HUAWEI nova 9 review

Fashionable VLogging Phone

Introduction

It is great to see HUAWEI around with its product, especially when they release a smartphone, it always come with some packed features that is much suitable for today’s life and use. Last week they have unveiled the new nova 9, which is a phone focuses on VLogging, a slim form factor and comes equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. We have done the unboxing of the HUAWEI nova 9 which you can read HERE.

Specifically our focus here for the review is the HUAWEI nova 9, a VLogging mid ranger phone that is equipped with much camera and social oriented features in a light weighted device. Let’s look at the new nova 9 and find out what it can do in this review.

Design

The nova 9 design is built on a slim profile with a weight of 137 Grams, which is light and easy to slide into your jeans pocket. Over to the back/rear of the phone, it is made of smooth plastic coated with shimmering matte finish which is so nice just mesmerizing on the Starry Blue color, furthermore you will not leave any fingerprint marks over it as well as the material used will not leave smudges. Towards the camera portion is an island design of two bump consisting of 4 camera sensors and a flash. bump wise, its not terribly annoying and the included slim profile translucent casing will solve the problem.

Over to the sides of the HUAWEI nova 9, on the right hand side, there is a volume up and down button and a power button, while the top houses two microphone. Over to the bottom of the phone there is one dual NanoSIM slot, one microphone, one USB C port and a bottom speaker. All of the phone sides are made of plastic with blue chrome finish to it. Over to the camera design, the same color applies to the side of the phone and the bottom/top part as well with mirror finishing touch to it. Since there is no 3.5mm audio jack, the nova 9 does not come with any converters, but you can easily purchase it now a days at any phone accessories shop

The nova 9 comes in two colors, Starry Blue and Black. The Color that we are reviewing is the Starry Blue and overall impression holding it and using it over daily basis is satisfactory so far.

Display

Over to the display side, the nova 9 is powered by a 6.57 Inch FHD+ 120Hz curved OLED screen with 1 Billion color display that supports wide color gamut on vivid color display. Being an OLED Display, color representation is well accurate with great contrast level. It has adaptive refresh rate display which means when the screen is sitting idle, it will run at 60FPS, once you start your browsing and work or play, it will automatically adjust up to 120FPS. Depending on your daily usage and just a handful of games does support 120FPS gameplay. Other features include a 300Hz touch sampling rate which is a huge advantage when it comes to the accuracy and sensitivity over the touchscreen when gaming with the phone. On top of that with the density of 392PPI, you will enjoy one of the great displays available with streaming applications such as YouTube and Netflix. However due to lack of Google services, you will either need to load some streaming apps manually, and also no FHD and above Widewine certifications in the nova 9

Camera

The nova 9 rear camera consists of one 50MP wide camera, one 8MP ultra-wide angle camera, 2MP macro macro lens, 2MP depth sensor followed by a LED flash. Pictures taken are considerably accurate with good clarity and details captured properly whether it is in automatic mode or Aperture mode. Night shots wise, the results were quite good as well, able to capture light and shadows surrounding the images within the frame with the exception that sometimes, you will need to have steady hands, but that’s only for slightly darker environment shots. The selfie images are bright and good during day time as well which is powered by a 32MP wide angle lens. A few sample shots were taken over different modes as above and the result truly works well as based on the specifications. A sample of 10x zoom, normal, 108MP and automatic shots taken were balanced, with some noise encountered.

On video recording you get support up to 4K at 30FPS, stutters are visible while recording but it’s very minor with good details during recording. FHD video is awesome with good stabilization support which captures up to 60FPS with AIS. Dual video mode is also supported which you can capture both front and rear recording at the same time. Such feature is great for VLoggers that be able to take the advantage. Below is some samples of the video recorded.

Performance & Benchmarks

Over to the performance of the phone, the nova 9 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 4G Octa-Core Processor, 256GB of internal storage and 8GB RAM. Call quality test shows no issues with a choice of calling via VOLTE or WOWIFI depending on your Telco Carrier. Once 3G towers shutting down by end of this year, this device should have no effect on your daily use. The phone does come with 4G connectivity support, WiFi 6/AX, Bluetooth 5 and NFC. Testing over WiFi connection gets up to an average of 620MBPS transfer speeds, which is a great speed for multimedia, download, gaming and streaming. Video call wise, the nova 9 does the job pretty good as well thanks to its 32MP front camera. If you have a WiFi 6 router, you will be able to take all the advantages without issues.

Over to the gaming side, being a mid range performance phone meaning that the nova 9 can game pretty well with user defined settings within the games that you are playing. Most of the titles can be ran without issues and with titles that is optimized for high frame rate, the nova 9 supports up to 120FPS. Certain games such as Genshin Impact may needed to tweak the graphical settings to low mixed with medium, while maintain the 60FPS cap.

Above is the Benchmark performance, which delivers reasonable scores on each of the test between its graphics, and processor performance. The nova 9 is suitable for those seeking for a Mid High range performing phones.

Battery performance wise, you will get roughly around 9 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few Call Of Duty matches. Turning on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 2.5 hours of conservative usage. The nova 9 comes with a 66W fast charger, which will charge up the phone to 100% from 10% in around 55 minutes average. 

Features & Software

The nova 9 comes with Android 11, with EMUI 12 that brings in an UI that is simple to use, close to the Android Stock UI interface that features collaboration tools such as HUAWEI Share and easy one tap NFC connection towards Huawei and HONOR series of Laptop. The camera UI is also easy to use providing tips and help for the user, like tutorials and guide. While it lacks of Google Play Services, you still have Huawei AppGallery which hosts a vast variety of applications and games, which I find it a much improvement now with cleaner UI and more selections.

Specifications

Verdict & Conclusion 

The HUAWEI nova 9 is a device much suited for those who wanted a phone with everything in it, that is so slim and simple with a good camera, social media, VLogging, fast paced mid range quality gaming with fashionable design combined in a single phone that fits right not just in your pocket, but cool trendy looks on it. Besides that, with so many improvement over it’s AppGallery, HUAWEI does proof that they do care about it’s users and keep on adding more apps and its services towards everyone that uses their product.

Pros

• 120Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Good Mid range chipset
• An OLED display with 1B colors
• 300hz touch sensitive display

Cons

• No MicroSD Card Slot
• I wish it has a slightly larger battery capacity
• No 5G support

Pricing and availability

So far there is no pricing info yet, for more information VISIT HERE to know more about the HUAWEI nova 9