Is OnePlus 9R the best flagship to buy at Rs.39999?
The OnePlus 9 series has created hype for the cameras with the name "Hasselblad" and there is another smartphone OnePlus 9R which is exclusively for India and is almost similar to the OnePlus 8T (Review) except for the newer design and the newer chipset. The OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro (Review) are priced very high due to the flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset and those cameras tuned by Hasselblad.
The OnePlus 9R, on the other hand, is a much more affordable smartphone as it packs a good build and design, a 120Hz display, Snapdragon 870 chipset, and has support for 65W fast charging which was introduced with the OnePlus 8T last year. The strongest point of any OnePlus smartphone is the great combination of powerful hardware and great software experience which comes with the OxygenOS.
With all the flagship specifications present, is this new OnePlus 9R which is a reclone of the OnePlus 8T worth buying, and should you spend the Rs.39999 on the OnePlus 9R thus sacrificing the Hasselblad cameras and the Snapdragon 888 chipset on the OnePlus 9 (Review) which is costs Rs.10000 more? Let's find out in the full review.
OnePlus 9R Design:
The OnePlus 9R looks almost similar to the OnePlus 8T that was launched last year in October except that the back has a newer look for the camera module which looks almost similar to the quad-camera setup on the OnePlus 9 Pro instead of the Hasselblad branding. The camera module does not protrude much. The OnePlus 9R is available in two color options that include - Carbon Black and Lake Blue.
The Carbon Black color variant has a matte finish on a frosted glass back and feels much better to grip compared to the Lake Blue color variant which has a glossy back and that catches a lot of fingerprints. The smartphone is slightly curved around the corners which makes it easier to hold also. However, there is no IP53 rating but you do get P2i coating which makes it splash-resistant.
The sides of the smartphone have a metallic frame running around where on the right side, there is an alert slider with a power button and on the left side, there are the volume buttons. However, the metallic frame around gives it a premium look and is much better compared to the plastic frame present on the OnePlus 9 which costs higher than the OnePlus 9R.
On the top, there is only a secondary noise-canceling microphone and when you come at the bottom, there is a dual SIM card slot with a loudspeaker grill and a primary microphone. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack nor microSD card support. On the front, there is a single punch hole camera on the top left corner and the display has minimum bezels to the sides.
The smartphone weighs around 189 grams and is just 8.4mm thickness thus having a good weight distribution and in terms of protection, both the front as well as the back are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. However, only one downside to build is lack of IP rating or else it is a great smartphone in terms of build quality.
OnePlus 9R Display:
The OnePlus 9R sports the exact same display as that of the OnePlus 8T and the OnePlus 9 i.e. 6.55-inches Full HD+ (1080x2400 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display with the 120Hz refresh rate as we saw on the OnePlus 8T. As it is an AMOLED display, the color reproduction and viewing angles are great. It does miss out on the Adaptive refresh rate which we saw with the LTPO panel on the OnePlus 9 Pro.
But the standard 120Hz refresh rate ensures smooth scrolling through webpages, multi-tasking is faster and playing games was much better. You can also switch to the standard 60Hz if you want to preserve battery life. However, like the OnePlus 9 Pro, there is no curved instead it has a flatter display that prevents those accidental touches.
The display is very bright and has good visibility under direct sunlight as the display can go as bright as 1300nits with the Sunlight Mode turned on and even in dark, the display can go very dim and there are also the Reading Mode and the Blue Light Filter. This display does not have any MEMC technology as such which is a miss but you do get the standards like support for HDR 10+ and Widevine L1.
Though the OnePlus 9R is cheaper compared to the OnePlus 9 and the 9 Pro, the AMOLED panel does not have any black crush or green tint issues and you can set the color temperature of the display from warmer to cooler and can set the color profiles from three different settings - Vivid and Natural where Vivid will provide more vibrant colors and Natural sets a warmer tone.
There is an optical in-display fingerprint scanner located at the right place compared to the one located at the very bottom of the OnePlus 9 Pro. It is fast and accurate and the face unlocks faster also. And as it is an AMOLED display, there is an Ambient Display which shows all the information from time, date, and other notifications. In terms of display, nothing has been changed from the OnePlus 8T.
OnePlus 9R Performance:
The OnePlus 9R is powered by the latest Snapdragon 870 chipset which is an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 865 chipset found on the OnePlus 8T. This chipset sits lower than the Snapdragon 888 chipset which is found on the regular OnePlus 9 and the 9 Pro. As you are getting a flagship chipset, performance and gaming would not be a problem.
This is the same chipset that does duties on the Xiaomi Mi 11X (Review), iQOO 7, and the Vivo X60 and X60 Pro (Review). Both the Snapdragon 865 and the Snapdragon 870 chipsets have the same configuration except that the Prime core is clocked at 3.2GHz on the Snapdragon 870 instead of the 2.84GHz on the Snapdragon 865. Both have a similar GPU which is the Adreno 650 GPU.
So in terms of daily performance, the smartphone handles everything smoothly whatever tasks are thrown at it whether it is multi-tasking, scrolling through webpages, and also playing heavy games like Call Of Duty Mobile, Asphalt 9 Legends, etc. We played Call Of Duty for longer hours with the graphics and frame rates set to the highest settings and there was no lag at all.
