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[Full Review] [The Lab] OnePlus 9RT 5G Review - Shaking The Martini Jan 21, 2022

McJader , Jan 22, 2022 :

​

TL;DR: Good looking, simple and safe design, except for a flat top. Feels premium in hand.

~
Look

​

Right off the bat, the device is beautiful to look at, especially if you are a matte black fan like I am.
Like I always say, you just can’t go wrong with black.



Although the naming could’ve been better (how does “hacker” black even get approved? ), I can’t fault the colour choice for this one.

The camera module is the big distinguishing factor in phone design’s these days. OnePlus has decided to play it safe, and continued with the design language from the 9 Series. And playing it safe has paid off, the design works, and it’s not something you would mind looking at.





The lenses give you the impression that they are huge, but they actually aren’t, if you observe closely. The actual lens is only a fraction of the size of what you might think. The bigger “circle” is just there to make the inner lenses look big.



About the text, the “50 MP DOL-HDR 14-22mm” on the camera bump, again, like the “Never Settle” on the case, could’ve been avoided.



The device has a metallic frame instead of a plastic one, and the transition from the frosted-glass back to the metal frame on the side is a seamless one. “Classy” is what I would call it.
On the right hand side, you’ll find the usual power button and the famed alert slider, again in matte black.



Same can be said for the volume rocker on the other side.

The power and volume buttons feel good to press and are responsive. The alert slider's three positions are also easily distinguishable and the sliding action feels tight, but we'll see how it fares after a few months.

On the bottom you find the usual USB-C port, along with the SIM card tray, microphone and speakers. Pretty standard so far.



The top is where things get a little interesting and….flat.
Hah, that’s not a contradiction, the top is literally flat, reminds me of the flat sides of the iPhones these days. Franky, I don’t know why OnePlus would do this, feels like a strange design choice. But anyways, I don't mind it tbh.



Plus now I have a cool party trick up my sleeve.


The front of the device is where I might’ve wanted OnePlus to innovate a little. Every device of theirs since the 8 Series seems to have the same boring front, and it is a downer when moving to a Rs. 45,000+ device.


The holepunch cutout on the top left doesn’t offer much hindrance to the full screen experience, especially when I compare it to the selfie “island” of my Nord.



The top speaker grille is also housed next to the selfie camera.

About the chin, if I’m being honest, I don’t even notice it a lot of the time, so I guess ,mission accomplished to OnePlus. From the picture that I shared of the front of the phone a couple of paragraphs back, what did you think of the chin?

Feel

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The frosted glass feels awesome in hand, there’s no other way to describe it. And surprisingly, no fingerprints!
Well, at least until now.

The phone does feel quite big, especially tall, and I’m saying this coming from a phone that was just half a centimetre shorter.
Without a case,at 199g, it is a massive 15g heavier than my Nord.

Thankfully, I didn't notice the added weight because I used a heavy case on my Nord.
But it might be something to consider for those who like lightweight phones.

With the case too, it’s not that heavy to me, but it does start to feel a bit bulky.



But, like I mentioned in my original unboxing post, the case is good quality, feels good quality and looks good quality. You can use it for those first few days for initial protection, or even later on.



It isn’t immune to fingerprints however, so keep that in mind.

And that’s pretty much it for this section of my review. OnePlus 9RT might not stand out in a crowd of phones, but it’s a stable design that will look good even after a few years.

Final rating: 8.5/10
~​

And I'm afraid that's all I have for you for phase 1! Thanks for reading if you've read, and please do come back when I post the full review
Oh, and before I forget, all these pictures are shot on OnePlus Nord and Nord 2, so if you don't like them, go complain to OnePlus like y'all usually do

 

McJader , Feb 7, 2022 :

Software : Chance at Redemption, Somewhat Spoiled
Yes, I have fancy titles for new sections now

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​

Hello, I’m McJader, and I’ve been using the OnePlus 9RT for three weeks. First off, welcome back to this dystopia, I'm here to bring you Phase 2 of my Martini review.
First up in Phase 2 is a parameter a lot of people here seem to be *very* passionate about. Well,atleast if you go by the number of "Why ColorOS" threads
That's right, I'll be telling you what I think about the Software on the OnePlus 9RT.
Warning: It's a bit long, so for a quick summary I would recommend reading the TL;DR.

TLDR: This is no longer OxygenOS, and I don't mind that. Animations are so much smoother. UI and UX is….OK. Bugs, however? Yes there are some. Potentially device breaking for some people. Launching with OOS11 instead of 12 is a big boo-boo.

~​

I'd heard a lot about this "new" merged codebase software that OnePlus was releasing all it's new phones with, and a lot of the opinions I heard were not positive.
I obviously have tried to go in with a neutral mindset and no prejudices.

Set-up
​

On turning on the phone for the first time, you are greeted with the usual Android setup screen, connectivity, back-up,etc options that you get on any other phone these days. So all that's pretty standard.

And then again the standard OnePlus phones setup screens. Font size, font style (yep, there's a new font), agree to OnePlus pushing their app services and analytics on you , you get the idea.

I was also greeted with the "can we sneakily install this on your phone" screen, and it included a bunch of Google Apps that I all said no to.

One odd thing I found while setting up, was that it asked me to put in a numerical password of some sort. I thought it’s fine, it’s for the screen lock. but a couple of minutes later, during the setup process, there was another screen asking me to set up another password, but this time I could choose the password type. This one seemed closer to the screen lock set-up I was used to.

