Honor 9 - Faster than the Samsung Galaxy S8?
28.6.2017
Translation: machine translated
Video: Manuel Wenk
At the launch of the Honor 9 in Berlin, Honor made a strong announcement: The Honor 9 is faster than the Samsung Galaxy S8. Really? Let's find out and see what else the Honor 9 has to offer.
Influencers, press representatives and fans gathered in Berlin to be there when the Honor 9 was presented to the public. Myself and cameraman Manuel Wenk got our hands on one of the devices and got stuck into it straight away. What will be delivered? What won't? Let's see!
One thing in particular is worth noting: headphones are not included in the scope of delivery. Now that the initial questioning looks have disappeared, this makes perfect sense. After all, manufacturers have two options when it comes to headphones:
- The smartphone comes with expensive, good headphones. This raises the price because someone has to pay for the headphones. But the sound is great.
- The packaging contains rubbishy, cheap headphones that nobody cares about because they sound bad. This keeps the price low, but it's no fun.
If we look at Honor's market position, this provides some clarity. Honor is targeting a young audience that is familiar with the features of its own consumer electronics. It can therefore be assumed that the target group already has good headphones, because - and here I agree with the opinion of the commuter nation Switzerland - the plug in the ear or the headband over the head is part of the urban survival strategy.
Or Honor simply wants to boost sales of the new headphones they have created in collaboration with the Monster brand, but keep the price of the Honor 9 low. Fits too.
Update 30/06/2017: User Mwenius reports that his Honor 9 came with headphones. I'm delighted. My demo device from Berlin definitely didn't come with any, but if your Honor comes with headphones, then that's great.
What are all these apps?
Before I get to the review and the app test, I want to give the EMUI user interface borrowed from Huawei an app drawer. This means that all apps are not distributed across the home screens, but are neatly organised in a separate menu. Huawei introduced this with version 5.1 EMUIs. It only takes two clicks.
A look at the app drawer, however, shows that there is a lot of junk on the mobile. I understand that smartphone manufacturers like to install their own apps so that users can try out the features of the new device. But Honor includes apps that companies pay to have pre-installed. In marketing speak, this is probably called something like "selected service partners".
- Assassin's Creed Unity from Ubisoft
- Asphalt Nitro from Gameloft
- Booking.com from Booking.com
- Dragon Mania from Gameloft
- Ebay from Ebay
- Kingdoms from Gameloft
- Little Big City 2 from Gameloft
- Spider-Man: Ultimate Power from Gameloft
- Top games from Gameloft (not in the App Store)
- TripAdvisor from TripAdvisor
Money flows to ensure that these apps are pre-installed on every mobile phone. This means that Gameloft and Co. pay Huawei or Honor money to have their app pre-installed on every phone. However, a random test shows that these apps can be easily uninstalled.
The test.
The test: Is it really faster?
Sodala, let's get to the test. I have created a simple test setup for this purpose.
- WiFi hotspot: HTC U11 with 4G
- Phone 1: Samsung Galaxy S8+
- Phone 2: Honor 9, 4GB RAM
The test goes like this: We close all apps after logging in. The time starts running when we tap the icon on the home screen and ends when all content has loaded.
The Honor 9 is actually ahead on Twitter, Facebook and Google Play as well as Google Maps. A little bit. Of course, we're talking about a maximum time loss of half a second on the Galaxy S8+ over a maximum charging period of two seconds. But over the course of a day, that adds up to quite a bit of time. Manuel and I realise: Honor is honest. The Honor 9 is actually faster at opening apps.
The bottom line: Honor does the honours
Honour is breaking new ground with the Honor 9. Because when we look back at the Honor 8, we can clearly see that Honor has started to play. Since the innards and software are from Huawei - with the exception of the pre-installed apps perhaps - only the design remains. The Honor 8 was good hardware put into a rather generic-looking case. Add a coat of blue paint and you're done. My colleague Michelle Fulginiti unpacked the device at the time.
The Honor 9 isn't much different under the bonnet, which is why I won't criticise most of the hardware here. Solid hardware in a newly designed case. However, this comes with an effect consisting of 15 layers of glass material on the back. The overall shape looks more sophisticated and controlled. Any compromises? None. The design may be a matter of taste, just like the effect, but Honor is standing by it and daring to make a strong statement and create a visual identity beyond "We have a different colour".
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