The Huawei Nova 9 SE is a phone that, as soon as you turn it on, you feel that it will be easily enjoyed on a visual level thanks to its 6.78-inch screen and, above all, petite frames that cause a pleasant sensation of immersion in everything. What happens in front of us?
Other terminals, even high-end ones, would like to have screen frames as small as those of this Huawei Nova 9 SE.
The panel is an IPS with FHD+ resolution (2388×1080 pixels) and has a 90 Hz refresh rate (adaptive or fixed type, depending on what we select) as the most determining feature for the user experience with it. Average data that is correct, but that’s it.
The Huawei Nova 9 SE is at a higher level at the frame reduction level.
As with other sections of the analysis, being correct or being in the average range in which you compete is only valid if you accept a lower price than the competition or do not have any fissure.
The Huawei Nova 9 SE’s screen complies correctly if we consider the range in which it is framed due to its price and characteristics. It reproduces colors well, is correct in contrast and brightness, responds to touches well, and 90 Hz is an extra that we always want in our phones for the sensation of fluidity it gives us when we move through the interface.
But it does not offer anything that separates it from the competition. Even in aspects such as the maximum brightness or the type of panel, it is below many other smartphones of a similar or lower price.
Image mode
As we have indicated, at the sound level, this Huawei Nova 9 SE only has one speaker located at the bottom on one side. It offers a sufficiently powerful sound but lacks clarity in the voices and little bass.
In addition, due to its location in a corner and being unique, if we cover it by mistake (something that is not difficult to happen when taking it in landscape format to play, for example), we run out of sound.
A fair mid-range at the level of performance and technical sheet
The Snapdragon 680 processor is the most explicit reference to place this Huawei Nova 9 SE within the mid-range. Qualcomm’s SoC, presented at the end of last year, is a model with eight cores (4 Cortex-A73 at 2.4 GHz and 4 Cortex-A53 at 1.9 GHz) and Adreno 610 GPU, but it does not offer 5G connectivity, one of the weak points of this terminal to compete for face to face with your rivals.
Impossible not to notice him
In addition to its generous size in hand, the Huawei Nova 9 SE cannot say that it is a phone that many people will not ask you about. Take a photo in the street, and you will have someone curious asking about the model.
And it is that the multicolor mirror back and the camera module with two huge lenses are not seen every day. Of course, you already know that that mirror effect and glossy finish on the back will be a friend to fingerprints.
The Huawei Nova 9 SE has an excellent selling point in its striking design.
In addition, the forcefulness of such a large camera module is associated with a “complex” presence in the equipment, as it makes the terminal limp and sways when we have it on a flat surface. We want to interact with its screen, as well as because its size means that, taking the terminal with the left hand, which in my case is usual, we quickly reach the lower lens with the index finger.
For the rest, and if the striking design convinces us despite these “buts,” the Huawei Nova 9 SE will be very comfortable for us daily. It has a generous size but is manageable for most hands, the back’s curvature integrates well when holding it, the frames are soft to the touch, and the fingerprint reader, integrated into the home button, is at a perfect height for your Unlock without thinking.
Although its operating speed does not reach that of the high-end, fortunately, combined with face detection, we have a reliable and relatively fast identification overall.
Huawei has not stopped for two years trying to offer a way out while the veto remains in force. But none provide the same comfort as having Google services as standard. And without those services, among other things, there is no access to the Google app store. And that’s big words in the Android world.
The alternatives have indeed increased quite a bit. It is no longer so strange to find the Huawei store icon next to the Google or Apple store when we are invited to download an application. And the number of available applications continues to grow.
In the case of this Huawei Nova 9 SE, we also have Petal Search, the substitute for Google services that, to get out of trouble, can help us.
The searches are pretty complete and valid for a smartphone. As for the applications, which mainly interest us, they search various sources and repositories, always offering us the best alternative.
But installing some applications from third-party repositories for which Huawei is also not responsible is not quite what one is looking for in an Android terminal for the general market.