In GPU intensive games like Gensin Impact ran smoothly but there were slight stutters noticed but it was very negligible. However, after long hours of gaming, the back of the OnePlus 9R felt slightly warmer and was not hot like the OnePlus 9 Pro which has a powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset. OnePlus has equipped the smartphone with a Vapour Cooling system that helps dissipate heat while gaming.
(Credits: C4Etech)
The Snapdragon 870 is a much stable chipset compared to the Snapdragon 888 chipset and if you consider the thermal throttling tests the peak performance of the Snapdragon 870 chipset is better than the Snapdragon 888 which suddenly shows a rise in temperature even after running multiple benchmarks. Even in multiple benchmarks, the Snapdragon 888 shows a larger drop in scores.
In Antutu v8, the Snapdragon 870 powered OnePlus 9R scored 671483 compared to 761506 on the OnePlus 9 which is slightly lower and not much of a difference. Similarly, in Geekbench 5.1, the OnePlus 9R scored 961 and 3027 compared to the 1122 and 3615 on the OnePlus 9 which is almost closer to the OnePlus 9 which does edges out ahead with the more powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset.
(Credits: C4Etech)
As this has the Snapdragon 870 chipset, there is support for 5G. However, there is a single 5G band present which is the n78 band only. This is a letdown as many manufacturers are having more 5G bands but the company can increase 5G bands through a future software update. Overall, the performance and gaming are excellent except the smartphone getting slightly warmer after a longer period of gaming.
OnePlus 9R Software:
The biggest highlighting aspect of OnePlus smartphones has always been the software experience that comes with OxygenOS. With the OnePlus 9R, you are getting OxygenOS 11.2 with Android 11 out of the box. So what we have known is OxygenOS is one of the most streamlined user interfaces in past and this continues today also as there is no bloatware or any ads present in the user interface.
It looks almost close to Stock Android and you get a tone of customizations for the icons, home screen, wallpapers, ambient display with different clock styles, and also the different themes. There is one very cool feature called the Work Balance Mode (earlier known as Zen Mode) that helps you avoid distraction from the smartphone by just selecting the essential applications for showing notifications.
Other features include Parallel apps where you can create two instances of an application, Game Space tool is newer which provides enhanced gameplay thus keeping you away from distractions by blocking notifications or calls and also shows the CPU and GPU usage. The Ambient display has different styles and you can set the fingerprint scanner as a shortcut to many applications.
Like all other smartphones, OnePlus has also integrated with the Google ecosystem where instead of the Shelf, when you swipe towards the left of the home screen, there is the Google Feed and the dialler, messaging, calendar, etc. are stock applications of Google. The OxygenOS 11 is more like OneUI now and in terms of software updates, OnePlus guarantees two years of Android updates and three years of security updates.
However, it is not the best as Samsung guarantees four years of security and three years of Android updates for its majority smartphone lineup but OxygenOS provides faster updates, for example, there were some heating issues that got fixed on the OnePlus 9R, and also it is having the latest May security patch running. The only downside was some constant notifications from the Red Cable Club.
OnePlus 9R Cameras:
The OnePlus 9R sports exactly the same set of cameras as that of the OnePlus 8T which includes a 48MP f/1.7 Sony IMX586 sensor for the main camera, a 16MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 5MP macro camera, and a 2MP B/W or monochrome sensor that helps in terms of portraits. On the front, there is the 16MP f/2.5 camera which has the Sony IMX471 sensor.
These cameras feel short when compared to other smartphones that have much better cameras as the main camera which is the 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor is a 2-year older camera sensor found on the OnePlus 7, 7T, 8, 8T, etc. It would have been better if OnePlus could have at least provided the 48MP Sony IMX589 sensor as seen on the OnePlus 8 Pro which is a much better camera sensor.
The front camera which is the 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor is continuously being used from the days of the OnePlus 7 launch till now. The main camera takes images with a good amount of detail and the dynamic range is above average. The colors look oversaturated as there is some inconsistency in colors. There is some amount of noise and when you zoom in, clearly the details are not sharp and look slightly softer.
Similarly, at night, the images have a good amount of detail with the dynamic range being above average. There is clearly a lot of noise and the colors look slightly washed out when you zoom in. The shadows are crushed and when you turn on the dedicated Night Mode, things change quite a bit as the dynamic range improves with color saturation with the reduction in noise and better details in shadows.
Still, this is not the best camera when it comes to night photography. The third camera is a 5MP macro camera which results in images with good details but there is a lot of noise present. For a better result, it is always recommended to use the main camera and can go very close to the subject for better color saturation and dynamic range.
The 16MP ultrawide camera does a very good job as it has a wider field of view with good dynamic range and lesser noise. The color looks slightly dull here and there is some distortion around the edges. But when you zoom into these images, the details look sharper and the contrast is also good.
Similarly, at night, the images have good dynamic range and have good details but there is a lot of noise and the dedicated Night Mode improves the color saturation and also removes the edge distortion thus improving the dynamic range and this is one of the best ultrawide cameras at this price segment.
