*** Huawei P9 ***

insane200 said:
Not sure if they are legit or not, but Simply electronics have the dual sim version in Titanium for £349.

And the gold one.
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Thanks.

Probably legit but I'm guessing their customer service won't be great. They are stocking the Chinese local versions. May go for it but will wait a week or two as the P9 is launching in other parts of Asia this week so will see who else gets stock.
 
I'm very close to pushing the button on one of these, upgrading from an m8, was going for an HTC 10, but a but pricey, got a deal where I'm paying slightly less a month for what looks like a fairly high end handset.

I'm not sure what I'll make of the OS.. But i can sling nova prime on it till there's some good roms out if it's that bad.

It's an upgrade from the m8 it seems, not fussed about a quad HD screen in the slightest and not paying S7 money for an OS I know I won't like.

The only other slight consideration I think is the g5.. Am I doing the right thing?
 
mattyfez said:
I'm very close to pushing the button on one of these, upgrading from an m8, was going for an HTC 10, but a but pricey, got a deal where I'm paying slightly less a month for what looks like a fairly high end handset.

I'm not sure what I'll make of the OS.. But i can sling nova prime on it till there's some good roms out if it's that bad.

It's an upgrade from the m8 it seems, not fussed about a quad HD screen in the slightest and not paying S7 money for an OS I know I won't like.

The only other slight consideration I think is the g5.. Am I doing the right thing?
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I had similar thoughts. Depends on what your priorities are and what you are looking for.

Huawei are a huge company and they are making a big push in the mobile phone sector so I think they will support their devices well in the future. 2 year warranty is pretty good! They are one of the more reliable Chinese brands.

As an all-rounder it's not quite up there with the best but very close. It should definitely be cheaper than the S7, HTC 10, G5 and the likes, mainy because of the following (some of these may not actually matter but do indicate that the phone should be cheaper):

  • No 2K display
  • No wireless charging
  • No super fast charging (has rapid charge but not the fastest and I have heard only a normal charger is included in the box)
  • No OIS on the camera
  • Kirin 955 SoC is good but not as good as QC 820 and has an older gpu

OS is a bit over the top but actually ok to use once you get used to it (they seemed to have changed things just for the sake of change and not actually make things better) and improving over time. There is some activity on XDA regarding rooting and ROMs etc which is good to know.

There are a lot of positives with this phone though which is why I have chosen to get one soon:

  • 5.2" screen is perfect size for me
  • Build quality is superb and, in my opinion, looks fantastic (Mystic Silver). Feels nice to hold (even though a bit too tall for me as I'm currently using the amazingly compact LG G2). Sandblasted metal back is much much nicer than glass like the S7, doesn't get as greasy and much fewer fingerprints.
  • Truly global network support. It supports a lot more LTE bands than most phones.
  • Base config of 3GB/32GB is good
  • Fingerprint scanner is one of the best in terms if speed and reliability. Also supports swipe gestures, e.g. swipe down to show the notification panel
  • Dual-camera is very good quality and a lot of fun to use. Auto mode not as good as the best (S7 is better) but still produces very good snaps. Dynamic range is very good so produces much more realistic looking photos. If you know what you're doing in the Pro mode then I've seen some stunning photos. The monochrome shots are gorgeous!
  • Cheaper!

The LG G5 i'm not sure about. I think the s/w is very good, the camera quality is excellent, and the build is nice. But I find the phone too large for a 5.3" device. If you want the modular add-ons then it's a good device but if not then I think the it depends if you find the size ok. For me, I think they made too many design compromises to make the modular stuff work that I will never use. Nice idea though.
 
I went for the grey/graphite one. Very much liking it so far, the os is very quick and fluid.. my only niggle so far is there's no app drawer, so ive basically stuffed any icons I don't want in a folder.

Screen is nice and rich- its a very thin light feeling phone although it feels good quality.

So first impressions very good- I don't mind the os so far at all.
 
