HONOR X9 5G Full Review

I still remember vividly when I reviewed the HONOR 50 & HONOR 50 Lite back last year, both are outstanding device in it’s place with good camera, specifications, and features that HONOR introduces to the buyers that it stands at the category of a phone that does match what most people wanted, and with a quite appealing price as well.

Well, this year HONOR is back again with a mass mid range smartphone that when we first receive it, we know this is one smartphone that gives one of the good specs with some flagship features that consumers may appreciate, join us on the detailed review of the HONOR X9 5G.

Unboxing Contents

Upon unboxing you will get the following

• HONOR X9 5G Phone
• Translucent Case
• Pre-Applied Screen Protector
• 66w Fast Charger
• USB A to C Cable
• SIM Pin Ejector
• User Manual/Quick Start Guide

Design

The HONOR X9 5G is based around the design of a rounded shaped island that hosts the camera sets of 3 lenses and one LED flash with the overall candybar shaped with curved on all sides with smooth grooves and chrome like on the sides that is beautiful to be held without sharp edges and quite grippy on the hands with bezels measuring at 1.5mm only on the frame. A phone that is design as such is pretty easy to maintain with just simple wiping on the phone itself. Overall it carries the weight of 189 Grams which we find it reasonable and on par with most phones in average

As we continue on the right hand side, there is a volume up and down button and a power button which doubles as a fingerprint scanner, while the top houses a microphone. Over to the bottom of the phone there is one microphone, one USB C port, Dual SIM slots and a bottom speaker. All of the phone sides are made of plastic with 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. Since there is no 3.5mm audio jack, the HONOR X9 does not come with any converters, but you can easily purchase it now a days at any phone accessories shop

The HONOR X9 5G comes in three colors, Titanium Silver, Ocean Blue and Midnight Black. The Color that we are reviewing is the Titanium Silver which gave a good impression of displaying a sociable fun and work phone the same time.

Display & Audio

Over to the display side, the HONOR X9 5G is powered by a quite huge sized 6.81 Inch FHD+ 120Hz flat HONOR FullView Display screen with 240Hz touch sampling rate that brings in 94% screen to body ratio with good touch accuracy during typing, scrolling and gaming. Color representation is well accurate in most of the conditions with good clarity. Depending on your daily usage and just a handful of games does support up to 120FPS gameplay. On top of that you will enjoy one of the good displays available with streaming applications such as YouTube and Netflix with Widevine L1 certification that grants the Full HD resolution streaming. Audio wise, turning on full maximum volume can be real loud although it is just a single firing speaker near the USB port, and still deliver clear and clean listening experience in the room.

Camera

The HONOR X9 5G rear camera island portion comes with one 48MP wide camera, one 8MP ultra-wide angle camera, 2MP macro macro lens, 2MP bokeh sensor followed by a LED flash. Pictures taken are close to the environment color matching with details captured properly whether it is in automatic mode or Aperture mode. For evening and night shots, the results were acceptable with good amount of lights and shadows represented. The selfie images are bright and good during day time as well which is powered by a 16MP wide angle lens.

A few sample shots were taken over different modes as above for reference. A sample of 8x zoom, normal, 48MP and automatic shots taken, with some noise encountered over certain images and softness depending on the environment.

On video recording you get support up to 1080P at 30FPS, stutters are barely visible while recording but it’s very minor with very good details and brightness during recording. 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 and YouTubers that be able to take the advantage. Above is a sample of the video recorded.

Performance & Benchmarks

Over to the performance of the phone, the HONOR X9 5G is powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G 6nm Octa-Core Processor, 128GB of internal storage and 8GB RAM. Call quality test is excellent with a choice of calling via VOLTE or WOWIFI depending on your Telco Carrier. The phone does come with 4G connectivity support, WiFi 5/AC, Bluetooth 5 and NFC. Testing over WiFi connection gets up to an average of 400MBPS transfer speeds, which is a great speed for multimedia, download and streaming. Video call wise, the HONOR X9 5G does the job pretty decent as well thanks to its 16MP front camera. If you have a WiFi 5 router or greater, you should be able to take all the advantages without issues.

Over to the gaming side, being a mid range entry phone by specs meaning that the HONOR X9 5G can game on par with its surrounding competitions provided user defined settings within the performance settings. Majority of the titles can be ran without issues and with titles that is optimized for higher frame rate, the HONOR X9 5G supports up to 120FPS with 240Hz touch sampling rate for fast touch responses. Certain games such as Genshin Impact may needed to tweak the graphical settings to low mixed with medium, while maintain around 42FPS to 57FPS.

Above is the Benchmark performance, which delivers reasonable average scores on each of the test between its graphics, and processor performance. The HONOR X9 5G is suitable for those seeking for a Mid range phone with some multitasking ability and eSports games.

Battery performance wise, you will get squeeze around 10 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few Genshin Impact Sessions. Turning on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 2 hours of conservative usage. The HONOR X9 comes with a 66W fast charger, which will charge up the phone to 100% from 10% in about an hour average. 

Features & Software

The HONOR X9 comes with Android 11, with MAGIC 4 that brings in an UI that is easy to navigate, close to the Android Stock UI interface that features collaboration tools such as HONOR Share and easy one tap NFC connection towards Huawei and HONOR series of Laptop. The overall UI is also easy to use providing tips and help for the user, like tutorials, guide and several camera features improvements.

Specifications

Verdict & Conclusion 

The HONOR X9 5G gave consumer another new choice and flavor, which is a well balanced specifications and well thought slim bezel phones still gave a good performance with a set of camera that is close to any flagship featured phone has, yet it is nice to be held on your hands. With the price stated at RM1,299, this is another phone anyone can closely consider as your new companion to communicate and capture all your great moments with it.

Pros

• 120Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Good Processing Power and Power Management
• 240hz touch sensitive display

Cons

• Video Recording up to 1080P 30FPS only
• Zoom is limited to 8X only
• Still on Android 11

Pricing and Availability

The HONOR X9 5G will be available as pre-order from 29th March to 6th April for RM1,299 and if you pre-order it, you will get HONOR CHOICE Earbuds X, HONOR X9 5G Phone Case, 1 Year Extended Warranty & 6 Months Screen Crack Protection

For more information and purchasing the HONOR X9 5G online, Click Here