HONOR 9X Pro Review - More For Less

Smartphones keep on getting more and more expensive. Price tags of effectually $one,000 have become a standard for mainstream flagship smartphones. Many people are not set to pay that, however. Many people don't even desire nor need flagship phones. Okay, what nigh phones at $500-600? Well, some people are not willing to get that high either, and some are not able to even if they wanted to. That's why we take budget phones in play, and HONOR has been one of the chief brands in the low and mid-range category for years now.

Award'south newest phones come without Google services, though, so proceed that in mind. More on that afterwards. We're here to talk about ane of the company'south upkeep phones, the HONOR 9X Pro. If you're not willing to pay over $300 / €300 for a smartphone, this device may be correct for y'all. The Honor 9X Pro is now available in a number of markets with a price tag of around €250. It doesn't really get lower than that if you lot want a truly capable smartphone, and want to salvage as much cash as possible. In this article / review, we'll take a closer look at the HONOR 9X Pro, to see what it has to offer.

No display notch / hole + sparse bezels = a win

The blueprint of this telephone is what struck me the near, having its cost tag in mind. This phone does not have a display camera hole nor display notch, while information technology retains thin bezels. Its lesser bezel is thicker than all the others, but not by much. How can information technology achieve that without having a brandish notch or hole? Well, it includes a pop-upward selfie camera. This is a setup we've seen on a number of phones, but you wouldn't expect information technology on such an affordable device. The rest of this phone's design does not disappoint either.

The telephone is made out of metallic and glass. One would expect polycarbonate build at this price tag, but HONOR disagrees. There are 2 colour variants, Midnight Black and Phantom Royal. We, luckily, received the latter for our review unit of measurement. This variant is far more striking. Its back side reflects low-cal in a actually interesting manner. We've included some images in the gallery downwards below for you to see for yourself. The phone fits really well in the mitt, though information technology's not pocket-size, it can't be with such a large brandish.

It is curved on the back, and it's quite ergonomic. The HONOR 9X Pro is not exactly light, though. It weighs 206 grams. That is to be expected because its size and build materials, this weight is really a good matter. There are three cameras on the dorsum of this phone. All three are placed inside the same camera module, and are vertically aligned. That camera module sits in the top-left corner of the telephone'southward back side. A capacitive fingerprint scanner is a office of this phone equally well, and information technology'southward located on the right side. The device even includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, believe information technology or not. All in all, HONOR did a neat job designing the HONOR 9X Pro. I'd be happy with this pattern even if the phone cost way more, so… color me impressed.

Information technology includes an IPS LCD panel, but the brandish is non bad at all

The Honor 9X Pro features a 6.67-inch fullHD+ (2340 10 1080) LTPS IPS LCD display. This display offers a 19.v:ix aspect ratio, and it is flat. Is it any proficient, though? Well yes, information technology is. Do not look flagship-grade quality, or OLED blacks, and y'all'll be perfectly fine with it. The display is quite bright, and the colors are good. They're non extremely bright or anything of the sort, merely they're good enough. Blacks are not as deep as on OLED panels, and we've seen better representations on LCD panels as well, simply not by much.

Honour basically included the best possible display to balance quality and toll tag hither. This is a really capable display, and nothing to scoff at, and it was quite affordable. During the elapsing of this review, please go on in heed this phone'south price tag, you can't really expect a better display here. This panel was used in higher-end phones for a long fourth dimension, and yous won't accept any bug with it unless y'all turn to nitpicking. It's quite sharp, and you won't notice whatsoever pixelation on information technology.

The performance is excellent, amidst the best in this class

And then, is the performance any good? Many people would say non, due to this telephone's price tag. Well, you may exist surprised. Now, the Award 9X Pro really performs actually well. The Kirin 810 is even so a actually good scrap, while the telephone's other specs are zip to scoff at. Throw in Honor'due south EMUI 10 and its optimizations to the table, and you have a really good-performing device. Practise not expect apps to load as fast as they would on a flagship smartphone. Also, some games may not run at total power, simply this phone is more than capable of running games equally well.

Multitasking is really fast, while we did non find whatsoever significant lag either. The phone did skip a flake from time to fourth dimension, just that was to be expected. For the about role, the performance was bully, and for the vast bulk of people, this is all the power they need, really. We were able to practise everything with this phone, well, everything every bit far as performance goes. Everything we would exercise on any other smartphone.

