[Huawei P9 Guides, News, & Discussion] mahst68:
PURPOSE

So 1st and foremost, the plan here is to give you my experience with these 3 phones. Granted, I have only used the Huawei P9 for about 3 days now and can say I have yet to fully break it in to find everything that may or may not be right / wrong with it. However, this will be a unbiased look and comparison. I'm neither a fanboy or sheep. No brand affiliation. Not a programmer either, just a pro-sumer Senior Member of XDA willing to get trolled, flamed, etc. for sharing a look at these 3 phones. Hopefully, I can give "the everyday guy / gal look" without getting bogged down in stats, variables or benchmarks. Here goes...

MY BACKGROUND

No one special. Just a guy that likes the latest tech... phones being at the top of the list. I am a nerd. No doubt about that. I think anyone that knows about XDA probably is to some extent. No brand loyalty. Recently, I have had the privilege to try out the following phones:

1. Huawei P9

2. LG G5

3. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

4. Huawei Mate 8

5. Huawei Nexus 6P

6. LG Nexus 5X

7. Samsung Note 5

8. Apple iPhone 6s+

And probably some more, but these are the most recent. Does that make me qualified to make a review... Maybe. It does make me an idiot that likes new phones, though. I am always looking for something that meets my needs but also is a good phone. Currently with TMobile but have been with ATT, Verizon & Sprint at some point 20 years of using cell phones.

MY NEEDS

I drive about 40 miles everyday to work (yes, my work week is currently 7 days a week with a few occasional days off). So, with this in mind and where I drive. I need the minimum requirements:

1. Can Stream Music

2. Bluetooth is fully compatible with my 2016 vehicle

3. An equalizer of some sort since I have only switch out my new cars speakers for better ones and don't plan on changing or adding a better sound system.

4. Decent pictures when needed

5. As a nerd, I like to "mesmerize" people with a pay with your phone app like Apple Pay or Android Pay

6. Works with my Huawei Watch

7. Relatively not laggy - will sometimes do some ROM-ing or some customization but since I tend to get rid of the phones quickly I try not to void warranties or make it too non-stock

THE COMPARISON

I am looking at my experience with the Huawei P9, LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge under/around these requirements and some normal stuff like battery, screen, snappiness, heat, speakers, etc. Here goes:

SOUND OVERALL

All 3 phones surprisingly pass my in-car bluetooth test. They flawlessly hook up to my 2016 Honda HR-V. All allow Bass Boost Pro to be installed and used as a system-wide equalizer. I changed the speakers out in my car to Pioneer 4-way Speakers in order to get better sound without drastically altering anything else in the car. The equalizer on the phone helps correct the "tinny" sound (no bass) that would otherwise be produced just from tweaking the stock stereo units equalizer. With the equalizer applied, it does reduce the output volume of the bluetooth from the phone to the unit. With this in mind, the P9 & G5 are still able to produce a loud enough signal for me to still headbang to Slipknot, Mushroomhead, Ghost, Ministry and any other evil-loving band you can think of (Hard Rock Guy... Yep!)... They also let me bounce to the occasional Ice Cube, NWA, 2Pac, Public Enemy and any other REAL Hip-Hop artist that didn't have to rely on auto-tune and catchphrases to spit mad lyrics... enough with my music preferences... back to the review... The S7 also sometimes force closes the Bass Boost Pro app on its own which causes the output to go through the roof and blow out my eardrums and speakers... not cool sammy, not cool. Loud speakers on both the P9 and G5 are super loud and clear... albeit that none of the 3 have stereo speakers... but the S7 has the worst hands down. Samsung I think didn't even try to make them good and I would think its hard when you talk about making a phone water-proof with external speakers. The P9 does annoyingly put a extra overlay at the top of the screen with what is playing when I'm using Google Play Music... I won't however say this is a bad thing as some people may like it and it might just be something I haven't figured out how to turn off. Haven't really used the stock music apps on the phones, and supposedly the LG G5 has DAC. Once again, I can only go off my usage. In a sound to sound comparison, the G5 maybe has a more dynamic range when listening to it vs. the P9 & S7, but this too maybe just my ears. (...which are quite big!!! hahaha)

WINNER: TIE - LG G5 & HUAWEI P9 (Sorry S7 :crying:)

BATTERY

OK... A lot can be said about batteries on all these phones... but I'm going to break it down as simply I can without turning this into a preference war.

