Huawei P9 & P9 Lite Reviews, Tips & Tricks

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JJCT

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I just ordered a P9 Lite from Orange for R4450 and a 128gb Samsung EVO Plus Micro SD for R650. It should arrive in 8 days looking forward to get my hands on it.

System: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Processor: Quad Core / 2 GHz / Quad Core / 1.7 GHz / HiSilicon Kirin 650 / GPU: Mali-T880MP2

Memory: Internal: 16 GB / RAM: 3 GB /

Slot type: microSD / Max. slot capacity: 128 GB

Display: 5.2" / Full HD IPS / Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels / 424 ppi

Camera: 13 Mpixels / Flash: LED / Front: 8 Mpixel / Video: 1080p @ 30fps

Network: 4G: LTE / 3G: 800/850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz / GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHznanoSIM

Wireless: Bluetooth: 4.1 / Wifi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n

Connection: Jack 3.5 mm / microUSB Type-CGPS: GPS/AGPS + GLONASS

Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Digital Compass, Fingerprint sensor, Proximity sensor

Battery: 3000 mAhWeight: 147 grams

Dimensions: 146.8 x 72.6 x 7.5 mm

In the box: AC Adapter, USB cable, Headset, Quick start guide, Warranty Card
 
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Read and watched some very solid reviews on this one.
Punching above it's weight considering performance/value.

Can you confirm if the P9 Lite from Orange ZA will have 2GB or 3GB of RAM? Site says 3GB... I'm not convinced.

If you're not sure yet, once received, please let me know. If it's 3GB, I'm in.
 
acp said:
Read and watched some very solid reviews on this one.
Punching above it's weight considering performance/value.

Can you confirm if the P9 Lite from Orange ZA will have 2GB or 3GB of RAM? Site says 3GB... I'm not convinced.

If you're not sure yet, once received, please let me know. If it's 3GB, I'm in.
Click to expand...
Received it today have not had a chance to fully set it up but I can confirm it has 2gb of ram. Have not had much time with it so far but it's seems pretty slick.
 
Finally got it setup some things are a bit more tricky to setup than on the P8 Lite with Marshmallow I bought for my mom. Especially with the permissions like Nova Launcher can't be set as the default in the app. It usually ends up being a permission or power usage settings.

First impression are quite good, quick and responsive and smooth navigation. It comes with a screen protector already applied. The fingerprint reader is quick to unlock the phone. The one odd thing I find is that it's a dual sim but the second sim slot is also the micro SD slot. So with it being a 16gb phone most people will use a micro sd card so what's the point of having it be a sim also. Other than that quite happy with it so far.
 
Some good feedback - thanks!
I'm looking for an affordable mid-ranger (buying cash) to see me through about a year's worth of use until I qualify for my next business phone upgrade. The P9 Lite appears to fit that bill perfectly. Currently struggling with an older Galaxy that goes into boot-loops and overall chaos refusing to start-up every couple of weeks, requiring a complete factory reset and re-config of absolutely everything - I simply had enough!
Thing is, I believe all of these issues are caused by the fact that our company servers auto-initiates full encryption the minute we connect to our Office365 Exchange Server. The unit runs Lollipop 5.0.1 and it's rather smooth, until the dreaded encryption kicks in. Then its usually a week or two until complete system failure... Unfortunately, I have no other option than to do this, since I cannot be without my business email, calendar/contact sync. One way to solve this is to go back to iOS ("natively encrypted"), which I'm not keen to do as I have several purchased Android apps, am generally Google-biased etc.

From some recent reading, I believe that Google is now moving more towards "always-on by default encryption" and some of the higher-end new Android devices are encrypted by default - I verified this over the weekend by checking a mate's S7 Edge - no encryption option - it simply appears to be always encrypted - which would be good for me, bar the ridiculously high price of the unit...

Therefore, what I would like to know is the following: on the P9 Lite, under settings --> security --> encryption (or somewhere similar) - does it give you the option to "encrypt device" or not?
I cannot find a proper reference to this anywhere else and it seems to differ from OEM to OEM, model-to-model on whether the device is encrypted by default or not on Marshmallow.

Would really appreciate your feedback on this.
 
acp said:
Some good feedback - thanks!
I'm looking for an affordable mid-ranger (buying cash) to see me through about a year's worth of use until I qualify for my next business phone upgrade. The P9 Lite appears to fit that bill perfectly. Currently struggling with an older Galaxy that goes into boot-loops and overall chaos refusing to start-up every couple of weeks, requiring a complete factory reset and re-config of absolutely everything - I simply had enough!
Thing is, I believe all of these issues are caused by the fact that our company servers auto-initiates full encryption the minute we connect to our Office365 Exchange Server. The unit runs Lollipop 5.0.1 and it's rather smooth, until the dreaded encryption kicks in. Then its usually a week or two until complete system failure... Unfortunately, I have no other option than to do this, since I cannot be without my business email, calendar/contact sync. One way to solve this is to go back to iOS ("natively encrypted"), which I'm not keen to do as I have several purchased Android apps, am generally Google-biased etc.

From some recent reading, I believe that Google is now moving more towards "always-on by default encryption" and some of the higher-end new Android devices are encrypted by default - I verified this over the weekend by checking a mate's S7 Edge - no encryption option - it simply appears to be always encrypted - which would be good for me, bar the ridiculously high price of the unit...

