Each year, there are a few events we all look forward to. For Samsung, we are always excited for their two Unpacked events. For Apple, they have their WWDC and annual iPhone launch events. For Google, we are always excited for their I/O event. This year, as expected, it is happening.
The last Google I/O 2022 saw Google announce their latest Tensor 2 integrated mobile processing chip. It also saw their latest Google Pixel smartphone revealed to the world. To the disappointment of many, The Google Pixel did not come with a foldable or flip form that was highly anticipated and rumoured.
For 2023, the date to be saved is 10th of May 2023. Google’s current CEO has tweeted the event date and even posted a link that directs users to the mini page complete with a countdown clock. The website also says that the conference is open to all who wish to attend or watch online. There will be a “limited live audience” present though, according to Google.
As usual, we expect to see the next iteration of Android, Android 14 now to be announced at the event. Android 14 is now available too for developers, so if you want to be the first to know what is going to come, you can sign up as one and preview the build yourself. Alongside Android 14, we expect to see Google announcing new hardware, a new Pixel device perhaps, a new Wear OS device, and maybe a TV box. If we are lucky, maybe they will launch a new Chromebook at the event. There are a few rumours going around that we can expect to see Google’s foldable Pixel devices announced in this year’s Google I/O event. There are also rumours about a tablet device from Google that is to be announced in the upcoming event.
All these are just speculations for the time being though. The event is not happening in another two months, which means there is still plenty of unknown. What we know though is that there will also be various developer sessions and discussions after the keynote event headed by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google.
The INSTAX cameras are a lot of fun. In any social gathering, the INSTAX camera and printer can capture great memories and you can physically keep the photos for these occasions and start a collection. There is only one issue, with most INSTAX cameras, there is no way for you to digitally store the photos. This is where INSTAX UP! app comes in.
It is not another camera app. You do not need another camera app on your smartphone, since most modern smartphones offer better than ever camera experiences today. But it still does rely on using your smartphone’s camera.
Instead of capturing the regular things like portrait or objects in street photography, it captures your INSTAX print outs. It can even recognize the type of print you are using including mini, SQUARE, and WIDE films. To ensure that the digital copy is free of all sorts of blemish, the app automatically reduces glare on the photos in challenging conditions. You can even adjust the contrast, brightness, and even colour vividness and temperature after capturing the photos. All that is then stored in your smartphone digitally so that you can reprint the image using an INSTAX printer if you want.
There are more you can do with your INSTAX photos now with the INSTAX UP! app. There is a new ‘photo in photo’ mode. You can take the print and put it against a backdrop of a scenery or other photos to be shared across social media directly from the app itself. You can even compile your favourite photos within the app. While compiling your collection, you can shake the app to mimic the INSTAX films being tossed around in a box. You can even share this collection with your friends directly from the app.
The app even allows you to choose how you want to view your INSTAX photos. You can keep it neat and organized in the ‘list view’ mode. Or, if you do not mind a little bit of chaos, there is the ‘box view’ mode that makes it look like you tossed your INSTAX films all into a box. You can also find a few ‘tips and tricks’ from the app itself in taking photos and portraits that will look good on and INSTAX films or even how to spice up your home and room with INSTAX products.
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
Source: FUJIFILM
The app is now available for free on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. The app, as mentioned, is compatible with any INSTAX film and photos that has been printed. Again, it is not a camera app. You can find out more about the INSTAX UP! and other products from their website.
If you want to buy a smartphone that folds, you have a very simple choice. To be fair, there was not too many choices to begin with. In Malaysia at least, you could only get your hands on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip smartphone. Not anymore though, now you can get one from OPPO.
They call it the OPPO Find N2 Flip smartphone. Yes, it shares nearly the same name as the foldable candybar that is the OPPO Find N2. It is smaller than the Find N2 though, and it folds differently.
At MYR 3,999, the Find N2 Flip not what you want to call accessible. It is also priced the same as its competition. At this time too, it is the most expensive OPPO smartphone you can get your money on.
