Review: Huawei Y9 Prime 2019, still having a piece of 'Pi'

The biggest question users must be having in their minds is about its future of the Android OS in a Huawei device

KARACHI:

The Chinese tech giant, Huawei, has launched a new mid-range smartphone for its Y-series, Huawei Y9 Prime.

The smartphone is powered by octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 710F processors (4x 2.2, 4x 1.7 GHz) and has 4 GB of RAM. With an internal storage capacity of 64GB and 128GB, the device has an expandable memory capacity of up to 1 TB.

The users will get a whole new viewing experience as Huawei Y9 Prime has a 6.59-inch LTPS IPS LCD screen with 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution (~391 ppi density) and it is almost bezel-less, having no notches.

With almost no bezels, users will now take selfies with a pop-up 16Mp camera. This is not the only feature Huawei has introduced to its Y9 Prime. Along with 16Mp main camera and 2Mp depth sensor on the back, there is another 8Mp camera that lets the users take ultra-wide pictures.

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The device has a non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery that lasts a full day without charging with optimal usage. Huawei Y9 Prime runs on operating system EMUI 9, which is based on Android 9.0 Pi.

Design

The device received by The Express Tribune was Sapphire Blue colour. Emerald Green, Midnight Black being the other two variants available for this model. The back of the smartphone is made of plastic and is glossy, which in return acts as a fingerprint magnet. So, users will have to clean those smudges quite often.

Even though the screen size is 6.59- inch, it does not have OLED display and the massive screen does take phone’s weight to almost 196 grams which of course isn't the best thing to look forward to.

However, with fast charging being more in demand these days, Huawei Y9 Prime users would be glad that the device has a 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector.

 

Performance

With the device having 4GB RAM and octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 710F processors, the navigation on this phone is seemingly smooth. You can open and close apps and steer through the navigation panels with almost no lag. The EMUI 9 skin on top of Android 9.0 Pi helps the device to perform at an optimal level.

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The 4000 mAh will last through the day despite ample usage and multiple apps running in the background. There is also a fingerprint ID at the back, which not just lets you unlock the phone but also take photos or videos, browse through them; answer calls and navigate through the notification panel

Camera

With no notches on the screen, Huawei Y9 Prime has one-up their selfie game by putting a pop-up 16Mp selfie camera f/2.0 aperture.

Default mode shot from Huawei Y9. PHOTO: EXPRESS

The pictures are quite decent with its 16Mp rear camera and the addition of another 8Mp camera lets you take those ultra-wide pictures which show the best result in landscape mode.

Ultra wide shot from Huawei Y9. PHOTO: Express

However, the bokeh effect in the portrait mode needs very steady hands to be correctly applied, otherwise, the whole picture turns out to be blurred.

Portrait shot from Huawei Y9. PHOTO: EXPRESS

The phone lets the users shoot relatively decent quality videos at 1080p videos @30FPS.

Conclusion

The biggest question Huawei users must be having in their minds is about its future without the Android operating system. Users do not have to worry about Google pulling the plug on Huawei’s Android license because Huawei has already submitted a few of its devices for the Android Q update and Huawei Y9 Prime is running the Android Pi OS very smoothly. Also, the recent ease in tensions seems to be benefiting Huawei well.

Huawei Y9 Prime providing a 16Mp pop-up selfie camera and 128GB of storage along with a powerful ship set at the price range of Rs 33,999, is surely a key selling point for this phone.