Therefore, what I would like to know is the following: on the P9 Lite, under settings --> security --> encryption (or somewhere similar) - does it give you the option to "encrypt device" or not?
I cannot find a proper reference to this anywhere else and it seems to differ from OEM to OEM, model-to-model on whether the device is encrypted by default or not on Marshmallow.

Would really appreciate your feedback on this.
Click to expand...
These are the security settings
3cf3f0f6f3e120105075dd1b64d09c1a.jpg
21443d6d0b92847ed734171f9179de54.jpg


I doubt there is a better deal than Orange right now, was quoted R6200 cash from some places.
 
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My sis absolutely loves her P9 Lite from Vodacom and is now very happy she moved away from Apple. My mom got hers on Friday that I couriered for her. Something went wrong with the sim swop, but think I managed to get it sorted this morning so told her to switch it on @ 11:00. Hope it works, but she said it is a amazing looker of a phone. Shame....she is coming from a really crappy Samsung Chat pos.
 
@JJCT - awesome stuff! Much appreciated, thank you!

I'm inclined to believe that the encryption mess I currently have will be something of the past on the P9!

Two more questions:
1. Is the standard screen protector any good? Tempered glass?
2. Is this the VNS-L21 model? (Should be under "About Device")

So apart from the fact that I would prefer the 3GB RAM model, I cannot see any reason to go for anything else in this price range. Now awaiting Orange ZA stock of the black model... "Stock expected in 9 days..."
 
acp said:
1. Is the standard screen protector any good? Tempered glass?
Click to expand...

The one that my mom and sister's phones came with seemed like just a ordinary piece of plastic to me. Put a tempered glass one on for my sis and for my mom. The back cover that it comes with seems pretty nice, and it is see through, so does not spoil the look of the phone.
 
Ockie said:
The one that my mom and sister's phones came with seemed like just a ordinary piece of plastic to me. Put a tempered glass one on for my sis and for my mom. The back cover that it comes with seems pretty nice, and it is see through, so does not spoil the look of the phone.
Click to expand...

Good to know.
"Back cover" - you mean a separate TPU back cover? Was this only on the Vodacom deal? Or in the box by the OEM?
 
acp said:
@JJCT - awesome stuff! Much appreciated, thank you!

I'm inclined to believe that the encryption mess I currently have will be something of the past on the P9!

Two more questions:
1. Is the standard screen protector any good? Tempered glass?
2. Is this the VNS-L21 model? (Should be under "About Device")

So apart from the fact that I would prefer the 3GB RAM model, I cannot see any reason to go for anything else in this price range. Now awaiting Orange ZA stock of the black model... "Stock expected in 9 days..."
Click to expand...
I did not know it came with a screen protector so I bought 2 tempered glass ones. I don't know if the one it came with is but it seems to be pretty good, not picking up loads of fingerprint.

Here is the model number
a80cc73bc5843cd9a1ba64935083a4ef.jpg


Not sure if you've dealt with Orange before but they were very good. Phoned from London to tell me my phone arrived and when to expect it. I also bought a 128gb micro sd from them also at a very good price. Samsung EVO Plus for R650.
 
JJCT said:
I did not know it came with a screen protector so I bought 2 tempered glass ones. I don't know if the one it came with is but it seems to be pretty good, not picking up loads of fingerprint.

Not sure if you've dealt with Orange before but they were very good. Phoned from London to tell me my phone arrived and when to expect it. I also bought a 128gb micro sd from them also at a very good price. Samsung EVO Plus for R650.
Click to expand...

Excellent thanks! No previous experience with Orange ZA although I've been eyeing their site for a long time on different models. Do you know how would one of these be treated from a warranty perspective? Shipped back to UK or Huawei locally?
 
acp said:
Excellent thanks! No previous experience with Orange ZA although I've been eyeing their site for a long time on different models. Do you know how would one of these be treated from a warranty perspective? Shipped back to UK or Huawei locally?
Click to expand...
This is the response I received from them when I asked before I bought the phone.

"Regarding the warranty, the phones we sell are covered by a one year warranty valid only with Orange, it is not provided by the manufacturer.

Should you experience any software problem with the device, all you need to do is call us or write us an email including what the failure is and that you would like to return it. We will then initialize the returns procedure and will explain all the details to you. A free pickup will be arranged to collect the faulty device form you. "
 
The cover I bought off eBay came today it has a pretty nice feel and keeps the phone quite sleek. It's a metal bumper case with a mirrored acrylic back. I bought the bottom grey colour.
7ca19a997ac165caa98f643f02dd0450.jpg
 
Do note that there are 2 versions of the phone
L09 and L19

L09 doesn't have duel sim support and is available via Vodacom.
L19 does have duel sim support and is available via Telkom.
I'm not sure about other providers.

So far really happy with my L19. Screen quality and camera are amazing, compared it to Galaxy S6 and while close I'd pick the P9 due to size and marginally better camera.
I haven't benchmarked them, I'll do that later :)


Just waiting for roms so I can get rid of the huawei preinstalls.
 
Noah said:
Do note that there are 2 versions of the phone
L09 and L19

L09 doesn't have duel sim support and is available via Vodacom.
L19 does have duel sim support and is available via Telkom.
I'm not sure about other providers.

So far really happy with my L19. Screen quality and camera are amazing, compared it to Galaxy S6 and while close I'd pick the P9 due to size and marginally better camera.
I haven't benchmarked them, I'll do that later :)


Just waiting for roms so I can get rid of the huawei preinstalls.
Click to expand...
Is that the P9 or P9 Lite? Would be interested to find out how different they are.
 
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