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
Flagship Power
For that money, you are paying for a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ system on a chip (SoC). Before you dismiss the OPPO Find N2 Flip as an overpriced mid-range smartphone, we can assure you that the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ is designed to be a powerful flagship class smartphone processor. The SoC even offers dual-SIM 5G capabilities. At the same time, the SoC allows OPPO to work with its best-in-class SUPERVOOC battery charging speeds at 44W. Alongside the powerful SoC, you get 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM for super-fast operations and smooth multitasking. You also get up to 256GB in storage, which you will want to ensure you have enough storage space for all your photos.
50MP Camera Co-Engineered with Hasselblad
You need 256GB of space because the camera fitted to the Find N2 Flip can take 50-Megapixel photos with some Hasselblad magic. There is also an 8-Megapixel shooter for ultra-wide angle photos. Out the top of the internal display is a 32-Megapixel selfie camera. Of course, the cameras all work with OPPO’s in-house built MariSilicon X image processor to enhance low-light photos and even videos.
Two Displays, One Smartphone
Source: OPPO
Before you get to the large internal display, you are met with a large external display that is more than functional enough for you to work with. The 3.26-inch acts as your sort of mirror or secondary monitor when you are taking photos or videos. Your subject can even look at how they will eventually look in the photo and give you directions if they need to. The large display also allows you to get more info from apps from bespoke widgets. You can even control some of the apps directly from the external display without unfolding the entire device. Always-on-display mode allows you to get even more information from your smartphone without even picking your device up from the table.
Flip the device open and you get a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with 21:9 aspect ratio. You get Full HD+ resolution out of it, nothing too extravagant here. You still get smooth 120Hz experience with it though. With up to 240Hz of sampling rate too, the device will feel snappy in your hands. Of course, the AMOLED panel sports 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut with vivid and realistic colour reproductions.
Big, Fast Battery
Keeping everything running an entire day and more is the biggest battery you can find in this kind of smartphones. You find a 4,300mAh battery feeding all the components for an entire at a time. The 44W SUPERVOOC charging ensures that you can get it up and running again in less than an hour when it is flat.
The New Generation Flexion Hinge – Teardrop Fold
Source: OPPO
Source: OPPO
The bulk of the money, we feel, goes to the innovative hinge design that keeps crease on your main display at minimum. They call it the New Generation Flexion Hinge rather than Flexion Hinge 2, for some reason. Still, they say that the new hinge is much better and more robust than before. They claimed that the hinge is tested to more than 400,000 folds without failure.
The original Flexion hinge was a complex thing. The New Generation Flexion Hinge has been simplified to minimize moving parts and therefore increase reliability and durability. Less moving parts also means less things to go wrong and less wear on the components. Less components also means that the hinge is smaller than before.
The result is a compact hinge than can sit in a body tighter and slimmer than ever before. The innovative new hinge also allows the device to be folded in without a gap in between panels to better protect the display against dust and other contaminants when it is folded in. A smaller hinge module is also what allowed OPPO to fit larger battery and external display modules.
Price and Availability
The OPPO Find N2 Flip is now available for pre-order until the 10th of March 2023. You get to chose between two attractive colours – Astral Black and Moonlit Purple. As mentioned, it will set you back MYR 3,999. If you do pre-order your smartphone, you are eligible for exclusive free gifts like an extended warranty plan, an Enco Air3 wireless headphones, and case for your smartphone all amounting up to MYR 637 in value. You even get to top up MYR 299 for a OPPO Care Screen Protection Plan if you want, a 50% discount. You can pre-order your OPPO Find N2 Flip from My OPPO Space, OPPO brand stores, telco partners, OPPO’s own Official Online Store, their official stores on Shopee and Lazada, and all their retail partners across the nation.
What choices do you have when you can only spend up to MYR 1,500 for a smartphone? Can you even get something decent for that kind of money? It turns out, you can with vivo’s latest MYR 1,299 V27e smartphone.