I set up a pattern, which is my device pattern now, and surprisingly never saw that first numeric password screen again, or got to use that first numeric lock ever again, so it's anyone's guess what that was for.

Anyways, now that I had set up my device, what next? Exploring, of course.

Pre-Installed Apps and Bloatware
​

The first thing I checked was for the pre-installed apps.
Here's a screenshot:





Yeah, that's not much, really. I was surprised by the number of Google Apps though, had to uninstall a lot of them(that I could).
Another odd finding: who in this great, grand Android world needs *three* pre-installed File managers that they can't even uninstall?! Even two is pushing it a bit, but three? C'mon. The 9RT comes with the old Google Files, new Google Files, and the OnePlus File Manager.

​

I personally prefer the UI of the OnePlus FM, but again, that's subjective.

Now, interesting fact: I did some research (nah I didn't, thanks @Aaron2017), and found out that Google had apparently discontinued its old Files app and Android now came with the new one. This statement seems to apply to most OP devices, except, of course, the unlucky 9RT.
Who is to blame, OP or Google? You tell me

Apps from OnePlus like Games and Zen Mode can be useful, and I do use them from time to time, but I would still put them in the category of bloat. I'll talk more about the Games app in my Performance review.

Some other pre-installed “bloatware” on the 9RT is Cloud Service, the Community App, OnePlus Notes, Clone Phone, and the OnePlus Store (eh).
While I still use some of these apps, it doesn’t mean everyone does, and an option should be present during setting up to opt-out of installing these apps.

And this brings me to Red Cable Club, which seems to be embedded in the skin like in OOS11. No way to remove it. While I, again, use RCC, doesn't mean everyone does. It's bloatware all right.



OOS is definitely not "light-weight" as it used to be, but you know what? I still don’t mind it, and prefer it over Samsung’s OneUI or Xiaomi's MIUI.

The UI and Settings
​

OnePlus had said that “users probably wouldn’t notice the new codebase”, but trust me OP, we very much do.​

The Settings and UI is very different to the one on my Nord, which is still on the old codebase.



The categories in Settings seem to have been distributed more widely compared to before. Don’t like it, don’t mind it either.
At least there’s no device breaking misalignment bug /s

I miss some options like the setting to show the number of seconds passed in the clock at the top right or the lockdown option in the power menu, for that matter. But is it enough to ruin or spoil my experience? Nope.

All that said, OOS 11.3 seems to have carried over the UI inconsistencies from OOS11, some of which are mentioned in this thread by @Its.Leandroo (Thanks @SJBoss for the link).
Here is an example:



Why does the call settings text at the bottom need to be in bold? Even when in some other menu, the options are not in bold.

Another example with the bold DELETE and CANCEL:



See what I mean with the inconsistencies?

Then there’s the wide empty spaces and the small text and/or numbers that makes no sense to me. If they are going for better one-handedness, just make the text bigger, no?







I still like the UI, but sometimes, and for certain prospective buyers, these little things make the difference in the end, so I thought I should mention it.

PS:
I really like the new screenshot gestures and UI!

Customization
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OxygenOS, and ColorOS more so in particular, has been known for great customization options. The merged codebase doesn’t seem to have much difference from the old one, except for a rehashed 'Personalization' menu,



which I really like for the most part, except for one thing: You can’t choose a custom accent color! There are 10 pre-set colors that you can choose from. I used this a lot, so I'm sed it’s gone.



There’s also two new fonts, besides Roboto! If you are about to comment that OnePlus Sans is not new, don’t do that yet. There is a big difference in the font weight on the old and new codebase, even though it is the same font. It’s something you immediately notice when you first use the phone.

OnePlus seems to have gone in with the “Medium” or “Book” Weights for the new codebase, instead of the Regular weight. Source: Many hours spent designing headers on the forums using OnePlus’ fonts. This is also the same font weight that seems to have been used for the Orbit app.

Anyways, one quirk I found: For toast messages, or when the font is already supposed to be thicc, the system makes it seem even thicker and very bold. It took some getting used to, for me.



Then there’s also the normal “Sans”, which I think is what they ship on OPPO devices. It is “adaptive” and “customizable”, meaning you can change the font weight to what you wish. Then there’s also the auto adapt option, which, I quote, “uses the best font display effects based on the scenario”. I've tried it, and it works ok. But honestly, I do not like this font at all, but for those who do, good to have the option.

Bugs
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Bugs are something that can ruin any smartphone experience, doesn't matter if it's a dirt cheap Realme or a top of the line iPhone. Bugs are also something newly launched OnePlus devices are notorious for.

Overall, considering I got the device a couple days after launch, the low amount of bugs was very surprising. But I still got some of them, I'll list them below:

• First off, playing HDR content in any app, be it YouTube or Netflix, the whole display seems to yellow a bit. Surely this can't be on purpose? I didn't notice it at first, but once I did, it's hard to ignore. I tried to capture it on camera, but it is something that you have to see live to notice. Not a deal-breaker, but makes watching HDR content kinda meh.

