HONOR 9A Review: Amazing Battery Life, Passable Performance

The HONOR 9A was announced back in April this year, as the ultimate budget offer from the company. Before nosotros become into anything, it is worth noting that this telephone costs €149.90 / £129.99. In some markets, you even get the Laurels Band 5 with your purchase. All of that makes this phone extremely affordable. That is worth noting as nosotros go through this review, equally you can't await flagship-level features out of a phone that costs so fiddling.

That being said, the Laurels 9A is nothing to scoff at. If y'all want a upkeep phone to purchase for your kid, or as a secondary device, this phone has proven to be quite capable. Another thing to note, though, is that it doesn't come with Google services. That may be a problem for some, though we'll get more into that later in the review, when nosotros hit the software portion. That existence said, permit's get going, shall nosotros.

The HONOR 9A is a nice-looking phone, especially because its price

The HONOR 9A is a nice-looking phone, no doubt near that. That is especially true considering its price signal. That beingness said, you'd be hard-pressed to detect this telephone is made out of plastic merely past looking at information technology. It sure looks like there's glass on the dorsum, and that information technology has a metal side, but it doesn't. There's plastic on the dorsum, plastic around the phone, and drinking glass on the front end. The bezels are not that thick at all, they're quite thin, in fact. The lesser bezel is thicker than the rest, though.

The device has a fingerprint scanner on the back, which works fairly well, while information technology has a teardrop notch on the front. That notch is also quite small, and if you ask me, a much improve choice than display holes that have get popular. It is actually not-obtrusive, in fact. The phone includes a camera module in the top-left corner of its back. The power / lock, volume up, and volume down buttons are placed on the right.

The phone is not exactly low-cal, though. It weighs 185 grams, which is lighter than almost flagships, simply nevertheless not that light, peculiarly considering the plastic build. This telephone does take some heft to it, and many people volition appreciate that. In terms of size, it'll be virtually right for most people, information technology is 159mm alpine, 74.1mm wide, and 9mm thick. It is actually comfortable to hold, it's not too big, and not small either. All in all, I enjoyed carrying it during the review flow.

The brandish is not exactly the sharpest around, plus it's a scrap washed out every bit well

The Honor 9A's display is non the sharpest, but information technology'll be good enough for virtually people. The device features a 6.3-inch 1600 x 720 display, so it's essentially an Hard disk+ panel. It'southward an IPS LCD display, and it gets bright enough exterior, fifty-fifty though I've used far better ones. Over again, this is a budget phone, continue that in mind.

This display tends to lean on the libation side, but that's something you tin alter in the settings. Temperature controls are available in the 'Display' settings, forth with the Eye Condolement manner, Dark way, eBook fashion, and some boosted settings. Yous tin can, of course, increase and decrease fonts, and so on.

This is a flat display, which was to be expected. That's a good thing, actually, well, at to the lowest degree it will be for most people. What is worth noting, though, is that this brandish does not have a curved drinking glass on top of information technology. Equally a upshot, the edges may exist a flake weird to your finger, if yous've used a more expensive device recently.

Colors on this display are okay, though they're nowhere equally vivid as on an OLED panel. Blacks are also not every bit blackness as they'd be on an OLED panel, or even on a high-stop LCD display. Viewing angles are practiced, though, very expert. The resolution could too be college, as I did notice the lack of sharpness, but that'southward not something regular users volition exist bothered by information technology.

Its chip is not exactly powerful, but this phone offers actually good performance

What about the functioning? Well, the best matter I tin say is that it'south okay. Don't expect this phone to navigate through the menus without a stutter, or to be extremely quick when it comes to jumping between apps, opening apps, games, so on. Don't go me wrong, it's not exactly a tiresome telephone, I've seen manner slower, but it'due south non exactly on the level of flagships either, which is understandable. It will get the job done, simply it will take a bit longer than a lot more expensive phones, and it may stutter a piddling bit.

That is not surprising considering that the MediaTek MT6762R aka Helio P22 SoC is included in hither. That is the budget processor from MediaTek, and not fifty-fifty shut to the visitor's all-time offerings. That chip is backed by 3GB of RAM, while the telephone also offers 64GB of expandable storage. Gaming is not exactly a great experience on the HONOR 9A, at least when it comes to CPU / GPU-intensive titles. Games that are not every bit graphically-demanding run perfectly fine, though, without an effect.

Is this a phone for someone who wants a really fast telephone, no, not really. Equally already mentioned, you will discover stutters here, quite often. The phone will go the task done, and won't heavily lag, but you'll observe stutters. That is when you should call up how much it costs, whatever other chip would have increased its price, basically.

The fingerprint scanner is not the fastest around

The HONOR 9A includes a capacitive fingerprint scanner on the back. That unit works well, but it's not the fastest effectually. That is to be expected considering this phone's price tag. It will serve you well, though. Information technology is quite accurate, though information technology takes a bit of time to unlock. It'south not slow by any ways, but once again, don't expect flagship-course performance here, at least not in terms of speed.

Don't count on Google services here, that includes the Play Shop

The HONOR 9A does come with Android x out of the box. The affair is, information technology does not include Google services. Due to the United states of america ban, and everything related to information technology, Huawei is not immune to pre-install Google services on its phones, and that includes Accolade, which is technically a divide visitor, just still owned past Huawei. That beingness said, the HONOR 9A comes with Huawei's very own services pack. Android ten is however pre-installed, every bit is Magic UI 3.1.