The vivo V27e’s price range places it squarely in the entry-level smartphone segment. What you get though, is a little more than entry-level.
For starters, you get a 64-Megapixel shooter out the back of the device. That main shooter also packs something vivo calls the Hybrid Image Stabilisation feature. That is buzzword for a combination of Optical Image Stabilisation and Electronic Image Stabilisation, a sort of mix for both physical and software defined stabilization to achieve better stability when taking photos and even videos. They call the 64-Megapixel sensor an ‘Ultra-Sensing’ sensor as well. vivo claims that the sensor offers more light exposure and that allows the sensor to capture 600% more light for even better detailing and photo quality than ever before, especially in low-light conditions. That main camera is paired with a 2-Megapixel macro camera and a 2-Megapixel depth sensor.
The 64-Megapixel shooter is also paired with something they call an Aura Light. It works together with portrait mode to create something they call the Aura Light Portrait. The LED flash out the back is shaped like a tiny right light. The arrangement also means that the light is diffused and softer on the skin allowing for ‘studio-level’ lighting effects for better and natural looking portraits.
Out the front is a 32-Megapixel camera sitting at the top section of the display. The vivo V27e can take advantage of the 32-Megapixel front-facing shooter with an array of different templates and shoot modes too.
Speaking of the front-facing camera, the display that it sits out of is impressive too. It is a 6.62-inch Full HD+ display. It is also an AMOLED display that offers colour contrasts and vividness like no other display can in its class. At the same time, you get 120Hz refresh rate out of the display, quite unheard of for smartphones in its price range.
Keeping Android 13 based Funtouch 13 running smoothly on the 120Hz AMOLED display is a MediaTek Helio G99 system on a chip (SoC). The processor is built upon the 6nm process technology for better efficiency and better power delivery. It is not a 5G chip unfortunately, meaning you do not get 5G connectivity out of the vivo V27e. The SoC gets up to 12GB of RAM to work with paired with up to 256GB of storage. To keep everything going for an entire day is a built-in 4,600mAh lithium battery that is capable of 66W charging speeds.
Price and Availability
The vivo V27e is now available in Malaysia via all vivo concept stores and authorised dealers across the nation. You can also get your hands on one from vivo’s own e-store, or vivo’s official stores on Shopee, Lazada, and even Tik Tok. You can choose between the pretty Lavender Purple, or the regular Glory Black. As mentioned, the vivo V27e will set you back MYR 1,299. If you get yours 4th March onward to the end of the month, you get a free smart tag, Bluetooth speaker, an extended warranty package, and also a 1-year screen protection plan for your vivo V27e. More on the smartphone can be found on their website.
Google is bringing a few new features to Android and Chromebooks. Most of the new features will be making their way to Android devices starting today. These new features mainly bring more “Material You” to Android and its personalization features. However, there are a few updates in the list that improve productivity and accessibility.
Google Keep Gets A Widget & Wear OS Complication
For those looking to be more productive on their Android devices, Google Keep has got your back. The note-keeping and to-do list app is being improved with a widget that allows you to pin single notes to your home screen. The new widget is fully actionable; allowing you to check things off your checklist or even update notes. It will display reminders, background colours and images in the Keep notes and also syncs seamlessly with Google Keep and your smartwatch.
Speaking of smartwatches, if you have a Wear OS by Google smartwatch – this includes the new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 series – you’ll be able to use Google Keep on the go. Google is also introducing two new shortcuts for Wear OS that allows you to create notes and to-do lists from your Wear OS watch face.
In addition to this, Google is enabling direct editing and annotating of PDFs with a stylus or by touch in the Google Drive app. You’ll be able to use different strokes, the highlighter or even hide, undo, delete or save a new copy of the annotated document too.
Less Noise on Google Meet, More Seamless Integration with Chromebooks
Google Meet is getting noise cancellation during calls on more Android devices. This means you’ll be able to drown out the noise when you have to take a meeting on the go.
