Huawei Y9 2019 Unboxing, Quick Review: Saving The Best For Last

Huawei Y9 2019 Unboxing, Quick Review: Saving The Best For Last

We take a look at Huawei’s latest mid-range phone!

2018 is almost up but Chinese brand Huawei isn’t quite done releasing phones. The company’s newest mid-range phone, the Y9 2019 went on sale during single’s day weekend and it’s by far Huawei’s best value-for-money mid-ranger yet. The device sports a metal and plastic exterior, dazzling color options and above average hardware.

Packaging and contents

The Huawei Y9 2019 comes in a white box with the model number proudly splashed in front of it. Inside, you’ll find the phone, a soft case, a pair of headphones, a USB cable plus charger. There’s not a lot of additional stuff thrown in, though pre-order customers get a speaker worth around Php 1.5K.

What is it?

The Huawei Y9 2019 is the latest lower mid-range device from Huawei. Surprisingly enough, the phone was refreshed rather early, as the Y9 2018 was only announced in March this year. In any case, the Y9 2019 sports all of the same design trends that the Chinese company embraced this year with their flagship and premium line, paired with powerful internals.

 

Wait, that doesn’t look like a phone that’s priced less than 15K!

It sure doesn’t. The Y9 2019 enjoys much of the same design language as Huawei’s more expensive Nova 3i, which includes a metal frame as well as a stylish, colored rear.

Our phone came in Sapphire Blue, but there’s also an Aurora Purple variant that’s quite close to Huawei’s gradient color option that we’ve seen on their other, more expensive phones.

There’s a catch though – while the rear of the Y9 2019 looks like glass, Huawei tells us it’s actually plastic, so you’ll have to take extra care of the phone when you’re using it as plastic scratches easily with use. Thankfully Huawei throws in a soft case with every purchase.

The dual rear camera is stacked vertically and is tucked neatly on the upper left side. The camera module doesn’t protrude too far out from the phone’s body, which should minimize the risk of scratching the lens when you place it down screen up. The dual rear cameras are composed of a 13-megapixel f/1.8 shooter, and a secondary 2-megapixel, f/2.4 aperture depth sensor. The fingerprint scanner is at the usual place.

The power and volume buttons are right where you expect them on the right side, while the left side of the phone houses the dual SIM/microSD tray. You can have a microSD card and two SIMs with the Y9 2019.

Disappointingly the phone still uses a micro USB port, located on the bottom. It’s joined by a single speaker grille along with a 3.5mm jack.

All in all the phone feels pretty solid in the hands if a little light. The frame is made from metal which adds a bit of rigidity to the phone, and while the back might be plastic, it’s made well enough that the casual observer will mistake it for glass most of the time.

On the front is a 6.5-inch, 19.5:9 aspect ratio full HD+ display with a notch. The notch houses two front-facing cameras: a 16-megapixel, f/2.0 aperture sensor, and a secondary 2-megapixel f/2.4 aperture depth sensor.

Both front and rear cameras benefit from Huawei’s AI smarts, along with enhanced artificial bokeh thanks to the dual cameras, but we’ll have to see how they fare in our review first to see if they really deliver.

The phone is powered by Huawei’s mid-range Kirin 710 chipset that’s found on the Nova 3i. The Kirin 710 has proven itself a capable performer, and while it’s not a graphical powerhouse, it can hold its own when it comes to gaming. The phone comes with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM when it debuts in stores.

One thing we like with the Y9 2019 is that it has a fairly large battery, at 4000mAh. Combined with the Kirin 710’s power-efficient nature you can expect the phone to run quite a bit before it’ll need to be charged. Speaking of charging, we don’t think that the Y9 2019 is capable of fast charging, unfortunately.

Huawei’s Y9 2019 is already available for pre-order in Lazada for just Php 12,990, which is quite a fair price for this particular device considering what’s on tap. Pre-order customers from now till the 15th free speaker worth Php 1490 with every order. It hits physical stores on the 16th of November.

Huawei Y9 2019 specs

  • Kirin 710 octa-core processor
  • Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
  • 4GB of RAM
  • 6.5-inch, 19.5:9 aspect ratio full HD+ display (1080 x 2340 resolution)
  • 13-megapixel f/1.8 and 2-megapixel f/2.4 rear cameras with PDAF, LED Flash
  • 16-megapixel f/2.0 and 2-megapixel f/2.4 front cameras
  • 64GB of expandable storage
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, fingerprint scanner
  • 4000mAh battery
  • Android 8.1, EMUI 8.2
  • Php 12,990

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