Huawei launches the Mate 9
Huawei’s latest successor to the Mate 8 that has just launched in Germany ticks off a sundry list of improvements that include a revamped user interface, an updated processor, a better camera and tweaks to the Mate 9’s charging ability to create a solid premium phone.
Externally, the phone comes with Huawei’s usual aesthetic embellishments including their logo at the base of the front bezel, curved corners, a beautifully machined aluminium casing and, on the rear, a vertically stacked dual camera array with a round fingerprint sensor.
Up close, the new Mate 9 is slightly heavier by 5g, tipping the scales at 190g and is slightly smaller all around while maintaining the same thickness and has a slightly smaller but still crisp 5.9-inch 1080P LCD display (the Mate 8’s touchscreen is 0.1-inches larger and still 1080P) compared to the older Mate 8. What gets beefed up is the processor, which is Huawei’s latest HiSilicon Kirin 960 Octacore which comes with a quartet of 2.4GHz Cortex A73 processors and a quartet of 1.8GHz Cortex A73 processors paired with a Mali G71 octacore graphics processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB of expandable storage via a hybrid SIM card slot. There’s no mucking about with different regional variants this time around – there’s only one 4GB RAM and 64GB variant for all regional markets.
Huawei’s updated EMUI 5.0 also sees a revamp from its prior incarnation that ensures that at least half of the features that you would access on a regular basis can be reached in two clicks while 90% of what you would normally access is within reach with just three clicks. Handy, that.
The biggest upgrade is the rear camera that now has a dual sensor setup akin to this year’s flagship P9 along with Leica’s co-branding. The grunt work is handled by a 12-MP F/2.2 colour camera while a 20-MP F/2.2 monochrome camera handles depth and detail information with the phone combining image information from both cameras for superior image quality as well as 2x zoom mode. Also added are laser focus, phase detection focus, depth focus, contrast focus as well as optical image stabilisation on both cameras.
The non-removable 4,00mAh battery is the same size as on the Mate 8 but has been improved with their new SuperCharge tech that offers “a full day’s charge with a 20 minute charge”. Your mileage will of course vary depending on how hard you use the phone of course. The other key improvement that extends battery life is that the phone is smarter in how it allocates memory and CPU performance to maximise performance and battery life though this will need testing in the field for verification. The phone also has what they call Super Safe 5-gate protection that keeps an eye on the voltage, current and temperature in real time to keep things from becoming a potential charging hazard.
The Mate 9 will come in only one variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage in different colours – Black, Space Gray, Moonlight Silver, Champagne Gold, Mocha Brown and Ceramic White for €699 which equates to about MYR3269. There’s no indication which of the seven colours will arrive in Malaysia but the good news is that you won’t have to twiddle your thumbs waiting for it as Malaysia will be in the first wave that get to purchase the phone along with China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. We’ll keep you informed once we get an official local launch date.