Being on the go means you’ll need your earbuds or headphones to take the call, thankfully, if you’re using a Chromebook, Google is bringing Fast Pair to Chromebooks. This will simplify connecting your Bluetooth audio devices to the Chromebook essentially making it a single click. What’s more, if you’ve paired the device on your Android smartphone before, it will seamlessly connect to your Chromebook as well.
Express Yourself
Android is getting more ways to express yourself as well. New emoji combinations will be able on Emoji Kitchen. You’ll be able to combine two or more emojis to better express yourself in chats with Gboard. In addition to this, you’ll also be able to customise Google Wallet’s pay animations. Google will be bringing things like playful penguins to Google Wallet.
Finally, Google Chrome will allow you to increase the size of the content you’re viewing in the browser with a simple slider. The slider will allow you to change things like the text, images, videos and interactive controls by up to 300% while preserving the page layout. You’ll even be able to save your preferences so you don’t have to keep resetting them every time. The feature is currently in Chrome Beta before it officially rolls out in March.
A month after the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G release, Samsung has silently released the 4G version of the same smartphone in Malaysia. The Galaxy A14 replaces the A13 released last year as the entry-level to Samsung’s extensive Galaxy A series.
The A15 4G has a MediaTek Helio G80 processor instead of the Samsung Exynos 1330 that comes with the A15 5G. This is supported by up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory. In addition to this, the smartphone continues to support memory expansion through microSD cards. Dual SIM is also supported on the A14.
The smartphone comes with a 6.6-inch HD+ LCD display with a 60Hz refresh rate. It comes with a triple camera setup with a 50-megapixel main camera setup complemented by a 5-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. On the front is a 13-megapixel selfie camera. It has a 3.5mm audio jack with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Connectivity-wise, the smartphone supports 4G LTE, dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.2, near-field communication (NFC), and GPS. The 5,000mAh battery charges via USB-C and supports 10W charging.
Pricing & Availability
Samsung hasn’t listed an official price for the Galaxy A14 4G just yet but it has listed the device in its Malaysian online store.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 will be available in Black, Silver and Dark Red.
HMD Global has announced a slew of new Nokia smartphones. The most unique of which is the Nokia G22 which is the first smartphone that is launched together with IFixIt. Weird partner for a smartphone right? Well, it begins to make sense when you consider that the Nokia G22 is also the first smartphone from HMD Global to be completely self repairable. The new smartphone is launching with a self-repair kit which will be available via IFixIt in Australia, the United Kingdom and other European Union countries.
The Nokia G22 is another notch in HMD’s line up of affordable, durable and well-supported Android smartphones. It also holds true to the company’s commitment to sustainability with a plastic back made from 100% recycled materials. The new smartphone comes with a 6.52-inch, HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate and 500 nits brightness. It comes with a quad core Unisoc T606 with 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal memory. It also supports up to an additional 2TB of memory via microSD.
On the camera front, the G22 will be coming with a triple camera setup with a 50-megapixel main sensor. This sensor has an f/1.8 aperture, a 5P lens and is autofocus enabled. A 2-megapixel depth and 2-megapixel macro sensor complete the triple camera setup. On the front is an 8-megapixel fixed focus CMOS sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.12µm pixel size.
It comes with the usual connectivity features including Bluetooth, Near Field Communication, GPS, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and USB-C connectivity. It’s powered by 5,050mAh battery with HMD’s signature promise of up to 3 day battery life. It supports 20W fast charging.
The smartphone will launch with Android 12 and has been guaranteed 2 years of OS upgrades from HMD global.
Pricing & Availability
The Nokia G22 will be available in two colours: Lagoon Blue and Meteor Grey. It will be available in two variants: 4GB+64GB and 4GB+128GB. The smartphone will be priced from EUR179 (MYR852.44).