1. LG G5 Battery is definitely smaller and does not last as long as the P9 or S7

2. LG G5 has a removable battery, the others do not.

All have some type of quick charge whether true quick charge or some bastardize version of it, looking at you G5... I say bastardize because most of you have seen articles about how with USB-C & QuickCharge 3.0, that quickcharge basically break compliance to USB-C specs by "forcing" more power than what should go through a USB-C connection. Qualcomm claims this is ok they guess because they say its connector independent... whatevers... Here's the deal. The S7 actually has quickcharge and a compliant connector. The P9 similar if not the same as the Nexus 6p... which it does charge faster than a normal micro-usb phone without quickcharge but definitely not as fast as a quickcharge phone. The P9 Plus reportedly has Huawei's Rapid Charge, which I assume with USB-C would put it into the same boat as the LG G5 as far as compliance to USB-C.

Such a nerd... stop it... they don't care... ta,ta,ta,today Jr.

All things being equal and without compliance getting in the way...

1. P9 has the Longest battery life but slowest charging

2. LG G5 shortest battery life and fastest charging

3. S7 has a decent battery life, compliant fast charging, wireless fast charging

WINNER: S7 by a nose... really it depends on your daily needs and preference here.

HEAT

So, in a previous review of the LG G5 vs. S7, I gave this fight to the S7. The LG G5 does heat up along with the S7. I have already had to exchange out an LG G5 that was faulty that had something to do with overheat + the removable battery system + whatever else... basically it would work, sometimes heat up or heat up when charging, go into a bootloop, need the battery completely removed, disconnected from chin (end cap piece of the G5) and re-inserted to start working again... even with my replacement phone, during its setup, the new phone overheated and had to power cycle in order to continue the setup again (I purposely setup my phones over 4G LTE to tax them a little)... the S7 Edge I had did the same at one point, although I never had to replace it. So, here comes Mr. P9, with its Kirin 955 OctaCore... and says basically, Samsung & LG, you suck... Even with a full metal body and no paint insulation (yep... poking fun at the LG G5) , the P9 dominates by not overheating the device during setup on both Wifi & 4G LTE. I really didn't feel it get hot at all... might just be my experience... I played Clash Royale for an hour too and didn't feel it get hot either... Basically SnapDragon is just that... a Dragon breathing fire onto the outer casing in hopes of burning you to a crisp unless you are the Mother of Dragons... (didn't think I was going to have a review today without making a GoT reference did you?)

WINNER: Hands Down & Not Close... HUAWEI P9

SNAPPINESS

So, First off before I dig deeply into this. Let me just say all 3 phones are fast. Where I draw from is my experience with these phones in my daily usage. Unfortunately, and you can run a thousands benchmarks that will say otherwise, the S7 is laggy because of TouchWiz... that's a fact. From a laggy response to the fingerprint reader to just basic loading of apps... TouchJizz, oops I mean TouchWiz :p, slows what could be a beast of a phone down to sometimes intolerable levels even when compared to a Apple iPhone 6s. The LG G5 does much better a harnessing the power of the SnapDragon 820. But the question is at what cost? I think some of the heat and crashing issues I see with the LG G5, mind you my 2nd LG G5, maybe due to "unleashing the beast." I did see it stutter while playing Clash Royale, which is surprising since I wouldn't call Clash Royale a "graphics hog..." Now, you can throw whatever AnTuTu-ningOut benchmark and go "higher is better," I'm going to say not in this case. The Kirin 955 in the P9 remains snappy and doesn't seem to do it at the expense of heat or the battery. It hasn't stuttered for me when playing my simple games and the fingerprint reader is super-fast, like light speed. Granted this is my day to day usage, I don't know if you tried to hack the Pentagon while playing Global Thermo Nuclear War in 3D on it if it wouldn't kill the 955 and what is reportedly a inferior GPU. Just sayin' it works for me. Also, I like EMUI... Huawei's interface for Android. I like it almost over extreme customization features... plus for none of the phones do I rely on the stock launcher, opting for the HTC Sense Port that is available here:

