realme launched Realme 9 Pro+, the latest smartphone. In the company’s Realme 9 series, in India earlier this week. This is the first Pro+ series phone from Realme’s number series. It is a big upgrade from realme 8 Pro in terms of display, processor, camera, charging and what not. Is it the best smartphone to buy for Rs. 25,000 price range? Dive into our review to find out.
Box Contents
- realme 9 Pro+ 8GB + 256GB version in Sunrise Blue color
- 2-pin 65W SuperDart charger (10V-6.5A)
- USB Type C Cable
- SIM Ejector tool
- Protective case
- User Guide and Warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
Realme 9 Pro+ sports a 6.43-inch (1080 x 2400 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 aspect ratio AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate. 360Hz touch sampling rate and 409 PPI. The display is bright as it has a normal brightness of up to 430 nits and a largest brightness of 1000 nits. It offers good color output as it has 98% NTSC wide color gamut and sunlight legibility is also good. You can choose from vivid, natural and pro screen color modes.
There is also DC dimming, but you need to enable it from Realme Labs. The 90Hz refresh rate and 360Hz. Touch sampling rate provide a buttery smooth user experience. Especially when you’re scrolling through the UI and while gaming. But some may miss the 120Hz display that’s present on several phones. It doesn’t have an adaptive refresh rate.
It also has HDR 10 support, which works for YouTube, but not Netflix. You can enable Video Color Enhancer from Display Settings. Which enhances colors during playback to make SDR videos look more like HDR. The front of the phone has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
The phone doesn’t have a notification LED. But it does have an always-on display, called the Ambient Display. Which shows relevant information. And notifications throughout the day or on a schedule. And also has Edge Light lighting when you get a notification. . There’s also a new portrait silhouette option that we’ve seen on OnePlus phones. Since it’s an AMOLED screen, it doesn’t consume much power. But the company says it increases power consumption.
There is a small punch-hole on the left side of the phone which houses a 16-megapixel camera. Above the display, the top edge houses an earpiece that doubles as a secondary speaker.
It has an in-display fingerprint scanner that is capable of quickly. Unlocking the phone just by placing your finger. You may also notice a small bezel at the bottom of the screen. Haptic feedback is also good, thanks to the X-axis linear vibration motor.
Coming to the button placement and ports, the power button is present on the right side. The volume rockers are present on the left side along with the dual SIM slot. The secondary microphone is on the top, the primary microphone. USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are on the bottom. The This phone is only 7.99mm thin and weighs 182 grams. The company says it uses advanced structural stacking technology. And refined materials to keep the phone slim, light and comfortable. Even with its 4500mAh battery.
realme says it uses a 3-layer process that creates a color-filled. Glow with a vibrant vertical beam that illuminates from every angle. It weighs 182 grams, though it houses a 4500mAh battery.
The Sunrise Blue version we have has a light shift design. So under normal sunlight or UV light. The back cover turns from blue to red in about 3 seconds; Under no sunlight, it will fade in 2-5 minutes, the company says. The phone also comes in Aurora Green and Midnight Black colors. The phone does not have an IP rating.
Camera
- 50MP camera with f/1.8 aperture, Sony IMX766 sensor, OIS
- 8MP ultra-wide camera with Sony IMX355 sensor f/2.2 aperture
- 2MP 4cm macro camera with Galaxycore GC02M1 sensor, f/2.4 aperture
- 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX471 sensor, f/2.4 aperture
Camera UI has been slightly changed in Realme UI 3.0. It has features like dual video, AI color portrait and bokeh flare portrait for photos. There are also dynamic bokeh options for photos. Street Photography Mode 2.0 offers long exposure modes, peak and zoom, and 90’s pop filters. For video, you only get Bokeh Flare Portrait and AI Color Portrait. The rear camera offers 12.5MP output after pixel binning and the front camera images are 16MP in size.
Dynamic range is even better thanks to the 50MP Sony sensor, and with automatic HDR. There is an AI mode that recognizes different photo scenes. And automatically adjusts camera settings to enhance colors. 2X is good, but quality degrades once you zoom in because it’s digital zoom. Portrait mode is decent and the 2MP macro camera is useless. So using the 2X zoom with the normal camera is recommended.
Low light shots are better with lots of detail and less noise, and OIS also helps stabilize images. Night mode is useful, but it takes a few seconds to process. Night mode also has a Pro mode for manual tuning.
The front camera is also good in daylight, and has an HDR mode. But not much of an improvement over its predecessor as it uses the same sensor. Bokeh shots were decent, but edge detection isn’t the best since it only uses software.
It can record video up to 4K 30 fps, slow motion 1080p 480fps, 720p up to 940 fps. Which should be upconverted and the front camera can record 1080p 30fps video. Portrait video mode is limited to 720p. There’s also AI mode and ultra-wide video shooting, but these are limited to 1080p 30fps. It uses EIS for videos, which does a decent job, but the stabilization feels annoying. It used OIS for video for better stability. There is also no ultra stable mode.