The experience is exactly what you'd expect out of a Huawei / Accolade telephone, like to those that still have Google services. The merely difference is, yous don't accept admission to Google services, and that includes the Google Play Store. The Huawei AppGallery is a replacement for the Play Store, and it grew quite a bit, but it's still lacking some apps. If yous cannot notice an app on the AppGallery, however, you lot tin can always become it via the Petal Search that Huawei is offering.

That being said, if you don't like EMUI, yous won't like Magic UI either, as it's basically rebranded EMUI. If you do, yous'll be right at home hither. Magic UI is packed with features, so you won't lack those, while EMUI / Magic UI are much improve than they were before. You do get access to full night mode here, along with a ton of other options. Practise note that it'south a bit different than stock Android, though, that'southward for certain.

It offers astounding battery life

Is the battery life good? No, it's not… information technology's nifty! This phone packs in a huge 5,000mAh battery. Considering its brandish resolution and a processor that is non ability-hungry, well… I've expected great battery life. I did not look it to be this not bad, though. This phone volition easily last for two days for people who are not power users, no problem. The first solar day I used the phone as my daily driver the battery percentage dropped so slow, I idea something'southward wrong.

So, let's have one charge cycle equally an example. That was in the middle of my use cycle, a couple of days after I initially started using the telephone. I took it off the charger in the morning, and at the end of my 24-hour interval (12:53 AM), the phone still had seventy-percent of bombardment charge left. Some of you may instantly assume that I didn't utilise it much, and that it just sat there. Well, I used information technology quite a bit, it had 6 hours and 17 minutes of screen on fourth dimension, from my usage. The vast bulk of flagship smartphones are dead at that betoken. Well, this handset even so had 70-percent of battery charge left, that is just amazing.

As yous tin see in the screenshots below, I used information technology for a broad range of things. I did employ Viber, typed up some SMS messages, watched a ton of YouTube videos (via browser, every bit this phone doesn't take access to Google apps), browsed various websites, used the navigation for a scrap, took a number of photos and filmed some videos as well, then on. I even played a game or two for a scrap. And after all that, the phone still stood potent. By the way, auto brightness was enabled.

Now, in terms of the second twenty-four hours (gallery beneath). Based on the starting time solar day battery life, information technology was easy to assume that I'd get through the 2nd twenty-four hours without a problem. That'south exactly what happened. My usage was similar, though I used the brandish for an even longer period of time the second day. At 12:ten AM in the morning, earlier I went to bed, the telephone showed 13 hours and 11 minutes of screen on fourth dimension. At that point, its battery pct was at 27-per centum.

I tested this battery for about a week and a half, so I got in several bombardment charges in in that location. The results were like. You can easily become 2 days of battery life, even with heavy use. Some people may even exist able to clasp out there, which is remarkable. The device does non support fast charging, though, then don't count on that. Considering its battery longevity, that's non really necessary.

There's much to be desired in terms of photographic camera functioning

What well-nigh the camera quality? Well, phones at this cost point usually don't have skillful cameras, and the HONOR 9A is not an exception. These cameras are usable, for sure, but they're not skilful. Let's start with well-lit environments. If you take a await at the samples provided in the gallery below, you'll notice quite a few issues. Fifty-fifty though the phone tin can provide its all-time pics in well-lit environments, the dynamic range is not the best. Colors tend to await fashion oversaturated, and the white balance is also off. The phone too tends to blow out highlights in images.

Yous tin, nevertheless, capture some actually squeamish shots if the sun is not straight involved, and the scene is well-lit, though, as shown in the samples below. In these cameras samples, the colors are much closer to real-life, and the pics actually turned out well. Do note that there was enough of natural light in almost of those pictures.

Low light is where this camera completely falls autonomously, though. That is to exist expected for phones in this price range, though. The HONOR 9A does not come with a dedicated dark mode, unfortunately. That style would have helped at least a trivial bit. I've taken a number of pictures inside and outside, during night, with very little light available. You can see some samples down below. A lot of detail goes away in such images, while they accept a lot of noise. They also turn out way too dark. This camera is not meant to exist taking night photos, so if that'southward of import to you, go on that in heed.

PIctures from the front-facing camera are a scrap washed out, but they're okay overall. I usually don't have high expectations for front-facing cameras, and so to see a somewhat decent camera on the front on such a budget telephone is… well, good. All in all, the Honor 9A is non a photographic camera smartphone, and this is one of the chief parts of the device where HONOR had to cut costs.

Photographic camera samples (Flickr)

The Laurels 9A has a unmarried speaker, and that speaker is good enough

The HONOR 9A comes with a single speaker, which is located at the bottom. I'm merely glad information technology'south non included on the back of the device, as information technology still is on many phones that vest in this toll range. That single speaker gets plenty loud, to be quite honest. I was a bit surprised information technology gets that loud, though the clarity is not the best. It is a footling bit muffled, but not the extent I've expected. I've seen so many speakers that are worse than this, and I've expected it to be a lot worse. Information technology is not, though, it's perfectly usable, and not something that should prevent you from getting this phone.

What about audio through the headphones? Well, it's not every bit bad as I idea it would exist. Y'all can get passable output via a solid pair of headphones, only don't expect it to exist great. Manage your expectations, and y'all'll be perfectly fine. Mids are really expert hither, though lows and highs are not the all-time. Still, if I don't nitpick, the audio output is perfectly fine, and not something you should worry virtually.

If you consider its price tag, the Laurels 9A is actually neat

And so, is this phone worth €150, which is how much it costs in a number of European countries? Well, aye, as long equally you don't mind the fact it doesn't take Google services on it. The phone offers amazing battery life, its audio is keen, and the build quality is solid. The phone likewise looks really nice, and every bit long equally you don't need blazing fast performance, and great cameras… this is a solid pick.