Finding a genuine – and we mean it by the word genuine – all-rounder in the world of mobiles can be very difficult task. So when we unboxed the HONOR X9 and reviewed all the way to the end, we went through the checklist twice.
So many times in the past, models have come trying to upsell as flagship phones when they are not. And there are phones which will compromise on many things to make it fit in a certain price bracket. The HONOR X9 is affordable and yet comes out unflinchingly well – not just on its build quality but for the features inside as well.
We got to review the HONOR X9 with 8GB+2GB RAM and 128GB memory. There is also a 256GB version available. Here are X things that we liked.
66W HONOR SuperCharge Battery
For all its efficiency in handling whatever was thrown at it, some highlighted as below, the most impressive part of the HONOR X9 was that it hardly broke into a sweat. An industry-leading 66W SuperCharge battery, with a capacity of 4,800mAh, drives the long-lasting power horse to navigate all the challenges Without gaming, the battery lasted nearly 3 days. Even with it, it took two days before it was time to take out the 66W charging brick from the box. And it takes only 43 minutes for a full charge; that is 81% in half an hour. In the 20 minutes that I had a shave and shower, the phone went up from 4 to 70%.
Looks
At 6.81 inches long, this one is a tall beauty. The HONOR X9 comes in two colours – the premium looking Titanium Silver, and the regal Midnight Black, which we got. At the back is a circular camera tray with three lenses and the flash placed in symmetrical fashion. The singular sim tray, type-C charging port and the microphone are placed at the bottom. On the side is the volume rocker and a fingerprint sensor for your right thumb.
The front real estate is where it matters most. The IPS LCD display has a resolution of 2388×1080 with 120Hz refresh rate and 385 ppi density. Watching your screen for long for your share of entertainment and gaming will not become a chore with the HONOR X9. The bezel is barely over 1mm thickness to add to the display values.
Performance
Let’s cut to the chase. Powering your multimedia needs as well as the official ones is the Snapdragon 695 octacore 6nm 5G chipset and the Adreno 619 CPU. It can handle up to 35 apps simultaneously. So what happens when it comes to gaming. Well, the HONOR X9 can chip in with an extra 2GB RAM Turbo boost, so you can increase it to 10GB RAM on demand. Pioneers of the Turbo GPU technology, the HONOR offering in the X9 ensures smooth running of intense action whether it is Fortnight, PUBG or Minecraft. Even while gaming and handling up to 20 apps in a heavy demanding situation, the phone held its ground.
Durable and deft
Beyond its looks and the hardware, the whole setup comes together in a body as rigid as the Himalayas. The mountains may be too high, but drop the phone from a tall table height or sending it sliding away from waist level to the ground – the HONOR X9 will not break; or even get into much scratch either. It can withstand your body weight up to 70kg and temperatures ranging from -20°C to 55°C.
Cameras
There’s the 16MP selfie camera that sits near the top of the display, right in the center. Turning around the back, in the halo-shaped tray, a 48MP shooter with f/1.8 aperture takes the pride of placing. There are two 2.4MP macro and bokeh cameras that enable super macro and portrait shots respectively. For the Vloggers, there is a dual front and back live view feature. The setup delivers well even in low light. HONOR is taking their cameras seriously. Even then, photos taken in night mode tend to be overexposed. We tried it at a restaurant and notice the difference below the tables. With the night mode on (right), the exposure was just about right without going overboard on the light meter. Even though a wide-angle camera is missing, life is good.
Software
The HONOR X9 comes with Android 11 out-of-the-box and its inbuilt Magic UI 4.2 Launcher. And the best thing about it is that it comes with Google Mobile Services. Google products are back on this device. Playing PUBG with a Turbo GPU was a breeze with the refresh rate and effectively 10GB of RAM. As for the Antutu 3D benchmark, the HONOR X9 scored 391339 points on the review device. It missed the 400k mark just a little bit but the overall gaming performance is really good.
Price
With all the results and considering how much of features are similar to a flagship phone, you would think that the HONOR X9 does not come cheap. But you would be pleasantly surprised when you find out the price In the UAE, our review version comes for AED 1,099 while the 256GB version starts AED 1,199.
Conclusion
Given its price and capabilities and the 6nm 5G chipset powering the HONOR X9, it is a rare match of meeting beauty and brawn. The HONOR X9 is a genuine all-rounder and a treat to have.
Please visit :https://www.hihonor.com/ae-en/shop/product/honor-x9-5g