Gadgetory

what's up guys lon here from Android Authority and today we're taking a closer look at the Huawei p9 more specifically the software experience on the p9 now if you want a more in-depth video on the p9 as a whole make sure to check out the full review which will either be linked in the description below or up top in a card with that being said let's go ahead and check out Huawei software on the p9 and see exactly what the experience is like so the p9 is running on android marshmallow out of the box but unlike the Nexus 6p another Huawei made device the p9 is not running on a pier stock Android experience instead you have Huawei's emotion UI or emui and on the p9 you're getting version 4.1 if you've used a bla way made device in the past especially some of the more recent ones these software experience will feel very familiar there's really no getting around it Huawei skin on top of Android looks and feels a lot like iOS and even functions a little bit like iOS there's no app drawer obviously which is nothing new to Huawei devices or any Chinese OEM for that matter so there's not much in the way of organization outside of simply using folders the icons are rounded off squares that are slightly colorful and cartoonish and you can even swipe down on any home screen to start a search just like iOS as far as the rest of its appearance it hasn't changed drastically from the last couple of versions of emotion UI there's a lot of transparencies across the board like the folders the widgets and the notification panel which still features the typical Huawei setup with a panel for notifications on the left side and a separate panel for common shortcuts like Wi-Fi GPS and Bluetooth on the right side these shortcuts can also be edited to your liking and replace with a selection of a few other shortcuts that you may find more useful over the default shortcuts even though Huawei skin feels very similar to iOS and changes a lot of what we know from stock Android there's actually a lot to like here let's start from the outside and work our way in starting with the lockscreen so the first thing you'll notice about the lockscreen are these high-quality wallpapers that Huawei calls covers which we've seen before in other Huawei phones they change each and every time you wake and sleep the device and when you swipe up to unlock it does this zoom in effect it's very subtle but it looks real cool you can also manually switch between covers by swiping up from the bottom of the lock screen and hitting the previous or next buttons if you want you can customize these covers by adding your own wallpapers or even use photos that you've taken with the camera swiping up from the bottom of the lock screen also gives you quick access to some common and pretty useful functions like the sound recorder calculator flashlight and the camera what I really like about the lock screen though is how it displays notifications for the most part it looks a lot like stock Android lockscreen notifications but they've been treated with this transparent flash frosted glass effect to match the rest of the transparencies that you see across the entire OS it's just a really nice touch that makes the notifications look a little bit more elegant and still allows your wallpaper to shine through now even though emotion UI is aesthetically a very heavy skin and changes a lot about Android the version that's on the p9 surprisingly comes with very little bloat outside of the basic applications there's not a whole lot that comes pre-installed on the p9 and the only real bloatware that you'll find is this folder full of really cheesy games but thankfully while we does let you uninstall them there isn't a whole lot in terms of customization that emotion UI allows you to do but there are a few things that you can change up long press on the home screen will give you the typical customization options like wallpapers and widgets but you can also change the home screen transition animations to something more animated and the home screen grid size can be bumped up to as high as 5x5 to allow you to fit more apps and widgets onto a single screen there are built-in themes to let you customize the look and feel of the icons wallpaper and lock screen but it's not a full-on theme engine or theme store like you would find on a Samsung or HTC device it would have been nice to have more themes to pick from but you do have a few options so it's still better than having nothing at all a feature that Huawei has been working on for the last couple of years is called knuckle sense and is still available here on the p9 if you're not familiar with knuckle sense it's a feature that allows you to use your knuckles to do various different gestures for specific functions for example you can double tap with a single knuckle to take a screenshot or if you want to start and stop a screen recording you can do so by double tapping with two knuckles knuckle sense also lets you crop out areas of the screen take a scrolling screen shot and open specific applications by drawing letters on the screen but this is where it gets inconsistent and feels really gimmicky in order to get best results you have to use the very back of your knuckle which just doesn't feel natural or intuitive and even then it still has a hard time detecting when you're using your knuckles some of the gestures like double tap to take a screenshot work really well but the other more complex gestures really shows that knuckle sense definitely still needs some work before it can become a reliable feature one of the biggest and most notable changes to emotion UI is the camera software which also had a lot to do with new camera sensor on the p9 it's really clean and easy to use and navigating the interface is all based on swipes so if you swipe up from the bottom or left side if you're in portrait this will open up all the different shooting modes and the p9 has a lot to offer when it comes to shooting modes swiping in from the opposite side will take you to the camera settings where you can adjust the resolution audio and other typical camera functions if you swipe outwards from the shutter button you can access the cameras pro mode and I really like this because it makes it really quick and easy to switch back and forth between auto and pro the pro mode is exactly what you would expect it gives you many patrols over ISO exposure shutter speed out of focus and white balance just like you would get on a DSLR but that's really going to do it for this feature focus on the Huawei p9 overall I think there's a lot to like about it despite the fact that it deviates a lot from stock Android but what do you guys think about emotion UI on the p9 let us know in the comments below and as always if you enjoyed this video give it a thumbs up subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and follow us on social media like Twitter Instagram snapchat Google+ all that good stuff will be linked down below and feel free to follow me on Twitter as well and check out our website and Jordan Thor day comm because we are your source for all things Android Oh