It's time for the OnePlus phone review. This spring there are two new models. This is the OnePlus 9 Pro and it is the version that I will focus on. And there's also the regular OnePlus 9 which is $ 240 cheaper. I'll come in later and talk about it. So OnePlus, you could think of this brand as the emerging challenger that costs much less than the competition in the old days.
Or maybe you're familiar with the newer OnePlus phones aimed squarely at rivaling Samsung. OnePlus has done a lot over the years to establish its brand. It's not a household name yet, but it's not a niche either. In the US, Only TMobiles sells these phones directly. So it's still kind of a phone as you know, but a lot of people now know. And one more thing you should know is that the price is higher this year.
This 9 Pro costs $ 960 for 128GB of storage, and $ 100 more to get to 256. When you add up the new prices and the fact that OnePlus really is an established brand, you see that it's time for the company to go next. step and become the establishment.
The OnePlus 9 Pro is not a scrapper that stands up to the big boys, it is a conventional alternative to the world's Galaxy S21s. It's a clear flagship, let's find out why. (upbeat music) Well, if you want to set flagship phones on Android, there is one thing you can't skip and that is the specs. OnePlus likes to throw out everything but the kitchen sink and it certainly has done so here. Let's see what we have.
Has 6.7 inch 1440 x 3216 OLED LTPO display with 120 Hertz refresh rate, optical fingerprint sensor, 360 Hertz touch response rate, Snapdragon 888 processor, all kinds of 5G, 4500 milliamp battery, Dual stereo speakers with WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 and a new Sony IMX 789 camera sensor. It has 8K 30, 4K 120, 1080 slow motion at 240.4K 30 time lapse, 3.3x optical zoom on the telephoto camera, a device monochrome auxiliary, association with Hasselblad.
There is a 65-watt wired fast charging feature. This fast charger is available in optional 50 watt, wireless fast charging, etc., etc., etc. So yes, the specs are there, and really the only Android phone that can beat those specs is the Galaxy S21 Ultra with a better telephoto lens but also a higher price.
Watch it, wait for a laundry list with high-end specs. What matters is how well the phone uses them and whether they fit into an integrated whole.
And the answer is yes. Just look at the design here. I don't like the color of the morning fog itself, but I can't deny that this phone's build quality is top-notch. If you just look at the tolerances on the aluminum rail and display arc and even the lens arrangement on the camera hump, this Galaxy S20 is simply really well done.
That was a joke because this OnePlus 9 Pro really does look like a Galaxy S20. And I know there are a lot of ways to combine glass and aluminum, but yeah, wow, I guess the thing is, while the feel is well coordinated and not very lively, it isn't very strong either, I can barely feel this thing ringing in me. pocket.
One last thing before we get out of specs and this is kind of weird, both the 9 and 9 Pro don't support 5G on AT&T. And at the time of writing, OnePlus is still awaiting certification on Verizon's 5G network. I have more to say about how the specs translate into the use of this phone, but we should probably move on to the specs that generally differentiate flagship phones, the camera, because when it comes down to it, it's part of the Being Phones setup. badge. There aren't many more established camera brands than Hassel Blade.
We've seen partnerships with camera brands on smartphones before. I mean, Hasselblad made it with things like the motorcycle mount accessory. The real question is, what exactly does this logo mean? Let's talk about it. Let's start with the hardware. Like I said, there are three cameras on the rear, as well as an auxiliary monochrome camera. And you know how the Pixel phone has a high contrast and a blue look, and the iPhone looks very flat and even, and Samsung phones have a look, they increase the vibrancy to 11, I think with this new camera system and Hasselblad's. association, we can say that OnePlus phones also have their own look.
See Hasselblad apparently helped with the science of color here. And I think the result is a fusion of those three other styles of phone. I think the OnePlus color scheme tends to be more on the blue side of the colors than Samsung's anyway, but it's also more vibrant than what you get with an iPhone or a Pixel. One Plus also likes to highlight shadows.
But like most smartphone cameras, photos are great in good light. In the dark, I find the OnePlus Nightscape models to be a bit too bright for my liking, but they perform very well. As usual, you have to look at extreme cases and difficult situations to see where the real differences lie.
For example, I think OnePlus sometimes adds unnecessary noise by lightening those shadows. And overall, over-sharpening gives it a bit of a processed look, especially.
