Place it within Rs 30,000-35,000, and it becomes an automatic recommendation, says Himanshu Juneja
The year 2016 can indeed be labelled as the watershed moment in the timeline of mobile phones. This stands especially true for the Android handsets, as not only the well known brands, but even the relatively new entrants are trying to woo customers with their best foot forward.
Huawei has been dormant by the general standard. With the release of Huawei P9, it looks like the company is trying to make up for the quiet days. The handset is Huawei's flagship model, and comes choc-a-block with features.
Clearly, the phone has been armed to ensure a good showing with the heightened competition. But can the Huawei P9's dual camera set up, competent battery back up and a capable fingerprint take on the reigning heavyweights?
Let's find out.
Design
Definitely, the P9 is Huawei's best designed phone. Aircraft grade aluminium built, chamfered edges, slim profile, and a slim visor at the back. The fingerprint scanner placement on the back is spot on, allowing for easy access.
Overall, premium stuff and a definite looker.
Button placement
The left side carries the single SIM and microSD card tray. The right side has the power and volume buttons.
Bottom edge has been populated with the USB Type C port and the 3.5 mm audio jack. Full marks to to Huawei for keeping things simple.
Display
A 5.2-inch IPS LCD, with FULL HD 1080x1920p resolution. Comes with good brightness and good viewing angles, still, not the best in the class.
Good contrast and colour reproduction saves it the blushes. Another plus is that the screen is fortified with Corning Gorilla glass protection.
Specifications
Carries Huawei's home brewed Octa Core Kirin 955 chipset. Four Cortex A-72 clocked at 2.5 Ghz, with four Cortex A-53 clocked at 1.8 Ghz. Mali-T880 MP4 for GPU.
All this combined with 3GB of RAM, and 32 GB of storage space (expandable by another 256 GB).
Connectivity
A 4G enabled handset, it comes with the options like Wi-Fi 802.11 (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, and USB Type-C connector. Sadly, NFC and radio options failed to make the cut on the Huawei P9.
Software
The handset chugs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, with Huawei's custom Emotion UI (EMUI) 4.1 atop.
Carries some good features like fingerprint scanner allowing the users to navigate some menus, harassment filter for blocking calls/messages.
Useful one handed mode, car mode with large icons, glove mode for bikers etc. App locking is possible too.
Performance
Not the fastest around, but the in house Kirin chip doesn't disappoints. The switching between apps is smooth and swift, and so is the day to day performance. Prolonged sessions of HD content viewing and gaming did raised the temperature somewhat.
Fingerprint scanner and speaker
The scanner on the Huawei P9 is pretty fast and accurate. Also, swifting through the gallery and notifications was made easy with the scroll option.
Speaker is just about good, but thankfully, the headphones doled out better audio output.
Camera
Two 12MP lenses on the rear. The latter is without the colour filter, making the monochromatic sensor grab 3x more light.
The software combines the details from the two for the final picture. Users can take monochromatic picture as well.
The captured results had details plentifully, with stunning low light photography as well. But zoom in, and grains become very visible. Still a quality camera.
Camera app
Feature loaded. Users will find a RAW mode, Panorama, Live Bokeh mode, Painting and three primary modes (Standard, vivid, Smooth) to choose from.
Swipe to either access modes, or settings. The app has a certain learning curve, but once settled, it is pretty easy.
Battery
The phone chugs on a non-removable 3000 mAh battery pack. Users can expect a day's backup on a single charge.
Fast charging is supported, but requires the relevant charger to be purchased. ROG power saving mode allows opting for 720p display.
Verdict
- Excellent looks, pretty good camera. That is how I sum up the Huawei P9.
- Place it within Rs 30,000-35,000, and it becomes an automatic recommendation.
- But with no 4K recording, no Quad HD display, and at times tricky camera, it will always be playing catch up against OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi Mi5.
