OnePlus 9RT Specifications and Software
Another major change to the phone has been made to its performance. The OnePlus 9RT gets the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip as the OnePlus 9. This is the only 9-series phone to come equipped with eight 5G bands, so it won’t easily go out of date anytime soon. OnePlus has also said that the phone now uses three Wi-Fi antennas instead of two for better stability during games. Apart from this, the size of the vapor chamber cooling system has also been increased, so the phone gets less hot. The tactile response of the phone’s screen has also been improved, reaching up to 600Hz in some games.
Phone loses IP rating and wireless charging. Samsung offers these features in its FE series and the price of the phones, especially the Galaxy S20 FE 5G, gives the 9RT some stiff competition by comparison.
My unit ran OxygenOS 11.3 based on Android 11. Its next version, which will be based on Android 12, is currently under development and will be coming to the phone via an OTA update. However, the release date has not been revealed yet. The interface of the phone is quite clean and it comes with light bloatware. SMS app and Google dialer app are available on the phone, which also supports call recording. There are also many customization options available for fonts and wallpapers.
OnePlus 9RT performance and battery life
In daily use, the OnePlus 9RT proved to be quite reliable. It provided an amazing experience thanks to its robust body and fast software. The in-screen fingerprint sensor is very fast and you can quickly navigate through the phone’s menu. Switching between apps was also very fast.
Media playback on the phone is very good. Standard and HDR video playback is excellent. The experience of viewing content on streaming apps like Netflix was good thanks to the HDR capability of the screen. I really liked the sound from the stereo speakers and the Dolby Atmos support that allows you to set multiple sound profiles. The processor is powerful and games run smoothly. Fortnite was a lot of fun to play and the graphics quality was even better. A similar experience was also found in Call of Duty: Mobile. The tactile feedback of the screen also helps to improve the gaming experience. The phone handled the heating very well. Even after long games, a slight heating was felt in the phone.
We also liked the battery performance of the OnePlus 9RT. The phone has a 4,500 mAh battery, which lasted for 20 hours and 16 minutes in our internal test. In this one, we played HD video clips in a loop until the phone turned off. This is much higher than Oneplus 9R or Oneplus 9. In normal usage, which includes games, calls, camera, social media apps, etc. for a short time, the phone was able to comfortably get through a day and a half on a single charge. The charge is very fast. The Warp Charge 65T charging brick that comes with the phone charged the battery from 0 to 100 percent in just 30 minutes.
OnePlus 9RT cameras
Compared to OnePlus 9R, the main camera of 9RT has been improved. The 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor has been included in 9RT. The same camera was used as the ultra-wide camera on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. A special feature of this sensor is DOL-HDR support. This function is useful when your subject is standing directly facing the sunlight while recording the video. In such a situation, this function captures video in high dynamic range and the light falling on the subject from behind is largely controlled. We saw this feature on the main camera of the OnePlus 9 Pro. The quality of low-light photos has also been greatly improved.
The rest of the sensors are available in the same way as in the 9R. These include a 16-megapixel Sony IMX481 ultra-wide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 16-megapixel selfie camera. Compared to the 9R macro camera, it has been given less resolution. The selfie camera is the same one that has been running on many OnePlus phones. It is an average camera and can record video only up to 1080p.
The camera app found on the phone is taken from Color OS by OPPO, the sister company of OnePlus. It has an AI scene enhancement feature, which can be turned on or off. Apart from this, dual view recording option is available. There’s also a high-res mode, which combines multiple frames taken with the main camera to create a single 108-megapixel photo.
While shooting videos during the day, the main camera captured the details well. After turning on the AI option, the colors looked slightly artificial. Portrait mode photos sometimes turned out well, sometimes poorly, because sometimes parts of the subject were blurry. The camera offers up to 10X digital zoom and since the resolution of the camera is high, photos look good even after cropping.
The ultra-wide camera captures a much larger area, but the quality drops a bit here. The macro camera clicks decently in adequate lighting, but disappoints in low light. The main camera captured decent low-light photos even without night mode enabled, but zooming in revealed they were heavily processed. The ultra-wide camera disappointed in low light. The selfie camera worked well in daylight, but faces looked bland and skin tones were inaccurate.
This phone can record videos up to 4K at 60fps. Video quality is decent in the right lighting, and video stabilization impresses too. With the help of the DOL-HDR function, videos were recorded better even with light falling behind the subject. However, the highlights in the background were over the top. Low-light video quality is a bit disappointing. Due to the side effect of stabilization of motion recorded video, graininess and jitter were observed in the video.
Verdict
OnePlus 9RT is a powerful smartphone. It is very well made and the performance is also amazing. The main camera upgrade makes it a tough contender, but the performance of the rest of the cameras disappoints, especially in low-light conditions. The phone battery is good. This phone outperforms the OnePlus 9R and OnePlus 9. If the OnePlus 9R price is greatly reduced, then it can only be seen as an alternative.
The OnePlus 9RT offers more value than the OnePlus 9, but I’d still call it expensive. It has been a long time for OnePlus to release it and Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G, Realme GT and Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G prove to be better value for money devices. If you’ve been waiting for the OnePlus 10 series to arrive in India, the wait might be a long one. As of now, the company has only announced the series. It would also be wrong to speculate on when it will be released in India.
OnePlus 9RT is a strong flagship phone but if its price drops by a few thousand rupees then it may turn out to be the best smartphone deal around. If you can’t wait, there are similar options from Xiaomi, Realme and Samsung for less than this.