The Honor 9 has a HiSiliconKirin 960 octa-core processor (four 2.4 GHz cores and four 1.8 GHz cores),[1] a Mali-G71 MP8 GPU, and a 3,200 mAh non-removable battery.[2][3] It measures 147.3 millimetres (5.80 in) by 70.9 millimetres (2.79 in) by 7.5 millimetres (0.30 in) and weighs 155 grams (5.5 oz).[2]
The Honor 9 has a metal frame and a 3D curved glass rear,[1] and its official tagline is "the light catcher."[5] The phone comes in "Glacier Grey," "Sapphire Blue," "Midnight Black," and gold, but some colors are not available in certain markets.[2][4] During IFA 2017 in Berlin, Honor announced the new color variant for the Honor 9, which was the limited edition "Robin Egg Blue."[6][7][8][9] The color became available in China in August, and was released in the United Kingdom in September.[10]
Software
Huawei launched the Honor 9 with Android Nougat (version 7.0) and Huawei's EMUI 5.1.[1][2][3] In the spring of 2019, Huawei began to roll out Android Pie (EMUI 9.0) for the device.[11]
Overall, initial reviews of the Honor 9 were positive, averaging 8.8 out of 10.[14] Android Authority's Gary Sims gave the phone a rating of 8.7 out of 10, and wrote in his review summary: "The Honor 9 certainly ticks a lot of the right boxes: great performance, dual cameras, sleek design, and an IR blaster! The only downsides are the lack of toughened glass over the display and the slippery nature of the build materials."[3] Andy Boxall of Digital Trends wrote the following as a summary of his review: "The Honor 9 impresses so much, it's a strong contender for one of the best reasonably priced smartphones available."[15]PC Magazine's Thomas Newton assigned the Honor 9 a rating of 4 out of 5, meaning "excellent".[5] Swedroid offered its recommendation and rated the phone 8.3 out of 10 overall.[16]
Jessica Murgia of AndroidPit,[13] Dominic Preston of TechAdvisors,[17] James Peckham of TechRadar,[4] and ZDNet's Sandra Vogel each rated the phone 4.5 out of 5.[18] Preston's summary read, "The Honor 9 is an undeniably impressive phone for an unmatched price right now. In performance terms, it's nipping at the heels of the year's top flagships, and only lacking flashy features like waterproofing or a bezel-less screen. It looks great, it runs fast, and it costs less than £400. We're sold."[17] Summarizing his review, Peckham wrote, "The Honor 9 offers a lot of what the high-end flagship phones do right now, but for a much lower price. There's no exciting, headline-grabbing feature here, but a great design, fantastic performance and lots of nice touches make this an all-round impressive and affordable phone."[4] Vogel also gave a rating of 8.9 on a 10-point scale, meaning "outstanding".[18]
Android Central's Alex Dobie called the Honor 9 the "best phone for less than £400". He gave the phone the "Choice Award" and wrote, "The Honor 9 isn't perfect, but it is a great all-rounder that makes high-end performance and design more affordable than ever before."[19]Stuff rated the Honor 9 five out of five stars and said, "High-end hardware at a middleweight price makes the Honor 9 one of the best phone deals around."[20]TechRadar recommend the Honor 9, which won in the "Best Mid-range Phone" category at the 2017 T3 Awards.[21]
