The year 2018 is not over yet, but Huawei has been already ahead with their latest offering from their Y family of Android phones, the Huawei Y9 2019 edition.
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| Huawei Y9 2019 Review; Ahead of Time |
The Huawei Y9 2019 is the top-of-the-line in the series, it sports good specs and affordable asking price, which is comparable to higher Huawei smartphone line, and that from Honor like the Honor 8x. That said, we try it for a spin, and here is our assessment. Read our comprehensive review to learn more.
PHYSICAL:
Huawei Y9 2019 Unboxing and Hands-on
The design of the Y9 2019 is somewhat similar to this year's releases of Huawei/Honor devices, mainly because of the familiar notch design, particularly the Huawei Nova 3i and Honor 8X. But, once you get hold of it, and take a closer inspection, you will notice that there are lots of differences. For one, the front is now covered with 3D glass that curves and wraps around the aluminum frame. The same holds true at the phone's back cover. In comparison, the 3i and 8X have flatter front and back. Nevertheless, it looks premium, and pleasing to the eyes, just like its two cousins. By the way, we mentioned the other two handsets due to several things that they share together, but we will talk about it later.
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| Front |
The front is mainly occupied by the large 6.5-inch IPS panel with FHD+ resolution that is 2340 x1080 pixels, and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. There is no mention about any kind of glass protection, but there is a pre-installed screen plastic film. The side bezels are small, so is the lower chin, thanks to the on-screen buttons and rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. The top portion just above the notch and near the edge is the earpiece grill, while the dual selfie snappers and sensors are placed directly below it.
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| Notch, Earpiece, Dual Front Cameras |
The Full View display offers bright output that is more than suitable for outdoor viewing, about 70% or 80% is enough to read texts or view the contents even under direct sunlight, however, it tends to be reflective at times.
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| Display Settings and Features |
There are also lots of options to tweak it, you can change the color temperature, adjust the resolution from FHD+ to HD+ in order to save power, hide the notch, and more. There is also an Eye Comfort mode, which, according to Huawei, is certified by TUV Rheinland to ensure great, yet gentle visual experience.
Also Read: Huawei Y5 Lite Now Available in the Philippines
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| Back |
While the frame is made of aluminum, the back cover is crafted from plastic, which is smudge magnet and prone to micro scratches, so better use the free silicon case included in the package. It is available in Midnight Black, Aurora Purple, and Sapphire Blue, which is the one we have. The dual rear cameras are placed vertically on top on one another with the LED flash below just, the Huawei logo at the lower left, and the fingerprint at the upper portion horizontally centered, which are similar placements found in the Nova 3i. The camera modules are not completely level with the surface, it is slightly embossed by about 0.5mm.
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| The bottom has the loudspeaker, MicroUSB port, primary microphone, and 3.5mm audio jack |
The secondary microphone is placed at the top, the volume keys and power button are on the right side, the tray that can hold two Nano SIMs and a MicroSD card is on the left, while the loudspeaker grille, MicroUSB port, primary microphone, and 3.5mm audio jack are all located at the bottom.
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| Retail Package |
It measures 162.4mm x 77.1mm x 8.1mm, which is bigger in all aspects when compared to Honor 8X dimensions of 160.4mm x 76.6mm x 7.8mm, but about 2 grams lighter at 173 grams versus 175 grams. To learn more, you can watch our unboxing video above, and read our Huawei Y9 (2019) versus Honor 8X comparison article.
SOFTWARE:
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| Interface |
It runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Huawei's proprietary EMIU 8.2.0 skin, the same thing found in the Nova 3i. Navigating the interface is easy and requires very little learning curve, especially if you are an Android user in the past, and practically the same with other Huawei phones in the market. It comes pre-installed with lots of applications, such as Huawei apps, Google apps, Facebook, Messenger, Netflix, Booking.com, and Lordsmobile. Sadly, most of them cannot be uninstalled without rooting the device.
