Honor 9X Pro - Smartphone 256GB, 6GB RAM, Dual Sim, Phantom Purple 51095DUY

Product Information

This is the follow up to the rather good Honor 9X. As you might expect, the word Pro means it comes with more processing grunt, with the Kirin 710 processor subbed out for a 2.27GHz octa-core Kirin 810. The 6GB RAM remains the same but there’s also a generous 256GB of internal storage, which itself can be expanded via microSD cards. Recently I bought an HONOR 9X Pro from China since it really has attractive features and price. It has triple-camera, including a 48MP main camera, and the powerful 7nm 810 chipset. The two phones fare well with normal selfie shots. The Pixel 3a does its normal post-processing magic and gives me a healthy looking skin color while the Honor 9X shows my face in its more natural state. The scene behind me looks much better on the Pixel, though, which helps sway my opinion in its favor in this case BTW, I can use all apps perfectly now and of course, I find no differences between using the Google store on the HONOR 9X Pro and other phones.

Neither phone does a brilliant job with portrait mode enabled. The Pixel 3a crops too wide, including some of the building behind me in the non-blurred area, while the 9X crops too closely, trimming the sides of my head and part of my ears. I don’t really like either one because of these faults, but if I had to choose a favorite, I’d side with the Pixel 3a again. If you can stretch to a Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL, you’re probably better off doing so. Aside from offering better cameras than the Honor 9X, these can use Android 10, are available in the US and aren’t at risk from suddenly losing out on Google’s support due to international politics. But if you want a larger display for less money, the Honor 9X is worth a look. The 8MP ultrawide photos are okay, but nothing special. The resolved detail is modest at best, the corners are pretty soft because of automatic lens correction and the dynamic range is rather low. Still, those are presentable enough for the social networks.The default 12MP photos from the main camera are sharp and detailed. We observed accurate (if a bit subdued) colors and the dynamic range was always great and we never used HDR. Areas of high complexity such as foliage and building blinds are not as nicely presented and what appears to be overly aggressive noise-reduction process smears some fine detail. There are noticeable oil-painting-like areas here and there. The two phones are more evenly matched in this wide open scene with a mix of dark and bright spots, but once again the Pixel 3a brings out the details and color much more than the 9X achieves, with the Honor also capturing large flares from the bright spotlights illuminating the square in front of Kings Cross Station.

Both the main and ultra-wide camera deliver good dynamic range, nice contrast, no visible noise, and punchy colors. The picture is quite soft though and the resolved detail is average at best. Rear camera: Primary - 48MP, 27mm, f/1.8; PDAF; Ultrawide - 8MP, 13mm, f/2.4; Depth sensor - 2MP. Video recording up to 1080p@30fps. Shooting in 48MP AI Ultra Clarity takes about six seconds and each photo eats up about 20MB, but if you want superior quality - this is the way. This 48MP AI mode works only with abundant light and you must switch to it manually from settings.The Honor 9X Pro has the same camera setup as its predecessor, where the main 48-megapixel f/1.8 sensor is supported by two extra lenses – an 8-megapixel f/2.4 wide-angle camera and a 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor.