Did we wait for this?We test Huawei Nova 9, new smartphone brand

This is not a Huawei nova 9 review yet, but these are not the first impressions either, because I've been using the phone for several days. And the entry photo shows the phone with accessories, Huawei Watch 3 Pro and Freebuds 4 headphones for a reason.

Because Huawei cares not only about introducing another product, but about expanding the hardware ecosystem. And the two things don't always have to be the same. In addition, the headphones are part of a promotional set that can be ordered until November 11.

Instead of flagships, we have a flagship, but of slightly different flesh and blood

Earlier, we secretly hoped that Huawei would return to the European market immediately with a strong card in every respect, and it could be a series phone P50 or Mate 50. They will appear, but not now. Instead, we get a nova series phone. Known to us, because we have already had the opportunity to enjoy in Poland, for example, Huawei nova 5T), but also new, because this time Huawei nova 9 is an inseparable part of HMS.

Huawei positions nova 9 as a mid-range phone aspiring to be a flagship in its class

Where does this term come from, after all, the phone itself is rather the result of a combination of different technologies, and the software is a secondary thing? It's true, but during the first days of contact with Huawei nova 9 and its EMUI 12 system overlay, which is based on Android 11, I got the irresistible impression that the hardware aspect of this phone is less important than it was during Huawei's premiere.

What can Huawei nova 9 do? Phone specification

The specification suggests that Huawei nova 9 is definitely not a failure, it's just that the most efficient components have been left to even better phones of this brand, but this time the software seems to play a much more important role. Because the point is that every new Huawei nova 9 user will feel the functionality offered by deep integration with HMS. Even deeper than in previous Huawei smartphones, those that already work fully without the support of an American uncle.

EMUI 12 instead of Harmony OS 2. Because that's how it is, and not otherwise

You will probably ask, and where is Harmony OS? After all, it went to tablets such as Matepad 11, it is in the Huawei Watch 3 series (by the way, their functionality is much better today than on the day of release). However, this was the manufacturer's decision for our region to include EMUI 12 in Huawei nova 9. In fact, this EMUI is not so far from Harmony OS. From the very first moment, when I took the phone in my hand and turned it on, I had this impression. This is not only about visual elements, but also features such as Device+, which aims to facilitate data exchange and cooperation with other devices of the Huawei ecosystem. It's like Huawei Share, but in an even more developed version.

EMUI and all clear

Huawei wants EMUI 12 to be perceived as a standalone platform, not an overlay. Therefore, when we enter the system settings, in the software information section, there is no entry with information about the base Android version.

Huawei nova 9 is fun to use. This is due to the software and design

Huawei nova 9 is a smartphone that has been pleasant to use so far and this is certainly due not only to the growing number of system settings that adapt the phone to the user's needs and are more and more intuitive, but also a comfortable, light and slim body of the phone.

Yes, I looked at the island with cameras a bit crookedly, but live it is much more pleasant to perceive. It is a pity that it does not hide such good cameras as those that Huawei has accustomed us to in its more expensive phones.

And you already know that nova 9 will cost PLN 2299 in Poland (the price of the promotional set with Freebuds 4 will probably remain after November 11), which is enough for us to have considerable photo and video requirements. However, I do not assess the cameras yet, below you can see some sample photos and the first conclusions about the work of the cameras in Huawei nova 9.

We look at Huawei nova 9 from all sides

First, let's take a look at the shape of Huawei nova 9. It's a classic Huawei, a smartphone that from the front resembles phones from the series, say Huawei P30 Pro, only with the disconnected front camera tear. We have slightly rounded side edges of the display and all corners of the housing frame.

Huawei assures that it is an aluminum frame, although its appearance may contradict it. The phone has a flat base and theoretically can be placed vertically, but it requires angelic patience and is unlikely to be useful when photographing. In addition to the 66W charger and USB cable, I also found a transparent silicone cover in the set.

Right edge of the case

Left edge of the case

Personally, I like to use such protection, but you have to admit that the back of the nova 9 deserves to be exposed. The version we are testing is the Starry Blue variant (black will also be available in stores), which is characterized by a texture resembling a frosted smooth metal coating to the touch. Similar solutions are also used by OPPO and for a moment I even thought that I was holding another phone from the Reno series.

The phone has a speaker, but only mono. He plays it loud and decently. At the top we have a narrow and a wide grid of the handset. Here, too, during calls, it is pleasant, but it was the behavior when playing music via Bluetooth that surprised me the most. Plus, of course. I connected the Freebuds 4i headphones via Bluetooth, but without using the Ai Life application, because it was not in the phone by default.

Handset speaker above the front camera

Huawei Documents and other applications, so what will we find in the software for a good morning

By default, we have Huawei Documents (Documents in AppGallery) in the phone, which is a smartphone alternative to Google Docs or even Office. In tablets it makes even more sense, because. This application is integrated with Huawei Drive and supports files in Microsoft formats. In addition, the system at the start looks like the pictures below. You can see that Huawei tried to add as many applications as possible from its own stable, for example Klipy Petal, a movie editor.

