huawei Mate 9 - the best camera phone of 2017

Huawei launched Mate 9, a big phone, and that’s becoming an increasingly rare thing since the demise of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

For the albeit pricey RRP of £600 you get a huge screen, beefy battery, brand-new CPU and plenty of storage and RAM. It's also now available on contracts from Three in the UK, and sim-free in the US. It'll be getting an update to add Alexa voice smarts later in the year too.

But while there's plenty to like here, a few of Huawei’s annoying issues continue to make an appearance.

BODY DESIGN

If you’ve seen a Huawei phone from the past 18-months then the Mate 9 will be familiar. It’s a well-built device, but one that struggles to really excite.

It’s made completely out of metal, with a lovely curved back that helps it feel manageable – despite the fairly hefty 5.9-inch display. It’s certainly large, but it’s no bigger than an iPhone 7 Plus, which has only a 5.5-inch screen. It feels strangely light too, which again helps it feel good in the hand, even for long periods.

Pros.

Compact size for a large phone
Porsche Design Mate 9 has a great display
Excellent performance
Feature-rich hardware
Dual camera can take stunning photos
Battery lasts for days
EMUI 5 is a polished interface

Cons.

Low-light camera could be better
Porsche Design Mate 9 is expensive
EMUI 5 still has a few quirks
"Only" a Full HD screen on regular Mate 9

Watch the Huawei Mate-9 feature video