OnePlus 9 Review

OnePlus admits mistake, says no more 5G bands for OnePlus 9 in future



Meet the new One Plus 9

Introduction

OnePlus has become one of the top-notch smartphone company in the premium range. The company has gained applauds for its all-round performance. The company has launched its 9 series phones with two variants namely OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. OnePlus establishes a new position with competing OEMs as it snags the Hasselblad camera brand in a new partnership to help it further develop OnePlus' camera prowess. OnePlus is using the tagline "Your best shot", so let's see what really it has to offer.

There are some differences in the OnePlus 9 series. The Pro version of the OnePlus has an additional camera feature, more upgraded display and the new 50W wireless charger.

Allow us to give you a quick overview of the Hasselblad collaboration. Hasselblad worked with the OEM to calibrate the cameras' sensors and fine-tune the color optics so that they act like high-end Hasselblad cameras, which are renowned for their correct colors and 16-bit RAW image output. Although the OnePlus 9 doesn't have the option to film in 16-bit RAW, it can do so in 12-bit color by using the camera's Pro mode.

Design

The new OnePlus 9 series phones holds the same look as its predecessors as there are not so much of deviation in the looks.  The body is carved out of plastic which gives an impression of metallic body but it is not. The placements of the keys are the same as they were in OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 8. The only major visual difference is  the redesigned camera module on the back when compared to the previous OnePlus 8T.  

The OnePlus 9's front appears identical to the OnePlus 8T's, which makes sense given that both phones have the same display. This means it has flat glass on the front, which most people tend to like, as well as a hole-punch camera in the corner, which gets mixed reviews. The OnePlus 9 varies the most from the OnePlus 8T on the sides, where the 8T has an aluminium frame and the OnePlus 9 has a fiber-reinforced plastic frame.  The back side of the phone has simpler rectangular frame consisting three cameras and an LED flashlight . The back of the phone is still glass. It comes in three colors and two finishes which are Winter Mist and Arctic Sky. OnePlus has used Gorilla Glass 5 for its protection and the company has kept the OnePlus 9 Series out of ingress protection. The display has fingerprint sensor embedded within which is quite fast and accurate in its touch response.

Display

The OnePlus 9 features a 6.55-inch 8-bit AMOLED touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 2400x1800. The display supports HDR content and has a variable refresh rate of 120Hz. While the OnePlus 9 shares the same display as the OnePlus 8T, the rest of the specifications remain unchanged.

The OnePlus 9 supports refresh rates up to 120Hz, similar to the OnePlus 9 Pro, but it cannot go as low as the 1Hz claimed by the OnePlus 9 Pro due to the lack of an LTPO screen. In tests for both sRGB and Monitor-P3, the OnePlus 9 display showed excellent color accuracy with an average deltaE 2000 figure of about 1.7. It also provides near-complete coverage of both color spectrums.

When the user is not actively operating the device, the refresh rate decreases to 60Hz for brightness levels above 50 percent and 90Hz for brightness levels below 50 percent. However, certain apps and events may cause the display to lock at a 60Hz refresh rate. If an app includes an embedded map or camera view, the screen will reduce the refresh rate from 120Hz to 60Hz.

Although the 120Hz refresh rate is not supported by every game, the OnePlus 9 still offers a smooth gaming experience. However, it lacks the Hyper Touch and Motion graphics smoothing modes found in the OnePlus 9 Pro. On the positive side, the OnePlus 9 delivers impressive HDR performance. When watching HDR10 content on apps like YouTube and Netflix, users can enjoy vibrant colors and high peak brightness.

It's worth noting that the OnePlus 9's display is only 8-bit, which means it doesn't fully showcase the 10-bit colors in native HDR content. However, this is not easily noticeable, especially given the device's small screen size.

 

Cameras

 On the rear side  of the OnePlus 9, there are three cameras: a wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle, and monochrome camera. The OnePlus 9 uses the same Sony IMX689 wide-angle camera sensor as the OnePlus 8 Pro. It has a 48-megapixel resolution and a f1.8 aperture on a 23mm equivalent lens. The OnePlus 9 Pro also has an ultra-wide camera. With a 50-megapixel resolution and a 14mm equivalent f2.2 7P freeform lens, it's the Sony IMX766. The OnePlus 9 does not have a dedicated telephoto camera as all zooming is done digitally. Instead, we get a 2-megapixel monochrome camera. This camera can also be used as a macro lens.  The OnePlus 9 utilizes the latest natural color calibration system developed and optimized for the hardware by Hasselblad. 

