Huawei P9 Lite, analysis of the new king of the mid-range

Last year we signed the Pact for Gender Equality in Colombia, an agreement that symbolizes the co-responsibility of around XNUMX organizations with the implementation of actions that contribute to reducing inequalities. Huawei swept his Huawei P8 Lite, a terminal that offered an unbeatable value for money and that made this new member of the Lite family a bestseller. Now it is the turn of the Huawei P9 Lite. 

After showing you my impressions after using his older brother for 6 months, now it is the turn of a complete Huawei P9 Lite review, a phone arrives to become the new king of the mid-range. Your credentials? Good design, performance to match and a camera that will surprise you.  

An own design that follows the line that Huawei is looking for

I still fondly remember my HTC One M7, a device that stood out for the incredible quality of its finishes. And it is that these are good times for those users who want phones with a premium design and materials. And the Huawei P9 Lite meets again.

Huawei's design team has very well understood the search for noble materials when it comes to building a phone, and he works hard to make his devices look and feel good.

Therefore, although the Huawei P9 has a body made mostly of polycarbonate,  the manufacturer has achieved a harmonious and balanced set without the price skyrocketing.

And is that the phone is built around a metal frame chassis that gives the Huawei P9 a very premium touch, in addition to offering a good grip. The front glass is perfectly set with slightly curved corners that make it easy to hold the terminal.

Su back cover is made of plastic with a brushed texture that simulates aluminum, although when you touch it it is clear that it is polycarbonate. Of course, the touch is very pleasant and immune to stains, achieving a very beautiful finish.

 Although the Huawei P9 has a body made mostly of polycarbonate, the manufacturer has achieved a harmonious and balanced set without causing the price to skyrocket. 

With measurements of 146.8 x 72.6 x 7.5 mm and weighing only 147 grams, the Huawei P9 Lite is a very comfortable and handy phone that can be used without problems with one hand. And considering that it mounts a 5.2-inch panel, it must be said that Huawei has done an excellent job.

The phone has classic and elegant lines, following in the wake of previous models and showing that own style that Huawei permeates in its devices. At the rear we will first meet its 13 megapixel camera with LED flash.

The camera does not stand out so we will not have the annoying hump that we find in other devices. Just below is where they have placed the fingerprint sensor. Personally, that position is great for me, much more comfortable to use than in the front part, but to taste the colors.

Finally we have at the bottom the brand logo. The aluminum frame has on the right side with the volume control buttons in addition to the on / off key of the terminal.

All these buttons offer a pleasant touch and a feeling of durability, as well as offering a perfect travel. The power button has a roughness that allows it to be differentiated from the volume control keys, although after prolonged use you will instinctively locate the location of each button.

Unlike the Huawei P9, the Lite model has the 3.5 mm jack output on the top, while in the lower part we will find the speaker output, micro USB port and the microphone. Finally, on the left side of the terminal is where we will have the slot to insert a nano SIM card in addition to the slot for micro SD cards.

The front of the Huawei P9 Lite is the same as that of its older brothers, with the manufacturer's logo at the bottom and a camera with an LED flash at the top. The screen takes advantage of much of the front, which has minimal side frames.

Nothing can be criticized in this regard. Given that the Huawei P9 Lite costs 249 euros, its finishes are consistent with its price, as well as being a device that feels very good in the hand.

Technical characteristics of the Huawei P9 Lite

[table]
Brand, Huawei
Model, P9 Lite
Operating System, Android 6.0 Marshmallow under the EMUI 4.1 layer
Screen, 5'2″ IPS with 2.5D technology and a HD 1920 x 1080 resolution reaching 423 ppi
Processor, HiSilicon Kirin 650 (four Cortex-A 53 cores at 2.0 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.7 GHz)
GPU, Mali-T880 MP2
RAM, 3GB
Internal Storage, 16 expandable via MicroSD up to 128 GB
Rear Camera, 214 MPX Sony IMX13 sensor with 2.0 focal aperture / autofocus / face detection / panorama / HDR / LED flash / Geolocation / 1080p video recording
Front Camera, 8 MPX with 2.0 focal aperture / Flash through the screen / video in 1080p
Connectivity, DualSIM Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n / dual band / Wi-Fi Direct / hotspot / Bluetooth 4.0 / FM radio / A-GPS /GLONASS /BDS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 ; 3G bands (HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 – FRI-L09 FRI-L29) 4G bands (band 1(2100) 2(1900) 3(1800) 4(1700/2100) 5(850) 6(900) 7 (2600) 8(900) 12(700) 17(700) 18(800) 19(800) 20(800) 26(850) 28(700) 38(2600) 39(1900) 40(2300) 41(2500 – FRI- L09)
Other Features, FM Radio / Fingerprint Sensor / Accelerometer
Battery, 3000 mAh non-removable
Dimensions, 146.8 x 72.6 x 7.5 mm
Weight, 147 grams
Price, 249 euros on Amazon
[/ Table]

