Huawei’s Honor brand of smartphones offer high-end specs at a mid-range price, and the company’s Honor 8 earned a reputation as one of the best sub-$400 phones to launch in 2016 (if you could get past the EMUI user interface).
Now it looks like Huawei is getting ready to launch a follow-up. The Honor 8 just passed through the TENAA website.
Like the US Federal Communications Commission, TENAA certifies wireless devices before they go on sale. But TENAA listings tend to include more specs and pictures than you get from the FCC.
So while we don’t know the official price or launch date for the Honor 9 yet, here’s what we do know about the phone’s specs:
- 5.15 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display
- 2.4 GHz octa-core processor (possibly a Kirin 960 chip)
- 64GB of storage + microSD card slot
- 4GB or 6GB of RAM, depending on the model
- 20MP + 12MP dual camera system on the back
- 8MP front camera
- 3,100 mAh battery
- Android 7.0
- 147mm x 71mm x 7.5mm
- 155 grams (5.5 ounces)
According to GizmoChina, the Honor 9 will probably launch in June for $335 and up (in China, at least).
I’m always a little bit confused when people complain about these UI skins. You can just install the Google launcher and get a vanilla Android experience can’t you? Or am I missing something? I installed the Google Now launcher on my Asus tablet for example.
The skin extends to the settings menus, the notifications, the default apps, and other things that you can’t change with a launcher. While you can get a little closer to stock with the Google Now launcher or Nova, the experience is inconsistent.
Skins are also an oft-cited reason why some of these phones are slower to get Android updates than (some) models that have stock or near-stock software.