Huawei P9 Lite - they offer us a simplified version of the flagship at a tasty price. Let's find out if everything is really that good.

Review of the Huawei P9 Lite smartphone and its characteristics

Huawei P9 is one of the main flagships of the manufacturer, which not everyone can afford yet.
It was created to compete with famous European and Korean flagships, and its junior modification Huawei P9 Lite received a compact body and an attractive price, which makes its purchase the optimal solution for many. The smartphone does not have a dual main camera module, its hardware is also rather close to average, but it has an excellent screen, full functionality of the EMUI shell and a fingerprint scanner. Let's review the Huawei P9 Lite and you will be able to understand what will be better for you - to get it for a flagship or to immediately get a simplified version.

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⇡#Communication and wireless interfaces

From a communications point of view, everything about the Huawei P9 Lite is quite prosaic and typical for a smartphone from China. You can install two Nano-SIMs in the device, but both of them will not be active: the gadget has only one radio module, and if any activity appears on one of the cards, the second one will become temporarily unavailable - the classic implementation of a “dual SIM” smartphone. It is assumed that with one of the cards the user will make calls and send messages, with the other – go online.

The device supports the LTE Cat standard. 6 with a maximum theoretical data reception speed of 300 Mbit/s, upload speed – 50 Mbit/s. It's great that Cat. 6 is making its way into mid-priced gadgets, we just have to wait until Russian operators learn to combine two carrier frequencies so that such speeds within the mobile Internet can move from theory to practice. There is support for all frequencies important for Russia: the seventh and twentieth, in particular. We have no comments about the quality of signal reception - the gadget does not lose connection to the network for no apparent reason, and the P9 Lite also has no problems with voice calls.

Among the wireless interfaces, the device supports Bluetooth, dual-frequency Wi-Fi and NFC. The gadget navigates the area using a radio module that supports communication with GPS (and A-GPS), GLONASS and BeiDou satellites. The device connects to them really quickly. Half a minute after launching the profile test, the smartphone detected a total of nine satellites of three navigation systems and was guided by five of them. At the same time, the navigation error radius was very small - about five to six meters. In other words, the Huawei P9 Lite determines its own location quickly and quite accurately.

Design

The Huawei P9 Lite smartphone review moves on to consider the design, which turned out to be interesting. Huawei equipment always looks decent and the hero of our review was no exception. But unlike the older version, plastic is used as the main material.

There is a subtle striped pattern on the back and front panels, which makes the design more original. But if you remove the corporate logo on the front panel and put the screen in a locked state, you can easily confuse it with Xiaomi Redmi.

But the design of the back is more reminiscent of the older P9 model - it has a fingerprint scanner installed in the center, and on top we see a transparent insert with a built-in camera and flash.

When you pick up the phone, the expected effect of contact with cold metal does not occur, which, combined with the low weight, hints that in order to save money, the case has a plastic base. Only the frame is constructed of metal, which does not separate the plastic elements very carefully.

Huawei P9 Lite mini 2 black review showed that this does not affect the perception of the design, the device looks really beautiful. The plastic is of high quality - it does not become covered with fingerprints, which allows us to call it practical and did not receive a single scratch during the entire testing period.

The power control key and volume rocker are located on the right. They appear to be metal, but are actually made of plastic, like the rest of the body. A place for them was allocated on the right side.

The microSD card tray is combined with the second SIM card slot and is located on the left side.

At the top we see a traditional 3.5 jack for a headset, and it’s very good that they didn’t abandon it. An additional microphone is also installed here.

Huawei P9 Lite lte 16gb review informs you that the central place of the bottom panel is occupied by a micro-USB port. The main speaker and microphone were placed next to it.

The build quality is at the highest level, which is what you would expect from a manufacturer of this level - the parts sit tightly in the body, do not creak or play, only the above-mentioned side frame hints that the device belongs to the middle price category.

The smartphone is very convenient to use, its ergonomics are thought out to the smallest detail - the keys have a pleasant stroke and are located where you would expect to see them. The same goes for connectors. We didn’t forget about the event indicator. Huawei P9 Lite dual sim review showed that due to its compact size and light weight it is convenient to use with one hand.

The keys here are on-screen; if desired, their functionality and location can be set in the settings at your discretion. The scanner can be used not only to restrict access to the phone, but also to go to the notification shade, camera, and flip through photos.