The images captured at daylight by the OnePlus 9 were brilliant and super detailed. The saturation level of the images were very good and on point. The colors captured by the rear sensros were bright, vivid and crispy. The OnePlus 9 uses the same latest 50 Megapixel sensor as the OnePlus 9 Pro, which is the ultra-wide lens. It is a considerably higher sensor than we saw on OnePlus phones and captures an astonishing amount of detail for a very large number, even though the final images are only saved at a resolution of 12.5 megapixels. The freeform lens architecture often completely eliminates distortion, causing even straight lines along the edges to look straight. There is no separate telephoto lens available on OnePlus 9. Instead, the lens zooms the main camera digitally. The default multiplier is 2x so you can only reach 10x while switching quickly.

The OnePlus 9 performs admirably in low-light situations. You can achieve good results with good precision, exposure and color consistency even without allowing Nightscape. The outcome matches the OnePlus 8 Pro and a lot ahead of the OnePlus 8T, but the OnePlus 9 Pro is a little more detailed here. The OnePlus 9 manages to catch up to the OnePlus 9 Pro with Nightscape available, as there isn't much of a difference between the two. With this mode available, both cameras can capture excellent low-light images with good detail, aperture, and colour. Only with the main camera the OnePlus 9 takes portrait photos. The camera starts up in a digitally zoomed-in format that looks like it's using a 2x telephoto lens by chance. Although this will help to minimize distortion, the photographs will be smoother as a result.

The OnePlus 9 has a selfie camera of 16 megapixels with an aperture of f/2.4. The same Sony IMX471 is the key to OnePlus phones that have been retrieved in OnePlus 7 Pro. It is clear why OnePlus continues to rely on this sensor, as it offers a high degree of detail, reasonable color output and a sufficient range of dynamism for daylight portrait photographs.

The OnePlus 9 is capable of recording video in 1080p, 2160p (4K), and 4320p (8K). The main wide camera can shoot 1080p video in 30 and 60fps, 4K video in 30 and 60fps, and 8K video in 30fps. The ultra-wide camera can shoot 1080p video in 30 and 60fps, 4K video in 30 and 60fps, and 8K video in 30fps. All zooming is done digitally.

Video in all resolutions and frame rates is shot by default in H.264 but you can optionally switch to H.265 to save some storage space without sacrificing image quality. EIS is available in 30 and 60fps modes but not for the 120fps mode. As usual, the EIS has a massive crop in modes where it's available but there's no way to disable it. Additionally, two slow-motion modes are available: 1080p 240fps and 720p 480fps, both of which save slowed-down footage. The Super Stable mode employs the ultra-wide camera, which is then cropped into a viewpoint close to that of the main wide camera, and used to heavily balance the video. The Nightscape mode turns the main camera's recording into a night mode.

Operating System

OnePlus 9 runs on Oxygen OS 11.

PerformanceThe OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro are among the first smartphones to feature Qualcomm's new 5nm chipset, the Snapdragon 888. Both devices are powered by the Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform, which includes an X60 5G modem. Compared to the Snapdragon 865, the Snapdragon 888 offers up to a 25% performance improvement.

The Snapdragon 888 is an eight-core processor with a three-cluster design. The top cluster features a single 2.84GHz Kryo 680 Prime core based on the ARM Cortex-X1 architecture. The second cluster consists of three Kryo 680 Gold cores running at 2.42GHz, built on the Cortex-A78 architecture. The third cluster includes four power-efficient Kryo 680 Silver cores clocked at 1.8GHz.

For graphics, both devices are equipped with the Adreno 660 GPU, which delivers a 35% performance boost compared to the Adreno 650. It supports Open GL ES 3.2, Vulcan 1.1, and features a new variable rate shading technology.

Both the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro come with LPDDR5 RAM capable of reaching speeds of up to 6,400 Mbps. They also have UFS 3.1 storage, although it is non-expandable. With this hardware, the OnePlus 9 offers ample processing power to handle demanding games and resource-intensive editing applications without any concerns.

 

Battery

The OnePlus 9 has a total battery capacity of 4,500 mAh thanks to dual 2,250 mAh batteries. The phone's battery life allows it to comfortably last a day. The  OnePlus 9 battery was completely charged within half an hour using Warp Charge 65T, as promised by OnePlus. This is a whopping ten minutes better than the OnePlus 8's full charging time of 39 minutes. Non-OnePlus systems that allow USB PD or PPS can be charged at a capacity of 45W using the supplied Warp adapter. The new Warp Charge 50 Wireless adapter is supported by the OnePlus 9 Pro, but not by the 9. The non-Pro variant supports 15W rapid wireless charging as well as 5W reverse wireless charging. The OnePlus 9 comes with wireless charging, but only in North American and European versions.

Pros

·         Powerful Processor

·         Relatively clean software and great UI performance

·         Powerful cameras

·         Fast charging

Cons

·         Plastic frame

·         No official IP rating

·         No OIS

·         No dedicated telephoto camera

·         Outdated front camera

·         Hasselblad partnership is just for advertising

·         No wireless charging outside of NA and Europe

 

 

 


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