At home QickFix Kits will be available on iFixit.com with prices starting from EUR5 (MYR23.82). HMD Global lists the prices for a replacement battery at EUR24.95 (MYR118.83), and the replacement charging port at EUR19.95 (MYR95.02).
Honor took the stage at MWC 2023, to unveil their new flagship series – the Honor Magic5 series which adopts a new “human-centric” approach to its technology. The new approach brings a slew of new features that place their users first and help improve their lives more meaningfully.
The new Honor Magic5 series brings together specifications and features that strike a unique balance with a price that doesn’t break the bank. The new series consists of two devices (for now): the Honor Magic5 and the Honor Magic5 Pro. It goes without saying that the Magic5 Pro leads the duo as Honor’s true flagship with the best in specifications.
Both the Honor Magic5 and Magic5 Pro come with Honor’s new Super Dynamic Display. The display is an LTPO panel which has been enhanced with software to produce images that are more vivid with deeper contrasts. Honor boasts that this technology produces images that are 500% more vivid. It still has a 120Hz refresh rate with a peak HDR brightness of 1800nits. The display is also a Quad-Curved Floating Screen. What this means – essentially – is that the glass of the screen has been curved on all four sides giving it a feel that it’s floating. The Pro comes with a 6.81-inch display while the vanilla Magic5 comes with a 6.73-inch version of the same.
The Honor5 series comes with a triple-sensor setup for its main camera. On the Pro, the sensors are a 50-megapixel wide camera with an f/1.6 aperture and 1/1.12-inch sensor size, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with an f/2.0 aperture, and a 50-megapixel periscope Telephoto sensor with an f/3.0 aperture and 3.5x optical zoom. This setup combined with Honor’s Falcon AI imaging technology enables 100x zoom on the Pro. The regular Magic5, on the other hand, comes with a 54-megapixel sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and 1/1,49 inch sensor size complemented by a 32-megapixel telephoto camera. While comparable, the regular Magic5 will only be able to achieve 50x zoom. On the front, is a 12-megapixel selfie camera.
On the inside, the Magic5 series comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with up to 12GB and up to 512GB of internal storage. Honor is packing the phone with faster LPDDR5X RAM and UFS4.0 storage modules for added performance gains. It’s also coming with an IP68 rating and is powered by a 5,100mAH battery on both variants. Wireless charging is also coming back with the Magic5 series with both supporting 50W wireless Honor Supercharge while, if you plug it in, it can charge using Honor’s SuperCharge at 60W.
Pricing & Availability
The new Honor Magic series will be available in Glacier Blue, Meadow Green, Coral Purple, Orange, and Black. The regular Magic5 comes in at EUR899 (MYR4,254.39) while the Magic5 Pro will be priced from EUR1199 (MYR7,567.038).
Leica is back in the international smartphone arena thanks to its new partnership with Xiaomi. With its initial offering, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra only officially being rolled out in Mainland China, the Xiaomi 13 marks the brand’s return to the ecosystem. The new Xiaomi 13 series crowning feature is the Leica Vario-Summicron 1:19-2.2/14-75 ASPH camera system which comes on the 13 Pro.
The Xiaomi 13 series comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB internal memory. Of course, the Xiaomi 13 series comes with two entries in Malaysia (for now): the Xiaomi 13 and the Xiaomi 13 Pro. The two entries come with a few differences that distinguish the smartphones from each other. The most significant of which the Leica Vario-Summicron 1:19-2.2/14-75 ASPH camera system.
The Pro comes with a triple camera array for the main camera complete with Leica lenses. The setup consists of the 1-inch, 50.3-megapixel Sony IMX989 with an f/1.8 aperture and 23mm focal length. It equipped with dual pixel phase detection autofocus (PDAF), Laser Autofocus and optical image stabilization (OIS). This is complemented with a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with 3.2x optical zoom and PDAF. Completing the triple sensor setup is a 50-megapixel utlra-wide sensor with autofocus. On the front, the smartphone comes with a 32-megapixel selfie camera.