http://www.fulmics.com/htc-sense/

And was conceived and hacked by this master here in the xda-forums:

xprit

http://xdaforums.com/member.php?u=5132229

EMUI may not be your cup of tea and not knowing how to do with it (I had a Huawei Mate 8) immediately might turn you off to it. Didn't see any notification issues like the Mate 8 Chinese Version had either, so that's a bonus so far... Lastly, like to point out here that the P9 that I have does not have NFC and it seems only the P9 Plus will. Not a deal breaker here, since I already know that there's no way to have Android Pay on an International or Chinese Market phone... maybe one day, but not at this time (so its not breaking my nerd heart... ;) ) The P9 does take a little experience to setup as well, although you can find a ton of stuff on setting up a Chinese Market phone just by Googling or right here in the XDA forums... basically you need to use Huawei's App Store: HiAPP to download the Play Store then you are off to the races... also you won't be able to use a restore from a previous phone like you normally would either through Google... I actually like that since it makes me rethink what apps I actually need now and eliminate the garbage. The P9 does come with it fair share of Chinese "Here's your pet panda that you just stare at on the screen apps..." and some Huawei Chinese duplicate functionality apps (Messages, Email, etc.). Some of the duplicate apps are useful, most can be uninstalled or disabled. Depending on carriers, you get the same if not more bloat on the S7 & G5 as well... You do get functioning NFC with S7 & G5 with Android Pay

WINNER: HUAWEI P9... HOWEVER, if NFC & ANDROID PAY ARE A "DEALBREAKER" G5 over S7

DISPLAY

Boy, I really hate this section. Honestly, if I said I gave "2 big bags of American BandStand Host/New Year's Rockin' Eve Host" about this section would you get the point??? But people tend to want to know so here goes. All phones unless they are based on 90's tech or are an Apple iPhone (hahahahaha, had to... they are going to fix it with a AMOLED in the iPhone 7 so I will get my pot shot in while I can), has a decent screen that a normal human being that is not a pixel nerd would not even know the differences. Pure stats alone and quality, S7 wins. Looking at functionality for everyday use, the LG G5's always-on display is by far the most functional change a phone manufacturer has made in recent memory. It informs of alerts without having to unlock and open the phone... genius! The S7 tries a half-baked approach to this with their always-on display but it falls short of the way LG deploys it on the G5. The auto brightness for whatever reason works better on the G5 than on the S7 as well. For the P9, there's nothing special. Good Screen, Good auto brightness, no always-on functionality. The P9 does have an extensive color temperature setting change for it, that's really it. No double tap to wake for the P9, not at least any setting I found. The G5 is the only phone that has it built in. It's worth noting that if you wait for the P9 Plus, you get a better screen & force touch, so if you're a screen dork, this might be something to try as a unique feature. The P9 does have some unique gestures for things like screen capture and etc. SO, YOU PICK THIS ONE.....

WINNER: FUNCTIONALITY LG G5... PRETTINESS SAMSUNG S7... COLOR TEMP HUAWEI P9 (I so don't care so it not my call)

PHONE DESIGN

No one can argue that the Samsung S7 Edge is a well-designed phone. Glass back allows for wireless charging which is also a plus in my book as well. :good: The G5 is not the greatest looking phone. NOT UGLY!!! Let's say its handsome... just not beautiful... get the picture. Then the P9 comes out... with a style that can only be described as... if the Xperia Z5 and an iPhone 6s had love child...

