Malaysians are a lucky lot. At least where the Huawei Mate 9 is concerned. Announced at the global launch in Munich, Germany just two weeks ago, Malaysians will be one of the first few countries in the world to receive the flagship smartphone.
Huawei had earlier made the device open for pre-orders via Lazada and Vmall.my. Available in Champagne Gold and Mocha Brown, the Mate 9 retails for MYR2,699. The first 10 customers to pre-order score a free foldable Bluetooth keyboard worth MYR499.
Just to recap, the Mate 9 is a beautifully designed all-metal smartphone with a soft sandblasted texture. It features a 5.9-inch Full HD IPS display protected by Gorilla Glass.
Under the hood, it packs the latest and greatest Kirin 960 chipset, integrated with Huawei’s Machine Learning Algorithm. The Kirin 960 is the world’s first chipset to feature an ARM Cortex-A73/A53 Octa-core CPU and Mali G71 octa-core GPU. Expect blazing fast multi-core and graphics performance, while enjoying power consumption savings of 15%.
Huawei says the new Kirin is 80% faster in graphics performance, and 40% more energy efficient compared to previous generation. Coupled with Vulkan API support in Android 7.0, graphics performance is boosted up to 400%.
It comes with a whopping 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. The dual-SIM 4G LTE device also supports microSD expansion via its hybrid slot.
The Mate series continues to pack substantial battery capacity. The Mate 9 combines a massive 4000mAh high-density battery with a;; new SuperCharge technology. Like its predecessor, the Mate 9 can provide up to two days of battery life. It will deliver 40% increase in CDMA call time and 20% increase in gaming time.
The Mate 9 also supports 5A fast charging, its SuperCharge tech enabling a 50% improvement over previous generation. 10 minutes of charge can provide enough power to watch two full movies. Importantly, the charging technology offers real-time protection and safe charging.
Huawei and Leica continue to work closely to further push the boundaries of smartphone photography. As seen on the excellent Huawei P9, the Mate 9 also features a dual-lens camera set-up, now in its second generation. The camera module includes a 12MP f/2.2 RGB sensor; and a 20MP f/2.2 monochrome sensor.
The RGB sensor works in tandem with the monochrome sensor, that captures super details and depth, delivering the signature Leica Image Style.
Low light performance is enhanced thanks to the dual-lens camera OIS solution and industry’s first dual-camera pixel binning technology.
Additionally, there’s Hybrid Zoom, and 4-1 Hybrid Autofocus that combines laser focus, phase detection focus, depth focus and contrast focus.
The front camera is no less impressive—an 8MP unit with autofocus and f/1.9 wide angle lens.
The Mate 9 runs Android 7.0 Nougat, with EMUI 5.0 on top. The new EMUI is intelligent, and grows more efficient over time as it learns your usage behaviour.
Pricing and availability
The Huawei Mate 9 retails for MYR2,699 and is available from Lazada.my and Vmall.my.
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