Huawei P9 bets two cameras are better than one

Chinese tech firm Huawei has anveiled the P9 and hopes it can sell you the phone based on the imaging prowess of its newest toy which sports two cameras and the prestigious Leica brand.

The P9's headline feature is its dual-camera system, which stares out from the back of the phone's aluminium frame like two beady eyes. Both cameras have 12-megapixel sensors, but bring different abilities to the photography party -- one is an red, green and blue (RGB) sensor, while the other is black and white. Huawei claims that these two cameras working in tandem will bring more light to your photos, and offer better contrast.

That's not all those two snappers are good for. Having two cameras lets the phone do a better job of gauging how far you are from your subject. That lets you whack on a wide aperture mode that will give your photos extra depth of field -- blurring out the background to put more emphasis on your subject. Better still, you can tweak the focal point of images after they've been shot, and add some interesting filters, such as one that keeps your subject in colour but turns your background to black and white.

Huawei's camera tricks are certainly intriguing, but plenty of smartphones make bold claims about their camera powers, and not all of them walk the walk. Leica is a respected photography brand, but it hasn't actually built these cameras. Huawei says they were designed in collaboration, but that it handled manufacturing itself. Huawei hasn't risked much with the design of the P9, opting for the same aluminium look that we saw on last year's P8, with a pleasing, rounded finish.

On the back of the P9 there's a fingerprint sensor. Not all phone fingerprint sensors are created equal, so everyone is hoping this one is able to identify prints quickly and accurately.