Huawei Adds Leica Lenses to P9 Smartphone

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Huawei announces the first result device produced under its recent partnership with German optics maker Leica-- the P9, a smartphone featuring a pair of "Leica certified" rear-facing cameras.

Huawei P9Reportedly the result of 3 years of co-engineering between the two companies, the dual cameras inside the P9 feature specially designed f/2.2 lenses, a pair of 12MP 1.25um Sony IMX286 sensors and a dual-LED flash. One camera captures RGB information while the other is monochrome, and the result is supposed to provide clearer photographs with brighter backgrounds, better contrast and better performance in low light environments.

The dual-camera setup also allows extra depth of field (for nicely blurred backgrounds), and users can even refocus images after shooting. Another camera feature is a faster laser-assisted autofocus mechanism. Another Leica co-development is a camera app complete with a "pro" mode allowing the manual control of shutter speeds, ISO values, white balance, focus mode and light metering, among other features.

As for the actual smartphone, the P9 is similar to other offerings in Huawei P family-- it features a 5.2-inch IPS 1920x1080 resolution display, a Kirin 955 octa-core CPU, 3/4GB RAM, 32/64GB storage (expandable to 128GB via microSD card), USB-C port and 3000mAh battery inside an aluminium chassis. The OS of choice is Android 6.0.1 modified with the Huawei Emotion UI, and a fingerprint sensor is included on the back.

The Huawei P9 hits European markets from April 2016 in 6 colour options (ceramic white, haze gold, rose gold, titanium grey, mystic silver and prestige gold).

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