One other niggle is that it comes with chrome browser as standard- which is useless for forum text reflow- one of the reasons I like HTC is thier browser was the best in the business for text reflow..but they've (htc) dropped support for their browser, in favour of chrome, so im currently using opera browser which is a reasonable alternative..I may switch to dolphin yet, but I just can't cope with the way chrome handles forums .

Definitely not regretting getting the p9 at the moment as htc browser is basically dead and gone.

It's a pretty transparent user experience, where you can just get on with whatever you want rather than have to work around a clunky os. My fears of a restricted UI were fairly unfounded.

Im still going to root/rom it in due course. But it's not a bad os as it is.. im certainly in no rush, so that's pretty high praise in my book... I was half expecting to have to put nova prime on it immediately , but that's just not the case.
 
And the standard audio with the supplied headphones is utterly tragic compared to the htc m8.. horribly tinny and just chav/ ghettto. Thats a real let down.

I've not EQ'd it with db powereamp yet.. But I'll have too.. with the htc m8 I played direct files with great results.. this is not a phone for musical people.
 
Actually that's a a bit harsh.. The headphones supplied are horrible, I've just plugged some cheap Samsung headphones in as supplied with the ancient samsung S3.. and things are a fair bit better .

They should probably not supplied any headphones at all if they were going to supply completely junk headphones.
 
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mattyfez said:
...Definitely not regretting getting the p9 at the moment as htc browser is basically dead and gone.

It's a pretty transparent user experience, where you can just get on with whatever you want rather than have to work around a clunky os. My fears of a restricted UI were fairly unfounded.

Im still going to root/rom it in due course. But it's not a bad os as it is.. im certainly in no rush, so that's pretty high praise in my book... I was half expecting to have to put nova prime on it immediately , but that's just not the case.
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Glad you're ok with the OS. I was a little bit worried after reading the reviews but from what I can tell most of the negativity was because it was different to stock, nothing actually wrong with it.

mattyfez said:
Actually that's a a bit harsh.. The headphones supplied are horrible, I've just plugged some cheap Samsung headphones in as supplied with the ancient samsung S3.. and things are a fair bit better .

They should probably not supplied any headphones at all if they were going to supply completely junk headphones.
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Don't think I have ever used headphones supplied with any smartphone :p

I know it's too early to say for sure but how are you finding the battery life? Also, does rapid charge work out of the box? I've heard it only comes with a normal charger.

I'll be ordering one soon! Thanks for giving us your feedback.
 
Comes with a usb c charger.. not sure how fast it charges as ive only topped up the battery via PC usb .
Tge battery came partially charged and uve been configuring and playing with the phone a fair bit so I can't really comment on battery life.

But I did find a very interesting power saving option.. you can set the screen resolurion to 720p from the standard 1080p..could make a difference if you play videos or games.

Only initial battery impressions are that it's about normal for a smartphone.. slightly better than average maybe as its bit a quad hd screen.
 
Interesting.. I might try that.. I'm coping ok with opera browser at the mo, my only concern with the HTC browser is there's no more development/updates..so presumably it'll just become a security liability as time goes on.
 
Definitely think the p9 is a good choice so far, now I'm used to it, premium performance for a mid range contract price, I've not even been tempted to put a launcher on it yet, nevermind a rom.

Quick, good camera, does everything without hassle, some really nice touches with copy/paste between apps.

And I'm paying less per month..you can keep your premium brand flagships!
 
mattyfez said:
Definitely think the p9 is a good choice so far, now I'm used to it, premium performance for a mid range contract price, I've not even been tempted to put a launcher on it yet, nevermind a rom.

Quick, good camera, does everything without hassle, some really nice touches with copy/paste between apps.

And I'm paying less per month..you can keep your premium brand flagships!
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:D

One more question if I may. I heard there is no Gorilla Glass on the front or Sapphire glass protecting the camera lenses on the regular P9. Apparently it uses only regular glass. Do you have any scratches on the display or camera?

I prefer not to use a case whilst I'm actually using my phones.

Thanks
 
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