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| Software |
We also do not know if it will be updated to EMUI 9, since that version is based on Android 9.0 Pie. But, if you want to learn more about it, you can simply visit https://consumer.huawei.com/en/emui/
PERFORMANCE:
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| CPU-Z Info |
The Huawei Y9 2019 uses their very own HiSilicon Kirin 710 chipset based on 12nm FinFET process, which is the same silicon chip found inside the Nova 3i and Honor 8X. It packs an octa core processor composed of four Cortex-A73 CPU clocked at 2.2GHz each, and another four Cortex-A53 CPU clocked lower at 1.7GHz each, and bundled with the ARM Mali-G51MP4 GPU. It also has 4GB of RAM to ensure multitasking is handled smoothly, along with 64GB of internal storage for apps and games.
Below are the benchmark results:
Antutu - 123,484
Geekbench - 1,616 (single core)
Geekbench - 5,208 (multi core)
Geekbench - 4,160 (RenderScript)
PC Mark - 7,100
3D Mark Sling Shot - 1,138
3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme - 1,084 (Vulkan)
3DMark Sling Shot Extreme - 937 (OpenGL ES 3.1)
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited – 17,266
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme - Max
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| Benchmark Scores |
As expected the scores are pretty much the same with that of the Nova 3i, and just slightly lower when compared to devices equipped with MediaTek Helio P60 chipset like the OPPO F9 and Cherry Mobile Flare S7 Plus.
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| Asphalt 9 |
In terms of actual usage, navigating the interface and switching between multiple apps are smooth and very responsive. Playing graphics-heavy and resources-hungry games like Asphalt 9, NBA2K19, and PUBG Mobile, even in high settings, are enjoyable because of the hardly noticeable dropped frames and minor hiccups. Heating is felt at the back, about 40C as per Antutu, more dominantly at the upper half, but it is not alarming, and most probably won't cause any kind of issue at all.
See Also: Huawei Nova 4 to Launch on December 17
Samsung Galaxy A7 2018 versus Huawei Y9 2019
The Face Unlock works as it should, but takes slightly a little longer, especially at dim places, when compared to devices aided with IR sensor. That said, we prefer the use of the ergonomically-positioned fingerprint sensor at the back, because the phone unlocks faster.
CAMERA:
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| Dual Rear Cameras |
One of the highlights of the Huawei Y9 2019 is its quad camera set-up, something that we have seen first with the Nova 3i. It has 13MP with an f-stop of f/1.8 plus 2MP f/2.4 main shooters, and a 16MP module with an aperture of f/2.0 + 2MP f/2.4 front snappers. As per Huawei, these four cameras are equipped with AI technology that can intelligently recognize more than 500 scene types by creating 22 category labels, such as Portrait, Text, Plant, Overcast, and Auto to name a few. And, even though it is not really marketed as a camera-centric phone like the Nova 3i, it still packs tons of modes, such as PRO, Light Painting and Night.
Dual-Rear Camera Samples:
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| Outdoor, Playground - Auto |
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| Outdoor, Playground with HDR |
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| Outdoor, Playground with AI |
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| Outdoor, Snowman - Auto |
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| Outdoor, Snowman with HDR |
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| Outdoor, Snowman with AI |
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| Closeup, Flower - Auto |
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| Closeup, Flower with HDR |
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| Closeup, Flower with AI |
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| Outdoor, Pool - Auto |
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| Outdoor, Pool with HDR |
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| Outdoor, Pool with AI |
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| Night, Pool - Auto |
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| Night, Pool with AI |
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| Night, Pool - Night Mode |
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| Night, Playground - Auto |
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| Night, Playground with AI |
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| Night, Playground - Night Mode |
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| Night, Snowman - Auto |
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| Night, Snowman with AI |
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| Night, Snowman - Night Mode |
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| Night, Christmas Tree - Auto |
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| Night, Christmas Tree with AI |
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| Night, Christmas Tree - Night Mode |
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| Night, Cityscape - Night Mode with Tripod |
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| Night, Cityscape - Night Mode without Tripod (Handheld) |
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| Night, Cityscape - Light Painting |
During daytime or when there is ample lighting, the Y9 2019 is able to produce stunning images with lots of details, whether the shots are taken indoors or outdoors, as long as there is good lighting, you can expect great results. The AI works quite well most of the time, for example, when the AI detects plants, that mode is activated and put more emphasis on the green parts of the frame. Take a close look at the sample images above, when the normal or HDR mode is used, the color of the leaves of trees and plants is lighter, but when the AI is enabled, the greens are darker and a bit saturated.
