Main technical characteristics:
Design
The main target of the Huawei Nova 9 smartphone is the youngest looking for a high-performance device capable of allowing them to produce multimedia content as easily as possible with the best quality. It must be said that it is quite attractive, sporting a design worthy of high-end models. Indeed, it offers rounded edges and in particular a curved screen to which we will return during this test. To appeal to as wide an audience as possible, the manufacturer offers bold colors with an extremely shiny black model that keeps all fingerprints on it and another finish, slightly bluish, extremely soft to the touch that reflects all light sources. posed on its back, in various colors, according to the angle of vision.
The mobile is only 7.77 mm thick which makes it one of the thinnest on the market. For comparison, the iPhone 13s measure 7.65mm in profile. The Huawei Nova 9 has the same processor as the Honor 50, Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G and the realme GT Master Edition to which we are going to compare it. Only the Xiaomi does better with an incredible thinness of 6.81 mm. The Honor 50, which shares many components and even design lines with the Nova 9, is exactly the same thickness, while the Samsung and realme are less thin than the Huawei mobile.
Honor 50 and Nova 9, a common trunk
Let's not keep the suspense any longer, the Honor 50 and the Nova 9 have a lot of similarities. In fact, they are practically the same devices apart from two things: the processor version is 5G while the Nova 9 has a 4G module, not having the right to use American 5G technologies (integrated at the level of the Soc) and the main photo sensor: the Nova 9 has a 50 megapixel module against a 108 megapixel installed on the Honor 50. Everything else is strictly identical and is explained by the fact that Huawei was the parent company of Honor until a few months ago and that the development of these devices, starting from a common base conducive to economies of scale and better profitability for the Chinese group, had already begun and that it is understandable that in the end, the two mobiles are almost identical. Another difference sets them apart: Honor has the right to use Google Mobile Services like all other manufacturers, which is not the case with Huawei, which must offer its own mobile services.
Let us now return more particularly to the Huawei Nova 9 and its proportions quite in the average of devices of its kind. It weighs only 179 grams, which is below the 190 grams average for smartphones. In hand, it gives an impression of lightness and is very pleasant to handle, in particular thanks to its finesse as can be seen in the photos of our quick handling of the device. The right profile is slightly beveled to accommodate the standby and volume management keys. The first benefits from a red line to enhance the design. The chassis is made of plastic covering the receiving and transmitting antennas. On the upper profile there is a hole for the microphone. Finally, on the lower profile there is the drawer for SIM cards, a microphone, the USB-C connector and a speaker. The Nova 9 can support two SIM cards, but no storage memory expansion card, which is always a bit of a shame.
The sound is mono, which is unfortunate. The sound delivered by the mobile is however correct with a fairly good tonal balance despite the fact that it is sorely lacking in power, which is quite normal for a smartphone. You cannot connect headphones directly, without going through a USB-C to jack adapter. Keeping this connection might have been more logical given the intended target, but Huawei must think that all users prefer to go through a Bluetooth wireless link with, why not, headphones from the brand.
The fingerprint reader is installed under the screen. It is placed only 1 cm from the bottom of the mobile, which is a position that we consider too low to be truly natural if you hold the mobile well in your hand. Thus positioned, this requires a little thumb gymnastics. However, facial recognition or other more conventional means can be used to unlock the mobile.
In terms of connectivity, the Huawei Nova 9 offers Wi-Fi 6, NFC and access to 4G networks. It actually embeds a specific version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor normally equipped with a 5G module available on other devices. You can take advantage of contactless payment or pairing with other compatible terminals. If the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G offers an IP67 certification making it totally waterproof and dustproof, this is not the case with the Nova 9 which is not specially protected which is a bit of a shame at this price. , especially since the Samsung is offered a little cheaper.
A screen worthy of a higher rank
The screen of the Nova 9 is based on a 10-bit AMOLED panel measuring 6.57 inches diagonally with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Also note the sampling rate of 300 Hz. better responsiveness in video games. The Nova 9 therefore has nothing to envy to the most high-end models. We also appreciate its curved character. This makes it possible to offer quite thin side edges even if they are slightly thicker at the top and bottom. We noticed very little color drift on the curved parts, but nothing serious. In the settings, it is possible to configure the display according to your needs and desires. Huawei has provided the possibility of activating eye comfort mode or dark mode. An eBook mode is also possible. The screen resolution is set by default to 1080x2340 pixels, but can be set to 720x1560 pixels to save energy consumption or put in automatic mode which means that the device chooses the most suitable resolution depending on battery level and needs. The same goes for the refresh rate which can be stuck at 60Hz, 120Hz or an automatic mode. For more accuracy in the display and in particular colors, note the possibility of playing on the temperature of these although the settings proposed by default are relevant. The screen benefits from sufficient brightness to be used outdoors, in direct sunlight.
Performance on point
As mentioned above, the Nova 9 uses the 4G version of the Soc Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G due to restrictions decided by the American administration. Despite everything, this does not prevent it from offering very good performance for launching applications, but also for their execution. The management of multitasking is not a problem either, offering very good general fluidity in use and in particular for switching from one application to another. During our test phase of a few days, we did not notice any specific slowdown and were able to play games with excellent gameplay and a fairly high frame rate. The processor is here associated with 8 GB of memory and 128 GB is normally available for installing applications and saving multimedia or other documents. Despite intensive treatment for several minutes, the mobile remained fairly temperate, not offering any overheating, which is always a good thing. As with other smartphones, we subjected the Huawei Nova 9 to several performance measurement tools in order to compare them and here are the main results.
