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Alexa on Huawei's Mate 9 won't listen unless you press
When we first learned that Huawei planned to bring Amazon's Alexa to its Mate 9 flagship, there weren't many details on what the execution would look like. All we really knew was that it would be rolling out via a software update to the phone, and that its availability would be limited. Today, Huawei has revealed just how the integration will work. Sadly, parts of this implementation don't make sense, with the most disappointing piece being that you have to press your phone at least once before you can talk to Alexa. That basically defeats the point of even having a voice assistant.
Huawei is bringing Amazon's Alexa to the Mate 9
One of Huawei's biggest priorities when building its Mate 9 was shoehorning some handy machine-learning features into to it. The result: a machine-learning algorithm designed to improve performance by finding the patterns in how you use the phone and allocating resources like RAM accordingly. Turns out Huawei's AI ambitions don't end there. A spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the Mate 9 will receive a software update bringing Amazon's Alexa assistant.
Pros and cons: Our quick verdict on the Huawei Mate 9
The most interesting thing about Huawei's latest flagship, the Mate 9, is actually invisible to the naked eye. Under the hood, the phone uses machine learning to anticipate which apps you're going to use when, allowing for supposedly smoother performance. What the phone would have been like without this AI, we don't know, but we can say that the performance feels brisk throughout. If fluid day-to-day use seems like table stakes, you might also be impressed with the long battery life, bright display and the fact that it actually has a headphone jack. Unfortunately, what's otherwise a great phone stumbles with low-light photography, as well as some heavy-handed software tweaks that will turn off Android purists. ] The Mate 9 isn't on sale here in the US yet, but we expect to learn pricing in the next month or so. If the price is on par with what it costs in Europe, the phone will be on par with or slightly cheaper than its rivals, which would make it a good value, so-so camera notwithstanding.
The Huawei Mate 9 stands out with long battery life and a little AI
Huawei needs new tricks to differentiate its products from the crowd of Chinese phones permeating the US market, and it's turning to artificial intelligence to set it apart. The Mate 9 is a new Android device that offers a "Machine Learning Algorithm" that purports to learn your habits over time and optimize performance so that the device is more responsive. The Mate 9, which is expected to arrive in the US soon (although the exact timing is unknown), also has one of the largest displays on the market. We don't yet know how much it'll cost in the US, but we expect the Mate 9 to sell for about the same as it does in Europe (€699), which would make it slightly more affordable than other leading big-screen flagships too. That, along with the promised performance boost and supposedly safer battery tech, might be reason enough to consider the Mate 9 as your next large-screen smartphone.
Huawei's new Mate 9 wants to be a smarter kind of smartphone
Huawei's slice of the worldwide mobile pie isn't as big as it used to be, but hey, at least it keeps getting better at making big phones. We didn't know it would be the last Nexus phone, but the 6P was a solid send-off. Then came the enormous Mate 8, which was incredibly well built (even if the company's EMUI interface sometimes made me want to jam a fork in my eye). With the new Mate 9, however, Huawei is trying to do things a little differently. Case in point: The phone will eventually launch in the US, a first for the company's flagship phablets. And that stuffed-to-the-gills custom interface? It's been streamlined, thanks to Huawei's new user experience chief. Fortunately, the company's smart moves don't seem to end there.
