WebUser 01 May 2019

Vodafone Smart X9 Product Test

Do you agree? Let us know [email protected] 1 - 14 May 2019 23

The Vodafone Smart X9

puncheswell above its

weight for such an

inexpensive phone, giving

you a lot more thanyou’d

expect for a measly £100.

That’s not to say you can’t

do better ifyou ha ve a little

more cashto spend.For

£80 more, you can buy the

Moto G7Power, which looks

smarter and packs in a little

more grunt. It also lasts

considerably longer ona

single charge, thanksto its

huge 4,000mAh battery.

If £100really isyour limit,

though, andyou’re happyto

use Vodafone asyour

mobile network provider,

the X9 is superbvalue.

Motorola Moto G7Power,

£179

bit.ly/motg4 74

Honor 7A, £129.99

bit.ly/hon4 74

This puts it behind the Moto
G7Power (alsoreviewed in
Issue472) but again,you’d
expect that from a pricier
phone.Compared with other
phones in its price bracket

• lastyear’s Vodafone Smart
  V8, the Moto E5 and the
  Honor 7A – the X9 isfaster.
  The resultwas the same in
  our intense graphicaltests,
  although there are noreal
  winners here because all the
  budget phonesstruggledto
  reach framerates of above
  20fps, which doesn’t makefor
  a wonderfulexperience when
  playing the latest games.That
  said, these benchmarks are
  deliberatelytough, soyou’ll
  find that simple games should
  run withouttoo much
  difficulty.
  Wewere pleasedto see
  that the X9 is practically free
  from junk software, with just
  three bundledVodafone apps
  whenyou firstswitch on the

phone:Start,Tips and My

Vodafone. Navigationfeels

snappy enough, butwe

noticed that itfelt slower than

moreexpensive handsets.

Battery andcamera

Battery life isn’t bad, either.

The X9 has a 3,100mAh

battery, which lasted for 13

hours in our looped video

test. That puts it ahead of the

V8, G6 and 7A, but someway

behind the Moto G7Power

and the Moto E5, both of

which have incrediblestamina

(see table above).

A £100 smartphone witha

dual-camera array is

something of ararity, so

Vodafone deserves particular

creditfor achieving sucha

feat with the X9. Its

16-megapixel primary camera

is supportedby a 5-megapixel

secondary camerafor adding

depthto shots.The photos

wetook were a lot better than

we’d expect from a £100

smartphone, presenting

plenty of detaileven in

relatively low light.Wedon’t

want to overstate the quality

of its shots – it’s no match for

the Huawei Mate 20 Pro or

even the OnePlus 6T,for

example – but the photos are

remarkably goodfor a budget

phone and arecertainly

enoughto satisfy most

people’s needs if money

is tight.

You can’t have everything,

of course, and the X9’s

8-megapixel front-facing

camera is nothingto write

home about. Shots taken with

it lacked depth andwere

thoroughlyover-processed.

Captured videocould also

be better.The Vodafone

Smart X9records at a

maximumresolution of just

1080pat 30fps and offers

little in thewayof image

stabilisation.

PRODUCT INFO

Vodafone Smart X9

Price: £99

Buy from:

http://www.vodafone.co. uk

SPECIFICATIONS

■Qualcomm Snapdragon SDM450

octa-core processor

■3GB RAM

■32GB storage space

■5.7in 18:9Full HD+ IPS screen

■16 megapixels + 5 megapixels

autofocus dualrear camera with

LED flash; 8 megapixels fixedfocus

front camera

■microSD card slot(supports upto

256GB)

■Android 8.1

■153g

■148 x 71 x7.95mm

FOR

✓Looks good

✓Decent performance

✓Great camerafor the price

AGAINST

✗Locked to Vodafone

OUR VERDICT HHHHH

BETTERBATTERY

FASTER GRAPHICS

0102030

Comparison of battery life in budget smartphones

Vodafone

Smart X9

Motorola

Moto G6

Motorola Moto

G7 Power

Honor 7A

Motorola

Moto E5

Vodafone

Smart V8

Time (hours)

FEATURES HHHHH

PERFORMANCE HHHHH

EASE OF USE HHHHH

VALUE FOR MONEY HHHHH