After a long stop, both Huawei and Honor are back on the market in this 2021 season finale, with two smartphones that may seem identical at first glance, but which hide many differences. This new Huawei Nova 9, as well as Honor 50, is the result of projects prior to the separation of the two companies, now totally independent of each other, and for this reason the similarity is so strong. Yet Huawei's return to Italy is marked once again by the lack of Android and Google Services, replaced instead by the new EMUI 12.0.1 version with HMS (Huawei Mobile Services), the company's new direction and new philosophy. The question that many ask us concerns precisely this last aspect and how it is possible to remedy the lack of Android and the Services that most users use every day. For this reason we have spent the last 72 hours in the exclusive company of this device, to try to understand what are currently the improvements and also the limitations of Harmony OS for an Italian user who comes from Android. The answer is not obvious and has given us more than a few surprises.
EMUI 12 with HMS, is it really for everyone?
At the time of its announcement and then of its official release on the market, there weren't so many possibilities and advantages for standard users, by now accustomed to comfort guaranteed by the Play Store and the various services related to the Google world. Yet over time Huawei has worked hard to create an independent ecosystem, thanks to the addition of many apps and shortcuts capable of making us no longer regret Android or the Play Store. However, it's not all rosy yet, and if for a user like me used to trying dozens of devices a year the situation is perfectly manageable, for some types of users the transition may not be so easy and immediate.
First of all, let's start from the App Gallery: without a doubt there have been many improvements, such as better management and integration between Petal Search and the store, which is essential for making the search for applications officially absent from the App Gallery immediate. By now the main ones are easily available for download, or at least the most used ones in the world, however searching and downloading with Petal Search is still not as intuitive and as simple as one might think. Just think of an elderly person or even of users who are not so skilled in using the smartphone: a tap was enough via the Play Store and the application in question was available on our smartphone, while in this case it is necessary to provide various authorizations to download apps outside the App Gallery, without considering that in some cases the downloads do not always start correctly and there are numerous steps to take. Let me be clear: nothing is impossible, but this depends on our ability to adapt to the situation and the various system windows that appear.
But before seeing specifically which apps are available and which apps are missing, let's take a look at all those applications related to Google that cannot be installed on the device: starting from Gmail, in these three days we have used the Huawei client and nothing has changed in terms of functionality, notifications or use, for a complete and profitable replacement. As for YouTube and Google Maps, the situation is different: YouTube can be used easily through its Quick App. It won't be as fast as the app, but it still works very well and I haven't missed it too much. Also, if you really want an app to use, then YouTube Vanced will do the job of YouTube, but without the ability to login with your account. Google Maps, on the other hand, can be downloaded to the phone, but does not start due to the lack of Google Services: in this case the new Petal Maps, thanks to the integrated TomTom maps, does its job very well and can be used as a perfect substitute, or even the very famous Waze. Instead, for all other apps related to the Google world such as Keep Notes, Play Games, Google Pay, Google Drive, Google Fit or even Wear OS we will have to give up, and whether this waiver is large or small depends exclusively on your use. Certainly many of these such as notes, or health and sport management are fully replaceable by Harmony OS or with other counterparts, however if we find ourselves with a whole history and history of use, losing it and starting over may not be the best solution.
As for apps and games, by now most of them have been inserted and included in the App Gallery or Petal Search: some are still missing, even famous ones, but we now have complete coverage among the most used ones. As far as apps are concerned, most of the banks have finally been integrated, for easy and immediate management of payments and accounts, even if a big company like Poste Italiane is still missing, but which can be used with the Quick App. as for more specific apps that I have missed, we can find YouTube Studio, Money Manager, Trenitalia and a few others.
Pro design
Huawei Nova 9 looks like a classic smartphone, without any pretension to revolutionize the market with completely new designs or concepts. Rounded edges on the back panel and curved display make it very comfortable in the hand, especially with prolonged use, while size and weight are never an issue. The thickness of 7.77mm and the weight of 175g are more than good for a smartphone of this range and with these materials, with a look at the tops for construction and design. The rear panel is made of polycarbonate to save on weight and price, with a matte and iridescent finish that manages to convince for its elegance and above all for cleanliness: it does not collect fingerprints and remains clean for a long time, while offering an excellent grip in the hand even without custody.
The keys are placed on the right side of the device, with a volume rocker and an on/off key: the feeling when pressed is top-notch, solid and precise at the highest levels. On the underside we find instead a USB Type C connection for charging and connection to the PC, microphone and mono speaker. Too bad for this small detail, which otherwise would have made this device much more convincing in this respect.
OLED display with 1.07 billion colors
Where Huawei has not saved at all is in terms of the display, with a 6.57 ″ panel that has nothing to envy to the various tops range on the market. With an FHD+ resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels and OLED technology with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 300Hz touch refresh rate, we couldn't ask for more. Without a doubt the brightness will not be record-breaking, such as values above 1000nits, but it is sufficient for any use, both indoors and outdoors. The curved edges of the display can also be liked or not, but they contribute to giving an overall premium feeling to the device, pleasant to the touch or when using Nova 9 on a daily basis.
The colors are precise, without visible tints or deviations and the contrasts are perfect together with the absolute blacks guaranteed by OLED technology. This panel is beautiful both to be used for navigation and then for viewing multimedia content, with which it manages to give its best. The 120Hz refresh rate then represents the icing on the cake to ensure perfect fluidity for the system, the right compromise between 90Hz, which is now starting to belong to the medium-low range of the market, and higher refresh rates, which tend to return higher consumption . The fingerprint sensor integrated under the display works well, is reliable and accurate and even quite fast in unlocking: in our dedicated test we achieved 97 out of 100 unlocks.
