OnePlus 9 Review: Is it worth buying this flagship with the nifty upgrades over the OnePlus 8T and the word "Hasselblad"?

Should you buy the OnePlus 9 for Hasselblad?

OnePlus is one such manufacturer that has provided flagship smartphones at an affordable price in the past. But now the manufacturer is trying to move all of its smartphones into the flagship territory thus consistently improving on each area to match up against other flagships. Last year in 2020, the OnePlus 8 series had done a good job as they had a lot going for it.

The OnePlus 8 (Review) was a well-rounded smartphone but was not well-deceived as the OnePlus had made certain compromises to differentiate it from the OnePlus 8 Pro (Review). It has a good display, a decent set of cameras, good performance, and good battery life. Later came the OnePlus 8T (Review) with a slightly better 120Hz display, faster 65W charging, and a new design.

This year the OnePlus has narrowed the gap in terms of features between the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro like both have a 120Hz display, cameras have been tuned by Hasselblad, equally good cameras, and also support 65W faster charging. Still the OnePlus 9 Pro provides some extras but the OnePlus 9 seems to be the perfect flagship with some of the sacrifices.

Has OnePlus does enough work to make it worth upgrading over the OnePlus 8T and does the Hasselblad partnership live up to its standards? Let's find out in the full review.

OnePlus 9 Design:

OnePlus 9 does not excite me much in terms of design as it is of the same size as the OnePlus 8T. Compared to the OnePlus 8T, the camera module at the back is different. The back has a rectangular camera module that houses the four cameras with an LED flashlight. What's new here is the presence of the name Hasselblad which OnePlus has partnered with.

The back of the OnePlus 9 has a glossy finish and there is no matte finish either. This glossy back catches a lot of fingerprints and has a reflective design especially the Winter Mist color where there is a slight purple shade and the color changes when viewed in different angles. The OnePlus 9 is using Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front as well as back which is good.

The back is slightly curved around the edges to provide a good feel in the hand. To the sides, OnePlus has done a cross-cutting by providing a plastic frame where the volume buttons are on the left and the power button with OnePlus's alert slider to the right. The buttons feel tactile to hold but the move from the metallic frame on the OnePlus 8T to a plastic frame does feel like a slight letdown.

On the top, there is only a secondary noise-canceling microphone and to the bottom, there is a dual SIM card slot, a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grille, and a primary microphone. There is neither a microSD card slot for storage expansion nor a 3.5mm headphone jack either which most of the OnePlus smartphones lack. At the back, there is no IP68 rating which is only found on the T-Mobile variant.

However, there is a P2i coating at the back which makes it splash resistant against small spills of water. It also lacks support for wireless and reverse wireless charging both of which are preserved for the Pro models of OnePlus. On the front, there is a single punch-hole camera in the display like we saw on the OnePlus 8T. But on the sides, the OnePlus 9 is 0.3mm slimmer compared to the OnePlus 8T though.

The use of a plastic frame could have made the build better. Talking about the build, it feels solid compared to the Galaxy S21 (Review) which is also a flagship smartphone that has a polycarbonate back but has Gorilla Glass Victus on the front that is better than Gorilla Glass 5 and also has an IP68 rating and supports wireless charging. 

Overall, the design is not something new which we saw on the OnePlus 8T from the OnePlus 8 but still is good and solidly built.

OnePlus 9 Display:

The OnePlus 9 has a 6.55 inches Full HD+ (1080x2400 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9 that is a similar display seen on the OnePlus 8T. There is no curved display here which is present on the OnePlus 9 Pro so the flatter display with thinner bezels to the sides is good to look at. 

Like the OnePlus 8T, this display also supports a 120Hz refresh rate so scrolling through webpages, playing games, and also switching between applications feels much smoother. The 120Hz refresh rate is not the dynamic one that we saw with the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (Review) or the Galaxy S21. You have two options to switch between 120Hz and 60Hz respectively, similar to the one found on the OnePlus 8T.

The display is very bright and the color reproduction is excellent considering this is an AMOLED display. You can set the color temperature to Vivid for more vibrant colors and Natural for warmer color tone and there is support for HDR and Widevine L1 which makes streaming HD contents from OTT platforms much easier.

The presence of an Ambient display shows all information that includes the date, time, number of times the smartphone is unlocked, and other notifications and can be customized. The display visibility is good under direct sunlight as the display can go as bright as 1200nits and in dark also the display can go very low in terms of brightness though you have the Blue Light Filer and Reading Mode.