The vanilla 13 comes with a triple sensor setup with a main 50-megapixel main sensor with PDAF and OIS complemented with a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor and a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. On the front is the same 32-megapixel sensor.
Leica isn’t just lending its lenses to Xiaomi for the Xiaomi 13 series, they’re helping with the software. The 13 and 13 Pro both come with the master lens system, a software features which provides better, more granular control to the focal length and depth of field for better portrait photos. In addition to this, the software comes with two distinct photographic styles: Leica Authentic Look and Leica Vibrant Look. These paired with Xiaomi’s own Imaging Engine culminate in Xiaomi’s strongest computational photography flagship.
Of course, with all these photography features, the two smartphones come with powerful displays with up to 120Hz refresh rate.
Pricing & Availability
The Xiaomi 13 Series will be available in Malaysia starting on March 8th 2023.
The Xiaomi 13 will be available in three colours – Black, White and Flora Green. Only one variant will be available in Malaysia 12GB RAM with 256GB of internal storage. Prices start at MYR3,499.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro will be available in two colours: Ceramic Black and Ceramic White. Two variants of the 13 Pro will be avaiable 12RAM with 256GB of internal storage and a special, limited edition 12GB RAM with 512GB internal storage. The former will be priced from MYR4,699 while the limited edition will be on sale for MYR 4,999.
The Xiaomi 13 series will be available for pre-order starting on February 27, 2023 until March 7, 2023. Packages and pricing are as follows:
The Honor X9a 5G is a mid-range offering with a more than mid-range display.
Any new smartphone owner has had nightmares of their shiny new screens cracking on day one from the slightest of drops. Well, Honor has gone to great lengths to allay those fears with their new midrange entry, the Honor X9A 5G. You probably have already seen ads for the toughest 120Hz display on the market and videos of people smashing the display into various surfaces or nuts. But is that all it has to offer? We spent 30 days putting the device through its paces and the results may surprise you.
Display
Let’s start off with the main selling point of the device; its nigh-indestructible display. The idea Honor had here was clear; bring a flagship grade display to a more accessible and affordable device. And I believe they have achieved that. The Honor X9a 5G sports a 6.67-inch OLED curved display with a 120Hz screen refresh rate. The refresh rate makes the visuals snappy, be it the MagicUI 6.1 interface, a video on YouTube and especially when gaming. It has good brightness too with a rating of 800 nits. Walking under the hot afternoon sun, I was still able to see what’s on the screen, though admittedly I had to turn up the brightness to near maximum. Videos were crisp and colours were vibrant whether from YouTube or Netflix. I found it both comfortable and enjoyable watching videos at long length on this device.
Is an incredibly tough 120Hz display all it has to offer? Or is there more to reveal?
Protecting this display is Honor’s own answer to Corning’s Gorilla Glass and Huawei’s Kunlun glass. Though it remains nameless, Honor’s protecting glass does a fantastic job of securing the display. After more than a month of using the phone without any kind of protection, I have not seen a single scratch on this display, even from the keys in my pocket. There are probably hundreds of videos online of people dropping or hitting the phone with a variety of items and I could not resist doing so myself. From walnuts to groundnuts to M&M’s, nothing seems to damage this screen. I did accidentally drop the device face down on a tiled floor from waist height and no visible damage either. Without venturing into more dangerous stress tests, I did feel that the display glass is definitely sturdier than expected of a mid-range device.
Design
The signature design feature of the Honor X9a 5G is the raised circular rear camera housing, dubbed the star ring matrix design by Honor. Personally, I was not a fan of this particular design and the height is apparent enough to make it wobble very slightly on the table if used without a case. However, those are the only two complaints I have design wise and there is a lot to like.
The polarizing design of the star ring matrix rear camera housing.
The build quality of the phone is great. The tough display on the front is only punctuated by the small camera hole cutout, which does not distract you from what’s on the display. The back of the phone had a textured material that feels great to hold. The material feels premium and the Titanium Silver colour was pleasing to the eye, which is one of the main reasons why I did not use a case. It is also very lightweight, which coupled with the textured back, feels good to hold for a long time.
