Design & Build Quality

Shaving may be an everyday task, it may not take long but it should be a special experience. And that is where the Philips 9000 Series Shaver stands out. With its icy blue appearance, the Philips 9000 Series Shaver takes on the electric shaver market. But just how well did it blow out the competition? Let's break it down. Out of the box, the 9000 Series shaver fits right in the palm of your hand, abet a little big for regular hand size. From the top, we will first see its triple blade action strategically placed on the 360-D Flexing mechanism that contours to your face shape and offers the closest shave possible. The 72 Dual SteelPrecision SH91 blades does 150,000 cuts per minute and its definitely soft yet effective, more on that I will share in the later part of the review. These shaver blades are also replaceable and it is recommended to be changed every 2 years to maintain the longevity of the product. Moving downwards, a small button at the front allows you to flip open the blades and reveal the motors inside, allowing for an easy way to wash and clean the inside free of facial hair. At the back, there is a pop-up trimmer that work fairly well in trimming short stubs in small and hard to reach places as well as refining sideburns too. The shaver is waterproof and suitable for both wet and dry shaves as well as pairing with any shaving foam that you may use, The entire shaver is predominantly black with icy blue accent around the front and rubber grips at the back. In the box, there is a hard-shell carrying case included that protects the shaver from drops and scratches really well as well as a small brush that helps you to clean hard to reach parts of the shaving heads. Meanwhile, there is also a set of accessory known as the cable-free Quick Clean Pod that offers a 1 minute deep clean when you dock the shaver upside down on the stand. Of course to get users started, there is a 160ml can of CC12/51 cleaning cartridge included with the option to purchase more from any Philips website or store in the future. To start. simply place the cartridge uncapped and remove the plastic seal before inserting the top half of the accessory and locking it in place with a click. A process simple and painless to replace even if you are in a rush. The entire cleaning process takes a short minute and is claimed to be 10x more effective than water and I have to say it is very true. After the clean, I always felt that the shaver was as clean as the first shave from the first day I had it. Now this process is not automatic such that it cleans automatically when it is docked, users will still have to press the button on the shaver to trigger the process. However, I am satisfied with this setting as I wouldn't want to clean the shaver after every single shaver and just simply leaving the shaver docked upside down gives a clean and safe way to store the shaver on a desk. To top it off, you can also charge the shaver easily when it is docked upside down as you can access the proprietary charging port and plug it in with no fuss. Now, if you constantly use your shaver, one of the problems that you will face is how fast the battery depletes over time and how you always forget to charge. Well, that problem I would say is not exactly fixed but now there is quick charge which allows for a hour of shaver with an hour of charge and a 5 minutes fast charge. Not the most efficient battery I have to say, but it is certainly a step-up from its lower cost options in the Philips line-up which can take as long as 3-8 hours to charge up a dead battery. For safety reasons too, Philips has disabled the ability to use the shaver while it is plugged in and charging. However, all things considered, it is still the best shaver battery in the line-up especially thanks to the OLED screen which display the battery status prominently, prompting you to take note of the battery and charge it up frequently.

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User Experience & Comfort

Now, diving deeper into the exciting features, there is the main controls on the front of the shaver that has the power button at the top, followed by the OLED screen which shows a few key settings as well as a multi-function button that cycles through the different settings from battery life, shave results travel lock and Bluetooth pairing. To enable or disable travel lock, a long press is required to do so and it helps to keep the shaver from accidentally presses when bringing it with you if you don't use the included case. In terms of shaving comfort, we are looking a very advanced European-made blades that are coated with 2.000 micro-spheres coat every square millimetre of protective layer between the shaver heads and your skin to minimise irritation by reducing 25% of friction on skin. But that is not all, because there is SkinIQ, a series of A.I. features developed in tandem to tailor the experience using the series of LED ring lights around the top of the shaver to indicate if you are putting too little, too much or just enough pressure to get the optimal shave. When there is too little pressure, the LED lights glow a bright blue encouraging hyou to press a little harder. Once the right pressure is applied the LED gradually turns green indicating the right shaving method. Now, if you happen to press too hard onto your skin, the LED will turn red. Based on my experience, I find that I usually use less pressure to shave and often the LED remains blue and this often result in having small facial stubbles left even after I had thought that I have shave well. Now, with that in mind, I will make an effort to apply the right pressure until the LED turns green and thus gradually, I found that a full shave gives me a very clean look. This feature I felt was a really intuitive feature as I often shave with a mirror in front of me and it is easy to see and locate the parts of the shaving head where I needed more effort to shave. Not visible to the eye, there is a Power Adapt sensor that reads 500x per second of how you shave and adjusts the shaving heads for more effortless shaves. Lastly, there is the Motion Control sensor that is visible on the OLED screen on the shaver itself, which showcases a series of icons which allows you to quickly change the Light Ring Mode from full light ring which basically shows low and high pressure during shaving to high pressure only which shows only when there is too much applied pressure as well as no light ring which turn off the LED ring light guidance but keeps the SkinIQ technology on to adapt to your shaving style.