Software, UI and Apps
This is the first Realme phone to run Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12. It contains Android security patches for January 2022. Realme UI 3.0 adds 3D icons, personalization in AOD. AI smooth engine, floating window 2.0, smooth animation engine. Security and privacy features, phone manager 2.0 and app permission recording.
Apart from the usual set of Realme apps and Google apps. It comes with Amazon Shopping, Booking.com, Josh, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Moj. Most apps can be uninstalled, but the Fincel Pay app cannot be uninstalled as it is a system app. But, you can use ADB commands to remove them.
Out of the 8GB LPDD4X RAM, you get 7.5GB of usable RAM. And about 4GB of RAM free when default apps are running in the background. It also features DRE or dynamic RAM expansion, which uses the built-in storage as RAM. It has more RAM expansion up to 5GB. Out of 256GB, you get around 225GB of free storage. The phone uses UFS 2.2 storage, and we got a sequential read speed of around 1025 MB/s.
Fingerprint sensor and face unlock
It has an in-display fingerprint sensor that unlocks the phone quickly. But it’s not as fast as a physical fingerprint sensor. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. You can also use fingerprint for in-app local and in-app payments. Additionally, you can change the fingerprint animation, but you can’t disable it.
In Realme Labs, there is a heart rate measurement option. That lets you use the fingerprint sensor for heart rate tracking. You can save it, and it shows in history. The phone also has face unlock feature.
Music and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player with Dolby Atmos with customizable Smart. Movie, Gaming and Music modes. It does not have FM radio support. Audio through the stereo speakers is good with no distortion even at full volume. Audio through earphones is also good, and there’s Dolby Atmos for both wired. And wireless headsets, but it doesn’t work for speakers. It has Widevine L1, so you can play HD content on Netflix and other streaming apps. It supports HDR content on YouTube, but it doesn’t work on Netflix.
Dual SIM and connectivity
Realme 9 Pro+ has support for several 5G bands including n1, n3, n5, n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n77, n78, n66 network bands in India. It has 4G Wi-Fi and VoLTE which supports carrier aggregation over 4G. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4GHz + 5GHz), VoWiFi / Wi-Fi calling support. Bluetooth 5.2, GPS / GLONASS / Beidou. It has OTG support, no NFC support Running, call quality is good. And we didn’t experience any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud.
Realme 9 Pro+ has a body SAR of 0.727W/Kg and a head SAR of 1.188/Kg, which is below the limit of 1.6 W/kg (over 1 gram) in India.
Performance and Benchmarks
It is one of the first phones powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 920 6nm SoC. Which is just an overclocked Dimensity 900. It has 2 x A78 CPUs clocked up to 2.5GHz, 6x A55 CPUs clocked up to 2GHz. It has Mali-G68 MC4 and up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM.
According to the company, the phone features a 5-layer vapor. Chamber cooling system with a heat sink area of 13029 mm. That can cover 100% of the core heat sources significantly. Reducing the core temperature by up to 10°C. It gets a bit warm with intensive gaming and 4G data usage. But it doesn’t get too hot to handle. We didn’t encounter any issues or frame drops in graphic-intensive games like COD. BGMI and Genshin Impact. It reached a greatest of 45º in our tests inside Wi-Fi, but this can vary outside on 4G. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
battery life
In terms of battery life, the phone has a 4500mAh (typical) built-in battery, the same as the 98 Pro. It lasts all day with Wi-Fi, but with 4G and Dual SIM and heavy multimedia usage it may not last all day. I got over 5 hours of screen time with over a day of use on Wi-Fi and 90Hz. Since the phone has 60W SuperDart Charge support, it can charge from 50% in 15 minutes. And up to 100% in around 40 minutes with the bundled 65W charger.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs 24,999, the Realme 9 Pro+ offers a great value. If you want good camera performance, especially in low-light, thanks to OIS. But, the video camera performance is only average. Especially when it comes to stabilization as it only uses EIS for videos. And there is no support for ultra still mode in videos. The 90Hz AMOLED screen also offers a good multimedia performance. And the phone offers smooth performance and a lag-free experience. It doesn’t even heat up and comes with Android 12 out of the box. Wish the company would have improved the front camera as well.
Price and Availability
Realme 9 Pro+ is priced at Rs. 24,999 for the 6GB + 128GB model, Rs. 26,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model and Rs. 28,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model. It will go on sale on Flipkart, realme.com and offline stores from 21st February.
alternative
The Xiaomi 11i is a direct competition in the same price range that offers a 120Hz screen and a bigger battery. The Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G has a better Snapdragon 778G SoC, Dolby Vision, sleek. And ultra-light body and promises 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches.
