Salloum wrotehkbazzi wroteI have nougat on my mate 8 and its faster than an S7 edge already. I can only imagine how better the mate 9 is. EMUI 5.0 now the has option to include an app drawer (which was its problem in earlier versions)
The app drawer isn't really the problem, that can be easily fixed with another launcher. I had a friend with a Mate 7 who would always miss notifications because of the phone's extremely aggressive battery saving mode. Sometimes it dozes apps which should be refreshing in the background. Not to mention the endless amounts of bloat included. And the overall iOS feel of the skin (something I wouldn't want on Android because if I want iOS I just use iOS......)
I had the mate 9 with me for 2-3 days before returning it, and it felt very smooth.
I didnt face a notification issue, but i can't conclude as it wasn't yet my daily driver.
Bloat is kept to a strict minimum in the MEA version, only a few apps you can count as bloatware, and some can be uninstalled. It has alot less bloat then a samsung flagship that has hundreds of processes running out of the box.
I'll be able to answer more concerns if I get a properly working unit, I plan on using it at least till new flagships come out in early 2017 :)