• Then there's the Media Storage bug. I won't go into the deets, it's a lot of factory resets and some detective work, thanks to my fellow reviewers and other friends for cooperating with my nonsense. Anyways, the conclusion I reached is: Do not sync Cloud Storage or WhatsApp Media Backups on your 9RT. It will store the media twice, and occupy double your storage. Even on deleting the pictures, only half the storage would go down unfortunately. Media Storage would still have the same amount of data. Everyone might not have this bug, but consider this a PSA.
• There's also the Red Cable Club bug that I'm facing (apparently not everyone is), where RCC says that my phone's IMEI doesn't exist. Well, ok then 🥲 Fixed, thanks OP

On the forums, I can see three major issues that people are reporting.

• Screen on/off gestures not working properly.
• Proximity sensor not working properly during calls.
• Can't update, error says something along the lines of "Only owner can install software update".

I can, thankfully, confirm that I have none of these issues in my review unit, but I thought I should highlight these here.

Software updates​

It was rumored since forever that the 9RT would launch with OOS12, but guess what, it didn't. Which is a shame, considering it launched in Jan 2022, at a time when competitors like the S21 FE launched with A12. Even though the software schedule of 3 major android updates +1 additional year of security updates is the same for both devices, the S21 FE would get one more major Android update which the 9RT won't.
Big downside.



I got the A03 update the day I powered the phone on for the first time, which came with some minor bug fixes and the December patch (eh). And there hasn't been any updates after that, although I would expect another one by the end of this month, considering the bimonthly schedule.

And that's all! OnePlus' new OOS isn't as messed up as I thought it'd be, but in quintessential OP style, they still managed to mess up some things, which mind you, can still be fixed, but we’ll see about that.
Final Rating: 7/10

~​

I expect some disagreements in this section, and that's fine, I have my opinion, you, the reader, will have yours.
As long as we keep it to a(n) (un)civil discussion it's all good.

If I missed something, or if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Thanks for reading, the next section should be here very soon™.

 

McJader , Feb 12, 2022 :

Performance: (Nearly) Nailed It​

You know, having great specs and the latest and greatest processor is fine, but what matters most is real world performance and Usage. Let's see how the 9RT performs.

TLDR: It's pretty good, as you might expect. Nothing that makes it stand out from the competition though. USB 2.0 could be a bummer.

~​

I've separated this section into four sub-sections:

• Normal usage
• Benchmarks
• Gaming
• Connectivity

Feel free to scroll to the one that is the most relevant for you. I'd be very happy if you want to read all four, of course

Normal usage​

There's a phrase: "melting into the background". I feel that's exactly what the 9RT does while you're using it.
It comes with the latest (well, not anymore) processor from Qualcomm , the SD888, the Fire Breathing Dragon, as I had nicknamed it when it first launched, for......reasons, IYKWIM.

My normal daily usage consists of some browser usage, social media, YouTube and a game of mobile racing or two.

Everything is so effortless, so smooth, I don't even feel like I'm using a phone most of the time tbh, which is a strange feeling.
Using budget phones and mid rangers for most of my (short) life, I didn't know what I was missing.

Apps open instantly, and open faaast. OnePlus phones' RAM management was never bad, and with 12 Gigs of LPDDR5, it's more than enough for me.
My phone tells me it uses around 7GB on average, which is fine, I don't really care as long as I don't experience any lags or shutters, which I don't, thankfully.



Here's my RAM usage sorted by apps, in case you wanted to know. Chrome uses the most RAM at a whopping 3GB, no wonder it has such a bad reputation among tech enthusiasts.



Speaking of RAM usage, there's also OnePlus' implementation of "Virtual RAM" that comes with the new codebase.



There's a couple of reasons I think it's useless:

• It basically converts some of your unused ROM into temporary RAM, which is much slower than actual RAM. Meh
• On a phone that already has 12GB or even 8GB of RAM, you don't need it. So again, meh.

It's a gimmick more than anything. Everyone's doing it, so OP's doing it too. But I suppose it doesn't hurt, as long as it isn't causing any problems, which it isn't. At least they didn't advertise it specially (afaik)
I find this to be more suitable to this section than the software one, so I mentioned it here.

All that's fine, what about heating?
Gaming aside (I have a separate section for it), I have never once found it to be hot while using social media or YouTube for hours together. It's as cool as a Cucumber (not really, but you know what I mean).

Benchmarks​

These days, especially in the smartphone category which Martini targets, benchmarks almost never really matter, all of the phones perform great.
Benchmarks are more for Smartphone manufacturers and certain types of users to flex; "Haha, my smartphone better than yours" which is stupid, really.
Anyways, for the sake of user knowledge, I run some benchmarks on Geekbench 5 and here are the results.

Normal mode:





Not bad, as expected tbh.

On the new codebase, OnePlus introduced a new "High Performance Mode" in response to the claims that they were throttling the SoC in their phones, which they admitted they were. It was a big thing at that time, go read it up.



Anyways, this mode is supposed to get the best performance out of the device, sacrificing battery life and a lot heating in the process. In regular usage I feel no difference at all except for worse battery life and heat, so I chose to omit it in that sub-section.
The only difference is in benchmarks, which is, I suspect, is what it's a part of the OS for.

Here they are:





Not bad, again. Happy, you Benchmark people in the back?
Make of them what you will, I honestly don't care much.

Gaming​

"Mobile gaming is one of the fastest growing industries in India"
This headline in an article from LiveMint really tells how important the gaming experience is becoming in a smartphone, especially smartphones like the 9RT, which seem to be marketed heavily for gamers, if we are to go by the launch event and general marketing around it.