Display

Huawei P9 Lite 2021 vns l21 review moves to a 5.2-inch display built using IPS technology. It received FullHD resolution and is covered with a flat protective glass with a good quality oleophobic coating. And to ensure maximum protection, the plastic side protrudes slightly above the rest of the case, which will save the screen if it falls.

The P9 Lit's display is surrounded by thin frames, which are completely invisible against a dark background. Thanks to this, the device should look great in any color options.

The factory calibration of the screen is far from the reference one - the color temperature is clearly too high, so after the first turn on you want to go to the settings and set your parameters there, which, fortunately, can be done.

Huawei P9 Lite lte dual sim review showed that the screen brightness level can be set in the range from 5 to 411 cd/m², and the contrast is 1 to 781. The picture is easy to read on the street, the screen is no worse or better than that of price competitors . Among the additional features, I would like to note the ability to operate with gloves, which is very useful during cold weather.

⇡#Autonomous work

The smartphone has a non-removable 11.4 Wh (3000 mAh, 3.8 V) battery. For a 5.2-inch smartphone, this is a fairly standard capacity. If you periodically let the device out of your hands and use it primarily as a means of communication (rather than as a gaming platform), the device can last a day without recharging. However, our device ran out of charge once during testing before arriving home - if we didn’t have an external battery with us, we would have been left without communication. The P9 Lite is powered by a standard Micro-USB interface, unlike its older brother, which is charged via a USB Type-C wire. A full charging cycle takes approximately three hours.

In continuous HD video playback mode at maximum screen brightness, with an active Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection, the device worked for almost seven hours - a completely standard indicator. The P9 Lite has various software energy saving scenarios, which in theory can extend the life of the smartphone by an hour or two.

Performance of Huawei P9 Lite

Huawei P9 Lite specifications are based on a self-produced Kirin 650 processor, built using a 16-NM process technology. It consists of a pair of clusters, each of which has 4 Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency limit of 2 and 1.7 GHz. The Mali T830 MP2 video accelerator is responsible for the graphics.

Compared to the Kirin 620, we have a 60% increase in CPU and 100% in GPU, which is very impressive. The new i5 coprocessor, which collects and processes data from all sensors of the device, deserves special mention. It received an increase in performance, but at the same time began to consume less energy.

Synthetics:

The technical characteristics of the Huawei P9 Lite suggest the presence of only 2 GB of RAM combined with 16 GB of user memory, of which 10.5 GB remains for use. In 2021, this volume will not be enough for most users, and therefore it is worth considering purchasing a microSD card. But in order to increase the amount of space, you will have to sacrifice a second SIM card. The micro-USB port does not support the ability to connect external devices via OTG.

Huawei P9 Lite gold 2 16gb review showed that according to the results of synthetic tests, Kirin 650 is comparable to another mid-range chip Helio P10 from MediaTek. Kirin is slightly superior in terms of graphics, but otherwise we see an identical result.

The smartphone is average in terms of performance - it can handle most games, but at maximum graphics the fps will be average and the experience will not be the same. You can still play Tanks on high graphics, but in more demanding games we see no more than 30 fps. There are no brakes or delays, which is nice.

Performance

Everything is fine with this smartphone. The shell is perfectly debugged, the animation flies, applications launch quickly, I did not notice any lags or glitches. It feels like you are using an expensive and advanced device.

In system benchmarks, the device does not achieve any sky-high performance levels.

It is slightly ahead of solutions based on MediaTek Helio X10, which, as a rule, are significantly cheaper than our hero.

A little ahead, but noticeably more expensive. However, this is not the point.

Autonomy

The Huawei P9 Lite review moves on to its 3000mAh battery. The manufacturer promised to improve power consumption when developing a new chip, and after testing we can confidently say that it succeeded. Compared to the P8 lite, it has become much more durable under the same testing modes. But it’s a stretch to call it a long-liver, because with active use it barely survives until the evening.

When reading at the minimum comfortable brightness level, the autonomy lasted for 14.5 hours. Huawei P9 Lite 16 GB review showed that continuous video playback left the phone at half brightness in 10 hours. In games it lasted a little over 4 hours.