A well designed rectangled phone made of metal that is thin and feels good in hand. Now of course all 3 have different colors, some of which, like in the case of the P9, only come in certain colors for certain RAM / Memory configurations. Of course, whether or not they had anything to do with the camera design, the P9 having the LECIA tramp stamp helps it out too and the 2 camera configuration is much easier to swallow then "Day the Earth Stood Still" configuration on the G5. Physical button placement is nice on the P9 and like the G5 it does not have capacitive buttons like the S7 has. The G5 does let you rearrange the configuration of its buttons, the P9 does not (Or at least I haven't found it... probably another P9 Plus Benefit) The Gold color of the P9 is a believable palatable gold color for my 4GB / 64GB version EVA-AL10 as it is the only color available. Unlike the G5, that looks like gold spray paint color... of course the Gold Platinum on a S7 is more baller than either. The P9 also has a "grain" that comes through in the metal that adds to its overall appearance making it look better than its cousin phone the Huawei Mate 8 with it brushed metal exterior. There is a white ceramic version of the P9 as well, so I can't speak to that version but I don't think you can get the 4GB / 64GB combo only in the P9 Plus...

WINNER: TIE... SAMSUNG S7 & HUAWEI P9

CAMERA

As I have pointed out in my other Other Guy's review of the S7 vs. the G5, I do not like talking and "judging" phones cameras because of my "nose-in-the-air" bias I have from being a person that has a both a film & photography degree... I will say it again like I mean it. Physics as of right now, without some major breakthrough, makes it impossible for what inherently needs to be a small camera to take as good as or better pictures than a standard DSLR. Bigger Chips = Greater Surface Area to Absorb Light = Better More Dynamic Pictures... plain and simple. Yes, some flaming troll might disagree but its hard to argue with Science or at least Science to this point. That's not to say, for generally taking snapshots, daily pictures, etc. phone cameras aren't great. In fact, I do think they replace a standard point-and-shoot camera at this point... Now, looking at the 3... each employs it own set of innovations / tricks to make decent photographs. Here's the breakdown:

1. S7 - Best lens F-STOP 1.7 allows most light to hit imaging chip in low light

2. G5 - Dual Lens used to widen field of view producing almost panoramic shots just by zooming out

3. P9 - Using a two lens configuration, one taking a color picture the other taking black and white, images have the best dynamic range (the difference between the lightest light and darkest dark which can be seen in a photo)

So all have their pluses and minuses based on the situation you might use it for. Some may say having a camera that can take better pictures at night is the best and is always the best. I disagree... since its not like its taking fabulous unbelievably great pictures at night... just better snapshots. The P9 & G5 have far superior "Pro Modes" and features that could help you take a great night shot. Not really going to rank camera speed either because unless you had all 3 and were taking pictures at the same time, the same way, would you really notice a fraction of difference, probably not.

WINNER: IT'S A TIE AS I DON'T HAVE A REAL OPINION JUST YET

CONCLUSION

So, what can I conclude? That all 3 phones are awesome... all 3 have plus and minuses. The P9 is an excellent alternative to these 2 more well-known phones. I can say based off what the P9 Plus will have, that it might tip the scale in a few of these categories if you want to wait for the bigger sibling. It looks as though it will be very interesting to through the HTC 10 into this mix as it may just do enough things right to make it the 2016 standout. Of course, it will be added to the mix in a week or so hopefully. As for the P9, it's a solid phone that ultimately might win out because it is the easiest probably to gain root and ROM. Time will tell. I think once the International Variants can be found and are released, this will also help with it usability and popularity. But if your looking for a nice looking phone that no one else has and is unique (unless you live in China then maybe a billion people have it :laugh: ) then its a great pick. No NFC maybe somewhat of a deal breaker although with Android Pay either way, don't really know of a great purpose for NFC. Lastly and as always, this is just Some Guy's Opinion... :good:

As always please comment, thanks again!