I don't play games a lot, so I think you might find better examples from my colleagues, but for the sake of testing and also because I was curious how it would feel on a flagship (a budget flagship, but still), so I did test out a couple of games.

The games I tested are BGMI (of course) and a new game I found, and loved actually, I'm kinda addicted: F1 Mobile Racing.

And before you ask, no, the 9RT does not support 90 FPS on BGMI(yet). It doesn't matter to me much, but oh well.

Playing games is a breeze on the 9RT. No shutters, no lags, no problemo. I honestly have zero complaints, so not much to talk about.

Instead I'll talk a bit about the Games app and Gaming mode. The one on my 9RT is very different from the old codebase, or at least the Gaming Tools are.

I actually like this bloat. While playing games, it tells me the temperature (battery or SoC, I'm not sure), the time, battery remaining, etc.







There's also a brightness toggle and other handy features like Monitor Data. (For those who want to know how many FPS their game is running on)



The voice modular is quite funny actually, my favorite voice has to be alien. (Gimmick, btdubs)
Overall, gaming mode is a handy tool to have and complements the Gaming experience IMO.

And folks, maybe it's because of what OnePlus calls "Hypertouch 2.0", but the feeling of swiping, pressing and swiping while playing games is very satisfying, the 600Hz touch response rate plays an important part here, I believe.
It feels like just yesterday I was hearing about 240Hz touch rates, and now 600 is just crazy.

Also, the haptics. Tbh, I don't care about haptics much. As long as it's doing it's job well, I usually don't pay much attention to this area, and the 9RT passes this rather simple benchmark of mine with ease.

A lot of you might be wondering: What about heat while playing intensive games? OnePlus has made lofty claims with the much larger vapor chamber, but how effective is it?

When I first started using the device, I was shocked at how hot it got to touch, after 15-20 minutes of gaming. "Where's the heat dissipation?", I thought. And then I realized this is the heat dissipation, all the heat generated is being dissipated, and that's why I'm feeling it when I use the phone.

The flat top of the phone also got suspiciously warm, which kinda makes me think it's been designed that way for better heat dissipation?
Only a guess, I'm not sure how a flat top would help with that, but it does seem to get hot along the rest of the back, which I don't observe in other phones.

Connectivity:​

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are something a lot of us, including me, use everyday, so I decided to check that first.
Wi-Fi works as expected, I checked using different devices and the speed or ping wasn't any different than the others, so I'd say say Wi-Fi gets a green check mark.

However, do keep in mind, if you use your Wi-Fi on the 2.4Ghz band, along with BT, the Wi-Fi speeds will be much slower. This is because Bluetooth also runs on the same frequency.

Bluetooth works without any issues, I checked with my Buds Pro and WH1000-XM3s and LHDC worked fine as well.
The phone recognized my SIM card just fine, and I do not face any connectivity issues on calls or with mobile data.

Now, about wired connectivity and data transfers. OnePlus went in with the inferior USB 2.0 tech this time, obviously to keep the price low.
If you don't transfer data using wires like me, this shouldn't affect you.

However, if you transfer lots of data on a regular basis? This may not be the best phone for you, considering the much slower data speeds. I tried transferring a single gig of my pictures to my laptop, and even that was a painful wait for me.

PS: Oh, and before I forget to mention, the fingerprint sensor is so fast, especially coming from my Nord. Now I don't notice it as much, but it was probably the first thing I noticed while using the 9RT.

And…That's it, I think. The phone performs pretty good, as you'd expect.
I don't think there's anything that makes it stand out from the competition in this section, though. Which is not an issue, just that there's nothing that makes you go "wow" if you're used to flagships.

To someone upgrading from a lower end or midrange device, however? You'll definitely like it
Final Rating: 8/10

~
​

And that's what I think, more than a 1000 words later. I decided to go with what I do best: saying it as it is, without any filter. If I think something is useless, I'll say it's useless. If I don't believe in benchmarks, I'll make it amply clear, which I did I think.
Do you have any questions, or anything that I might have missed? Do let me know.
Also, what would you like to read about next - Display or Battery?

This section was unfortunately delayed because of my second vaccine shot. Fingers crossed, in the future I should be able to push these out on time.
Thanks for reading!

 

McJader , Feb 13, 2022 :

Oh and how dare I not mention the beloved 5G



That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the 9RT comes with

• The 5G Option in network settings!
• As many as 7 5G bands!
• The name is 9RT 5G!

All of which is.... useless for me, considering 5G is still a year or so away where I live.
Well, atleast all the people who wanted the 5G setting and 5G bands in India with no actual 5G coverage should be happy

 

McJader , Feb 17, 2022 :

Display (& Audio): Not bad
​

Yeah, since you guys didn't tell me what you wanted to read about next, I chose it for you.
We're going to talk about the Display of the 9RT today.

This should hopefully be shorter (TWSS), than the rest of the sections, since there's comparatively less to talk about.
Let's begin.

~​

TLDR: It's a solid display, I'm a fan of 120Hz. Again though, nothing that makes it stand out from the competition. Audio is also fine.

The 9RT comes with a nice display spec-wise, a 120Hz "dynamic" AMOLED one to be specific. It has a 6.62 inch screen, with a resolution of 1080×2400, and pixel density 397.
Ok, those are the specs out of the way.
Today we have four sections:

• Refresh rate
• General observations
• Viewing experience
• Audio

Refresh rate
​

First things first, let's talk about the 120Hz refresh rate. It's here and it makes it's presence felt, from the moment you turn on the 9RT for the first time.

