Huawei P9: Like a Mini DSLR Camera in Your Hand!

Nowadays, buying a new cellphone, of course, in addition to paying attention to the design, specifications and quality of the product itself, including the extent to which the camera quality is embedded. Since the era of smartphone photography developed from the era of the Nokia Lumia 920 which then competed with the iPhone 5 from Apple, the trend of this camera phone competition continued to grow and continued until Huawei finally launched its sophisticated smartphone, the P9.

Huawei P9 was released in April 2016 globally, and last December in Indonesia. As the next generation of Huawei P8, the P9 retains almost the same design as its predecessor but armed with Leica camera technology, this device is equipped with dual rear cameras – one for capturing views in monochrome, the other for capturing colors. The photos are then combined to create a final photo with better, deeper contrast and color. In the smartphone photography competition, the Huawei P9 is now ready to challenge the iPhone 7, Samsung S7 Edge, LG V20, and Google Pixel. Leica as a legend in the photography industry is a guarantee that the camera embedded in this P9 is really high quality.

Huawei P9 singkat brief specifications

5.2-inch, 1080×1920, 423ppi screen, Dual (color and monochrome) 12-megapixel rear cameras with Leica optics, 8-megapixel front camera, Kirin 955 chipset, dual quad-core processors plus GPU, 32/3GB RAM, nanoSIM , microSD card (up to 128GB), Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). USB Type-C, Fingerprint reader, Fixed 3,000mAh battery, 145x71x7mm. 144g.

Experience using Huawei P9

This phone measures 5.2 inches with Full HD Display (1920 x 1080 pixels), quite comfortable to hold and put in your pants pocket. The design is sturdy by using a metal chassis around the phone with 3GB RAM powered by HUAWEI Kirin 955 (64-bit), Octa-core (4 x 2.5 GHz A72+ 4 x 1.8 GHz A53) processor with Mali-T830MP2 GPU. As for the internal memory, it is 32GB plus a microSD slot with a capacity of up to 128GB. More than enough to accommodate hundreds of photos with maximum resolution. The phone is agile enough to run EMUI (Emotion User Interface) rarely lags. Huawei managed to make the system interface simple, easy to use, but also functional and most importantly the built-in MINIM Bloatware. Every now and then the author feels the symptoms of Lag if you open a lot of applications and the condition of the phone is hot, but that is very rare.

In terms of battery, Huawei P9 is equipped with a battery capacity of 3000 mAh. There is a Smart Power feature that makes battery life more efficient. For normal use of the battery, it can last for 1 day, unlike if it is used to play games, it is automatically more wasteful.

For multimedia enthusiasts, Huawei P9 immerses HiSilicon Hi6402 audio DSP technology that is integrated with the speaker design. They claim the audio technology can produce sound quality that is more excellent and good when compared to other devices. If you test using the default speaker which is located on the lower right side of the body, you may not feel the difference, but if you test it by connecting it to an external speaker, you will feel it. The author has tested it using JBL Creature II speakers, and the results are very satisfying.

P9 Kamera Camera Quality

Let’s discuss the part that Huawei P9 excels the most. Huawei has partnered with Leica to embed the world’s best mobile photography technology for this phone, as evidenced by the back of the Leica logo. The placement of the logo is inseparable from the embedding of two Leica lenses with a sensor size of 1.25 microns.

The dual camera which is positioned as the main camera with a resolution of 12 MP has different functions. One unit serves to capture color, while the other unit can only see black and white. These two units are combined to produce detailed images in outdoor and indoor conditions and are able to reduce noise in low light conditions.

The P9 has an AV (f/2.2 aperture) lens with a DOF (field of view) equivalent to a 27mm lens. The autofocus is quite responsive, if you catch the wrong object, the author can correct it by tapping the object in question on the phone screen. In addition, the embedded dual LED flash is very helpful for lighting in low light conditions.

P9 can be said to be responsive even in low-light conditions, the dual-camera design is very helpful even though the ISO number on this camera is limited to 3200. It will be even more powerful if in the future, this ISO number can be increased again like DSLR cameras in general ( e.g. 6400, 12000). However, with this ISO, the P9 can produce photos with quality that is not inferior to DSLR cameras.

For the camera interface, the author just swipes his finger to the right to access the mode and the left to select the settings and menu mode. On the Mode menu, the choices are very complete, namely Monochrome, Beauty, Video Beauty Video, HDR, Night Shot, Panorama, Light Painting, Timelapse, Slow-mo, Watermark, Audio Note, and Document Scan. if you want to shoot at night, use the Night Shot feature to get maximum results. There is a Light Painting mode for painting light. This mode can be used as compensation if we are lazy to set manual settings. In addition, in this mode we can find 2 other functions, namely silky water and star track which serves to take photos of stars.

What deserves two thumbs up for the mode menu feature here is a very good and detailed monochrome/Black & White photo. You could say this is the main advantage of the Huawei P9 camera that carries Leica technology. For photographers who like to take the theme of street photography, this mode is worth a try.

What’s fun about this camera feature apart from the mode menu is the Pro Mode (in photography it’s known as manual mode, where we can set ISO, metering, Focus, White Balance, Shutter Speed, and Exposure Value according to our wishes). The trick is to swipe up on the arrow near the shutter button. This mode is very suitable for DSLR camera users. Many creations and spectacular results can be produced by this mode if we understand the settings, but if you don’t want to bother, just use auto mode.

For video, we can record maximum video with Full HD 1080p quality at 30fps. There is no option to record 1080p@60fps or 4K. The author can understand this because this phone was born for the world of true photography.

Some sample shots of Huawei P9

Monochrome Mode

Pro Mode

Auto Mode

Auto Mode

Monochrome Mode

Monochrome mode

Auto Mode

Auto Mode

Auto Mode

Conclusion

The number of smartphone choices currently available is indeed quite confusing for consumers. Each offers a variety of different capabilities and advantages at varying prices. Huawei P9 is a mobile technology innovation with the best camera quality today. If you are someone who has a hobby of photography, this phone is worth testing its capabilities. During the test, the author seemed to be carrying a DSLR camera but in the form of a cellphone that was comfortable to carry around without a burden. It will be more interesting if in the future Huawei equips this photography phone with addon lenses that can be purchased separately with different lens sizes such as DSLR lenses. The world of photography will be more practical with this breakthrough and become a challenge for the world of DSLR photography. With a competitive price in the range of Rp. 6.5-7 million, it can be your target for a premium quality photography phone from Huawei (-Mikami)

Huawei P9 advantages:

– Excellent camera quality from Leica

– Many interesting features to support photography

– 3GB RAM + Kirrin 955 processor relieved without lag

– Premium Design

– The audio quality is very clear

Lack

– Medium battery capacity (3000 mah)

– The price is still a bit expensive but for the size of a premium smartphone, the P9 is one of the most affordable

– Cell phone accessories are still limited

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