[Honor 9X] Fan Review: HONOR 9X Early Bird Unboxing

So today a pretty special package came in the mail!

After being notified last week that I had been selected as an early bird reviewer for the Honor 9X (and the subsequent screaming in excitement) I had been impatiently waiting, and today is the day!

I had decided on a somewhat 'moody' shot for the box, against my grimy kitchen window, just to bring reality into this unboxing for a 'refreshing' change to the format!

I pretty much destroyed this cardboard, and extracted the retail box - which showcases the stunning X pattern back (which I hoped for, to have a dazzle off with my Honor View 20, but I can't really complain here!).

Upon opening the box, I was met with the device itself, in the minimalistic and professional looking black colour!

In the box, you have the handset, a charger brick, a USB A to USB C cable, a clear case, and SIM ejection tool - no earbuds here, BUT since the phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, you most probably already have a headset you can use!

Now getting onto the meat of the unboxing!

The smartphone itself removed from packaging... Wow.

This is one extremely sleek and minimal looking handset! The front of the device is a monolithic slab of black glass, completely uninterrupted by any notch, punch hole, or camera/speaker setup.

The earpiece is cleverly hidden in the edge at the top of the phone, allowing for this insanely appealing smooth look, this is minimilism at its best!

I am extremely impatient personally, so I HAD to turn the device on quickly to see how the screen looks while powered on, and I'll let the image do the talking here, all I can say is that it's large, bright, and is the best all display design I've seen yet!

As much as I could wax lyrical all day about the front of the device, it does have a nice design all around, and it would be criminal to not show off the sleek curves and gloss of the device!

The back houses the triple camera array, which I will be putting to the test over the coming weeks in a variety of conditions (Feel free to request which conditions in the comments, and I shall try to include them!)

Fingerprint scanner is placed lower than on my Honor View 20, which makes more sense for my hand somehow, as its EXACTLY where my finger would fall if I picked up the device anyways, so this gets a huge thumbs up from me personally!

The sense of minimalism is continued around the edges of the phone too! There is a curved edge either side of the back, and a metal bezel around the edges of the phone, this is completely clean on the left edge of the device, the right edge contains the power/lock button and volume rocker, finished in a matching black finish.

The bottom edge of the phone contains the speaker grille, USB C port (excellent for me, who uses USB C on the majority of my devices!) and the faithful 3.5mm headphone jack!

This headphone jack is rare these days, so this is an extremely welcome addition for those of us who like using wired headphones while also charging their device!

Finally the top edge of the device houses the nano SIM & MicroSD tray, and the other key feature of the device that makes this monolothic beauty so clean looking, the pop out selfie camera!

This is a motorized unit that pops up only when you switch to using the front facing camera, so its great for privacy, and it just looks COOL!

I can sense my friends getting bored of me showing it off in social situations already!

Picture quality on this selfie snapper is extremely good at first glance! Here I'm showcasing the Sapphire Blue Honor View 20 that I currently use, and you can see the vivid huge display better in action here!

This is just a quick trip around the device, and more of the specs and features will be included in my review once I have spent time with the handset and pushed it as far as I can!

Finally, just to showcase the size of the phone, here is a quick comparison to the Huawei Matebook 13! It's definitely more phablet territory, and its BEAUTIFULLY clean looking

If anyone wants me to try any specific tests, do some in depth comparisons, or just wants to know more about the device, feel free to ask in the comments, I'll be posting more content weekly as I use the phone and uncover its full potential!