I kid you not, I don't think I can go back to 90Hz, which was on my Nord, let alone 60.
Be warned, not all apps support 120Hz on the 9RT, especially YouTube, which a lot of people seem to not like.

General observations
​

The display itself is not bad. But I think it's not that good either. The color calibration seems weird at times, and I'm saying this without using that feature on the new codebase named "Video Color enhancer", which btw, does almost nothing from what I observed in my usage.



Here's a photo comparison of the three displays of the Nord, Nord 2 and 9RT, all on the same display settings (source:trust me bro)



Yeah, no difference if you see them irl, if you notice any difference in this picture, blame it on either my bad Samsung phone camera or your eyes

The phone gets bright enough for me in direct sunlight, with a max rated brightness capacity of approx 1300 nits, but I still have the same complaint I had with the Nord: not dim enough!
Or maybe I'm just expecting too much.



There's no mention of HDR content being supported anywhere on the spec sheet, but apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime still support playing HDR content. The result? Not very impressive.

Like I mentioned in my software review, you get a much warmer color profile while playing HDR content, which just seems...weird and extra.
I was able to capture it finally, in some way, here:
Normal homescreen:



Vs homescreen when playing a HDR video through picture-in-picture mode.



Yea, now you see the much warmer display. I don't like it tbh.

You also get various "color modes", I personally prefer Vivid, but don't find too much of a difference with other modes too.



Also, a toggle to change display temperature, which, me like! It's a nice tool to have, and while I have it on default mostly, it's still very handy.




I've seen people talk about the infamous "Black Crush" issue, but honestly, I didn't notice it while using.
Here's a comparison picture between the three OP devices that I have(what, you want me to repeat the names again?)



Yeah, pretty similar, so I don't think the 9RT, atleast my review unit, has that issue.
(Unless, of course, all of these phones have it?)

Viewing experience​

Now, about the viewing experience. Upgrading from my Nord, there's pretty much no difference quality-wise when I watch YouTube videos or Netflix, which I found underwhelming honestly. Maybe I was again, expecting too much.

The screen ,which is much taller and noticeably so at 6.62 inches, plus the single punchhole instead of the oval cutout that the Nord has, does make the viewing experience better. The bezels don't bother me, as I'd said before.

Audio​

Speaking of viewing experience, let's also talk about audio.
The dual stereo speakers are not bad, but they're also not as good as I might've expected coming from a phone with mono speakers.

While I use headphones most of the time, they get loud enough generally. My advice would be to not listen to music without headphones however, if you care about music quality.
Most YouTube and other videos are fine, I don't have any complaints.

The phone supports Dolby Atmos,which is on by default if the device isn't connected to headphones of some kind.



I always thought DA was a bit of a gimmick, and this phone hasn't really changed my mind.

The 9RT has a good display and the viewing experience is also "good", but that's about it. It doesn't disappoint, but neither does it impress too much.
Final Rating: 7.5/10

~​

Woohoo, we're edging closer to the finish line. I'm enjoying this thoroughly btw, even though I have to sacrifice a few hours of the night as my daytime schedule is too packed.

Next up is a blazing fast section. I think that's enough of an indication
Thanks for giving me (even more of) your precious time, I'll hopefully see you around.

 

McJader , Feb 23, 2022 :

Battery Life and Charging : Furious and Fast

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A traditional strong-hold of OnePlus and one of the categories I absolutely look-up while buying a new phone, let’s talk about Battery Life and Charging.

TLDR: Battery life is average at best. Not shabby, not very impressive. But Warp Charge 65T? Man, I love fast charging.

~
​

In my initial thoughts about the device when it was launched, surprisingly, battery life and charging had gone under the radar.
It's surprising because Battery Life and Charging is the category I care most about in a smartphone, after OS.

I wasn’t expecting much when I got the phone and started using it.
In fact I wasn’t expecting anything, since I’d almost forgotten that it comes with a new charger(for me) and the dual battery tech.

Battery
​

Now, folks, remember, Android takes some time getting used to your usage patterns, and “optimises” the system for battery life accordingly. It's not the best from the get-go.
I’ve especially observed this in all the Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus phones that I’ve owned and used.
Especially OxygenOS.

There is a significant difference in battery life in initial usage and long-term testing. In this review, I’ll tell you about both.

In my initial testing, the battery usually gave me 5 to 6 hours of Screen-On-Time with mild to heavy usage. That’s not bad, but 5 hours of SoT is not something you’d expect from a flagship, even if it’s a “budget flagship” phone.

I’d have to charge my phone twice a day sometimes, those days that I was really pushing the hardware with heavy usage.

But yeah, it does get better. Just like clockwork, the battery life on the 9RT gradually started getting better until it reached its peak in about a week after the first power-on.

Which brings me to the point - what is it’s peak?
In moderate to heavy usage, if you are using the phone from 100-1%, I believe it can easily give you(me) 6 to 7 hours of screen on time, and just about a full day's usage, which is not bad. It could’ve been better with that 4500mAH of rated capacity, but eh, ok.



