TECNO L9 Plus Review: The Long-lasting Giant

When you need a big battery that lasts and lasts, this is the kind of smartphone to explore. This 6-inch display phone has it big on another front – the battery front. There’s a 5,000 mAh battery powering it. Our TECNO L9 Plus review is ready, and it gives you all the details.

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Quick Pros And Cons

Having had a quick glance at what the L9 Plus offers, it is time to dive into the detailed review. Come along!

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Hardware/Design

The TECNO L9 Plus is pretty slim for a device that packs a 5000 mAh battery. We were expecting it to be a little bulkier, but were pleasantly surprised at the slim profile.

There is a nifty hardware Super button right below the SIM tray on the left edge of the L9 Plus. It can be configured to activate ultra power saving mode, activate the camera, turn on/off torch or play/pause music. We like it and wish there were more activity options for it.

We do have a complaint about the three capacitive navigation buttons at the bottom of the display. They are barely visible in any lighting condition, which is very awkward. You basically have to use them blind. Sometimes, you miss and have to fumble to get the button you want to use.

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Software

The user interface seems not very polished as we are used to seeing on HiOS. As a matter of fact, it didn’t look like HiOS at all. So we dived into the Settings to see the About menu, and truly, HiOS isn’t mentioned there at all.

It looks like this is a mildly modified version of stock Android 7 Nougat. And that is not a bad thing, to be sure. It was just not expected. We were also unable to use multi-window AKA split screen on the L9 Plus, a feature that comes with Android 7. And we are still fiddling with this till now, wondering what we are doing wrong. We had no problem getting it to work on the Camon CX, which had supported apps marked with a split screen icon when you open the Recent Apps menu. There is no such marking here, and the traditional means of activating it isn’t working. We will update this review if we figure it out.

There is something new here, though: a Floating Button. It is an onscreen ball that you can move around anywhere on the screen. Tap it, and it opens up into a bigger carousel-type menu that offers you action options. Those options include:

1. screenshot button
2. back button
3. home button
4. most recent apps button
5. more apps button

The floating button is visible wherever you are on your device. You can move its position any time you want so that it does not get in your way.

It looks like TECNO introduced this to compensate for the barely visible capacitive navigation buttons that we complained about earlier. Is TECNO toying with the idea of eliminating those capacitive buttons totally and implementing this instead?

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Network, Telephony

Telephony is good on the TECNO, but not fantastic. Our experience with TECNO smartphones is that while network capacity is good on them, they are not the best at holding on to a network signal. The L9 Plus stays true to that. Audio quality is good too, but not remarkable.

You can use 2G and 3G data on the L9 Plus. Thankfully, TECNO has done some modification so you can use 3G only, 2G only, or Auto mode.

Note also that you will be unable to use the L9 Plus for voice calls in the USA, as it does not support the two bands used by US GSM networks.

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Photography

You are not buying the L9 Plus for photography. At least, you shouldn’t. That isn’t its strong point. But you will be happy to know that its photography is just good.

The selfie camera has a flash too for low light situations. So whether you are taking a picture of others or of yourself, you do get good enough photos. Here are some indoor sample photos from the main 13 megapixel camera at the back:

And here is a selfie taken with the front camera with flash:

As you can see, they are nothing breathtaking, but the photographs won’t have you hissing. They are quite good for most purposes – including for uploading to your social media accounts. If you want better cameras, you should be having a look at the Camon CX (see our Camon CX review).

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Multitasking/Performance

The L9 Plus is equipped with a Quad-core 1.3 GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM to run things on that 6-inch display. It won’t win any performance competitions, but it functions as good as you would expect on a phone with its configuration. So, we have no complaints here.

Here are results from the benchmark tests that we ran on the L( Plus:

• AnTuTu: 24324
• Geekbench: 420 Single-core / 1217 Multi-core
• Quadrant: 8528

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Connections

This big guy has got Bluetooth and USB connectivity. Riding on top of USB is USB-OTG, which allows you to plug in a flash drive or other USB accessories to the device. We were able to watch movies on the L9 Plus via a plugged in dual USB flash drive without any issues. TECNO includes a USB adapter in the sales pack.

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Battery life

The L9 Plus packs a huge 5000 mAh battery. TECNO says that this should deliver non-stop fun for 72 hours. In our time with the L9, it didn’t quite get up to 72 hours, but it came close. We got roughly two and a half days – about 65 hours – out of it. Not bad at all. Charging up such a big battery would ordinarily be a pain in the neck, but TECNO has included fast charge here, and it gets you up from 0-40% in 30 minutes.

TECNO L9 Plus Review: Final Words

The L9 Plus will be a delight to smartphone users who covet a device that will keep going for a couple of days or more without needing to be charged. It is big, for sure. If you are averse to giant smartphones, this is not for you. But if you love it big in every way, the TECNO L9 Plus was designed for you.

Other TECNO L9 Plus Resources

If you haven’t seen them yet, here are a few other articles about the TECNO L9 Plus that you might be interested in:

• TECNO L9 Plus Specifications
• TECNO L9 Plus Unboxing Video

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Author: Mister Mobility

Master storyteller and founder of Mobility Nigeria, Mister Mobility, has used and reviewed hundreds of mobile phones since 2001.