Up close with Huawei’s massive, meaty Mate 9

The Huawei Mate 9 is a fine example of a flagship.

The Mate 9 shares similar design prospects just like the Mate 8 with metal frames flowing on the sides and a curved 2.5D glass towards the front, along with a matte metal finish at the back.

Though the Mate 9 is a big phone, it feels smaller and light, making it manageable to hold.

Below the camera is a fingerprint sensor. It’s a massive phablet.

“But its performance has been boosted significantly, especially the photo-taking and fast-charging abilities”, Xiang said.

The HUAWEI Mate 9 is a dynamic interplay of industry-leading hardware and advanced software that work together to keep users a step ahead. However, it comes with 1080p 1PS panel which doesn’t sound that good on a phone this size.

Phablets – smartphones with screen sizes over 5.5in- have become more and more popular, showing a trend migration from their Asian origins to the U.S. and Europe. It has an all-metal body construction. It measures 156.90 x 78.90 x 7.90 (height x width x thickness) and weighs 190.00 grams. Huawei devices have been available in the USA off and on for years, mostly as low-end cheap smartphones and mobile hotspot USB sticks sold through carriers like T-Mobile, but for the better part of a couple of years at least, Huawei has had their hand in making some pretty high-end devices. The Mate 9‘s Kirin 960 octa-core SoC is produced by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon. It has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. You will not be able to expand the storage of iPhone 7.

The Huawei Mate 9 combines a 4000 mAh high-density battery with the more energy efficient Kirin 960 and a new generation of Huawei’s Super Charge technology, significantly extending battery life. There’s also a Machine Learning algorithm present to provide better performance by automatically prioritizing CPU, ROM and RAM resources based on user habits. One is a 12MP RGB sensor and one 20MP monochrome sensor. The laser focus and optical image stabilization will contribute to that too. It has a dual-tone LED Flash. The Kirin 960 is created to support the unit’s second generation Leica dual-lens camera with Hybrid Zoom. It allows you to zoom without any loss in picture quality. The main shooter has geo-tagging and face detection features. Furthermore, the rear camera can record video in 2160p at 30fps. The secondary 8 MP selfie snapper comes with autofocus and sensor-activated shutter. Under the hood, the device has a 4000mAh battery with SuperCharge for fast charging. Currently Huawei is the third-biggest smartphone vendor after Apple and world leader Samsung.

For connectivity, the Mate 9 has dual-band Wi-Fi and LTE support, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi Direct support, NFC, and Global Positioning System.

However, it’s unclear whether the Daydream certification applies to both Mate 9 variants. It has a hybrid SIM slot. There is a fingerprint scanner below the camera module which supports Gesture Control. There is also an infrared remote control and a 3.5mm headphone jack (remember them?). It comes with Type-C 1.0 reversible USB-C connector. Furthermore, it also has an accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass sensors.

Wood said that Apple and Samsung were unlikely to be anxious by the release, but that the “Mate 9 just boosts Huawei’s profile” in a “sea of smartphone sameness”. More markets will join afterward. The price is reasonable at €699. Porsche products are premium and people want to spend more money on them, but this is more a Huawei phone than it is a Porsche product.