App Distribution:
(Yea, there doesn't seem to be an option to show system battery usage)


Notice how I didn’t mention 100-0%? Yeah, that was on purpose. In my time with the 9RT, I’ve noticed a peculiarity. Once the battery reaches 1%, you’d expect it to die pretty quickly.
But nah, from 1% to 0%, the battery has lasted atleast 15 to 20 minutes, even with heavy social media usage and image loading.
Interesting, isn’t it? I certainly think it is.



A lot of people also seem to be generally interested in battery usage when the phone is left idle for a few hours, for example, at night.

In my testing, I found the battery to almost always drop anywhere from 3 to 5% overnight(6 -7 hours), keeping Wi-Fi and other network settings off.
And this was also with "Sleep Standby Optimisation" turned on.
Again, not very impressive, this is an area where I believe improvement is still needed.

Also, I don’t think I mentioned this before, but I use Ambient Display(not always on) + like to keep my brightness on the lower side.
I just can’t stand high brightness.
If you use the phone with full brightness, it will discharge quicker.
I am on Wi-Fi mostly, but sometimes mobile data too, location services are always on, and Bluetooth is generally off.

SoT also depends on your apps and how optimised they are. Do not expect your SoT to be similar to mine.

Since we are talking about Battery, a quick shout out to High Performance mode, which is a real Battery drainer. My advice : Just don't use it, it does almost nothing for your regular usage. Check out my Performance review for more details.

Charging
​

That's enough, let's move on to Charging. Arguably the best "feature" of the OnePlus 9RT is it's Warp 65T Charging. Upgrading from 30T, I wasn't expecting a whirlwind of difference, but how wrong I was.

The maximum time I ever recorded for charging this phone was 35 minutes, when I charged it from 0 to 100.


1 to 100 is a different story entirely, it's almost always consistent and gives me a full charge in 30 minutes(sometimes exactly).
Here's a detailed breakup in case you were interested:




(One lap is 10%, from 1 to 100.
Like 1 to 10, 11-20, etc. Ignore the crossed out lap, I had mispressed for a second)

I can't stress on how much value this adds to the phone.
It almost compensates for the average battery.
The phones does tend to heat up a bit, but that's normal, and it cools down really, really fast, which is good.

Another notice, I don't use the "Optimised charging" feature, because I generally want my phone to charge as quickly as possible. It's not exactly recommended, but I suppose we'll see how it will affect the battery in the long run, maybe a couple of years later.
(Long Term Lab, @Daniel D. ? )
But hey, my Nord's Battery is still fine all this time later, maybe this one will be too

Days power in 15 minutes?
Mmm...bold claim, arguably accurate for some use cases.
But for a lot of us, 15 minutes of charging should be enough to last till the evening at least.

Oh, and before I close this section, I must mention that there's no wireless charging support. Sure, I don't imagine much of the target audience for this device use Wireless Charging, but if you do, take notice.

While OnePlus haven't done too well with the battery, the charging performance saves this category for them. And you know the most important bit? Charger in the box!
Still, they must beware of tough competition from the likes of Xiaomi, which offer better or almost equal charging capabilities in the same price range.
Final Rating: 8.5/10

~​

And that's all done and dusted. Final category coming up, I know it's also a heavily anticipated one.
As always, any doubts or questions, feel free to ask.

 

McJader , Mar 1, 2022 :

Camera: What's Happening?
​

Yes, yes, I know, y'all have been waiting a long time for this one, and I admit, I've taken my own sweet time. But it's finally here.

Analysis of the camera and post processing? Check. Comparisons with phones? Check. Everything else you'd like to know about the camera? Yes, this review has it all.

For better readability, divided into:

• Thoughts on main camera
• Auxiliary lenses
• Software and Camera UI
• Video
• Comparisons with other phones

Let's get started.

TLDR: The hardware is…ok. There's nothing special about it, but it is consistent at least, which is nice. Just wish they'd gone with a better ultrawide/telephoto lens and a macro lens that is actually usable.

~
​

The 9RT comes with a “triple-camera setup” on the back, with a 50MP main lens, 16MP ultrawide, and a 2MP Macro. The main camera with the Sony IMX766 has OIS. On the front we have a single selfie camera with the same 16MP sensor OnePlus seems to have been using for decades now.

Thoughts on Main Camera and Processing

Imagine this: You’re out for an afternoon walk, you notice the sky is looking so good in between the trees, in fact you want to take a picture. You pull out your 9RT, open the camera app, try framing the scene and press the shutter button. Maybe you crop it a bit after taking the picture.



What I just described is exactly how most people take photos. Maybe I’m even exaggerating a bit with the “framing part”, it’s just point and shoot.

And the 9RT does well, I feel, in this regard. It’s not a phone that will make your pictures look insane and out-of-the-world, but you will be able to take good pictures with it without much effort.
And I think that’s what matters to a lot of people.

Now, of course, I’m posting this on a tech forum, where people are generally more technical and specific with their photography, but I feel the “point and shoot” demographic is equally important.

One thing I noticed on the 9RT, is, without adjust exposure, it will often overexpose the picture, leading to bad results. If you recall, this is exactly what happened with my Nord as well, as I’d mentioned in my Long-term review.

When it comes to dynamic range and shadows,again, the 9RT is ok. I’ll share an example. A lot of us like to photograph our pets and kids, so this should be relatable.



If you zoom in, you’ll see the picture is a lot more grainy and unclear in the “shadow-y” part of it, compared to the part where light is falling. Crushed shadows.
Not good.

