Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Huawei seems to be on a roll these days as after launching the likes of Honor 8 Pro, Honor 6X and Honor 8 lite, the company is back with another smartphone, having a stand-alone feature of four cameras, with an unbelievably attractive price of Rs 17,999. The smartphone in question is Honor 9i which was earlier launched in China and Malaysia under the name of Maimang 6 and Nova 2i, respectively.
Other than the dual camera setup at the rear and front, Honor 9i has also attracted a lot of attention for its edge-to-edge display and a rather premium built at this price point. Having said that, the mid-budget segment has been one of the most populated category in India and the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, 10.or G, LG Q6, Moto G5S Plus, Lenovo Z2 Plus, Huawei’s very own Honor 8 Lite and even the recently launched Micromax Canvas Infinity have already made a name for themselves.
However, Huawei sub-brand Honor is not new to this competition and over the course of time, have launched some of the most VFM yet interesting smartphone. And if you are one of those who judge a book by its cover, you might end up loving the Honor 9i as it has completely changed the game called, ‘mid-budget camera smartphones’.
Honor 9i Specifications
- Unibody metal design with curved edges
- 5.9-inch (2160 x 1080) Full HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display offering screen to body ratio of 83 percent and 403 PPI.
- 1.7GHz Octa-Core Kirin 659 processor coupled with MaliT830-MP2 GPU
- 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal memory, expandable up to 256GB via microSD
- Android 7.0 (Nougat) out of the box with EMUI 5.1 on top
- Hybrid Dual SIM (nano+nano/microSD), 3.5mm headphone jack and Fingerprint sensor at the rear
- 16MP rear camera with monochrome sensor, PDAF, f/2.2 aperture, dual-tone, LED flash and secondary 2MP (RGB) camera supporting 4K videos, panorama, and HDR
- 13MP front-facing camera with monochrome sensor, f/2.0 aperture, soft LED flash and secondary 2MP (RGB) camera, supporting full-HD video recording
- 3340 mAh battery with fast charging
- 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and GPS / GLONASS
- Honor 9i measures 156.2 × 75.2 × 7.5mm and weighs 164g
- Color Options: Graphite Black, Aurora Blue, and Prestige Gold
Honor 9i Price and Availability
Just like every other Huawei smartphone, Honor 9i will be available exclusively on Flipkart starting from October 14th and is priced at Rs. 17,999.
Honor 9i Review (First Impressions)
If you ever had the opportunity to try Honor 8 Pro’s dual camera setup, you might know the kind of detail those sensors offer. Coming to the Honor 9i, it comes with double the numbers and with a total of four cameras, the smartphone is going to be nothing but a gold mine for Honor India.
The ‘FullView’ display not only looks premium but also enhances in-hand feel of Honor 9i which comes coupled with great viewing angles, as well.
For music lovers, Honor 9i comes with the Huawei Histen audio system which uses six algorithms to ensure better audio output for music and movies. Honor 9i also comes with Bluetooth aptX support which gives a boost to audio quality a using Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
However, Honor 9i too has its share of things that we miss, like the NFC Support, Android Oreo, and a better battery backup but as a package, it offers way more than what anyone should expect at Rs. 17,999.
Kirin 659 processor, though not having the prowess of a Snapdragon-powered chipset, still offers the flexibility of heavy gaming as well as multitasking. However, shuffling between multiple heavy apps might be a struggle for Honor 9i. In the end, it a perfect camera-centric smartphone that does great on the performance front with moderate usage.