➤ Honor 9X, the review 🎮

We have known perfectly well for some time now how difficult it is to keep up with the pace of the Android smartphone, which mainly due to Chinese manufacturers is literally flooded every year with dozens and dozens of models that often differ only in some details. Huawei is certainly one of the "culprits" of this situation, and indeed this new one Honor 9X having reached the end of 2019, it contributes to making the scene even more crowded. Nevertheless, the quality tends to always emerge, which is why a "level" smartphone, even if belonging to the medium-low range, would certainly have several chances to show off even in the midst of the crowd. So let's find out, thanks to ours review of the Honor 9X, if this is actually the case, or if we are destined to face only "one of many" destined to oblivion within a few months.

Design and screen

Honor 9X continues the process of "optimization", to put it in a polite way, of the resources already available from Huawei, recovering most of the forms and contents of the previous one P Smart Z released a few months ago. The display is the same 6.59 "LCD FHD + and resolution 2340 x 1080 which, despite the fairly thin bezels, determines a product with an important footprint, rather bulky and therefore certainly not suitable for those who appreciate small cell phones; in detail, the measurements are 77.2 x 163.1 x 8.8 mm. Conversely, the wide diagonal is optimal for using video content, like Netflix and the like: although far from the performance of Amoled panels, this LCD is still more than discreet with good well saturated colors, excellent level of detail and a brightness that is amply sufficient and such as to guarantee readability even under direct light. Some limitations come out when you don't look at it directly, because the viewing angle is quite small. Like the P Smart Z, the Honor 9X also adopts the retractable front camera solution, via an automated pop-up module. This obviously means that there is no notch or similar punch holes, leaving the entire area of the screen completely available: a further point in favor for those who use the smartphone a lot with photos and videos, and who will certainly appreciate this choice by the Chinese engineers. For the rest, the design is extremely banal, as it now seems inevitable in the vast majority of mobile phones in recent years: if we have already said about the front part, the back is in fact characterized by a smooth surface interrupted only by the fingerprint sensor placed in the usual area in the upper center, therefore easily reachable from the index during the taking, and from the main photographic apparatus. Along the frame the volume keys, power, the USB-C socket, the headphone jack and the mono speaker. Let's briefly close the speech on the fingerprint sensor by confirming how fast and reliable it is, as on the other hand it is reasonable to expect for a technology that is now widely tested. It is worth underlining, however, that this is in fact the only quick release method available since, for some strange reason, face recognition via front camera is not contemplated which is instead present in other smartphones with pop-up front camera. .

Hardware and Performance

The data sheet instead as regards the "beating heart" of the device offers a SoC Kirin 710F accompanied by 4GB RAM: considering the list price of € 249, already further tweaked by the street price of the various sellers, it is a discreet equipment that still allows the smartphone to perform the tasks required by the average user efficiently. Of course, in our test there were some hesitations and some small slowdowns in stressful situations or whipping the mobile phone, but honestly it is nothing dramatic keeping in mind the audience to whom the product is aimed. Well instead side Gaming, also thanks to the support of the Turbo 3.0 GPU; titles like Call of Duty Mobile run brilliantly without giving the side to criticism. The excellent build quality gives the feeling of being in front of a higher level smartphone, which is why for "normal" use the Honor 9X is certainly not a bad proposition. The internal memory is 128GB UFS 2.1, therefore pretty fast both in reading and writing, and can be further expanded via Micro SD. The slot dedicated to the latter and the Nano SIM is then triple, that is, it allows you to also equip the second SIM and the memory card without forcing you to choose one or the other. The absence of NFC module, however, present on the twin P Smart Z, which prevents the use of a feature that is now increasingly widespread and which can significantly reduce the attractiveness of the product to some users. On the other hand, theautonomy, which through a 4000 mAh battery but above all through the good optimization work done by the manufacturer allows you to reach well beyond the full day, also allowing you to aim for two days in conditions of not intense use. However, wireless charging is not supported, which is quite predictable given the price range.

Photo and video

The component photographic it rests on a triple sensor, with the main one from 48 megapixels (the 48 must however be activated by the options, otherwise by default it clicks to 12) + a wide angle of 8 and one of 2 for the depth. It should be borne in mind then that, by activating the 48MP, you have to give up important options such as any type of Zoom, Moving Images, Sequential Shots and the AI Camera. Taking into account the cost of the smartphone there is in any case little to complain about, especially as regards the shots through the main sensor which are very well defined, sharp and with a convincing management of the lights. There night mode then it helps a lot to compensate for the limitations in low light conditions. The wide-angle is undoubtedly less convincing, but limiting its use to well-lit scenes can give satisfactions from a creative point of view. Finally, the front pop-up module is just enough, which is only good for selfies and video calls presenting several limitations when asked for something more. Videos can be recorded up to 1080p to 60fps: in this case, however, it is possible to use only the main sensor, while you must go down to at least 30fps in order to also include the wide angle. The results are not great, however, especially with the latter. In all cases, however, there is a modest brightness of the shots and only sufficient work of the digital stabilizer called AI Video; it remains to be seen whether future updates will improve the situation. Little to say about the operating system, Android 9 Pie with the usual EMUI 9.0 which has now had its day; Fortunately, the Honor 9X is on the roadmap for the EMUI 10 with Android 10 which should arrive in the next few weeks, being already available through beta by invitation. Since we are talking about Huawei then, it is worth emphasizing how all the Google Apps and the Play Store, thus allowing you to use the product "out of the box" without problems.

Comment

Price 249 €

Resources4Gaming.com

7.4

Honor 9X is a good smartphone, sold at a price that is all in all correct: the € 249 list, already retouched by some sellers, is a fair amount for a well-built, solid device, which is worth what it costs. Certainly it does not stand out in any particular element, but neither does it have major defects, except for the absence of NFC which is less and less acceptable at the gates of 2020 and for a video quality that is not free from criticism. For those who do not have great needs it can therefore represent an interesting choice, although it must be recognized that the competition in this range is really very, very fierce.