 

App Experience

To complete the full package of shaving, having well-executed hardware sometimes isn't just enough. So Philips has one more thing up their sleeves, the GroomTribe App available for download on the App and Play Store. In the app, the headline of the home page houses a plethora of Top Articles that lets you read and understand about the latest happenings, shaving guides as well as sound advice for shaving styles and trends. A very comprehensive collection of all you need to know on the go. Next, there is a set of videos for first time users in regards to the video support of various How-To. By clicking any of the videos, you will be taught in a simple and understandable way to quickly learn about your new shaver using YouTube guidance videos. And just under the Exploration tab, there are some useful Quick Links such as Start a Guided Shave, View Shave History as well as Consumer Care. The Start a Guided Shave is a visual representation of what is happening while you shave in real time. This gives you the ability to easily look at your phone's screen to see if you are handling your shaver with enough pressure to shave as well as using sufficient movement motion to makes small circles around the shaving area to create a cleaner shave. It is advised by the app that you shave within 3 minutes but I found the for basic grooming, a single minute does the job. Thereafter, you will be presented a report on how well you shaved as well as things you need to improve on for the next shave. There will be a prompt for you to clean the shaver using the Cable-free Quick Clean Pod as well as an illustrated tutorial walkthrough on how to set it up. Now, you can also look at a bigger overview of how well your shaving skills improved over months of usage and note some shaving pattern and habits of how you often do. Moving on, there is the Consumer Care tab where you can access FAQs of the shaver, contact support, share your experience or access the product information. Onto the next tab, there is a full breakdown of your guided shaves only from those synced up with the app, giving what I mentioned above on the Duration, Pressure and Motion. There will also be a range of Shave Plans available to solve any skin-related issues such as Redness, Dry Skin and many more. These plans offer a full walkthrough of what to do throughout a number of shaves indicated with the plan to help you eventually combat any skin-related issues. For those that are into styling their beard and interested in growing one, Philips is here to serve too. The Start Style Mirror option is a simple and straightforward feature that lets you apply a range of beards and moustaches onto your current faces using your phone's selfie camera and you can even change the colour of the beard hair to match your natural-born hair colour. Of course, with this ability, you can even snap a photo of your face with the beard filter on and share it with friends and family to get their opinion. If you are still feeling lost, there is the built-in assistant available at your call to get a recommendation on what styles you can do. Something like a Google Assistant or Siri but for beards only. Through a series of questions and by choosing the answer closest to what is true for you, you will eventually arrive at a style recommendation most fitted for you. Of course, styling a new beard is never easy, even for the experienced, so to help there is the built-in guidance for a wide variety of beard styles. This beard styles explain the how you can grow and trim a certain style with simple instructions and even video support. There are also photo inspiration and tool recommendation included for the complete cycle. Last but not least, customisation is key when it comes to shavers. So Philips is giving us complete control in how we use the product. You can personalise the pressure feedback of which the assistant will ask you a few questions to customise it for future use or you can switch the ring light to show high and low pressure, high pressure only or just turn it off completely. You can also turn on/off the sound of clicks on the shaver and change the ring light brightness from high, medium and low to balance battery life or just save power consumption all together. This ring light feature can also be switch from its default to an Adjusted Mode which changes the colour scheme for colour-blind users. And to finish off, you get up to 2 years of world-wide warranty and you can register it easily in the app itself.

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PROS​

• Durable Construction

• Excellent Build Quality

• SkinIQ Technology

• Pressure Guard Sensor

• Power Adapt Sensor

• SkinGlide Technology

• Motion Control Sensor

• Replacable Self-Sharpening Blades

• Soft & Protective Shaving

• OLED Screen

• Battery Level Indicator

• Travel Lock

• Replaceable Quick Clean Pod

• Hardshell Carrying Case & Cleaning Brush

• GroomTribe App

• Style Recommendation

• Skin-Related Issues Support 

• Shaving Guides

• Comprehensive Shave Reports

• 2 Years Warranty

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CONS​​

• One Colour Available

• Proprietary Charger

• Short Battery Life

 

The Bottom Line

In all, I would say Philips has nailed the pinnacle of shavers with the latest and greatest 9000 Series Shaver. From its self-sharpening European blades that are soft on the skin to its multitude of sensors and SkinIQ A.I. technology, the shaver is definitely above its competition and worth every dollar. Combining that with the prowess of an app with comprehensive guides and recommendations, it is truly the pinnacle of what a shaver can do and gives us the promise that technology will continue to benefit us in the years to come.