Based on ur list of XA Ultra, A7 and A9 Pro. I would top up for A9 Pro. 32gb internal, 4gb ram, newer processor SD652, huge battery too at 5000mah.

But based on the price of A9 Pro, i feel that u might as well go for the Oneplus 3, flagship processor, 6gb ram, 64gb internal, around the same price. The only thing is battery smaller capacity compared to A9 Pro.
It's either P9 or OP3 for me. Maybe u can try to hands on for both phones first. Can go to DirectD, they have a lot of display models for diff phones. If u can live without app drawer, P9, if u wan stock android feel, OP3. Plus I think Op3 GPS will perform better than P9. Snapdragon processor generally have gud GPS chip.

Other than that, can consider Mi5, LG G5 (import set), Huawei Mate 8.

Huawei's launcher usually have no app drawer. Something like Iphone's UI. Every app is just displayed on the screen. There is no menu button. Similar like Xiaomi's MIUI.

But of coz to counter this, u can always install Google Now Launcher or Nova Launcher.