New Huawei smartphones Mate 9, GR5 2017 enter Philippine market

Two of Huawei’s latest smartphones have officially entered the local market, positioned in the mid-range (GR5 2017, left) and high-end (Mate 9, right) segments. Image: Alfred Bayle

Huawei is going all-in on dual-camera smartphones this year, and what better way to exemplify this than with a twin-launch of their latest smartphones, the Mate 9 and GR5 2017.

Huawei Mate 9

The Mate 9, Huawei’s newest flagship model, takes a lot of what made the P9 a success while adding on a few new tricks. First off, it uses the new Kirin 960 chipset at its heart. It is the first SoC to feature an ARM Cortex-A73/A53 octa-core CPU and Mali G71 octa-core GPU.

The new model promises to offer consistent performance while drawing in less power, complimented by a massive 4,000 mAh battery and supplemented by Huawei’s SuperCharge technology. The feature can juice up the battery to up to 60 percent in less than thirty minutes.

A machine learning algorithm has also been incorporated into the Huawei Mate 9 to help the whole system better optimize power usage and performance. The system will learn the user’s habits and attempt to predict which apps to prioritize, as well as when to conserve energy.

In light of the concern for exploding batteries, Huawei also implemented a Super Safe 5-gate safety mechanism that will do real-time monitoring for voltage, electric current and temperature. This, the company hopes, will prevent the battery from catching fire.

Despite having a USB-C port, Huawei still decided to keep the headphone jack, located at the top of the phone. Image: Alfred Bayle

Next is the pride and joy of the Mate 9, it’s Leica dual-lens F2.2 camera with a 20-megapixel monochrome and 12-megapixel RGB sensor. The camera system also has Hybrid Zoom, generally a feature for refined digital zooming and optical image stabilization.

This Leica dual-camera system boasts optical image stabilization and excellent performance in low-light conditions. Image: Alfred Bayle

Finally, the Huawei Mate 9 features an odd 5.9-inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Huawei emphasized that despite having an almost 6-inch display, they designed the Mate 9 to be only slightly bigger than most 5.5-inch smartphones. They did this by chipping off the bezel around the screen and relocating the home as well as fingerprint scanner to the back.

The Mate 9’s bright and vibrant display. The bezel is also almost non-existent. Image: Alfred Bayle

Here is the Mate 9 (left) side by side with a larger phablet, the 6.4-inch Lenovo Phab 2. Image: Alfred Bayle

Its other features are 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage with microSD expansion, NFC, 4K video recording, headphone jack, and an 8-megapixel AF F1.9 front camera.

Huawei GR5 2017

The GR5 2017 sits just below the Mate 9 and covers the price market between P10,000 and P15,000, but it is by no means a pushover.

A mid-range smartphone with a dual-camera system is not yet easy to find but Huawei sees dual-camera systems becoming the norm for future smartphones. Image: Alfred Bayle

Like the Mate 9, it also has an extensive camera suit, including a manual mode and bokeh enhancement. Image: Alfred Bayle

For starters, it is one of the few in the price segment that features a dual-camera system, making it a very competitive offering from Huawei. This system incorporates 12- and 2-megapixel cameras that work in tandem to achieve an autofocus speed of 0.3 seconds. Autofocus speed has been one of the recurring complaints regarding smartphones in this price range, so Huawei thought to remedy that. The cameras also have a 78-degree viewing angle.

Under the hood is a Kirin 655 octa-core processor and a support i5 coprocessor. It also has generous 3,340 mAh battery that the company rates for up to 1.5 days of heavy use. It would be safe to assume that its three power saving modes (normal, smart, and ultra power saving) play a big role in achieving this feat.

The rest of its features include a fingerprint scanner, a 5.5-inch display, an 8-megapixel front camera, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage with microSD expansion.

Availability

Both the Huawei Mate 9 and GR5 2017 are now locally available, priced at P31,990 and P13,990, respectively. Alfred Bayle