Excellent performance with mid-range processor
The search for ever more powerful and performing processors has led in recent months to the integration by many manufacturers of the famous Snadpdragon 888 or 888+. It is a processor at the limit, which guarantees excellent performance with very high consumption and temperatures. But how many actually manage and exploit all that power? If we think that most users use their smartphone to navigate, text and watch movies, the Snapdragon 778G in the 4G version integrated in this Huawei Nova 9 is more than suitable in the context of a 500 euro smartphone, guaranteeing excellent performance in most of uses, and at the same time with improved temperatures and autonomy. Huawei Nova 9, together with its operating system and 120Hz refresh rate, works really well in terms of browsing speed, system fluidity and app management, even the heaviest ones. The management of multitasking and background apps is also excellent with the supplied 8GB of ram: we were able to reuse over 10 background apps without loading, including a game and all the main apps on the market. Despite supporting Bluetooth 5.2 with BLE, SBC, AAC and LDAC, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, GPS (GPS L1 + L5 Dual band/AGPS/ GLONASS/ BeiDou B1I + B1C + B2a Tri-band/GALILEO E1 + E5a Dual band/QZSS L1 + L5 dual band/ NavIC), there is no support for new generation 5G networks. Although the development of 5G networks is not yet at its peak in Italy, a 500 euro device cannot fall on such an important detail as support for the main networks in the coming months and years.
Cameras and videos
We find ourselves once again talking about Megapixels, above all because many have pointed out to us how compared to the Honor 50 the 108MP camera is lost, replaced with a 50MP sensor . In reality, as we have often reiterated, the MPs mean little for the purposes of image quality and overall sensor quality, and in this case I must say that the superior quality. There are four cameras on the rear module and one included in the pinhole on the screen:
Let's say that the general quality of the sensor is not bad at all and having compared it with phones from 700-800 euros only increases its value. From the point of view of quality, sharpness and detail that this 50MP Ultra Vision sensor, inherited from the P40 Pro, is excellent: the colors are very accurate, the contrasts are right and even the blurry rendering is pleasant and homogeneous. However, there are also some software problems that prevent it from performing at 100% of its possibilities: the focus is slow and often goes crazy for several seconds in front of subjects that are fairly easy to recognize; the HDR rendering is still to be refined, with strange artifacts that are created around dark objects with a light background, without considering that this mode is not always recognized and activated; finally, in some situations Nova 9 tends to overexpose the image in an unnatural way. These defects do not always and consistently, which means that with some updates and a little waiting they can be corrected on the software side. Where it particularly shines is in the rendering in the dark or in the dark areas of the image, in which the noise generated by the sensor is reduced to a minimum, with generally cleaner and more enjoyable photographs compared to the competition.
1 out of 13Moving to the ultrawide camera, we find the exact same situation: excellent detail and overall rendering of the photo, while the HDR problem reappears and also the fov is not as extensive as on other models. However, the rendering of the noise and the night rendering shine for cleaning the photo and managing the low lights. As usual, macro and depth sensors are only accompanying and at least as far as the macro camera is concerned, it could have been eliminated by inserting an optical stabilization in its place which would have led to a total change in the yield and the cards on the table.
1 out of 3In terms of zoom, we have a digital zoom that reaches 10X and which performs very well in terms of low light and photo noise, but the lack of stabilization prevents it from obtaining fully usable shots and optimized.
1 out of 2Finally, we really liked the front camera for selfies, thanks to an optimal contrast performance, HDR management and shots in indoor or low light conditions. We've always managed to get an excellent shot on the first try, even better than the yield of the P40 Pro. The only detail is that in the dark areas of the image Nova 9 tends to give a purplish tint to the shadows, we don't know if it's a processing defect of the image or as a choice of rendering by Huawei.
1 out of 5On the video side, we have supported shooting up to 4K at 30FPS or FHD at 60FPS, without optical stabilization, but only with AIS. The video performance is good, given the sensor in common with the P40 series, including the vlogging mode which allows us to record with two different cameras simultaneously.
Autonomy and battery
Nova 9 integrates a 4300mAh battery with 66W fast charge: the included charger is the only one capable of unlocking this function for safety reasons related to the prevention of overheating . Under the front of the battery, both the hardware and the operating system manage to operate in harmony to guarantee several hours of use. In our editorial tests we obtained the following results with 50% speaker and 50% display brightness:
From this small picture emerges the typically medium-range vocation of the processor, which is very well optimized for daily tasks, navigation, social networks and messaging, less so for gaming, although the experience is also comparable to processors more powerful and expensive. In the daily stress test we arrived at the end of the day with 15% of battery remaining, for an aspect related to fully promoted autonomy, also given the "only" 4300mAh on board.
Conclusions and price
Huawei with this new phone has tried to clear the idea that it now had limited software for the European market. But the truth is that although the many improvements and excellent integrations of EMUI 12, which has now become almost 100% independent, many users may not find the way to search and download apps through Petal Search comfortable, and if you need a must-have app, try doing a little research to see if it's supported for installation. Even today, Huawei remains a company with excellent devices, but only for users aware of the software limitations and able to easily manage the Petal Search APK installation.
The price tends to be very advantageous in relation to the type of device and its bracket, especially at the launch: 499 euros, with a 40 euro discount and a Freebuds Pro gift worth 119 euros, 6 months of additional warranty and a comfortable transparent cover worth 19 euros. If by chance you need a pair of true wireless earphones you could end up paying for the phone as little as 350 euros in relation to what Huawei manages to include in the package.