Huawei Honor 9: Our first take

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Huawei Honor 9

It’s time to properly introduce Honor, the sister brand to Huawei, which is starting to make a serious impact in the smartphone world. The two share technology, production facilities, and logistics; but the devices, marketing, and fan base are totally different. Think of Honor like Mini to Huawei’s BMW, and you’ve got it right. The Honor 9 is its latest model, and it may be about to take the crown of “top premium, affordable smartphone,” away from OnePlus. Yes, it really is shaping up to be that good. Here’s our Honor 9 hands-on review.

Gorgeous design

Even if we can see the influence of everything from the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and the Xiaomi Mi5, to the HTC U11’s color scheme, the Honor 9 is a real beauty. The color you see here is sapphire blue, and it’s the one to buy because of the way it catches, reflects, and seems to soak up the light. The back of the phone is made from 2.5D curved glass, but with even deeper curves at the edges — Honor calls it 3D glass. It has been through 15 different diamond polishing layers to create the end effect. The color extends all the way around the phone, and it looks fantastic.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Honor 9 is comfortable in the hand, and although it has a super smooth glass body, it’s not too slippery. It does get covered in fingerprints though, and Honor supplies a see-through case for it in the box, providing protection from your grubby hands. The screen measures 5.15-inches, and it makes the Honor 9 almost perfectly-sized. It has a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, with a 428 pixel-per-inch ratio. It looked bright, sharp, and attractive in our time with the phone, and was even easy to see in direct sunlight. The fingerprint sensor is well-placed in the home button, which is like the Huawei P10’s seamless touchpad, and has been covered in sapphire glass for a scratch-free life.

Huawei technology

Dig into the specifications and Huawei’s technology makes itself known. The processor is the Kirin 960, which is also found in the Huawei P10 and Mate 9, along with the Honor 8 Pro. It’s joined by 4GB of RAM. There have been some tweaks from when the Kirin chip was inside the Honor 8 Pro, resulting in an 18 percent performance improvement, and 15 percent better efficiency. The Honor 9 runs Android 7.0 Nougat, with Huawei’s much improved EMUI 5.1 interface over the top. It also includes the same long-term speed-boosting algorithms too, ensuring the phone’s performance remains consistent over time.

Dig into the specifications and Huawei’s technology makes itself known.

We only had a brief time with the Honor 9, but it performed very well throughout the operating system, from accessing apps to using the camera. Like the Honor 8, it’s a dual-lens camera on the back of the phone, and this time Honor has borrowed the same hardware from the Huawei P10. That means there’s a 20-megapixel monochrome lens alongside a 12-megapixel RGB lens. Further enhancing the gorgeous look of the phone is the decision to embed the lenses behind the glass, giving a super-smooth finish, while avoiding unsightly camera bumps.

The cameras offered the same attractive color pictures, and the same beautiful black and white images as on the Huawei P10, along with the excellent bokeh blurred background effect. The Honor 9 also has Live Story mode, which we recently saw on the Huawei Nova 2. It’s like Apple’s Live Photos as it creates a two second video clip rather than a static still picture. While we like it, and enjoy watching them on our phones, the sharing options on social networks are minimal and limits its potential. The GoPro Quik video editing app is onboard, ready to make video collages from your activities.

Other features of the Honor 9 that stand out include the 3,200mAh battery with fast charging, which promises to zip to 40 percent capacity in 30 minutes. It’s not quite up there with Huawei’s own SuperCharge system, or OnePlus’s Dash Charge, but certainly better than having no fast charging at all. Also, on the software side, Honor is promising a timely update to Android O when it’s released to the public this fall.

No high-price shocks

All that should have established the Honor 9’s tech credentials, and leave some waiting for a high-price shock. Remember, this is Honor, a brand which sells great hardware at sensible prices, and the Honor 9 is no exception. It’s 380 British pounds, which converts over to about $480. Sadly, the Honor 9 hasn’t been given a U.S. release date, which is a shame; but the converted price isn’t as competitive as it is in the U.K.

Huawei Honor 9 Compared To

OnePlus 5

LG G6

Motorola Moto E4

Huawei Nova 2 Plus

ZTE Blade V8 Pro

HTC U11

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X

Huawei Honor 8 Pro

Samsung Galaxy S8

HTC U Ultra

Huawei P10

Lenovo Moto G5 Plus

ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe Special…

HTC 10

Nexus 6

The OnePlus 5, traditionally a smartphone bargain, has crept up in price and in the U.K. starts at 450 British pounds. The Honor 9 is technically very similar, and we’d say it looks considerably better than the heavily iPhone-influenced OnePlus 5. We highly rate the new OnePlus, and need to spend more time with the Honor 9 to see how it compares everyday; but at this early time it’s shaping up to be a serious competitor. Now all we need is for Honor to do the right thing and release it in the U.S. too.