The OnePlus nine makes use of a exceptional primary picture sensor.
It's the identical length and pixel count, it is simply from closing year's OnePlus eight Pro.
The main camera doesn't include optical image stabilization and there's no telephoto lens here either, just digital zoom, which doesn't look great. But you do get the 50 megapixel ultra-wide camera which I really like using. And of course there's still a Hasselblad color tuning, which does a nice job with landscapes, but it's kind of a mixed bag overall. Outside of camera stuff, the OnePlus 9 misses out on a few features. The big one is that there's no IP rating for dust or water resistance. Though, I can tell you from personal experience, a little drizzle doesn't do any damage. The T-Mobile version will have an official IP 68 rating, but it's the exact same hardware as the unlocked version, so make of that what you will. You don't get the faster wireless charging speed. The screen is a bit lower resolution and the display is flat rather than slightly curved. OH, and it doesn't support millimeter wave 5G, but no big loss. None of these felt like significant trade-offs to me. The fast refresh rate screen is excellent, the phone is super responsive jumping between apps and scrolling through social media and wired charging is seriously fast. The 6.5 inch screen is big but the phone's tall aspect ratio makes it easier to handle than its dimensions suggest. You won't sacrifice build quality for opting for the more basic model either. The back panel is Gorilla Glass, just like the Pro, and that's not the case with the Samsung S21 series. Overall, it's a phone I really like using. It just gets out of your way, handling tasks quickly and seamlessly. The interface feels minimalized and grown up and I really love using the ultra-wide camera. I’ve probably used it as much as I used the main camera. This is a very good premium mid-range device, so long as you're okay with some camera trade-offs and its lack of broad 5G support.- Now if you want to go from the premium mid-range, OnePlus 9, to the flagship OnePlus 9 Pro, you have to spend an extra $240.And that's where the rest of the specs and how OnePlus integrates the really comes in. The camera system is a bit of an upgrade, but really performance isn't any better on the Pro. The difference is that the overall experience is nicer. So the screen is beautiful. OnePlus is using this new kind of OLED called LTPO, which we've seen before on the Apple watch and also the Galaxy S21.It lets OnePlus set the refresh rate, anywhere from 120 Hertz, very high, all the way down to literally one Hertz. That saves battery life and battery life here is very good but just like last year, very variable. If you turn on all of the bells and whistles and use the camera all day, you will definitely kill this thing with screen time under four hours. With more moderate usage, I can clock in well over six, which for me translates into a day plus. Another experience thing is the fast charging. Yes, it comes with the fast wired charger in the box, but there's also wireless fast charging. So you plug that adapter into a brand new $70,fast wireless charger, is at 50 watts and it will take the phone from zero to full in under 45 minutes. I’ve tested it a few times now. It does take a little bit longer if you have the screen on and in ambient mode but bottom line, wicked fast wireless charging. As for the software experience, this applies both to the OnePlus 9 Pro and the regular OnePlus 9.I think that OnePlus' whole vibe is just nice and simple, at least compared to Samsung, which has ads all over its apps. OnepPlus version of Android is called Oxygen OS, it's at version 11, and it now does a better job of not closing apps in the background. Thank you. But the thing I just keep noticing is the whole aesthetic is just cleaner. My favorite feature is that you can have a swipe down on the home screen, bring up a dedicated widget panel, instead of having them all over different multiple home screens.(upbeat music)The OnePlus 9 Pro is a nice experience because OnePlus has gotten very good at taking all of those specs and integrating them into a more cohesive whole. With the software, the whole thing just feels that little bit smoother than other Android phones and a little bit chiller. Now, sure, the camera is not the best of the best but every now and then it can hang with them.- As for the OnePlus 9, I didn't find myself missing any of the features that the Pro version offers. If you can live without a telephoto camera, then this is definitely the better value of the two. And it's a nice alternative to some of the pricier Android flagships.- Now for the 9 Pro, I get that saying this flagship is part of the establishment doesn't sound like a compliment. Then I'm also aware that there's like a general vibe among the fan base that OnePlus has kind of gone corporate. But I mean, come on, every phone is corporate. What I mean is that when you have an established brand, you know what the phone is going to do, what it will be like to use and you trust that it will all work really well. That is the OnePlus 9 Pro, there's no surprises, but there's no gimmicks either. It's just a good phone, a good OnePlus phone. And we know what that means now.
It's been established.