An Android system without Google Mobile Services, but Petal Search to your aid
Like the brand's other smartphones, the Nova 9 cannot use Google services and instead uses Huawei Mobile Services and its Harmony OS interface with an EMUI 12.0.1 software overlay. Several applications are pre-installed in the mobile and during the initial setup, others are also pushed for you. Overall, the interface is quite similar to regular Android. We are entitled to a notification bar that can be pulled from the top, right side towards the center of the screen. To install applications, you must go through the AppGallery platform. It concentrates more and more applications, particularly local ones, developed by teams in France concerned with the localization of services and trying to provide as many relevant applications as possible. If an application is not available in the AppGallery, you can use the search engine Petal Search. However, don't expect to be able to control your Google connected objects by voice as you could with any other brand of Android smartphone. As a result, communication goes through Huawei connected objects. Despite the impossibility of installing Google applications, the trick is to go through the Internet browser with, for each of the shortcuts to the home page of the smartphone in order to get there almost as if it is was a classic application.
The settings are organized in a fairly standard way. You can find the settings for the different networks at the top. A Device+ menu allows you to concentrate compatible objects (linked to a Huawei account) located nearby to establish contact, if necessary. The Huawei Share function makes it possible to send files (images, video, miscellaneous) to brand devices such as another smartphone, a tablet or, in the long term, a television, the Chinese giant offering this type of device in China, for example. The software interface is customizable with proposed themes, wallpapers and icon designs. Several options relate to the protection of privacy, including the management of different authorizations for applications, the possibility of opening a private space to place files, information, applications and certain data that you do not want. not expose to other users. The space is protected by a password. You can opt out of personalized ads and manage data analytics sharing. Note the ability to open floating windows and split the screen into two parts to display two applications simultaneously.
Finally, count on the Celia voice assistant which allows you to perform several smartphone control operations such as making a call, playing music, sending a message or asking for the weather. It is also possible to ask other, more general questions, finding their answer on the results obtained online.
Overall, with the Nova 9, you have to accept a new application experience with success in many cases, but also frustration in others when you can't access one of your favorite applications or services that we used to use on other smartphones with the ability to use Google services.
The Nova 9 relies on its photo and video quality
For the multimedia part, the Nova 9 is able to deliver video content with a single definition quality unfortunately not higher, in particular via Netflix, for example. For the photos, it offers a distinctive sign concerning the design of the integration of its photo sensors: strapping. The lenses are therefore divided into two poles with a 50-megapixel sensor as the main module. This is the same sensor as the Huawei P40. In the other circle there is an 8-megapixel sensor and two other lenses of 2 megapixels each. The configuration is therefore very close to that of the Honor 50 (108 + 8 + 2 + 2 megapixels). As on almost all smartphones, the optical unit protrudes very slightly from the rest of the back. The main sensor uses the RYYB filter technology developed by Huawei, which allows it to say that it is able to let in up to 40% more light compared to a classic RGB sensor. In addition, we can also count on a large sensor size of 1/1.56 "while that of the iPhone 12 Prox Max is 1/1.87". In addition, one can also rely on image processing based on consultation of object image banks in order to optimize the rendering, as can be done for the recognition of scenes to be photographed and the adjustment of the parameters corresponding to each situation. To limit distortion in photos in wide-angle mode, Huawei has developed an algorithm that automatically straightens objects located on the ends that must be straight. The principle is rather effective in use. The interface of the Camera application is no different from that offered on other Android smartphones. The main modes are accessible at the bottom and a More menu provides access to those that are not offered by default. Note the possibility of customizing the interface by integrating the most used modes in the bottom banner.
The photos we were able to take with the Nova 9 are excellent. We appreciate the natural rendering of the colors as well as the good brightness and the level of contrast fairly well dosed, and this, both with the help of the main sensor and that dedicated to the ultra wide-angle. Night shots are also of good quality with a large amount of light captured while limiting the level of grain.
For selfies, the Nova 9 has a 32-megapixel sensor opening at F/2.0 capable of filming with Ultra HD definition. For the video part, you can count on a stabilization system as well as the possibility of simultaneously filming what is happening in front of and behind the mobile thanks to the Dual View function. For editing videos, Huawei offers the Petal Clips app. It allows you to edit sequences as well as add background music, effects, titles and even image overlays to create a real edited video directly from your smartphone without using PC editing software. . It's very useful. The use is quite intuitive. Models and tutorials (in English) are offered to start from an example and follow the advice on the operations to be carried out. On the Camera application, in video mode, it is possible to have a very wide, wide-angle image and to zoom (digitally) in a rather fluid way.
Good battery life and fast charging
The Nova 9 is equipped with a 4300 mAh capacity battery that supports charging at 66 watts with a power supply that comes with the device. With it, we were able to recharge the mobile to around 80% in 30 minutes, which is quite fast and allows, in the middle of the day, to give a boost to the phone in the event of a failure. There are software solutions to save battery like adaptive display and the user is regularly asked to close an app that is running in the background and consuming when it shouldn't. In fairly normal use, we were able to use the mobile typically for a day and a half, which is a good thing.
Our opinion
The Huawei Nova 9 smartphone is a very beautiful technological object that knows how to perform well both in the execution of video games and in photos where it does very well offering very good playability and very good quality results. We appreciate its design and its finesse as well as the quality of its screen, we salute its autonomy and have noticed its interesting charging speed. But the picture is not only idyllic since it is impossible to extend the storage capacity, that we are limited to 4G, that some services such as streaming are also restricted and finally, it is a little the general feeling that emerges from the Nova 9 mainly because of the impossibility of accessing Google's mobile services. If you come from a mobile of another brand, it can cause some difficulties, although they are surmountable, let's be honest. If you've already lost sight of the Mountain View giant a bit or aren't afraid of a certain change, the Nova 9 is a good companion.