The Huawei Y9 2019, is a rather special smartphone (not just because it was released in late 2018). This is mainly cause it sports specs usually only seen in higher-end phones such as a 4000mAh battery, 4GB of RAM and a 6.5-inch display for a highly affordable price of just RM819.
Some of us such as myself would be slightly sceptical as to how Huawei managed to achieve this and what kind of corners did they cut in order to achieve this kind of price. In this review, we’ll put the Huawei Y9 2019 to the test and see whether this device is capable of taking on more expensive smartphones.
Design - Simple yet effective
Here's how the notch looks like
Bottom of the device where the 3.5mm audio connector and MicroUSB port is located
On the left side which is relatively clean except for the Hybrid-SIM Tray
On the right side where the volume and power buttons are located
Here's the back where you can clearly see the fingerprint sensor and 13MP + 2MP camera
Starting off with the design of the Huawei Y9 2019, the first thing you’ll notice is the notch at the top of the rather large 6.5-inch display which houses the dual front-facing 16MP + 2MP camera. The bezels on the display are rather thin, with the largest being the bottom chin of the device. At the back, you’ll find the dual 13MP + 2MP camera housed towards the corner with the LED flash right under it as well as the capacitive fingerprint sensor towards the middle.
On the left side of the device, you won’t find anything else other than the Dual-SIM + MicroSD tray, while on the right, you’ll find the only physical buttons available on the smartphone which consist of a power button and volume rocker. At this price range, I’m not exactly surprised that the smartphone feels a bit generic but it still looks quite attractive. The Y9 2019 comes in Midnight Black and Sapphire Blue colour schemes.
Tech specs and features - That’s a pretty large screen for this price range
CPU-Z showcasing the Huawei Y9 info
- HiSilicon Kirin 710 Chipset
- 4GB of RAM, 64GB of Internal Storage
- 13MP + 2MP + depth image sensors in the rear, 16MP + 2MP + depth front-facing image sensor
- 6.5-inch display with screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Powered by 4000mAh non-removable battery
- Running on Google Android 8.1 Oreo
- Hybrid-SIM card tray
- 162.4 x 77.1 x 8.1mm | 173g
- Rear fingerprint sensor, 10W fast charging
- Available in Midnight Black, Sapphire Blue, Aurora Purple
The HiSilicon Kirin 710 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM makes it more than capable of performing tasks such as multitasking, mobile gaming, watching videos online and more. What really makes this smartphone shine is the rather large 6.5-inch display as well as an equally large 4000mAh non-removable battery, which allows it to last more than an entire day on a single charge.
Unfortunately, the biggest tradeoff of the smartphone in order to keep the price low is the lower spec camera with the 13MP + 2MP rear camera and the 16MP + 2MP front-facing selfie camera. As for the storage, 128GB is usually more than enough to store plenty of videos, pictures as well as applications. However, for those who frequently download movies to watch on their phone while they travel, I highly advise them to have a MicroSD card installed to increase the storage by an additional 400GB.
As for the software, the Huawei Y9 2019 is running on Google Android 8.1 with EMUI on top, giving it the signature Huawei smartphone look.
Performance - The size of the screen actually makes a big difference
Antutu Benchmark results
3DMark Slingshot Extreme test results
Yet another win, this time with the Huawei Y9 2019
Putting the phone through its paces with Antutu Benchmark as well as 3D Mark, the device managed to score rather decently, considering the sub RM1k pricepoint. While playing PUBG Mobile, the Y9 managed to hold its own with an average of 29FPS on average. Thanks to the large 4000mAh battery capacity, the phone only went down by about 3% to 5% after 40 minutes of gameplay.
Testing the phone on Asphalt 9 Legends, the gameplay felt smooth with no noticeable stutters whatsoever with an average of around 35 FPS. During the test, I did not notice any connectivity issue such as lags or network error while connected to the office WiFi. Not only that, while doing test calls, I didn’t experience any sound distortion and the recipient was able to hear me clearly without any issues. The phone did not heat up to the point where it became uncomfortable to hold, which is a plus especially for those who frequently plays games on their device for extended periods of time.
Thanks to the HiSilicon Kirin 710 paired with 4GB of RAM, the phone felt smooth and responsive even while multitasking between various applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Twitch and more. The 4000mAh battery can be fully charged in less than 1 hour and 30 minutes, and it’s able to last me about a day of regular usage before needing to charge again.
The large 6.5-inch IPS display makes watching movies a pleasure due to the size the colours on the display look decent, contrasty and pretty vibrant and colourful.
In terms of picture quality, the rear camera performs rather okay in well-lit environments. However, I’d say the biggest drawback of the smartphone’s camera is the lower megapixel count which makes the images blurry when cropped in, and it tends to introduce a lot of noise especially in a low-light environment.
In terms of the colour, not much to say about it other than Y9's AI Assisted Camera improving the colours of certain scenes. That being said, sometimes I prefer having the AI Scene Detection off due to the fact that on certain occasions, the phone's colour grading makes certain pictures look a lot less natural. Check out our samples below:
Conclusion - Pretty good for its price
The Huawei Y9 2019, which is priced at RM819 (initially it was RM899) performed pretty well considering the fact that you’ll be getting specs typically found on smartphones of a higher price range. In fact, it does well as a media consumption smartphone to watch movies or play games. However, I wouldn’t consider getting this phone if you’re planning on taking plenty of pictures as the camera sensors feel kind of lacking but they're ok for most shots.
Other than the Huawei Y9, other contenders would be the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 which is priced at RM859 for the 4GB + 64GB variant and RM999 for the 6GB + 64GB variant if you're looking for a smartphone with an even larger battery and slightly better camera performance in my opinion. The only trade off to the ZenFone Max Pro M2 is the SLIGHTLY smaller screen size of 6.26-inches.
For more reviews and updates like this, stay tuned to TechNave.com.
COMMENTS