The portraits come out good both in terms of color saturation and edge detection with proper background blur but the dynamic range is not so good as there is a lot of noise present when you zoom in. You can set the black and white color to the portraits also using that 2MP B/W sensor.
On the front, there is an older 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor which seems outdated as of today but you do have a good dynamic range with slightly sharper details. There is a lot of noise present and the color saturation could have been better. In terms of portraits, there is good edge detection with decent background blur which needs some improvement.
In terms of videos, the OnePlus 9R has support for 4K video recording at 60fps but it does lack 8K video recording support as present on the OnePlus 9. However, where the OnePlus 9 lacks an OIS, the OnePlus 9R has it though being cheaper. The videos have a good dynamic range with decent noise present and the presence of OIS helps to result in stabilized footage with good contrast.
At night, the dynamic range is average with a good amount of details but there is some overexposure in the background, and turning on the NightScape Mode improves the dynamic range and lowers the noise to a good extent. The colors look more saturated and it is always recommended to shoot videos at night using the Night Mode.
On the ultrawide camera, the videos came out with good details but there was quite some distortion around the corners though having a larger field of view. The details are good also at night using the NightScape mode and switching to 1080p on both the main/ultrawide cameras, the Super Stable Mode can be used for a stabilized video footage.
On the front, you are only restricted to 1080p at 30fps only which is really pathetic as the budget OnePlus Nord and the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G can record videos at 4K from the front camera. The videos come out with a good dynamic range but have a lot of noise present. Though the presence of EIS helps in getting stabilized videos and in terms of color saturation, there is a lot of oversharpening.
OnePlus 9R Battery Life:
The OnePlus 9R sports a 4500mAh battery which is similar to that of the OnePlus 8T, 9, and the 9 Pro. This battery can easily last for one single day with very heavy usage which includes gaming continuously for 3-4 hours, streaming social media and OTT platforms, scrolling through webpages and the display was set to 120Hz all time. With normal usage, you can get one and a half day battery life.
The standard screen-on time was hovering around 6-6.5 hours which was very good considering the battery optimizations in OxygenOS and Snapdragon 870 chipset being efficient as it is built on a 7nm process. With normal usage, you can expect two days of battery life with the display set to standard 60Hz.
Whether you are getting a smaller or a larger battery, the OnePlus smartphones have always been the fastest when it comes to charging and it is no different here as there is support for 65W fast charging on the OnePlus 9R which charges the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent within 35-40 minutes. This is achieved by the 65W Warp Charger provided inside the box.
These charging speeds are very fast but still the OnePlus 9 and the 9 Pro charge slightly faster which is around 30-35 minutes as they have the more efficient Warp Charge 65T technology. However, this 65W fast charger on the OnePlus 9R can charge other smartphones in a faster manner and there is also the Optimized Charging which can charge the OnePlus 9R around 80 percent in a fast manner and next 20 percent takes some time which you can configure.
OnePlus 9R Audio Quality:
The OnePlus 9R has a set of stereo speakers which are very loud and clear with no distortion. The sound has good loudness levels and bass levels. The top earpiece has a slightly shrill volume but there is also the Dolby Atmos for enhanced sound effect. It does miss out on the 3.5mm headphone jack which might not be an issue.
Verdict:
The OnePlus 9R is a well-balanced flagship smartphone from OnePlus as it combines the best hardware and software experience considering the price segment at which it is present. The OnePlus 9R is also a sensible buy for those who want a OnePlus flagship at a good price as the OnePlus 9 and the 9 Pro are priced very high.
It has a good build and design, a nice 120Hz display for media consumption, performance remains good with the Snapdragon 870 chipset which is a well-balanced chipset compared to the Snapdragon 888 chipset that has shown signs of overheating on the OnePlus 9 Pro recently. It also has a good stereo speaker setup and OxygenOS provides the smoothest software experience with no bloatware and ads.
The battery life is really good and the faster 65W charging is an added bonus that charges the smartphone extremely faster. However, there are some letdowns like lack of IP68 rating, wireless charging both of which are present on the Galaxy S20 FE 5G and currently support only one band of 5G. The speakers though good could have been quite better.
Then there is the average camera setup where the OnePlus is still using a 2-year older Sony IMX586 sensor for the main camera and a 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor for the front camera as other companies have moved towards newer 64MP and 108MP camera sensors so here the camera performance is good but not extraordinary but the video quality remains good due to the OIS.
In terms of software updates, OxygenOS is faster and it guarantees three years of software update but still, manufacturers like Google and Samsung provide four years of software and three years of Android upgrades. In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 870 is excellent but does heat up the smartphone quite a bit while recording a video or playing games heavily which was not the case on the OnePlus 8T.
On an overall basis, if you are looking for an all-rounder smartphone under Rs.40000 with great performance and gaming, premium build and design, great AMOLED display, good battery life with faster charging, and the best software experience thus sacrificing on the cameras, then the OnePlus 9R is the right flagship smartphone that you should go for and makes a better option even compared to the OnePlus 9.
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