 processor to which a octacore are coupled 3-4 GB of RAM depending on model. We await further testing to rule more, but our few minutes of use were convincing on the interface and even with a dozen applications running in the background, the interface switches from one to the another without the slightest jolt. Early benchmarks suggest also predict that it could compete with the best current smartphones such as the Galaxy S7 and Mi 5, although its GPU is still behind.

Also note that this processor seems heat very quickly and tasks as simple as capturing pictures and web browsing warm the phone in minutes. Again, further testing will allow us to say more soon about it.

Huawei allied with Leica

But the main asset of this P9 is its partially camera designed with the expertise of Leica, the famous German manufacturer whose reputation is second to none. The participation of the latter in the smartphone’s design remains rather vague, knowing that neither the sensor nor the lenses are not of his making.

But what really is the picture of the P9? Such a device obviously deserves a more thorough test, but our initial tests we leave a little to be desired. After such a hype around the P9 the camera, we were expecting a real innovation. In fact, it is not. With two Sony 12 Megapixel sensor – with a monochrome – and two goals, the P9 is capable of both the best less good (no, not the worst, not exaggerating)

. the close-ups are generally very good, with good sharpness on the target point and a gradual blurring of the rest of the image, as would be expected with a quality camera. In any consideration of wider plans and / or more distant in contrast, sharpness deteriorates fairly quickly and a quick review of images reveals a glaring lack of detail in many places.

To which is the mode of development selection, the pride of Huawei, the result is rather mixed. If he can recognize and isolate a topic without creating a fixed delimitation as may be the case with applications like Instagram (which offers linear or circular blur), the fact that it is a software processing feels very often, both in quality of the blur that its border with the net area. Sold as a professional photographic element, this mode ultimately lacks credibility and is intended primarily to artists seeking herbs greatly exaggerated effect. However, by setting the fine, it is sometimes possible to get a convincing result.

Apart from the fun gimmick, there are also several other modes of shooting, from Pan usual, Cliché Light Painting or night (already available on other brand devices) very nice Monochrome. This is also where lies the real strength of this camera module, which is capable of rendering a picture in a true black and white effect, far from the 50 shades of gray that are usually obtained. The eye will be exercised immediately the difference with great pleasure. Enough to forget that the HDR mode is for its very anecdotal and not change almost nothing to the result.

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Conclusion

After a few hours now spent with this phone, we can only praise the work of Huawei on this terminal that exudes quality and good intentions. All are however not accomplished as we would wish and the photo section in particular is relatively disappointing compared to the promises made by the manufacturer in his lecture. He nevertheless announced as an excellent price / quality ratio and deserves one illuminates some shadows in a more comprehensive test to see if he is able to hold a candle to the largest of the moment.