In artificial light at night, the pictures are grainy and lack detail or sharpness. Sort of like a water color painting



The White Balance messes up at times, but is generally fine. The 9RT doesn’t have the “Hasselblad Colour Calibration” like the 9R, which is fine I think, I find that to be a gimmick more than anything.
The colours are 95% true to life in most scenarios, which is what I prefer. Skintones are generally fine as well.

I have shaky hands while taking photos, so OIS is important for me. I think it does an average job compared to a phone with no OIS. Yes, there’s an improvement in stabilisation, but not as much as I was expecting.
Zoom is decent, since it's digital, not optical, but only upto 2x. After that it's mostly zoom-and-gloom.

Finally, I think it does a good job of taking natural pictures, and I like it for that. But it sometimes lacks the "oomph factor" people like to see in their pictures, even if it's not realistic.

Photo dump(basically picture samples form the main lens without edits except cropping):

Auxiliary Lenses​

In this section we have three lenses to talk about, namely the Ultrawide, Macro and Selfie camera.

There is a marked difference when you shift to the 0.6x mode from the 1x.
The pictures are much softer, colours are washed out at times, its generally not that good.
Main:

Ultrawide:

Oh how much I yearn for that nice ultrawide sensor on the 9 Series. Alas, never to be. With 16MP you’d expect it to be presentable, which it is, except if you closely inspect.

It is a handy tool to have in some situations, but honestly, with ultrawide, there is so much potential, which OnePlus left unexplored on the 9RT.

The macro, honestly, where do I start? Why do phone companies not understand that 2MP is useless in most cases, even in the brightest of light? Or maybe they do and our in on for the spec sheet. I think it’s the latter.



Anyways, the Macro camera on the 9RT has a very niche use. You can only use it in bright light, and even then, I’m afraid if you try to find the details, you’ll see that there are none. While a couple of times it did manage to surpass my expectations, doesn’t change the fact that it’s still bad.

The selfie camera. I don’t take too many selfies, fortunately or unfortunately. The selfie camera on the 9RT is fine. But then again, i suspect the people who do take a lot of selfies don’t do so without filters and such, so we’ll talk about filters in the software section.

Software and Camera UI
​

One of the biggest changes on the new codebase, UI wise, is the camera app. It has been said that it’s very similar or identical to the one found on OPPO or realme phones. But you know what I found it similar to? Ironically, OneUI.
See for yourself

OnePlus:





Samsung:





Anyways, there are loads of filters, which I, don’t use. If you, however, do use them, keep in mind, they’re not the best, and the quality of your picture(if you care about it) will be significantly affected.

There’s also “AI scene enhancement” on the new codebase, which apparently uses Artificial Intelligence to detect the scene you’re trying to capture and tries to “enhance” it. While the difference with and without it is minimal, I’ll at least give it credit for recognising the scenes correctly, most times.

Portrait Mode is here, and there seems to be a lot of emphasis on it. I didn’t find "wow-worth" tbh, but it’s good and does it’ job well. One thing I noticed was, while taking pictures of 2+ people in portrait mode, it often blurred the third or fourth person, which is a big no-no.

Night Mode is also here. And I think it’s good enough. Definitely not the level of the flagship Samsungs or Apples, but it works. The way it works is by brightening the picture you’re taking, instead of letting it stay as is and natural, which I personally don’t mind.





However, there is some grainiess involved at all times.

Quick shout-out to the newly named “Expert Mode”, I still use it to take a lot of pictures, and feel it gives me enough control. Plus, there’s also Ultrawide Support this time! And there’s RAW+, which apparently gives us even more colour details to work with.

PS: Wouldn’t recommend using the Ultra-Resolution Mode much, it gives basically the same pictures as normal, but a much bigger file size.

All in all, I’d say the UI is mostly easy to use and “intuitive”, without becoming too cumbersome. I don’t mind it.

Video​

After using the 9RT for a week or so, a realisation crept upon me: I still hadn’t tested out the video! Which is, I think, a testimony to the fact that I really don’t shoot too many videos.

The 9RT supports 4K video at 60FPS, which is noice. I’m not a video expert, so I didn’t think much of it honestly. It’s fine, it’s there, and it’s useful for taking videos of cake-cuttings and such on birthdays

Here’s a video sample:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ogp8lUFqAsa-pth1JR-16tzv-fzxDo55/view?usp=drivesdk
(YouTube compressed it too much, so it's a drive link)

The front camera only supports 1080P however, meh.
Plus there’s Movie Mode, which is like an Expert Mode for video. Super Useful IMO, I’ve even used it to record stuff and I really like it.



And in addition to all that, you remember that recent iPhone feature of Potrait video? The 9RT has that too. Granted, it doesn't work extremely well, it's still a beginning.

Bottom line being, video is fine, a word I think you’ve heard a lot throughout this review.

Comparisons​

Yes, I have two other OnePlus phones ATM, the Nord and the Nord 2 Pacman edition to be specific, and here’s a comparison between Martini and the two of them. I won’t comment, and will leave it to your interpreation, as to which is better.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Nah, 9RT is better,much more natural colors. Nord 2 has much more better looking photos.

Main Camera:

9RT:






Nord 2:







Nord:





Wide Angle:

9RT:


Nord 2:


Nord:


Feel free to ask if you'd like any more comparisons in any other modes!

