[Hands-On] Placed among the most prominent spot of the shopfront, its like a Flagship device that Newstead wants to ensure you don't go into the shop without having one look at it. No, I am not talking about Samsung Galaxy S7.
It's the new Huawei P9.
Even in a market with no lack of awesome smartphones, Huawei P9 manages to impress if early reviews are anything to go by. So much so that Huawei P9 is probably the best phone Huawei has made till date (excluding Nexus 6P and could make a run for the likes of Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s in the Singapore market.
Huawei P9 is such a good deal on so much levels.
Starting with its design. The P9 looks solid if unspectatcular in the front. I think the Huawei logo is what probably made the phone less sexy. The back of the phone is a better story with a black bar at the top and the word "Leica" is written in a bigger font and prominent. The story is even better when I picked up the phone. P9 feels solid, well-built, thin and light in the hand. All-in all a premium feel. I find the metallic back design too be less inspiring as there are too many Chinese device with a such design, quoting the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Pro 3, Oppo R9 and of course iPhone is probably the inspiration of all.
Then there is the Leica factor. Besides contributing to the excellent image quality, it also single-handedly gave the P9 a different social status. Huawei have been making decent phones for a few years now but besides the Chinese market, it hardly cause excitement. I mean honestly, i haven't really heard anyone locally talk about a Huawei phone until now! What's more, Huawei built two rear cameras into the P9 and claims "more light and clarity".
Finally its the price tag and the whole package that you getting for a price of S$768 (Suntec City, Digital Lifestyle store on 29 May 2016). It's a flagship with very little to criticise. Putting the P9 beside any flagship and its a decent fight. A clean Android variant EMUI creates a zippy experience getting round the phone, good display screen is 2016 flagship sharp and a Leica lens to boot. Huawei also offers an unusual 2 years warranty on most if not all their local smartphones.
Interestingly, there is another Huawei P9 variant, the Huawei P9 Plus. There 3 major differences; the bigger 3D Touch-enabled screen, an AMOLED panel, and an AF 8MP snapper with f/1.9 aperture.
The Huawei P9 Plus appears to be unavailable locally on the official Singapore website.
For in-depth review - GSMArena Huawei P9 Review
Official Web - Huawei P9 Singapore