Today the difference in performance between a mid-range and a high-end begins to be more and more blurred. And, as you may have seen in the video analysis in Spanish that accompanies this article, the Huawei P9 Lite works very smoothly allowing to move any game or application, no matter how many resources you need, without any problem.

And the P9 Lite is a smartphone with very complete features. I will start by talking about its silicon heart, formed by one of Huawei's solutions, the processor HiSilicon Kirin NEVER, an eight-core SoC in big-LITTLE configuration (4 Cortex A 53 cores at 2.0 GHz and another 4 Cortex A 53 at 1.7) with 64-bit architecture and that, together with its Mali T880 MP2 GPU and 3 GB of RAM memory, promise rope for a while.

The interface moves very fast and I have not had any problem enjoying games with high quality graphics. Of course, you will not be able to install too many games either since, although the Huawei P9 Lite has 16 GB internal storage, 10.5 GB is available to the user.

With the Huawei P9 Lite you will not have any problem playing any game since it has a very solvent hardware that allows you to move any application, no matter how many graphic resources it requires.

This is the only point that I can criticize. While it is true that the Huawei P9 Lite has a micro SD card slot With which we can expand the memory up to 128 GB, 16 GB still seems very little on a phone.

Yes, I know it is a mid-range, but if it had 32 GB it would be perfect in this regard. In addition, there are applications that cannot be installed in the SD memory, so it limits the possibilities of the terminal a bit. Another disappointing point comes with the gyroscope. Or your lack of it. Although this problem is solved quickly if you search a bit online.

In return, the Huawei P9 Lite has a detail that the Huawei P9 does not have: Radio FM. How can it be that the decaffeinated version does have this option? For me it is an essential tool and I appreciate that the P9 Lite does have this function.

El speaker sounds more than correct, although its position invites us to cover it by mistake when we are playing. A problem that the vast majority of terminals have and whose only solution is to place the speakers at the front, with the consequent increase in size.

Another detail that I liked is how well your GPS works. I use it a lot when I go out for a run and I have not had any problems in this regard since the GPS of the Huawei P9 Lite works like a charm. In short, a well-balanced phone that will more than meet the expectations of any user looking for a good mid-range phone - high spending less than 300 euros.

IPS panel, a great success

Although the Huawei P9 Lite has a very restrained size, it has the same screen as the P9. We are talking about a 5.2 inch IPS panel that reaches a Full HD 1080 resolution and that does not detract at all to the whole, offering a fairly high quality and a really good level of sharpness.

Something to expect if we consider the 424 pixels per inch with which it has its screen, which offers very natural colors and without a trace of saturation. The color calibration is very good although we can balance the temperature of the screen to our liking within the options. A peculiarity of Huawei devices that I personally love.

El viewing angle is more than correct, inviting us to enjoy multimedia content with our friends, in addition to offering a perfect brightness level and very well compensated. Although we are in a situation where sunlight hits our phone directly, we can see the contents of its screen without problems, while indoors it will automatically lower the brightness.

Un panel that dominated the high-end a few months ago fully complies with the Huawei P9 Lite that shows muscle in this regard, making it very clear to its cOpponents who have come to continue ruling the mid-range sector. 

The Huawei P9 Lite camera surprises with the quality of its captures

This section takes on more and more weight in a phone, becoming one of the most important elements in terms of configuration. Although Huawei has not been able to use its dual camera system designed together with Leica, the P9 Lite has a very solvent hardware that offers an exceptional result. 

On the front of the Huawei P9 Lite we find a 8 megapixel sensor with 2.0 focal aperture and beauty mode. In addition, the phone uses the brightness of the screen to illuminate selfies and allow self-portraits in low light environments.

