Huawei launched the Y9a this last month. The device is basically a re-done Mate 30 Lite now with a pop-up camera.
The Y9a has been designed to bring in that look from P and Mate series with a plain yet clean and elegant finish. The feature that stands out the most is the circular camera module at the back that we first saw from the Mate 30 lineup. The screen is big and bright enough and the fact that there is no notch makes the field of view even better. This is complemented even further by the display’s resolution as you can barely spot any pixels.
The Y9a boots Android 10 and EMUI 10.1. On the overlay you can make the whole system dark, use gestures for navigation, choose if you want to use an app drawer or have your apps in home screens, use other gestures such as a three-finger swipe to take a screenshot. The options give you freedom to run the device the way you want with appreciable customisations. It is quite easy to navigate and it’s quite evident that the developers have made a lot of changes to improve the interface from what it was previously.
Huawei is no stranger to good cameras. Expect to get good images using the Y9a. The cameras it comes with are versatile, and give you options to take detailed 64 MP images, or ultra-wide snaps. You can take impressive bokeh mode images too, as well as close-ups using the 2 MP macro lens. The rear camera setup consists of four lenses; 64MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide lens, 2MP macro lens and 2MP depth sensor. The 16MP pop-up selfie camera is also quite good.
For a phone that outputs such a high resolution, the battery has to be top notch. I was surprised or rather pleased to have the battery last for almost a whole day of light work. This is all thanks to the 4300 mAh that you can also barely notice in terms of the phone’s weight.
You will not be getting Google services and apps here, but AppGallery has been preloaded with some popular titles. Setting the phone with your everyday apps is a nightmare since you have to search for the APK files or use the Huawei Phone Clone app. The discussion around Huawei and Google has long been exhausted, and in summary, there are a lot of things we do not know as consumers, but we understand that America and China have some bad blood. These issues have led to trade restrictions, and in nutshell, Huawei cannot load Google services in its phones.
The device sells at sh 30,000 and it is available across all Huawei shops country wide.
