Huawei continues to find itself in a legal pickle that began a few years ago, involving a certain orange-faced President – but that hasn’t stopped it from releasing its tried-and-tested smartphones.
The Nova 9 will be no stranger to Huawei fans in the region; the fashion-forward smartphones are known for putting style and decent specs at the forefront, with a price that won’t break the bank.
The latest version of the Nova is no exception.
Huawei Nova 9: Design
The Nova 9 looks great, especially in its colour-changing Starry Blue hero colour. Elsewhere you have a subtle textured finish and a rigid body with curved display. And while the pone is large – due to its 6.57-inch screen, its not aggressively so (it weighs just 175-grams).
The back prominently features the camera sensors, with the large main lense up top, along with three additional shooters and flash. It might divide opinion as it looks very different to other more standard smartphones, but doesn’t both us too much.
It is not waterproof or dust-resistant IP rated. The display does not have Gorilla Glass, so it isn’t as durable as other tougher models.
Last but not least, this design is almost identical to the Hon 50 which is also available in Europe and the UK, with the exception of the choice for finishes. While the phones are d
Huawei Nova 9: Screen
Another strong Nova 9 showing. This panel’s 120Hz OLED panel is stunning. It covers over a billion colors and handles HDR well.
It measures 6.57in, which is a big screen for Android. However, that’s an average size screen these days. It is curved but not too much – enough to make it look nice and comfortable, but without compromising its functionality.
An under-display fingerprint reader is also available, and it’s reliable and fast. Y
Huawei Nova 9: Camera
The Nova 9 has a capable camera, particularly through that large main lens. It makes use of a new pixel arrangement to take snaps up to 50-megapixels (just a shame Huawei didn’t add optical image stabilisation into the mix).
That means photos are impressive in daylight, producing vivid colours and deep dark blacks. But minus stabilization, night photos can be a bit hit or miss.
Elsewhere you get an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and 2-megapixel macro lens on the back, along with the flash. The selfie camera is rather impressive, coming in at 32-megapixels.
You can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second, and there’s even a dedicated vlogging mode which lets you record split-screen or picture-in-picture videos that use both cameras.
Huawei Nova 9: Performance
Remember when we said the Nova 9 won’t break the bank? Huawei manages that feat by using some older components under the hood. For example, this makes use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G processor, along with 8GB of RAM.
That said, while this isn’t the most powerful phone in the world – it will certainly satisfy the average phone-owner. Multitasking is effortless and the phone runs most modern smartphone games smoothly.
In fact, we really only saw a slowdown when thrashing the hardware trying to play movies, YouTube, multiple chrome tabs, the camera, and games all at once.
Huawei Nova 9: Verdict
There is a lot to like about the Nova 9, with one big caveat.
It looks great, has a fantastically sharp display and the camera takes decent snaps for the price. But the ongoing snafu with regards to the US Government means that like previous Huawei phones, it doesn’t natively connect with Google’s apps.
You can still use things like Gmail and YouTube, for example. But via the phone’s web browser. Huawei has been quickly developing its AppGallery App Store with many local apps available, but it still has a few years – and key apps to go. And while its PetalSearch workaround does let you install things like Facebook and WhatsApp on the phone, it’s not for everyone (in particular, those who don’t feel comfortable side-loading apps).
From a hardware standpoint, there is a lot to love (especially at this price point). The only question that remains is how much do you need Google’s app and services?
The Huawei Nove 9 is available around the UAE at all good gadget shops.