Huawei Y9 (2019) first impressions: Best budget smartphone yet?

Huawei recently launched their latest budget segment flagship in India. The Huawei Y9(2019) costs Rs 15,990 and sports a dual front and rear camera setup with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio display with a notch, 2.5D curved glass and much more.

So is the Huawei Y9(2019) really the phone to spend your money on if you wanna buy a smartphone at Rs 15,000? Let's find out.

Huawei Y9(2019) first impressions: Specifications

Huawei Y9(2019) sports a 6.5-inch Full View Notched display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. It is powered by a Huawei's own Hisilicon 710 processor clocked at 2.2 GHz and aided by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. There is a dual sim card slot with a dedicated micro-sd card slot.

As far as the optics are concerned, Huawei Y9(2019) sports a 13-megapixel primary sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel secondary depth sensor on the back and a 16-megapixel sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel depth sensor on the front. All of this is backed by a 4,000mAh non-removable battery.

Huawei Y9(2019) first impressions: Design

The Huawei Y9(2019) sports a 6.5-inch Full View Notched display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Its display is good for the price point. The overall build quality feels great. The phone does not feel cheap in hand even after having a plastic back. The paint finish on the smartphone is super reflective which gives it a premium look.

Design-wise, the phone looks good, similar to other phones by the company and considering the price point, the device gets lost in with the rest. There is nothing to distinguish it from others.

Overall the design and build quality of Huawei Y9(2019) is amazing keeping the price point in mind. The notched display and the inclusion of Micro-USB at such a price might be a let down for many but things had to be done to keep the price down.

Huawei Y9(2019) first impressions: Camera

Coming to the optics, Huawei Y9(2019) sports a 16-megapixel f/2.0 aperture primary sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel f/2.4 aperture secondary sensor on the back. On the front, it sports a 13-megapixel f/1.8 apertuere primary sensor comboned with a 2-megapixel f/2.4 aperture secondary sensor.

Huawei Y9’s rear camera is quite good and takes great photos. The colours are a little bright but the details are very accurate whereas, the focus is on point. The aperture mode helps capture images with such detail that is unexpected in a smartphone in this range. The AI optimizations as the company claims helps greatly in improving the image quality.

Story is a bit different for the front camera module. The colors are a little bright, same as the rear setup, but the white balance is off and the details aren't that great like the rear setup. However, it still takes great photos but it is trumped under the performance of the rear camera.

Overall, the camera setup on the Huawei Y9(2019) is good. It you are a point and shoot kind of a guy, the Y9(2019) will serve you very well.

Huawei Y9(2019) first impressions: Conclusion

The Huawei Y9(2019) is launched at a price point of Rs 15,990. It is Amazon exclusive and you get a free pair of Boat's Wireless sports earphones wprth Rs 2990 if you buy it now. At this price point, it is one of the great camera smartphone. The Kirin 710 performs great. However, during initial impressions we cannot say anything about the device's performance.

Overall the smartphone offers great camera setup, along with a good design and a justifiable enough price point. However, Huawei's own sub-brand Honor has a great offering in this segment, the Honor 8X. We don't know what the performance of the Y9(2019) is we cannot garuntee it will a great overall device, but we can make sure that you will not regret its camera performance.