Meanwhile, shot captured at night or darker environment tends to be less impressive, the details are fewer with noise being evident. The results are the same, whether you are taking the shots in auto, HDR or AI mode. In scenarios like these, it is best to activate the Night mode to capture the subject more accurately. The handheld stabilization at Night mode works well, however, smaller details still tend to be blurry at times (check the windows in the above), especially during long exposure (5 seconds and above). That said, if you want crystal clear night shots, better use a tripod or similar physical stabilizer.
Front Camera Samples:
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| Selfie |
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| Selfie with Bokeh |
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| Low Light Selfie |
Moving on with the front cameras, the Y9 able to give outstanding selfies with the help of AI technology, which you can enhance further with bokeh effect and beauty level. Speaking of bokeh, the background is really washed out as it should giving more emphasis on the subject. However, distance is essential, because there are times that if the shots are taken too close (with bokeh enabled), there are part of the face, mostly the edges, that are affected by the blurring.
Nonetheless, both the back and front cameras are able to deliver above average results, especially when you consider its asking price.
CONNECTIVITY:
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| Dual Nano SIM + MicroSD Card Tray |
It supports two Nano SIM cards with LTE connectivity, and a dedicated slot for storage expansion, which is a plus point for those who love the dual SIM functionality while still having room for a MicroSD card. WiFi with WiFi Direct and WiFi Hotspot is already a standard feature, so as the Bluetooth. It has no FM radio receiver, IR blaster and NFC are both absent too. For wired connections, you will be happy that it still has 3.5mm audio jack, however, Huawei still sticks to MicroUSB port instead of the Type-C one.
Related: Huawei Y9 (2019) versus OPPO A7
BATTERY:
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| Battery Stats and Settings |
The main advantage of the Huawei Y9 2019 over the Nova 3i and Honor 8x is its huge battery, which is 4000mAh versus 3340mAh and 3750mAh respectively. As usual, we run PC Mark battery test, and it scored an outstanding 13 hours and 14 minutes, that's almost 4 hours more than the 3i's 9 hours and 37 minutes. In day to day usage, it always lasts through the day, even under heavy usage, which includes web browsing, social media posting, gaming, and as a WiFi hotspot.
In addition to changing the resolution from FHD+ to HD+, you can also enable the Power Saving mode to prolong the battery life twice as the normal mode, or 4 times longer when the Ultra Power Saving mode is activated.
Meanwhile, charging it to 100% percent took about 2 hours and 40 minutes using the supplied 5V/2A (10W) charger.
CONCLUSION:
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| Huawei Y9 2019 |
Arguably, the Huawei Y9 2019 is definitely the best lower mid-range device you can get in the market today, and in the first few months of the upcoming year. It offers good value for your money with its many winning features, such as great battery life, very capable computing power, and above average camera performance. In fact, there isn't much to complain, especially with its very reasonable asking price.
It is indeed ahead of time, at least when compared to phones within the family, Again, it has great battery life, which is far better than its Nova 3i brother, not to mention more affordable. The same holds true when you pit it against its Honor 8X cousin as it has slightly larger battery capacity and dual front cameras.
Huawei Y9 2019 Specs (Philippines):
- Dual Nano SIM, dual stand-by, supports LTE connectivity
- 6.5-inch IPS FHD+ (2340 x 1080) capacitive touchscreen LCD, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
- Dimensions: 162.4mm x 77.1mm x 8.1mm
- Weight: 173 grams
- EMUI 8.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo
- 64-bit 2.2GHz octa core (4x2.2GHz Cortex-A73 + 4x1.7GHz Cortex-A53) CPU, Mali-G51MP4 GPU, Kirin 710 chipset
- 4GB of ROM
- 64GB internal storage, expandable up to 400GB via MicroSD card, uses dedicated slot
- 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 dual rear cameras with LED flash
- 16MP f/2.0 + 2MP f/2.4 front cameras
- Multimedia Player
- 3.5mm audio jack
- MicroUSB 2.0 with OTG function
- Bluetooth v5.0
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- Sensors: fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
- Battery: 4000mAh Li-Ion, non-removable, supports 5V/2A charging
- Colors: Midnight Black, Sapphire Blue, Aurora Purple
- Price: Php12,990