At the back of the Huawei P9 Lite is where we will find a powerful 214 megapixel Sony IMX13 sensor with 2.0 focal aperture and an LED flash. We have already seen other high-end terminals from two years ago, such as the Nexus 6, so its performance is more than proven.

The captures made offer good quality, although without reaching the excellence of higher-end terminals. Both indoors and outdoors the camera of the Huawei P9 Lite behaves well, offering very good color reproduction and fairly complete compensation for light saturated scenes.

El HDR mode It is very little useful since there are hardly any differences with respect to the automatic mode, something that those users who want to take pictures easily without having to worry about adjusting any parameters will appreciate.

The camera of the Huawei P9 Lite has a professional mode that will delight photography lovers

All this seasoned with a really comprehensive camera software and that surprises with its multitude of functions: Beauty mode, HDR, Good food, Night shot, Panoramic shot ...

Although the function that will delight photography lovers comes with the professional mode, both for photo mode and video mode, and that will allow us to adjust any parameter such as white balance, noise level or focus, opening a real range of possibilities.

If you are new to the world of photography you can use automatic mode Since it takes very good captures, but I recommend that you start playing with the different parameters because the possibilities offered by the Huawei P9 Lite camera are impressive.

Examples of photographs taken with the Huawei P9 Lite

More than enough autonomy

Autonomy is one of the most important sections and I have to say that the response of this Huawei P9 Lite has been more than acceptable. Something to expect if we consider that the Huawei design team has managed to integrate a 3.000 mAh battery in a terminal with very tight measurements.

In a day of normal use in which I have been playing for half an hour, reading emails, using different social networks, listening to music for about two hours and surfing the internet I have come home with the battery hovering around 30 - 35%.  

When I have given more cane to the phone it has endured the trot with honor, reaching 15% battery. My approximate average is around 6 - 7 long hours of screen time.  And it is that Huawei has achieved that in stand-by the phone barely consumes energy. To do this, the software disables processes in the background.

Yes, you have to configure which applications we want to continue to be active or we will not receive WhatsApp notifications, for example. As a negative point we have the fact that the Huawei P9 Lite does not have a fast charging system.

EMUI 4.1 improves the problems of previous versions

I have always hated custom layers. I prefer a thousand times a pure Android, but manufacturers continue erre that erre, with few exceptions, installing their interfaces. And Huawei was not going to be an exception.

Luckily the latest version of EMUI 4.1 It works smoothly and once you get used to its desktop-based system, the truth is that I find it a very comfortable system. That there is no app drawer? It does not matter because you can organize your applications in convenient folders, although I do not do it because I like more to have them on several desks.

The interface is very beautiful, colorful and has multiple customization options so you can spend hours touching options. Highlight the powerful theme manager from Huawei that offers tons of customization options.

Special emphasis on fingerprint reader, in my opinion the best on the market. The Huawei P9 Lite mounts the same biometric sensor as the rest of the P9 family and the truth is that its performance is excellent.

La response speed is impressive, recognizing our footprint at the moment. It also has some functionalities that differentiate it from its competitors since, in addition to unlocking the screen really quickly, we can configure gestures to perform different functions.

Final conclusions

Although there are still people who associate Chinese brands as manufacturers of poor quality products, Huawei has managed to get rid of that bad reputation through perfect marketing work and presenting solutions that were getting closer and closer to the big names in the market.

That time when if you wanted a good phone you had to turn to Sony, Samsung, LG or HTC is over; Huawei is gaining ground by leaps and bounds: Currently the manufacturer that sells the most smartphones in China and is about to overtake Samsung in Europe.

Why is Huawei growing so much? By terminals like Huawei NovaPlus or this incredible Huawei P9 Lite, phones that offer quality at a really attractive price. My sensations after having tested the Huawei P9 Lite are very clear: Huawei has done it again.  

For a year I have been recommending to everyone around me that they buy the Huawei P8 Lite, a very well-priced phone at a really reasonable price. Now I will give you two options: either the Moto G4 Plus or this powerful Huawei P9 Lite. Let them choose based on which one suits their eyes best, because without a doubt they are the kings of the mid-range in the sector. My choice? The P9 Lite undoubtedly for its finishes and attractive design.

We also recommend that you read the analysis and our opinions of the Huawei P9

Image gallery of the Huawei P9 Lite

Editor's opinion