Interface

The Huawei P9 Lite 2 black review demonstrates that it uses the proprietary Emotion UI 4.1 shell, based on version 6 of Android. Its distinctive features include the ability to control gestures and a virtual key, when pressed, a radial menu is displayed. This is very convenient when operating with one hand; you can immediately see the main functions in front of you. You can choose from thousands of available themes and switch to a simplified desktop display mode. The purpose of the function keys can be changed at your discretion.

Huawei P9 Light review showed that current events are displayed on the top curtain. It is divided into several menus; when you scroll to the second menu, we see shortcut icons for many functions, and there will be even more of them if you swipe your finger from bottom to top.

⇡#Technical characteristics

Huawei P9 Lite camera review

If the development of the Huawei P9 camera was carried out jointly with Leica, then there is nothing like that. The phone received a 13-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel front camera. The latter doesn't shoot perfectly, but in good lighting you can get amazing selfies. Huawei P9 Lite camera review showed that the front camera was not equipped with an LED flash, but instead, when shooting in low light, the backlight of the screen itself is used. It turns on a moment before shooting.

The main camera uses a Sony IMX214 module with f/2.0 aperture, in addition to which there is a bright flash. Autofocus works flawlessly - everything is fast and clear.

The interface of the Camera application contains so many settings and shooting modes that you can easily get lost in them. But all menu elements are built logically, and the interface is easy to use. A gesture on the left can display available shooting modes, and on the right - camera parameters. Below is a menu for those who like to experiment with manual shooting settings. Huawei P9 Lite review in Russian showed that you can set white balance, ISO, shutter speed, control focus and much more.

Example photo:

Video shooting can be carried out in FullHD resolution with 30 fps, which the manufacturer rather did on purpose, leaving 4K only in its flagships. Slow motion shooting is possible in 720p resolution at 120 fps.

There is stabilization here, but when shooting on the go it plays virtually no role. In terms of quality, we have well-detailed videos, but the overall impression is spoiled by small stutters and speed dips. The suppression system suppresses extraneous noise well, providing high quality sound when recording.

The overall verdict is that the camera is serviceable and is approximately on par with its competitors. In some places traces of software processing are visible, due to which detail is lost in some frames. The main disappointment was the sharpness zones at the edges of the image, but you don’t remember about them when shooting at a short distance.

Conclusion

Huawei P9 Lite dual sim black review has come to an end and it's time to sum it up. It has already become commonplace for us that gadgets from China are much cheaper than their European competitors with identical characteristics. But the Huawei brand has managed to break into the global market, which is why the cost of its devices is gradually increasing and is already an order of magnitude higher than its Chinese competitors.

Huawei P9 Lite has become a pleasant exception to the rule, because for $182 they offer us a device with a fingerprint scanner, a FullHD display and good performance. What we regretted was the amount of RAM and built-in memory; there are really not enough of them here.

Where can I buy?

Following the links you can buy a smartphone at the best prices:

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⇡#Camera

The front camera in the smartphone is eight megapixel. It does not have an automatic focusing system, but it is equipped with its own LED flash, which will come in handy when you need to talk to video in a dark room. Of course, taking a selfie with a flash pointed directly at your forehead is not the best idea, but in a critical situation it can come in handy. The P9 Lite's front camera itself shoots very well in daylight and not bad in room light. In dim lighting, the picture is covered with small digital noise, but remains quite readable - the pixels do not merge into a single mess.

Huawei P9 Lite – example photo on the front camera

The main camera is ordinary - with a 13 megapixel sensor, autofocus and a single LED flash. The sensor size here is completely standard - 1/3 inch, pixel size - 1.12 µm. A typical solution for a mid-price smartphone.

Huawei P9 Lite – rear camera

To be honest, the rear camera in the P9 Lite is completely ordinary, not only in terms of technical characteristics, but also in the quality of the resulting photos. The automation selects shooting parameters well, the device is quickly and quite accurately aimed at the object - the percentage of focus defects in test images is minimal. In bright light, the picture is sharp, contrasting and with natural colors. In general, most modern mobile cameras cope well with shooting in daylight. But as photographing conditions worsen, “grain” begins to appear on background surfaces in the image, a drop in saturation is observed, and pictures lose detail.

Huawei P9 Lite – examples of photos taken with the main camera