[Device Reviews and Information] Alberto96:
Review

Unboxing

Following all recent CHUWI products (like the Lapbook Air), this one comes in a eco-friendly packaging with not many accessories included: 1x 5V/2A USB Charger, 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x Warranty Card and other paperwork.

Something sure is that CHUWI requires a good translator, since the User Manual says something weird in the title: "The User Manual of Poly nuclear series Tablet PC". Okay...:facepalm:

The device features a full metal body with a plastic band on the top where antennas and SIM/MicroSD slots are located. From a design prospective, it looks great on the back, but on the front there is a slight loss of space caused by thick bezels. I am noy saying the bezel-less would be better, on a tablet they are required, but just slightly slimmer would have been nicer.

Its weight is just fine, ~560g, just consider to use it with two hands. Nothing to complain about its thickness, but i would consider to use a case due to the slippery back metal.

On the front there is the gorgeous 10.1" WQXGA (or wider 2K if you prefer) that looks just excellent except from one thing: the brightness. I read online that its brightness has been limited via software with the latest update. Unfortunately mine was updated out of the box so i can't confirm that, but if that's real, i hope it can be restored via a framework patch to get its full brightness back.

Anyway, excluding the brightness issue, it looks perfect with great colors (don't trust the photo attached below, reflections destroy it), high pixel density and excellent viewing angles. Also, on the upper center zone, there is a front-facing camera. No sensors (light/proximity) or Notification LEDs are there.

The upper rear side of the device features the Antenna/Slots area together with a camera sensor supported by a Flashlight. It is possible to use 2x Micro-SIMs and 1x MicroSD, with separate slots for each one.

Device

Camera

As regards the Camera, it is as good/bad as you can probably expect from a Tablet. Even though the rear camera looks, on paper, quite decent, colors are washed-out. It is probably a 8MP camera sensor interpolated to 13MP, but i was not able to get any detail about the sensor so i may add more details later.

Here are some samples, judge by yourself. Luckily it supports auto-focus so it is possible to get some interesting macro shots.

I won't be posting any front-facing camera sample since the quality is even worse, barely enough for video-calls.

Audio

The way speakers have been implemented on this device is quite intelligent and never seen before in person. They are positioned on the top, where the charging port and headphone jack are located.

Quality-wise they are decent, probably identical to what you can get from a smartphone, just doubled since this is a stereo configuration. Perfectly usable in my opinion.

The microphone instead is located on the side, just below the volume buttons. It works decently, but due to the placement it is easy to get one hand on it.

GPS & Location

GPS quality is excellent for a tablet, able to lock satellites almost everywhere with high accuracy.

Telephony, Mobile Network & WiFi

The same can't be said for the 4G antenna. For some reason (and this is not an isolated case, just search online to know more), the signal is much lower than what i get on my smartphone, and speed tests definitely confirm that (two different mobile operators tested, same crappy result)

This is a bit disappoting because unlike other Chinese tablets i have found online, this comes with full 4G bands support for my country (and also others) including Band 20, so not being able to use it properly is not that great. Here you can see all the supported bands, i have the European model.

Just some extra details about the network cell i was connected too, for geeks.

Nothing to complain about the WiFi signal reception, pretty average, similar to some smartphones i have reviewed in the past. It is nice to see that it supports WiFi AC networks with speeds up to 433mbps, at least it hasn't been locked via software.

Battery Life

Battery Life is OK, the 8000mAh battery can't do miracles in handling such a beefy Chipset and Screen, and the PCMark Battery Life test confirms it (lowest brightness, WiFi on, Sync on).

It can be probably improved, but not that much. The Helio X20 chipset is known to be a bit power-hungry.

Something i am not really okay with is the time required to charge the battery. For some reason, even though the Helio X20 chipset supports it, they have not chosen to not enable it, thus you need to wait over 4 hours for a fully charge.

Software

Software-wise i must say that i am impressed with CHUWI's work. This Hi9 Air runs on Android Oreo 8.0 with Project Treble support (but not Google Certified!), but other than that, it is 100% clean, with no bloatware or custom apps unlike most Chinese tablets.

The beefy screen resolution is noticeable though while scrolling menus or switching between apps. There is a noticeable lack of smoothness, but it doesn't stutter. Some extra GPU power would have solved this.

Benchmarks

For all benchmark lovers, here you can taste some runs ;)

Confirming what i have already said before, the GPU power is slightly lacking, but CPU performance can match last-year flagships.

Conclusions

What to say about this tablet...it is great but doesn't lack its flaws. Build quality is excellent, the design is pretty good, the screen is awesome and the software is clean. With a few tweaks, it should be possible to make this tablet excellent, except for the 4G antenna that, well, is hardware related.

Do i recommend it? It depends on what you are looking for and, most important, the possible deal you can find online. If you need a tablet that is able to take great photos, avoid it, otherwise, you can consider it. I will be working on it for dev. and try to squeeze the most out of it.

Pros:

Impressive screen quality

Excellent build quality

Nice design even if a bit outdated

Clean software with Treble Support

WiFi AC support and great GPS signal reception

Cons:

Lack of GPU performance for such high resolution

Limited Screen brightness

Still Micro-USB and no Quick Charging

Disappointing 4G signal quality

Barely usable front-facing camera (and the rear one is not that better)

Rating: 8.3

Packaging and Accessories: 7.5

Design and Materials: 9.5

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 8

Screen: 9

Camera: 5

Sound: 8

Battery Life: 8.5

Software: 10

OEM Support: ?

Price: 9

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: https://imgur.com/a/MH6kEeJ

Official Website: https://en.chuwi.com/product/items/Chuwi-Hi9-Air.html

You can buy it on many online shops. Official, and authorized, Retailers are listed in the CHUWI website.​