One of the newest smartphones that Huawei Philippines has launched before the end of 2018 is the Huawei Y9 2019. It’s a decent smartphone and it will not cost you that much on your wallet. And despite being in the Y-series, the Huawei Y9 2019 is a smartphone that you should really take a look at.

Design and hardware

The Huawei Y9 2019 might belong in the Y family but the design and feel of the smartphone don’t feel like it has been compromised. The back is made up of plastic surprisingly but it does feel like glass and it’s very premium to hold. Despite the large footprint of the smartphone, the Huawei Y9 2019 does feel comfortable to hold thanks to the curve sides of the smartphone similar to the Huawei Nova 3.

The Huawei Y9 2019 is noticeable big but that isn’t a bad thing as I can hold the smartphone pretty well. The Huawei Y 2019 doesn’t lack in ports as we got a micro USB port in here along with the headphone jack beside it. The smartphone also has a speaker grill just beside and actually, it’s just fine for its price range.

The smartphone is really a decent one when it comes to design as the smartphone only features a minimal notch with a tiny bezel. The smartphone’s volume rocker and the power button are placed on one side and despite the size, the Huawei Y9 2019 does feel ergonomic to me.

At the back of the smartphone is the fingerprint scanner and it was pretty fast but in case you want a faster and easier way to unlock the smartphone, there’s face unlock too which is as fast as most Huawei smartphones that we’ve reviewed before.

Overall, the build quality of the smartphone is surprising to me for a Huawei smartphone at this price range.

Battery life

The Huawei Y9 2019 sports a 4000mAh battery and it’s actually pretty big if you ask me. In our usage of the smartphone, we were not surprised that the smartphone lasted really long in PC Mark as we got a score of 10 hours 55 minutes. In our average usage, we’ve managed to reach a day and a half which lasted really long.

Display

Another thing to love on the Huawei Y9 2019 is the display of the smartphone. There’s the 6.5-inch display with a 19.5:9 display aspect ratio and a Full HD+ resolution. Actually, I was expecting that the Huawei Y9 2019 will sport an HD+ display instead of FHD+ since we’re dealing with a smartphone with a more affordable price than the Huawei Nova 3i.

Of course, the notch at the top is expected and it wasn’t really that wide. The size of the notch is almost the same with the Huawei Nova 3i and the Huawei Nova 3 which isn’t that bad. But of course, we wouldn’t say that it’s the best as other smartphone manufacturers are already selling smartphones with a tinier notch.

When it comes to display quality, the Huawei Y9 2019 is pretty decent. Again, it isn’t the best one in its price range but the color accuracy of the display is pretty nice and I can use it well even at direct sunlight.

Performance

The Huawei Y9 2019 comes with a Kirin 710 processor inside along with the 4GB of RAM. Actually, I was not expecting that the smartphone will have the same specifications of the Huawei Nova 3i as Huawei might compete for the Y9 2019 with their own smartphone.

Like what we’ve experienced before in our review of the Huawei Nova 3i, the Huawei Y9 2019 is a decent smartphone when it comes to performance. It might not be as powerful as other chipsets in the market, but the Kirin 710 is really reliable when it comes to thermals and efficiency. Adding to that is the GPU turbo which is why we really saw an increase in performance in games like PUBG Mobile.

The benchmark scores that we got on the Huawei Y9 2019 is pretty fair. The scores are pretty good in its price range and it can definitely compete with other smartphones.

As seen in the benchmark, the Huawei Y9 2019 fared well in the gaming segment too. But in some games, you might want to lower the settings to get more enjoyable frame rates.

You can check out the GameBench Benchmarking app at (https://www.gamebench.net)

You can also download the app at the Play Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamebench.metricscollector)

Camera

The Huawei Y9 2019 might have a lot of similarities with the Huawei Nova 3i but when it comes to camera quality, the Huawei Nova 3i has a superior performance. The Huawei Y9 2019 features a 13MP+2MP at the back and a 16MP+2MP at the front and yes, the smartphone supports AI so it can produce better shots and better colors as the smartphone can recognize the objects that you are shooting.

Despite having an inferior camera compared to the Huawei Nova 3i, I was surprised that the smartphone packs a night mode and it might not be as good as other Huawei smartphones in the higher range but it surprisingly works in our tests. Actually, it’s a surprising feature that other smartphones in this price range don’t have.

When it comes to camera quality, I can’t say that it was great but shooting at decent light conditions was fine to me at some times but it wasn’t great, however, shooting at you’ll notice that it was greater than I expected especially with the night mode. And oh, the AI really works on the Huawei Y9 2019. Check out the shots that we took using the smartphone below.

Verdict

The Huawei Y9 2019 is undoubtedly a great smartphone for its price range. You have solid and decent build quality, the display is really fine and the performance of the smartphone is pretty well. The camera of the smartphone also supports AI but don’t expect too much from it but I’m quite satisfied with its performance.

The Huawei Y9 2019 is now available for Php12,990 and yes, it does have a really good price.

Huawei Y9 2019 Specs

• 6.5-inch Full HD+ 19.5:9 display aspect ratio
• HiSilicon Kirin 710 Processor
• 4GB RAM
• 64GB Internal storage expandable via MicroSD
• 13MP f/1.8 +2MP f/2.4 rear camera
• 16MP f/2.0 +2MP f/2.4 front camera
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
• LTE, Dual SIM
• Android 8.1 with EMUI 8.2
• 4000mAh battery