The most striking novelty in the interface compared to what we were used to in previous versions of EMUI is the new layout of the pop-up pop-up menu (reminiscent of the Control Center in Xiaomi), as well as the ability to extend the icon of the application folder. So that 9 application icons are displayed next to each other, this time without a text description. In this way, we will save space, and we can touch each icon without opening the folder. Of course, the folder can contain more applications, then the last tile with the folder in the lower right corner will open all its contents.

Control panel

The battery, i.e. the Huawei nova 9, can last all day or even longer

The working time of the battery will be thoroughly examined, but it seems that 4300 mAh should be enough for more than one day of quite intensive work. In addition, we have fast wired charging (no wireless), the same as in Huawei Mate 40 Pro, i.e. 66W.

The charging time for a fully discharged phone is approximately 38 minutes. Almost twice as long as the 20 minutes of the recently tested Xiaomi 11T Pro, but it is still a very good result. In theory, because the first loadings took a little longer. Interestingly, Huawei nova 9 weighs 175 grams and has a battery only 100 mAh less capacious than the 212 gram Huawei Mate 40 Pro. As you can see, not only this component affects the weight of the phone.

Huawei nova 9 charger included

120Hz screen for the first time on a Huawei phone

Before the photo examples, it's time for two more words about the display. Huawei is very proud of it, it emphasizes that it is the first phone with 120 Hz refresh rate. In the settings, we can switch between 60 and 120 Hz, as well as set the dynamic adjustment of this parameter. Huawei declares excellent color compatibility (deltaE < 1), but this is an element that we will look at in more detail. The screen during operation with manual brightness adjustment reaches a brightness of 430 nits with the entire white screen, and 580 nits with a spot backlight. The minimum brightness of white, which is 1.6 nit, also looks great. Black as in OLED is black.

And finally Huawei nova 9 photographically. It supposedly has 4 cameras on the back, but...

Finally, it's time for some photo examples. I do not hide that I feel worried that the next Huawei phone, which is to conquer our hearts, is not a titan of photography. Here, first of all, the main sensor is to show the most and the first photos show that this is the right assumption.

Eye of the main camera

The main 50 Mpix camera is a construction similar to those of the best phones, with an RYYB color mask, i.e. a yellow color filter instead of green. There is a Pro mode with DNG recording, so there will be an opportunity to check what the main camera can do, because it looks like Huawei is doing decent RAWs again. It is a pity that there is no optical stabilization, but the camera seems to be doing well in low light in night photography mode.

In the case of other cameras, I wouldn't expect anything crazy yet. Photos from the ultra-wide-angle camera are very heavily processed so far. So much so that watching them enlarged is not a pleasure. I am also wondering about the use of a macro camera in a similar form as in phones of other brands, where you have to be exactly 4 cm away to get a sharp photo.

Ultra wide angle camera and the other two

Overall, from the very first shot, you can feel the camera software's characteristic drive to improve photos, especially in low light (even when fish AI is turned off). Of course, this does not mean that it is done in the wrong direction, on the contrary, but sometimes we would prefer to be free. Fortunately, this is given by the manual shooting mode.

Example photos from Huawei nova 9

Photos taken in the late afternoon

Photo with blur background effect. As usual, problems arise "in-between"

Photo in portrait mode from the front camera

The interior is mostly unlit

Similar frame, but with the lights on

Photo taken at dusk

Huawei, camera firmware update please

I will not hide that I will be happy to see what Huawei will do with the nova 9 by updating the firmware of the built-in cameras. We have seen many times that the first impressions right after the premiere did not reflect the actual potential of photo-video. The main camera already works quite well, and it can be much better. However, I would especially like to see if the work of the ultra-wide-angle camera can be improved, because something is wrong at the stage of saving to the JPEG format, which is illustrated in the photo below. However, the problem is visible only in magnification, because otherwise everything looks fine.

Huawei nova 9. It's comfortable, but for the first time it's so hard for me to evaluate a phone of this brand after a few days of use

My current opinion on the photo capabilities of Huawei nova 9 is still too fluid to be able to agree towards any verdict. The same applies to the entire phone, which only now, during the premiere in Vienna, hit the deep water it deserves. Of course, I do not anticipate taking a bath with it, because the housing can only handle splashes. How strong, however, Huawei does not reveal, because the phone does not have an IP certificate, but the company confirms that the structure is sealed to some extent.

What can be said with certainty so far? As I pointed out at the beginning, it is very important to expose EMUI 12 and the advantages of HMS in its current form. You can see that Huawei is moving in the right direction with the development of its system platform. In my opinion, Huawei nova 9 deserves one more update right after the premiere, which will smooth out some things, because now I have the impression that it is still too "rough".

I have the impression that Huawei nova 9 aspires to be a solid, comfortable phone, although without technological bells and whistles. It will surprise with the comfort of use using EMUI 12, with a strong reference to the HMS ecosystem. The lack of support for 5G does not seem to matter much for now

On the one hand, the system works very smoothly and only in photo mode and sometimes it gets out of breath when viewing photos. However, at the time of writing this material, I had only 3 days of using Huawei nova 9 behind me, and it's still very short to get to know all the moods of such a device as a smartphone.

Source: info. own, photo: Karol Żebruń / Alicja Żebruń