This new smartphone is the first with Amazon Alexa built-in
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Amazon Alexa has finally found a cozy, pre-installed home on a mass market smartphone. At CES 2017, Huawei announced the Mate 9, a flagship-level device with dual, Leica-branded lenses, a souped-up battery, and an Alexa app pre-loaded and ready to go.
So there you have it: Apple has Siri, Google has Google Assistant, and now Huawei (which is slowly but steadily staking its claim in the United States) has Alexa.
Here's the Mate 9 at a glance:
- Display: 5.9-inch, full-HD (1920x1080)
- Processor: Kirin 960 octa-core
- RAM: 4GB
- Internal memory: 64GB
- Primary camera: 12MP/20MP (the 20MP sensor is monochrome) with OIS
- Battery: 4,000mAh with SuperCharge
- Charging port: USB Type-C
- Other notable features: Fingerprint scanner, 3.5mm headphone jack
As far as smartphones go, CES 2017 has been the year of the dual-lens camera. Both Huawei's Honor 6X and the ZTE Blade V8 Pro (announced earlier this week) feature two primary camera lenses. That said, while the iPhone 7 Plus became the first smartphone with a household name to feature dual lenses, Huawei was ahead of the curve with both the Honor 8 and the P9 (the latter of which also featured Leica-branded lenses).
However, unlike the Honor 6X and the Blade V8 Pro, whose dual lenses allow users to retroactively shift the focus of a shot after its been taken, the Mate 9 appears to take advantage of its dual lenses for increased contrast and sharpness.
The Mate 9 is available for order on January 6. For all of the latest news from CES 2017, keep tabs on our continued coverage.