Read next: Huawei Mate 9 review
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
The Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition features the same rear-facing camera setup as the standard Mate 9, boasting a dual-lens camera comprised of one 12Mp colour sensor and one 20Mp monochrome sensor. It captures great amounts of detail, and we’re thoroughly impressed with the quality of the “lossless zoom” – despite not featuring a telephoto lens, the Mate 9 PD edition can zoom up to 2x without any negative effect on the quality of the image. Of course, like other dual-lens Huawei smartphones, users can also manually tweak the focus and aperture size of photos after they’ve been taken, and it offers a full manual mode for Pro users.
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
Huawei has historically placed the fingerprint scanner on its smartphones on the rear – and it’s a decision we like. Though not typical of companies like Apple, the rear placement of the scanner meant it could be easily used and doubled up as a second way to interact with the phone. It made taking selfies, swiping through photos and even accessing the notification centre much easier. However, with the Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition, the decision was made to move it to the front of the device and embed it within the Home button. We’re not quite sure why this decision was made, especially when the standard Mate 9 features a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, but it’s one of the few features of the Mate 9 PD edition that we’re not a fan of. Read next: Best smartphone deals
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
Of course, the biggest draw of the Huawei Mate 9 PD edition is that it was designed in conjunction with Porsche Design. The branding is evident throughout the smartphone, from the logo sitting above the display on the front of the device, to the embossed logo on the rear and even with the exclusive PD-themed wallpapers available on the smartphone. Read next: Best Android smartphone of 2017
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
One difference between the standard Huawei Mate 9 and the Mate 9 Porsche Design edition is the display technology: while the standard Mate 9 features an LED display, the Mate 9 PD edition features an upgraded AMOLED display. While some may not see the difference, AMOLED provides blacker blacks and better colour reproduction so when the two are placed side by side, the difference is immediately noticeable. Blacks on the Mate 9 seem a little grey in comparison, while the AMOLED display is bright, crisp and vibrant. Read next: Best phone of 2017
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
Of course, the display technology isn’t the only difference between the standard Huawei Mate 9 and the Mate 9 Porsche Design edition, as the PD edition also features a curved edge display. However, unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, the curved edge doesn’t provide any extra features and is solely there for aesthetic purposes. Be that as it may, we love the understated curve of the Mate 9 PD edition, although we’re not sure we’d pay €1,395 for it.
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
Like many other recent releases in the Huawei range, the Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition features a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. The smartphone features a whopping 4000mAh battery that should keep you going for at least a day, although we’ve seen it last (just about) two days on a single charge. When it does eventually run out, you can rely on Huawei’s ‘Supercharge’ functionality that’ll give you 58 percent battery in half an hour, with a full charge only taking 90 minutes. The catch? You can only use the supplied cable and charger for Supercharge, as it has built-in tech specifically for the functionality. Oh, and it also features a headphone jack.
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design edition review in pictures
In terms of storage, it has a whopping 256GB of built-in storage which can be expanded thanks to Huawei’s ‘Hybrid SIM’ which is comprised of a SIM card slot, and a microSD card slot. Other specs include:
Kirin 960 CPU (octa-core, four A73 2.4GHz cores and four A53 1.8GHz cores)Mali G71 GPU, supports Vulcan API and brings performance gains of up to 400 percent compared to previous iterations of the processor.4GB RAM4x microphones2x antenna array to provide greater mobile signal
Read next: Huawei P10 release date and rumours Lewis Painter is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor. Our resident Apple expert, Lewis covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware. You’ll also find him on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.