The bottom line is, if y'all're worried nigh the Honor 9X Pro performance, don't exist. This phone could be a smashing selection for yous if you don't want to spend more €250. Information technology could also be a neat option for your kid, your parents, or whoever else is not too demanding when it comes to technology.

The HONOR 9X Pro provides a truly excellent battery life

Battery life is one of the strongest aspects of the HONOR 9X Pro. This phone offers excellent battery life, to say the to the lowest degree. Information technology comes with a 4,000mAh battery on the inside, which is more than enough for its large 60Hz display. HONOR's EMUI optimizations, plus the Kirin 810 work great and don't drain the bombardment at all. Google services are not included hither, then that's probably yet another benefit for the overall battery life.

In my testing, this phone is great even for heavy utilize during the 24-hour interval. I'm a power user, and in terms of performance and battery life, this telephone hasn't let me down once. I was constantly getting over 8 hours of screen-on-time, even in a ii-day catamenia. So if you use your telephone around iv-5 hours a solar day, chances are this will be a two-mean solar day phone for you. For me, it's a one day telephone, as I most always go above vi hours of screen-on-fourth dimension on a given twenty-four hour period. Regardless, I ever ended up with enough of juice left in the tank. I'm non big on gaming, but I did play some games just for this review. You can cheque out some battery stats down beneath.

Now, in terms of charging, this phone offers 10W wired charging. That is not exactly fast, but you lot can't really ask for much more at this cost tag. This telephone's battery life is so good, that you'll be able to accuse it over night without a trouble, even during about hectic days. The phone does not support wireless charging, nor opposite wireless charging, so continue that in mind.

Cameras are non smashing in depression light, but they're proficient enough otherwise

Cameras on €250 smartphones are not that good, ordinarily. Well, you'd exist glad to hear that the HONOR 9X Pro is above boilerplate in that regard, though not corking overall. Do non expect a flagship-grade performance out of this smartphone, but it can take some good looking photos. In good lighting, this phone's images can wait proficient. That 48-megapixel camera sensor on the back can capture plenty detail, while it also does a decent task with the dynamic range likewise. The camera tends to oversaturate pictures, though, especially red colors, as you tin meet below… only for the almost role, the phone does a practiced job in daylight.

Low lite scenarios are where the Accolade 9X Pro struggles

In low calorie-free, however, things are not equally neat. The HONOR 9X Pro is capable of capturing a good shot, merely it all depends on the scene. The telephone tends to lose a lot of item in depression lite, and information technology also sometimes struggles with street lights, it overblows them… but interestingly plenty, not always. Another issue is with dissonance, in that location's lots of it in low low-cal. Luckily, Accolade included a dark style in this camera, which can help immensely in depression light conditions. Images notwithstanding won't look great, but they will at least look amend than in auto mode, and volition be brighter as well, as long equally the scene is non as well dark. If it ends up beingness as well dark, the HONOR 9X Pro tends to struggle with focusing on objects. The phone tin shoot fullHD video at 30fps, so don't count on 60fps video here, nor 4K. That is to exist expected because its price, however.

If you're into selfies, well, you'll be glad to know that the camera on the front is cracking. It tin have okay-looking selfies. It's not the best effectually, only information technology'southward ane of the best in this price range, that's for sure. There are quite a few software additions that you lot tin play around with, in the camera app. Fifty-fifty if yous leave things on default settings, yous'll exist able to get a adept shot more often than non. The video is practiced enough. it's quite stable, though not the most stable we've seen, not even close. It does a good job in terms of epitome quality, though.

This camera is more than skillful enough for video chatting also. Information technology's a 26mm wide-angle lens, and even though we'd wish for it to exist even wider, this volition do the trick. I've seen a lot worse-performing selfie cameras in phones at this price range. So, all in all, the Accolade 9X Pro may not accept stellar cameras, only it does have plenty to offer for the price.

Camera samples on Flickr

Audio is good in full general, though the earpiece is a bit muffled

Let's touch on the telephone call quality starting time, shall we. I've tested out the phone'due south earpiece and microphone with several people during the review period. Each of them said that I sound muffled. That could signal an upshot with the microphone on the phone. They could hear me fine, but the sound was more muffled than what they're used to. it is possible that is the issue with my phone specifically, but it'southward worth noting. I've wanted to experience it for myself, then I decided to be on the receiving end of it, and it does sound a flake muffled. As I said, information technology's perfectly usable, but… just annotation it.

