OnePlus launched its Indian exclusive. OnePlus 9R in India along with OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro without any fanfare. A few years ago, OnePlus disrupted. the smartphone market with its ‘flagship killer’ concept. But the company has changed its stance with the last two generations of devices.
With each generation the price has gradually increased . now for the first time in OnePlus history. It has breached Rs. 65K mark with its OnePlus 9 Pro. Currently, the company caters to the mid-range segment with Nord, 50K with OnePlus 9 . above 60K with OnePlus 9 Pro.
With the OnePlus 9R, the company aims to bridge this gap between the 30K to 50K price segment. Is OnePlus successful in this strategy by making the OnePlus 9R phone in this price category? Let’s see.
Why OnePlus 9R is good?
Design and display – no compromise as usual
In terms of design, the OnePlus 9R looks more like its pricier sibling. the OnePlus 9 Pro than the OnePlus 9 as the latter only comes with a triple camera setup. The OnePlus 9R lacks Hasselblad branding. But the company compensates with a metal frame. To give you context, the OnePlus 9, which retails for Rs. 49,999 comes with a plastic frame. Is that a good move? Well, we will cover that in the OnePlus 9 review.
Coming back to the OnePlus 9R, the device doesn’t feel as premium as OnePlus’ other flagships. At least in appearance. Yes, it has a metal frame, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both sides. So it feels solid, but apparently it lacks something that the OnePlus 9 Pro or even the 9 has. If this device is supposed to bridge the gap between a mid-ranger like the Nord and an expensive OnePlus 9/9 Pro. yes, it does.
OnePlus 9R is 8.4 mm thick and weighs around 189 grams. It’s easy to carry around, feels sweet to hold, thanks to the curved sides on the back. On the front, it looks like any other OnePlus device with a punch hole and flat display. The button works very well with the alert slider all around.
Like the OnePlus 8T, the OnePlus 9R sports a 6.55-inch Full HD+ Fluid AMOLED display. It supports a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, sRGB color gamut and DCI-P3 color gamut. We have no complaints about the display. Colors are vibrant, blacks are deep, brightness peaks at 1100 nits. And content use is excellent thanks to the dual-firing speakers.
Not much has changed on the OnePlus 9R as it comes with the same options including. refresh rate (60Hz or 120Hz), screen calibration, dark mode. always-on display, vision comfort, reading mode, ability to select dark mode. adaptive brightness and others.
We also get a “vibrant color effect”, which punches up colors once activated.
Oxygen OS bugs
OnePlus 9R runs Android 11 with OxygenOS 11 on top. At the time of writing this review, we have OxygenOS 11.2.1.1 with the March security patch. While it looks a bit like Samsung’s OneUI. We’re all for OxygenOS as it strikes a balance between features and a minimalist look. Best of all, we are not spammed with push notifications or inappropriate ads.
Coming to customization. There are options to change accent colors, quick toggle size, font style and icon packs. Other useful features include double tap to lock And launcher layout . There’s a ‘Left Most Screen’ option, where you can choose a Google News Feed or OnePlus Shelf.
The OnePlus 9R also has an “Optimized Charging” feature. Where it optimizes? The charging pattern according to your usage habits to reduce battery load and extend battery life. The OnePlus 9R has an option to select the function of the power keys — power menu or voice assistant. There is a “Work-Life Balance” feature that categorizes the notifications you want to receive. This feature can also be enabled with apps, Wi-Fi networks, locations and times.
All said and done, the OnePlus 9R still has a March security patch.
Performance – No heating, no compromise
The OnePlus 9R is powered by a large 4500mAh battery with Warp Charge 65W technology, like the OnePlus 8T. In a casual use, we got about 5:45 to 6 hours of screen time at 120Hz. But enough falls on heavy use. Dropping back to 60Hz gives you extra battery life. In general, the Warp Charge 65 charges the device quickly. For such makeup it does not have the convenience of wireless charging. 65W technology charges the device from 0 to 100% in just 39 minutes.
It achieved a charge rating of 16 hours and 32 minutes at a 120Hz refresh rate, so it should be even higher at 60Hz.
What could be better?
Camera — Not so great!
The OnePlus 9R comes with a quad-camera setup
- Primary – 48MP rear camera with Sony IMX586 sensor, 0.8μm pixel size, f/1.75 aperture, OIS + EIS hybrid stabilization.
- Secondary – 16MP 116° ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture.
Third – 5MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture. - Fourth – 2MP depth sensor
- Video capability – 4K video at 60 fps, 720p slow motion at 480fps, 1080p slow motion at 240fps
- Front camera – 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX471 sensor, f/2.45 aperture, EIS
Well, not much has changed from the OnePlus 8T, be it camera specifications or picture quality. So we didn’t expect much from this device. That said, the OnePlus 9R takes good photos, but it’s nowhere near as good as the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE or the Mi 11x Pro 5G.
Talking about usability, the primary camera captures good photos with fine details. Most of the time, the images churned out from the main sensor were sharp. had good colors and were slightly underexposed. Since it doesn’t have a dedicated optical zoom sensor. It produces some noise beyond 2X and isn’t recommended.
The wide-angle camera also works as expected, but there is distortion. Portrait mode works well. 5MP macro, in our experience, wasn’t great at all. It does what it implies, but don’t expect fine details.
Coming to low-light conditions, the OnePlus 9R camera produces images that are brighter. Than they actually are without Nightscape mode. But the details are not kept in half. Enabling Nightscape brings out detail from shadows. Also offers just the right amount of sharpness. Overall the difference between a regular photo and a nightscape is minimal.
The front camera produces some decent photos in daylight, portrait works. well with right edge detection half the time, though there are exceptions. Under low light, the camera performance is completely average. It also depends on the lighting.
In terms of videography, 4K offers a good, stable output with good color retention. There’s an option to switch between the main camera and wide-angle in video, but it only works up to 4K 30 FPS.
Check out some of the camera samples below:
How many 5G bands does it support?
Lately, the OnePlus 9 series devices have come under scrutiny by many users. After they found out that the Indian OnePlus 9 series devices support very few 5G bands. There has been a lot of buzz about whether OnePlus’ latest device can be updated to the 5G band through an OTA update. Notably, the company has identified this as a problem that can be fixed with a software update.
But, OnePlus took to their official forum to clarify. that OnePlus 9 series devices in India will not get support for more 5G bands with a future software update. OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro support 2 5G bands, while OnePlus 9R supports only 1 band which is N78. Well, if you’re buying this device as a future-proof investment, we suggest you not.
Other mentions
OnePlus 9R supports connectivity options including 5G SA/NSA. Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax 2X2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS (L1+L5 dual band) + GLONASS, USB Type-C, NFC. The in-display scanner is snappy and fast, one of the best on the market right now. Call quality over the earpiece and headphones is also excellent.
Competition
At this price point, the OnePlus 9R competes directly with the Samsung Galaxy S20FE, Mi 11X Pro, iQOO 7, and vivo X60.
