There aren’t a lot of things I used to consider when buying a phone- I used to be one of those as long as I can text, call and play Candy Crush then I’m good types, if I’m being completely honest with all of you.

However with blogging and vlogging making a significant impact in my life, I find my mobile phone needs changing and I consider things like battery life, screen display, responsiveness, memory and camera quality to be great considerations.

I was recently gifted with a Huawei P9 which brags of being the first phone to have the world’s best camera lens by Leica in it. Everyone who’s up to date in mobile phones has been intrigued by this bad boy and luckily, I was one of the firsts to get my hands on one! So in honor of exploring new things, I will also be sharing with you all my very.first.tech.review.

AESTHETICS
By the looks of it, the Huawei P9 is definitely a luxury phone. It’s slim design and different color variations of haze gold, quartz grey and ceramic white scream of sophistication.
Its fingerprint sensor, which is strategically placed at the back of the phone, activates automatically without the need to touch any buttons to prompt is definitely one of my favorite features of this device.

It is slim and fits perfectly in the palm of my hand, making it easy to use it with one hand. On a personal note, I’ve always been used to bigger screens but I have found comfort and ease with the Huawei P9’s 5.5 inch display which has brought me to the realization that it’s not always just about the screen size but also resolution and responsiveness.

RESPONSIVENESS

In the two weeks that I have had my Huawei P9, I have not encountered any problems whatsoever when it comes to its responsiveness. I usually keep a series of applications on at the same time such a Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Whatsapp, VSCO and of course, Pokemon Go and it works perfectly fine despite having all these applications running at the same time. However, I must note that I do not keep them all running at the same time for very long and I do make it a point to clear my running applications after a while.
When it comes to screen responsiveness, I do not have any complaints as well. It moves and glides as soon as my fingers touch its screen and I have never encountered lags, glitches or forced shut downs.

MEMORY
If there’s one thing about this phone which I find to be a bit of a con, it’s having to choose between a second sim card and a memory card. It’s either one or the other with the Huawei P9 but since it does come with 64 GB and 4 GB RAM, I guess it’s still enough. However, I would have liked having the option anyways.

CAMERA
I know this is the part that most of you wonderful readers of mine have come for so I am going to try and be as detailed as I possibly can for this category- if not for you, at least it’s to give the Huawei P9’s Leica camera the justice it deserves!
Let’s be honest, the reason why this phone is catching so much attention is because it is the first phone in the industry to incorporate the Leica optics which has been dubbed as the best camera available. So to have this technology on a mobile phone is every photography-loving persons dream come true.

The first thing that caught my attention about the Leica camera are its dual 12 MP lens and its dual- LED (dual tone) flash. I’ve done my research and each lens is responsible for capturing monochrome and colored images which are merged in order to take extremely amazing photos!

Front camera

HD Settings

Auto camera settings

DAYTIME PHOTOS

I am in awe at how great the camera quality of the Huawei P9 is. Its settings are extremely easy to manipulate should you wish to explore its manual settings but if you’d like to play it safe and stick to the automatic mode, you can still expect seamless and vibrant photos.

Light painting settings

Indoor night settings (no flash)

Outdoor night settings (no flash)

Indoor selfie mode

NIGHT PHOTOS

Not quite a fan of taking photos during low light but I do appreciate the dual tone flash that comes with the Huawei P9’s Leica camera. Obviously, back camera over front camera any day but still expect to take decent photos either way.

Also, I prefer not to use flash.

OVERALL
In total, I am definitely happy with the Huawei P9 and all its features whether it’s the camera, responsiveness, battery life, audio and other features that make this phone as great as it is.
Does it heat up? Yes, if you push it to but never with normal use.

Is it durable? Yes, I’ve dropped it once already (by accident) and it still remains scratch free, undented and still as pretty as ever. Plus, it even comes with its own case and screen protector inside the box which I thought was a very thoughtful gesture.

So if you’re thinking about getting this phone, you should definitely jump the gun. Aside from the memory card/ sim card dilemma, I truly really am grateful to have been given the opportunity to experience this device!

Find out more about the Huawei P9 on their official website and follow them on their social media accounts for more updates!

So… how’d I do?

Issa P.