The display also covers 84.8 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut scale and like the OnePlus 8 Pro, there is a Vibrant Color Effect Pro Mode that makes the color in the videos more saturated. However, this display is not an LTPO panel that can scale from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on the load of the application and lacks HyperTouch that reduces latency while gaming both of which are present on the OnePlus 9 Pro.

There is an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that works faster but now is located slightly lower near to the chin and the face unlock is also faster. The display is similar to that of the OnePlus 8T and nothing is different here but still, it is good for media consumption.

OnePlus 9 Performance:

The OnePlus 9 is powered by the latest and greatest chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 which is the most powerful chipset to date and is built on a 5nm process. This chipset is based on a tri-cluster combination where we have 1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 Gold core (ARM Cortex-X1) + 1x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 Gold cores (ARM Cortex-A78) and another 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 680 Silver cores (ARM Cortex-A55).

It has the powerful Adreno 660 GPU that provides a leap of 35 percent in GPU performance over the OnePlus 8T that runs on the Snapdragon 865 chipset. Overall performance feels top-notch with no lag and all tasks like scrolling through webpages, multitasking between applications, and playing games were a breeze.

The 120Hz refresh rate combined with the 240Hz touch sampling rate ensures excellent gameplay with all heavy games like Call Of Duty, Asphalt 9 Legends, and some graphic-intensive games like Gensian Impact which ran smoothly without any problem. The default settings are set to very high and the maximum frame rate while playing Call Of Duty. 

During gaming, the touch response works extremely well but the back of the smartphone was slightly warmer and this is the best smartphone for both daily performance and gaming. The OnePlus 9 is available in two variants - 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and another 12GB RAM and 256GB storage where RAM is LPDDR5 and the speeds are of UFS 3.1 which is great. 

In terms of benchmarks, the Geekbench 5.1 single-core and multi-core scores are 1123 and 3482 which is by far the highest, and in graphics-intensive benchmarks like Antutu v8, the OnePlus 9 scored 771231 and these scores are slightly more compared to the OnePlus 8T that runs on the Snapdragon 865.

However, comparing both the OnePlus 8T and the OnePlus 9 side by side, there will not be any difference in multi-tasking or daily performance as both can handle everything with ease but on the gaming side, we see a slight improvement on the OnePlus 9.

OnePlus 9 Software:

The OnePlus 9 runs on OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11 out of the box. The OxygenOS 11 does not look much like Stock Android and the approach is more towards OneUI in Samsung smartphones. OxygenOS brings some new features like improved Zen Mode, newer GameSpace but the customizations are slightly lesser here compared to previous versions of OxygenOS.

However, you can tweak a lot of things in the settings like icons on the home screen and also change the Ambient Display in the Customizations tab in terms of color, design, and other things. OxygenOS is one of the best Android skins out there as there are no ads and the bloatware is not found too much except for some handful of apps like Netflix, Facebook, etc. are pre-installed.

Other features also include Device Controls, Bubbles which is a floating icon for all different conversations, and a system-wide dark mode. OnePlus has also used the Google stock applications for the dialler, messages, and contacts, and when you swipe from the left of the home screen, there is now a Google Feed which can be changed to Shelf or vice versa from the settings.

Another strongest point of OxygenOS is the faster software updates and two years of Android updates.

Like all OnePlus smartphones, the software experience elevates the user experience with no ads and bloatware and this is similar to the OnePlus 9 also.

OnePlus 9 Cameras:

The biggest talking point about the OnePlus 9 is the upgrade in cameras over the OnePlus 8T. The Hasselblad logo is seen on both the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro. Hasselblad is a camera manufacturer which bought us images from the moon in the past and now OnePlus has signed a three-year deal with Hasselblad which could uplift the image of the company itself.

OnePlus claims that these cameras have been worked with Hasselblad for color tuning and image sensors from the company to elevate the photography and video recording level. So there is a triple camera setup at the rear on the OnePlus 9 that includes a 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX689 sensor for the main camera that is also found on the OnePlus 8 Pro, another 50MP f/2.2 Sony IMX766 sensor for the ultrawide camera, and a 2MP monochrome camera.

The OnePlus cameras have not excited much in the past except for the OnePlus 8 Pro which was a great camera smartphone that used the Sony IMX689 sensor for the main camera. Till then OnePlus sticked always to the 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor for the main camera from the OnePlus 7 all the way up to the OnePlus 8T.

These newer cameras on the OnePlus 9 are a big upgrade from last year's OnePlus 8T that has the older 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor for the main camera and has a 16MP ultrawide camera. OnePlus says these cameras produce more natural-looking colors as Hasselblad seems to have played with the color science.

