Here's a phone we've looked forward to reviewing. The Mate 7 was our phone of 2014 and the Mate 8 was in our Top 5 best phones of 2016 . We've reviewed many middling phones of late so we've been hoping that Huawei's new flagship would impress us. It didn't get off to a great start.

Great battery; Very fast; Good value; Potentially-amazing camera

Potentially-disappointing camera

The Huawei Mate 9 isn't what you'd call an eye-catcher. The device looks quite inconspicuous, features a discrete exterior and lacks that certain wow factor. On the flipside of the coin: it does have a very clean and practical design.

Huawei's P9 was billed as the smartphone any photographer – budding or otherwise – should have in their pocket. True, dual Leica lenses and sensors manufactured by Sony helped secure the P9 as the camera with a smartphone attached to have in 2016, but its specifications made it just that: a camera...

It lacks the refinement of the iPhone 7 Plus and Google Pixel XL, but the Huawei Mate 9 is better value (outright or on a plan), offering a bigger screen in a relatively compact unit, long battery life, a good camera and plenty of storage.

Id say its reasonably priced, while ive seen similair quality for cheaper. Ncix shipping and service was good and I cant complain. Seems durable and is built well Overall what you would expect.

The Huawei Mate 9 excels as a piece of hardware. The display is big and bright. The processor performs admirably and is relatively fast albeit with an occasionally slowdown. The camera produces high quality pictures. The fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate.

Sometimes bigger is better. When it comes to phones, that's more true than ever - a bigger screen is easier to read, and a bigger body hides larger batteries and means more battery life. And that means Huawei's massive Mate 9 is one of the best new Android phones you can buy in 2017.

What makes this phone so good? Where to begin? Let's start with the superior hardware and software, the 12MP Leica dual lense camera that enables users to capture the highest phone quality pictures, the ‘Press Touch' feature that recognizes subtler variations in screen pressure, making your phone...

aesthetics; camera; functionality

The common knock on Huawei smartphones: great hardware, poor software. Huawei took big steps to correcting that with the Huawei Mate 9. It's EMUI is still heavy enough to retain distinction from stock Android, though much closer to the real thing than previous versions.

Great build; sharp look; Top-of-the-line performance; One of the best smartphone cameras; Ships with adapters and smartphone bumper

Not dust-proof; not waterproof; Limited US carrier support

The Huawei Mate 9 is an unashamedly 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.

Impressive battery life; Lovely screen; Much improved software; Plenty of power

Slightly dull design; Still some annoying software quirks; Camera not always reliable