Although Huawei is not a popular name among households for smartphones, the manufacturer has some really interesting handsets with really appealing specifications.
One of the latest offerings is the Huawei P9 that is slated for release in May 2016. There are two other smartphones in this series – the Huawei P9 Lite and the Huawei P9 Plus. As can be expected, the device is one of the company’s high end gadgets and is a part of the P line range of smartphones. Let us look at what the Huawei P9 promises its customers. This can help to make a right choice when contemplating on buying the handset.
Design, Body Material, Dimensions and Weight
Huawei has always been focusing on making its P series handsets feature a clear cut angular design. This has become more and more prominent as newer smartphones in this line are released. Housed in an aluminum metal body with slightly curved glass borders and soft corners, the P9 will undoubtedly sport the best looks among all the releases so far. Additionally, the edges appear to bequite thin while the corners are said to be quite soft. Overall, the unibody appears as if it is made of plastic because of its tacky texture and has a sandblast finish.
Owing to its 145 x 70 x 6.95 mm dimensions and 144g body weight, the Huawei P9 is very light and sleek, which in turn will make it quite compact when compared to various other Android smartphones in the market.
Screen Display, Pixel Resolution, and Pixel Density
Because the display is stated to have really narrow bezels, the handset will feature an above average screen-to-body ratio. The P9 is reported to make its entry with a standard 5.2-inch screen that is based on Full HD IPS LCD display technology. Moreover, the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 ensures that the screen is resistant to scratches. Interestingly, if ongoing talks are trustable, the Huawei P9 shall also have a very pretty decent pixel resolution and pixel density of 1920 x 1080 and 424ppi respectively. The edges of the display will also exhibit a soft feel because of the 2.5D design. The only flip side is that when the smartphone is used in bright sunlight during the day time, the display tends to get a bit blurry because of the glare.
Rear and Front Cameras
According to all reports available so far about the Huawei P9, the cameras are the key highlight of the smartphone. There are talks about the handset integrating two BSI sensor Leica cameras of 12MP each on its rear panel above the fingerprint sensor.While one camera is designed to focus on capturing monochrome shots, the other will exclusively concentrate on delivering color shots. The glass panel covering the lenses of the two cameras is also more than likely to be made of Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Using Leica style photography, shots are anticipated to have unmatched clarity and render brighter colors and better light. The front snapper also appears to be promising as an 8MP shooter. With fairly wide angle and really sharp shots, video calls and selfies can only be at the best with the P9.
Hardware and Software
The upcoming Huawei smartphone is stated to come with an octa core Kirin 955 processor, which comprises two quad core processors that will clock at 2.5GHz and 1.8GHz.Estimated to give users two buying options of 3GB and 4GB, the smartphone provides internal memory of 32GB in either case. Both handsets will support further memory expansion with a microSD memory card to a ceiling of 128GB.
Users will be able to take maximum advantage of Android’s updates with its very own latest Marshmallow installed in the P9. Also, your screen will look different because of the changes in the way quick settings, home screen settings menu and notifications appear. This will be integrated with the manufacturer’s very own Emotion UI to provide the user with various handy tools and themes. A major drawback is that this UI can be very heavy and take time to load. Also, because it changes the Android layout completely, first time Huawei users may need some time to find their way out working with the handset.
Battery
Surprisingly for its sleek appearance, the Huawei P9 will support a 3,000 mAh non-removable battery. The handset will feature a reversible USB Type C connectivity option that can be used for fast charging of the smartphone.
Others
One of the distinct features in the P9 smartphone is that the fingerprint sensor can be configured to function as a menu button.