The images from the main camera have excellent details and a good dynamic range. The colors look true-to-source and have a natural look which was not the case with previous OnePlus smartphones. But now the tuning of Hasselblad has worked wonders. The images have an excellent dynamic range and lesser noise compared to previous OnePlus smartphones.

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

The white balance, exposure, and ISO levels are excellent and can be adjusted using the true manual mode. But in daylight, the images have much more contrast and have better results compared to the OnePlus 8T that tends to oversaturate colors. Taking images in RAW format resulted in a much better dynamic range and no noise. 

However, these images are better compared to other smartphones but still the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Galaxy S21 Ultra have better dynamic range and the color science is also well balanced on those cameras. 

In low-light situations, the images have good details with vibrant colors and a good dynamic range. There is some noise present that can be reduced using the NightScape Mode that improves the dynamic range, restores the blown highlights, and also improves the color saturation with more natural-looking colors. These images are almost similar to the one-shot on the OnePlus 8 Pro though.

Without Night Mode:

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

With Night Mode:

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

Moving to the ultrawide camera, we have a newer 50MP compared to a 16MP one on the OnePlus 8T. Compared to the OnePlus 8T, it has better color saturation and dynamic range. By default, the images are saved in 12.5MP resolution There is no distortion but some amount of noise is present. The colors are almost close to that of the front camera with good exposure and contrast.

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

The ultrawide camera performs better at night compared to the OnePlus 8 Pro as you have less noise in the background with no distortion at all. The dynamic range is good with slightly oversaturated colors but this is the best ultrawide camera on any OnePlus smartphone to date. The ultrawide camera has the NightScape which further improves details in shadows and also the long-exposure shots.

Without Night Mode:

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

With Night Mode:

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

Hasselblad seems to have improved both the cameras and they are a huge step up from the OnePlus 8T. The ultrawide camera can also double up as a macro camera for really close-up images. The camera can focus as close as 2cm which is great thus bringing out images with good dynamic range and vibrant colors with lesser noise. However, it is much better compared to the 2MP macro camera on the OnePlus 8T.

The 2MP monochrome sensor carries unchanged from the OnePlus 8T and the portraits come out with excellent dynamic range with a more natural look to them. The edge detection is good but when you zoom into the portraits, there is some softness around the edges, and here where the iPhones and the Samsung do a better job.

Shot on OnePlus 9

Shot on OnePlus 8T

Not that the portraits are bad either but the background blur is not so good as the subject separation is too much from the background which seems that the subject is just a small cutout from the rest. You have different black and white with colored filters for portraits.

On the front, you get the same older 16MP f/2.4 Sony IMX471 sensor for the camera. Why OnePlus? The competition is moving towards 32MP and many flagships like the iPhone 12 Pro Max has just a 12MP camera and the Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 10MP camera that does a much better job compared to this 16MP camera on the OnePlus 9.

However, the selfies come out with good details with natural-looking skin tones. The dynamic range is pretty good and the colors look natural too. But there is a considerable amount of noise present and when you zoom in, you can clearly see a lot of noise. The front camera lacks a NightScape Mode, so selfies shot at night have a lot of noise and the dynamic range is not so good.

On the video side, there is support for 8K video recording at 30fps on the main camera. As usual, there is 4K video recording at 60fps and 30fps with 1080p recording at 30fps and 60fps. The videos from the main camera have excellent details and a good dynamic range. The video is slightly on the jittery side and some amount of noise is also present. 

Similarly, at night, the videos have a good dynamic range but here there is a considerable amount of noise when compared with flagships from Samsung and Apple. The videos taken during the night have oversaturated colors and the contrast is not so good. The major drawback of this camera is the lack of OIS which is present on the OnePlus 8T.

Hasselblad has tuned the colors and seems to have worked on videos also because when you compare a video taken on the OnePlus 9 to that of the OnePlus 8T, the color saturation and dynamic range are better on the OnePlus 9, but the amount of noise is more on the OnePlus 9 with slight jitteriness present which is not the case with OnePlus 8T.

The 8K video can be taken from the ultrawide camera also but there is a lot of noise present and the dynamic range is just average here with a lot of distortion. Switching over to 4K on both the main camera and the ultrawide does result in better details and good color reproduction. For the ultrawide camera, there is a Super Stable Mode that works at 1080p at 60 or 30fps.

Talking about the Super Stable Mode, this mode applies crop heavily almost equivalent to the subjects present in the main camera and you do not get the wider field of view in videos that you get normally without using this mode. At night, both cameras (main and ultrawide) do a good job in color reproduction and contrast.