That’s it. The 9RT has a decent camera , and even though it doesn’t “wow”, it’s functional. A good telephoto and macro lens would’ve made a difference. Processing is good enough.
Final Rating: 7.5/10

~​

And with that, we finish. It took much longer than I expected. If you have any doubts, or would like to see any more comparisons in any other scenarios, feel free to tag me here and I’ll reply.

This is the last section of my review, well, almost. I’ll put out a short conclusion post shortly, after which this review will be officially completed.
Cheers everyone.

 

McJader , Mar 2, 2022 :

Conclusion : How Does Martini Taste?​

(Yes, I finally put in some effort on the header)

Wow, we've reached the end, haven't we?
The 9RT has taken me along some wild roads but I'm glad to be here.
Let's conclude then.

This section needs no TLDR I think.

~​

From my countless discussions with friends and other tech enthusiasts about 9RT, even before I knew I was a reviewer, there seemed to be one common word : "uninteresting".
It's not a flagship. It's not a midrange. What is it then?

It's a compromise. That is how I would like to describe Martini.
It gives you some, mind you, some, features of a flagship, at a seemingly lower price.
Sure, the fancy wireless charging and IP certifications are missing, but I don't mind that.

I think this phone is a result of OP(PO)'s continuous attempts to have a phone in every device category, and in every price range, especially in more value oriented markets like India and China.

Now, I don't say the 9RT is a Value purchase at Rs. 46,999 or Rs. 43,000 , nope. Because it isn't.
But if you were planning to get a OnePlus phone specifically, and weren't doing so because of the price, I think this is the phone for you.
It's a "budget bridging phone", to quote my friend @Bhaveee

If you weren't looking for a OnePlus in the first place, I don't think you need to give it a second look.
And that's what I think.

Value for Money rating: 7.5/10
Average rating (from all 8 categories): 8/10

~​

Welp, 8100 words and 43 days later, that's it.
Thanks for all the encouragement and giving me your time.
Special shoutout to @Daniel D. for being so supportive and nice.

I will also make a [Two Months Later] Post next month, feel free to check it out.
Love you guys!

 

McJader , Apr 27, 2022 :

Where OOS12?​

It's been 104 days since 9RT was launched on OOS11. Fine, most of us said, it'll get 12 soon anyways, since the 9 Series already got it.

Then three months went by. 9 Series 8 Series got it, Nord 1 and Nord 2 got it ( some of them are in OB).
But 9RT? Nah, not even a CBT. OnePlus 9RT 5G still hasn't received OxygenOS 12.

Do I care a lot? No. The current software is stable and I'm not too sure about 12 and the material you themeing. It could be better, but it could be worse, who knows. My phone has a recent security patch. All is well. Heck, I got the phone for free.

But for those who do care, this post is for them. And from a reviewers perspective, this is not a good picture being painted. Bad OnePlus, booooooo!

That's all.

 

Bobbie63 , Jan 21, 2022 :

Yes.......... Stickers!!!

But why blurr the IMEI, that was a bit of an disappointment. For the rest, a great start and can't wait to read more.

 

Tokolozi , Jan 21, 2022 :

What if I prefer it stirred though?

Anyways, great unboxing and explanation so for fellow Lab-ber!

 

Starcommander , Jan 21, 2022 :

Good review mate.

 

McJader , Jan 21, 2022 :

Something you don't get

 

Dresa91 , Jan 21, 2022 :

Thank you for the first part @McJader
Looking forward to the next content
Great work 👍🏼

 

Bobbie63 , Jan 21, 2022 :

​

Oh well, can’t have it all. Still a nice start of your review.

 

Caomhin , Jan 21, 2022 :

@McJader, Great Unboxing Shaken not Stirred 🍸
Love the writeup, details and pic. Looking forward to the continuation of the big reveal. 👌👍

 

Mr. BG , Jan 21, 2022 :

Cheers, nice kick off..

 

dom_k , Jan 21, 2022 :

Now you are a real hacker looking forward for the next parts

 

Shailender Sharma , Jan 21, 2022 :

Nice work @McJader 👍
I am interested in the camera department. You do have Nord & Nord 2 to pit against. Honest opinion of a community member is far better than some flashy youtubers sitting in a studio. Waiting for the next part. 🙏

 

Liehjan , Jan 21, 2022 :

Thanks for the first part @McJader

 

Aditya_4 , via OnePlus Nord 2 , Jan 21, 2022 :

Hey Fellow Aditya 😃Great Start @McJader Nice Header 👌. Waiting for your full review.

 

SJBoss , Jan 21, 2022 :

McJader , Jan 21, 2022 :

Thanks man

Imma report you for spamming that

 

Tobikage , Jan 21, 2022 :

Nord 2 vs 9RT

That is what I want to see

Now that you have both...

 

Ichbinharsh , Jan 21, 2022 :

Thanks for the first part mate @McJader. Nice work .

BTW my Nord 2 (Normal edition ) comes with same charger combo like 9RT USB to c (And I felt same at that time )🥲

 

Ichbinharsh , Jan 21, 2022 :

💯💯

 

zaharik83 , via OnePlus 6 , Jan 21, 2022 :

Please tell me where can I download oxygen os for OnePlus 9rt. really don't like color os

 

dnagpaldg , Jan 21, 2022 :

Great read @McJader !