Volume rocker and lock button wrapped with metal trimming on the edges.
Despite being a curved display device that I used without a case, I did not experience any accidental touches along the edges. This is probably thanks to the AI Anti Mistouch feature. Lining the edges of the phone is metal trimming painted with a metallic sky blue colour that was also very appealing. On the right-hand side is the volume rocker and lock button. The buttons feels great to the touch, is tactile and does not wobble in place.
Overall, the device feels very premium with a robust build quality and apart from the star ring matrix design, has nice aesthetics.
Camera
The camera experience for the Honor X9A 5G did not receive as much emphasis as the display nor its build quality. It sports a triple sensor set up of a 64MP main shooter, 5MP ultrawide and 2MP macro camera. The main shooter does a decent job of snapping photos in daylight and good lighting conditions. Images were sharp and colours leaned towards a more subdued, natural palette. However, performance takes a dip in low light conditions, with images appearing a little grainy and colours appear a little washed out. To compensate for this, there is a Night mode that seemingly is able to address both these issues. The only catch is that there is a long 3 to 4 second timer before image capture and you need to have steady hands in this time for a clear image. That being said, the Night mode images do have good clarity, colors and no obvious noise.
Point and shoot in daylightPoint and shoot in daylight with skyPortrait shot indoorsPoint and shoot indoorsNight modeUltrawide shot in daylight
While the main shooter performs well enough for daily use, the other shooting modes did miss the mark. The 2MP macro shooter suffered from a lack of sharpness due to the low resolution and had some fuzziness to it even in daylight. The 5MP ultrawide shooter also suffered from the low resolution and had rather obvious graininess that got worse with low lighting conditions. The saving grace is the Portrait mode, which showed good performance in both daylight and lighted indoor situations. There was good level of detail captured and bokeh was well done. Performance was similarly good when using the 16MP selfie camera, with Portrait shots appearing clear and well detailed. There is also a beauty filter to help iron out facial imperfections which helped make the photos social media ready.
Macro shot outdoors daylightMacro shot indoor 1Macro shot indoor 2Portrait mode selfie cameraPortrait mode main camera
The camera experience for the Honor X9A 5G is rather average; a serviceable main shooter with no true standout features and lackluster alternative shooting modes.
Performance
Key Specifications
The Honor X9A 5G is powered by a Snapdragon 695 SoC, which is not the latest in chipsets but it does pack a punch. For its price point, it comes with a rather healthy memory capacity of 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The battery is also a plus point with 5100mAh capacity and 40W wired charging with the included charger. The hardware on board is good value for money and I found the performance takes full advantage of them.
User Interface
Out of the box, it runs MagicUI 6.1 that is based on Android 12. Long-time Honor users will be very familiar with the design and aesthetics of MagicUI but for first time users, the user interface appears rather dated.
With large blocky icons with designs reminiscent of iOS and Android from the mid 2010’s, the dated design feels out of place in such a premium display in 2023. There is a dedicated Themes app preinstalled on the device that can help alleviate this to some degree. But functionally, the user interface works fine, with no obvious flaws. There is also both the Google Play Store and Honor App market preinstalled for all your app needs.
Productivity and multitasking
Multitasking was a breeze on this device as I was able to run Google Chrome, the Gallery app in Multi Window mode and Netflix in mini player mode without a hitch. I did not experience any significant lag or stutters and no overheating after about an hour with this set up. Granted that is not a realistic scenario but it shows that there is a lot of headroom for productivity in this device. For the 30-day review period, I very frequently used messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger while simultaneously using Chrome or YouTube and did not experience any significant lag or stuttering. Productivity is helped by the large RAM capacity of 8GB and additional 5GB virtual RAM for handling multiple running apps. The 256GB of storage is also handy to help store large amounts of photos and files on the go.