The NightScape present on the ultrawide camera does reduce some noise but still, the dynamic range remains average and the videos have good contrast. You can also take macro videos using the ultrawide camera which is restricted to 1080p only. On the front, there is only 1080p at 30fps available and the details are just average.

There is some amount of noise present in videos from the front camera and the dynamic range is also average here. This is sort of disappointing as the OnePlus Nord (Review) which is a mid-range smartphone has support for 4K at 60fps on the front camera. The portrait videos come out really good from the rear cameras and just average on the front camera.

Overall, the cameras seem to have vastly improved on the OnePlus 9 over the OnePlus 8T, and honestly speaking the color science played by Hasselblad has not made such a big difference and still, flagships from Samsung and Apple have better cameras. But considering this is a flagship, you are getting the right camera setup with one compromise that is OIS.

OnePlus 9 Battery Life:

The OnePlus 9 sports a similar battery capacity as the OnePlus 8T i.e. 4500mAh battery which can easily last well and combined with a 120Hz display and Snapdragon 888's more power-efficient 5nm process, the battery life is slightly better compared to that of the OnePlus 8T. It can easily last for a single day with heavy usage.

With normal usage and the display set to standard 60Hz, the battery life is great as it can last for two days which is good considering the huge size of the display. There are also OxygenOS battery optimizations present and the regular power-saving mode. Deep Customizations is a great feature during charging which was introduced in the OnePlus 8.

Coming to charging, here the 4500mAh battery is divided into two equal 2250mAh batteries that can be charged efficiently using the 65W fast charger included in the box. This is the newer Warp Charge 65T which is a minor upgrade over the Warp Charge 65 on the OnePlus 8T. As a result, the OnePlus 9 charges from 0 to 100 percent in just under 30 minutes which is great.

This 65W fast charger also supports USB power delivery to many gadgets like smartphones and laptops at 45W which is really good and it can also charge through USB power delivery using a 25W charger that charges the smartphone in around one and half hours.

This is a whole 10 minutes faster compared to 39 minutes of charge time on the OnePlus 8T. However, the OnePlus 9 does not support wireless charging or reverse wireless charging in India. Many international versions like America and Europe get support for 15W fast wireless charging. It is still slower compared to the 50W fast wireless charging on the OnePlus 9 Pro. 

Overall, the battery life and the charging speeds are good but the lack of wireless charging here is a big miss.

OnePlus 9 Audio Quality:

The OnePlus 9 has a stereo speaker setup that sounds very loud and clear. However, the sound is not as on the OnePlus Pro models, but still, the inclusion of Hi-Res audio ensures good sound. The only thing it lacks is a 3.5mm headphone jack but for an enhanced sound effect, there is Dolby Atmos.

Verdict:

Overall, the OnePlus 9 feels like a well-balanced flagship smartphone thus providing almost all the premium experience in a flagship. It gets a nice 120Hz display, a faster and efficient 65W Warp Charge 65T, a good and improved set of cameras, and the fluidity of the software that you get with OxygenOS all wrapped up in a package that costs less than its Pro model.

Compared to other OnePlus smartphones like the OnePlus 8T and the OnePlus 9 Pro, it feels like a smartphone that improves upon the previous iteration and has some features that the Pro model has. It is a big upgrade in terms of cameras and chipset over the OnePlus 8T while other features are almost similar on both. 

So with a new camera system tuned by Hasselblad, is it enough to make it buy over the OnePlus 8T?

Definitely yes if cameras are your highest priority but other than that the OnePlus 8T is still a great smartphone and if you could spend some you can get the OnePlus 8 Pro that makes better sense though having a less powerful chipset Snapdragon 865 compared to Snapdragon 888 on the OnePlus 9. 

But the OnePlus 8 Pro does get an IP rating, support for wireless charging both of which are absent on the OnePlus 9. The sides of the smartphone are made up of plastic and the main camera lacks OIS. Still, there is also the OnePlus 9R that is similar to the OnePlus 8T except for the newer design and a slightly powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset makes more sense if the newer cameras on the OnePlus 9 are not important.

So for a better camera experience, the OnePlus 9 Pro is better as it comes with a dedicated telephoto camera and other features like an aluminum frame instead of the plastic frame on the OnePlus 9, faster 50W wireless charging, a 120Hz LTPO panel, and IP rating make it worth considering over the OnePlus 9. However, if you can live with these compromises, then the OnePlus 9 is a great smartphone to own.