The OnePlus 9 Pro is one of the best phones you can buy right now, and here’s why. It has the most impressive specs in its class, including a large screen and top-of-the-line processor, and at $669, it’s significantly cheaper than competing high-end smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus ($899) or iPhone XS Max ($1,099). That’s an exceptional deal for anyone who wants top-quality tech on a reasonable budget. The phone is also water resistant and comes with wireless charging capabilities—both rare features in this price range.
5 Things to Know Before Buying
- There’s no headphone jack. This may not be a huge deal for some people, but it does mean you’ll need to use USB-C or Bluetooth to listen to music and podcasts wirelessly.
- Face Unlock isn’t the best security measure – it’s been fooled by paparazzi photos, one high-quality artist portrait, and close-up images of animated versions of OnePlus employees.
- It has an all-glass design which makes it prone to breaking if dropped.
- It is expensive with prices starting at $749 in the US (plus $199 for OnePlus’ 10W wireless charger).
- It only comes in one color, Mirror Gray.
Specifications and Design
The OnePlus 9 Pro has a 6.67-inch, Quad HD+, curved, PLS display with a 90Hz refresh rate and 520 pixels per inch. It also comes with a 90 Hz refresh rate for viewing high-resolution images without any delays or lag. Under the hood, it runs on the powerful Snapdragon 855 processor and up to 12GB of RAM coupled with 128GB or 256GB of storage (in addition to its 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage variant).
This gives you everything you need to open applications quickly and efficiently while playing demanding games. And speaking of which, it offers smooth gameplay even at higher settings in all AAA games on its latest Adreno 640 GPU that provides 60% greater graphics performance than previous models. It’s also capable of 5G speeds when released in 2019 thanks to Qualcomm’s X50 modem.
The camera is equally impressive with a 16MP primary camera that features an ƒ/1.7 aperture and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) as well as a 16MP ƒ/2.0 telephoto lens providing 2x optical zoom capabilities, 4K video recording at 30 fps, 1080p video recording at 120 fps, stereo audio recording, Dual LED flash, Auto HDR and AI Scene Detection. On the front there is an 8MP sensor with ƒ/2.0 aperture for selfies with Beautify Mode built-in to make you look your best every time!
Software, Apps, and Gaming
The OnePlus 9 Pro is not just a beast of a phone, it is also a true beauty. With the design of this latest release, OnePlus has refined their unique take on premium handsets. Take the front of the device for example; the OnePlus 9 sports an almost bezel-less OLED display with only the tiniest of chin to house its highly advanced Face Unlock feature. If you are worried about compromising security for aesthetics, worry not.
Thanks to 5 cameras embedded around the backside – two higher resolution and wide angle cameras in tandem with 3 additional wide angle lenses – face unlock works better than ever before and is fast too! What really surprised me about this device though was how smoothly everything runs on it! Not once did I experience any lags or slowdowns while using the device, whether that be browsing websites or playing demanding games like PUBG Mobile. I have never experienced a smoother experience from any other flagship Android handset I have tried out in recent years.
The OnePlus 9 Pro comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage which is more than enough for most people but if you need more then there is a 10GB/256GB version available too!
We all know that battery life can make or break our mobile experience and thankfully, the 3400mAh battery on board offers plenty of juice to keep you going all day long without having to recharge halfway through your busy day at work.
Camera Quality
There is a different camera depending on what you’re shooting. For video, there is a 2x zoom to help you get closer to your subject. There’s also super slo-mo for making your moment come alive in slow motion. On the regular camera side, you can shoot photos in HDR, no HDR, and panorama modes.
One cool new feature of the camera app is a Square mode that’s available both in the Camera and Photo Gallery apps–just switch it to square and start snapping away with the knowledge that your pics will always be perfect squares no matter how they are rotated. When switching back to standard phone orientation, you’ll see that the top and bottom bars automatically disappear while your beautiful pic stays full size.
The OnePlus camera team has made lots of improvements in this latest release–new features include improved noise reduction, dynamic range optimization, better low light performance, even smoother zooming from 1x to 8x. Plus there are plenty of new effects including miniature effect for really tiny landscapes or models (it turns out the OnePlus 8 actually had this one), so you don’t have to go digging through all those other filters just to find it anymore!
If we had to choose one complaint about this phone, it would be about battery life–it could be better.
Battery Life and Charging Section
The phone’s battery life is superb, as well. I was able to get over 20 hours of screen-on time on a charge of under 60%. That compares favorably to most other flagship phones. In my testing, the phone could easily last up to two days with normal use without charging. On heavier days I had to plug in at lunch for about an hour for it to last through the end of the day and go back out at night. Those are really only outliers and not anything close to average use.
It’s worth noting that the OnePlus does have a standard 18W charger, so you’re going to need that if you want any hope of getting your phone charged quickly. There are no wireless chargers or quick charging adapters included with this device which might be something you’ll want to keep in mind if you don’t already have one around your house.
All told, though, battery life on the OnePlus 9 Pro has been excellent. If you don’t do a lot of gaming or streaming video while using your phone then you should be just fine. And even if you do regularly engage in those activities then there’s still enough power left over after a full day for lighter tasks like emailing and social media browsing before needing to recharge.
The fingerprint sensor performance on the OnePlus 9 Pro is another area where the company continues its tradition of excellence. It’s responsive and accurate enough that I never had any issue unlocking my phone – even when wearing gloves or using wet fingers – although it will occasionally struggle with contact points from larger fingers like mine. While it doesn’t come in handy very often, it’s nice knowing that I can unlock my phone by resting my thumb on the bottom right corner of the display.
The location and design of the sensor mean I’m unlikely to accidentally touch or activate it with any regularity. One thing I would change here is that you can swipe down on your screen while typing to bring up notifications, but swiping upwards won’t work because of how high above the center line the fingerprint scanner sits.
If you’ve ever heard someone say the best camera is whichever one you have, they were talking about OnePlus’ cameras.