At present, in terms of sound in general. The Award 9X Pro comes with a single speaker on the bottom. That speaker is not half bad, but it's not equally good as some single-speakers on flagship phones, while it cannot concord a candle to stereo speakers. Truth be said, for what you're paying for the device, the speaker is more than serviceable. I did find some distortion on higher volumes, while it's not every bit crisp every bit I'd similar it to be, merely as I said, I'm used to far more expensive devices, so… that's no indication. The speaker is more than fine.

In terms of sound through headphones, well, it'south good. It's not great, information technology's excellent, information technology's good. You'll be getting skillful sound across the spectrum, that goes for lows, mids, and highs. I wasn't overly impressed with either, but wasn't disappointed either. I did notice a bit of bass in there, which is a skilful affair.

EMUI 10 runs great on this phone, though the lack of apps could be an issue for some

When information technology comes to software, there'southward plenty to say. Most of it has to do with app availability, and the whole Google state of affairs. Before we get into information technology, though, let's outset talk about EMUI as a split entity. The Accolade 9X Pro runs EMUI ten, the latest version of Huawei'south Android OS / pare. EMUI 10 is better than ever, information technology's easily the best iteration ever. It's fast, it's shine, the animations are spot on, and information technology looks adept. This may not exist everyone'due south cup of tea, only in combination with the Kirin 810, and Android 10, it worked peachy on the phone. Considering the toll of this phone, not many people would expect such functioning, merely the Award 9X Pro delivers. At that place are withal some kinks in EMUI in regards to app management in the background, only they're far less noticeable than earlier, and quite frankly, many of yous won't even detect annihilation.

Google'south apps are not included

That being said, let'due south talk more virtually the apps state of affairs, shall we. As many of you already know, Huawei has been banned past the United states of america from doing business with companies from the US, well, not all of them… the situation is quite complicated. The bespeak is, Huawei is not allowed to apply Google services on its smartphones, and that includes HONOR as well, the Huawei'southward sub-make. You won't find a single Google app on this phone, and that includes the Google Play Store. Yous'll have to rely on Huawei'due south AppGallery, which grew immensely, but it's not nigh set up to compete with the Play Shop.

You won't observe many apps that you may be used to on the AppGallery, even though y'all'll probably find some replacements. Many companies did push their apps to the AppGallery already, then you can utilise Opera instead of Chrome, for instance, Bluish Mail instead of Gmail, and so on. There are options, merely non many of them. That brings me to my adjacent indicate, Telephone Clone. Phone Clone is an app that comes pre-installed on the HONOR 9X Pro, and it'southward supposed to assistance yous switch phones, and take your apps with y'all. And then, if y'all have some apps that are not available in the AppGallery, and you want to use, while you have them on your electric current phone, you can switch them over to the Laurels 9X Pro, in theory.

Telephone Clone is skillful, merely not perfect

This app works really well in general, just for some reason, it did not transfer quite a few of my apps. Do note that the app transfers messages as well, and diverse other information that you may exist interested in. It will also transfer your apps along with their data. To requite you some examples. Phone Clone did non transfer Amazfit, Commodities, eBay, Facebook Messenger, McDonald'southward, and a number of other apps that I wanted to transfer. It did not have an upshot with Microsoft Excel, Joey, Instagram, Monefy, and so on. All in all, I've managed to transfer around forty-pct of apps I take on my phone.

Do note that you can manually install APKs from let'south say APK Mirror, and the vast majority of them will work fine. 95% of Google apps, however, will non work on the HONOR 9X Pro. It doesn't matter if you lot try to transfer them using Phone Clone, or sideload them, the point is, you won't exist able to use them. if that'due south a problem for you, then this is not the device for you, unless yous want to install Google Play Services manually, of class. That is also an selection, but many people won't exist willing to do that.

The Honor 9X Pro is bully value for money, there'south not denying that

Then, what's the lesser line here? Well, if Google apps are something you demand, and you don't desire to mess with forcefully installing Play Services, then mayhap this is not a device for you lot. If you don't use many apps in general, and don't need Google apps, the Accolade 9X Pro is a smashing choice. For its cost tag, this phone offers a lot, information technology really does. It offers excellent functioning, swell hardware in general, it looks actually sleek, and the photographic camera is non half bad at that price betoken either. The display is as well really good, while the audio won't win whatsoever awards, but it's okay. For many people, this phone will be more than than they need, merely have in listen the app situation earlier you lot buy it. See if that is an event for you, or not, if it's non, the Accolade 9X Pro is like shooting fish in a barrel to recommend.