Call Quality and Connectivity
Connectivity was good on all fronts including a stable Bluetooth audio connection.
I used the device primarily over 4G LTE networks and did not experience any major disruptions to the connection, be it in Kuala Lumpur city or the smaller towns of Johor. Call quality was clear, had sufficient volume and no issues hearing the person on the other end. Similarly, the call recipients had no complaints on call quality when receiving calls from this device. While capable of 5G connectivity, testing was restricted by the limited connectivity of 5G in Malaysia. Support for WiFi is up to WiFi 5 mainly due to the older chipset but I did not experience any connection dropouts for the review period. Streaming on YouTube and Netflix was seamless and online gaming connections were good too. I tested out the Bluetooth by pairing with my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds. In both cases, I did not experience any unexpected disconnects while the pairing was quick and trouble-free. I found that the transferring of files to the Galaxy Watch 4 was smooth and there were no audio cutouts for the Sony earbuds during long sessions of music. Even pairing with my Honda car’s Bluetooth Audio went smoothly with no issues. All-in-all connectivity was stable on all fronts.
Gaming
I found the device very pleasant to use for long periods of watching videos on YouTube and Netflix. But I also found it very pleasant to use for gaming as well. I primarily tested on Mobile Legends oh High settings and PUBG Mobile with HD graphics and High frame rate. I found both games ran smoothly and surprisingly, even after about 2 consecutive hours of gaming, I did not feel overheating. Granted, I used the device predominantly without a case which helps ventilation slightly, and I was not pushing the games to their maximum settings. For a mid-range device the performance was really good.
Gaming performance was great with the Honor X9a 5G.
When pushing the graphics to the maximum settings (Ultra for Mobile Legends and Ultra HD for PUBG Mobile), the performance was still surprisingly good, with only slight choppiness observed for PUBG Mobile with some overheating past the 1-hour mark. The fantastic display adds to the gaming immersion; everything was snappy due to the 120Hz refresh rate and colours were vibrant. One minor complaint for the gaming immersion would be the mono speakers on board instead of stereo speakers. This of course was not a dealbreaker as the use of earbuds quickly solved this problem.
The gaming performance of the Honor X9a 5G is a definite happy surprise. The GPU performance, ergonomics of the design and decent thermals helps make gaming a pleasant experience.
Battery life
Battery life is another strong point, with the device being powered by a large 5100 mAh battery. Throughout the review period, I found myself charging the device once every two days with regular use. Most of the screen on time was spent using YouTube or Netflix, Google Chrome, Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger. It was only with heavy use of gaming and photography that I found myself needing to charge the phone on a daily basis. Charging is a breeze too with the included 40W charger juicing up from 20% to 100% in about 90 minutes.
The Verdict: A solid all-rounder headlined by a flagship display
The Honor X9a 5G is a solid, well-rounded mid-range device.
After an in-depth hands-on experience, the Honor X9a 5G was a pleasant surprise in how it performed. Its strengths lie in its flagship-quality display, premium build quality and excellent battery life. For weaknesses, there is no particular department that is truly a deal breaker. Even the camera which has a weak macro and ultrawide performance, does a more than serviceable job in the main shooter and selfie cameras. Conversely, apart from the display, there is no other truly standout feature of the device when compared to the other devices in its price range. Retailing for RM1499, the Honor X9a 5G is up against the likes of Samsung’s A53 5G, which we reviewed not too long ago, and the recently released Poco X5 series. While these other devices have their own clear strengths and weaknesses, the Honor X9a 5G is good across the board, making it an all-rounder device. If you want a mid-range device that is value for money, can do the essentials and has a robust build quality, then this is the device for you.
You can get the Honor X9a 5G, available now from the HiHonor website, retailing for RM1499. Honor is also bundling a free pair of noise-cancelling Honor CHOICE Earbuds X3 and 180 Days of Screen Crack Protection if you purchase now.
And here is the obligatory video of nut crushing with the Honor X9a 5G.
