When former HUAWEI sub brand, HONOR, announced the new X9a, I was curious as to how the device would perform and the reality of how the on-paper specs would translate to real world usage. Having spent just over a week with the device, here are my thoughts.
Design
If I were forced to sum up the HONOR X9a design in one word it would be “svelte”. The handset has clean lines, a slim body, a dual curved display and a circular camera bump on the back. In spirit it’s very much a HUAWEI handset without the constraints and complications its former parent company is facing.
The circular camera bump, reminiscent of the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro, has been surprisingly divisive amongst people but personally I like it. Not only is it immediately noticeable from the sea of identical backed Android handsets, the “Dynamic Eye Design” makes the handset less prone to wobbling when put on a flat surface.
Other than the camera bump, the most striking thing on the X9a is the 6.67-inch AMOLED display. While I’m not a fan of devices with curved displays, this one is beautiful for the price point. Images and video were vibrant and beautiful thanks to the punchy display which has good contrast and better than expected viewing angles.
HONOR claims that the X9a screen is more durable than other handsets and calls it the “smartphone with the strongest screen”. While I didn’t test the validity of that claim, I’d still recommend getting a glass screen protector for the device to save yourself the hassle of needing possible repairs in future should you manage to crack the display.
Arguably my favourite design feature of the handset is the textured back of the Emerald Green model I received for review. Not only does it help make the super slim phone more grippy, it’s great to feel when holding and using it without the included see through case.
Camera
The X9a has triple camera set up on the back of the device comprising of:
- 64MP Main Camera （f1.8)
- 5MP Ultra Wide&Depth Camera (f2.2)
- 2MP Macro Camera（f2.4）
with a 16MP (f2.5) camera on the front.
For the most part the camera was great when using it and outperformed even more expensive devices like the OPPO Reno8 Pro. Having said that, images were not as sharp and punchy as those from flagship devices like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or the iPhone 14 Pro and at times would randomly lose focus when taking pictures.
Despite this unusual occurrence, the X9a’s images are beautiful and better than you’d expect from a mid-range handset. Where the camera struggles though is in night time situations. As you can see from the images below, the X9a captured pretty much nothing in complete darkness when using normal shooting mode and faring somewhat better when switching to night mode while the iPhone 14 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra both performed far better in both regular mode and night mode.
Is it the best camera on a phone? No. the camera struggles with low light conditions and falls apart in night time scenarios but performs well in well lit conditions.
Battery
The X9a is powered by a 5100mAh battery capable of 40W charging (with the charging brick included in the box).
With heavy usage you’ll get a full day out of this device but should you be a more moderate smartphone user, you’ll be able to get up to 2 days usage. If you ever find yourself needing a quick top up (most likely because of Eskom’s power cuts), the 40W charger will get you to a respectable percentage in 15 minutes.
While many would consider 40W (and faster) charging a basic necessity that should be the norm in 2023, it sadly is not with the more well known brands offering either 20W, 25W or 45W charging for their most premium handsets but only if you buy the required charging brick separately, so it’s nice to see HONOR include this.
Under the hood
Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapragon 695 CPU, the HONOR X9a is no slouch. This same chipset powers other mid-range handsets including the OPPO Reno7 Z 5G and the Nokia X30.
Performance is fairly snappy with no lag and certainly adds to the feeling of the X9a being more expensive than it is.
On the software side, the handset is powered by HONOR MagicUI 6.1 which is powered by Android 12. If you’ve ever used an HONOR or HUAWEI phone before then you’ll know exactly what to expect from the interface. Offering a wide range of customisation, MagicUI is fine but stylistically not quite to my taste. With other OEMs having updated and refined their UI’s over the past few years, MagicUI feels a bit dated and loud. One annoyance with the design of the UI is with the camera app. Changing zoom is easier to do one-handed on the iPhone or a Samsung with OneUI purely because of the placement of the controls on the right hand side of the display. On such a slim device with a dual curved display, this makes the possibility of dropping the handset way too easy.
Overview
The HONOR X9a is a well-rounded, solid performing handset that for the most part outperforms other devices in its price range. It looks and feels more expensive and premium than you’d expect and is the ideal handset for anyone who longs for a HUAWEI handset with Google Mobile Services (GMS).
While it packs in a well-rounded feature set for its price, its toughest competition is in the form of Xiaomi’s 11T Pro, the Redmi Note 11 Pro and the Xiaomi 12 Lite. All three handsets pack a 108MP camera, faster charging (120W in the case of the 11T Pro), AMOLED displays and a lower pricepoint ranging from R6 499 to R11 069.
The HONOR X9a is an Android powered handset for anyone who prioritises design, slimness and misses GMS enabled HUAWEI handsets. The true test of the device will be how well, and how long, they support OS and security updates.
