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Art et designTranscription
00:00All right, so this is the OnePlus 9.
00:20How do I describe this phone?
00:21This feels like the phone that OnePlus felt like they had to make, you know, they're super
00:26into their very hyped, very expensive flagship phone, but they can't only make a hyped, expensive
00:32flagship phone.
00:33So this video goes hand in hand with my 9 Pro review, my last upload.
00:37So if you haven't seen that, this video is the cherry on top of that Sunday, the 20-minute
00:44detailed Hasselblad deep dive, software-oriented Sunday.
00:49This one goes in addition to that.
00:51So if you haven't watched it already, I'll link it below the like button.
00:53So this phone, this phone, I think could have been an awesome deal, but it's actually
01:01kind of frustrating how close it gets.
01:03So if you can look past all the hype around the OnePlus 9 Pro and just look at it as a
01:06phone, I actually think they did what they were trying to do.
01:09They made a flagship with the full checklist of flagship features, high-end specs, pretty
01:14nice build, fast charging, an improved camera, and all of that for less than something like
01:20an S21 Ultra or any of the other thousand $1,100 phones, fine.
01:24But this phone, OnePlus 9, $729.
01:29And that's pretty good.
01:30That's very competitive.
01:31As far as Snapdragon 888 phones go, that's about as low as we're seeing it at launch.
01:35And so that's really great.
01:36That's competitive, but watch how the choices start to get a little bit weird from there.
01:41So the design here, the design is, I'm going to say acceptable, but pretty generic.
01:47It's a rounded polycarbonate plastic shell and plastic rails.
01:51They're shiny, of course, so they look maybe kind of like metal if you're not paying too
01:54much attention, but they aren't metal.
01:56And honestly, if I didn't tell you how much this phone cost just by weight and feel in
02:01the hand and the materials, I feel like you could easily mistake this for actually a much
02:05cheaper phone, like literally a Nord or any other $300, $400 glossy plastic phone.
02:11It would have been nice if they separated themselves in some way from all the other
02:15glossy fingerprinty plastic phones that are out there.
02:19As much as I hate the glastic term, Samsung's S21, which is mostly plastic, is a really
02:26good example of this.
02:27Like you'd never say it actually feels or looks super cheap in the hand.
02:32You hold it, it's decent.
02:33Maybe you'd be more into like a faux leather or something like from the Xiaomi Mi 11.
02:38But also, maybe I'm overreacting.
02:40Maybe you're just going to put it in a case anyway, in which case, ignore that.
02:43That's just my two cents.
02:44As for the specs, they still do the OnePlus thing here.
02:46It's the Snapdragon 888, 8 or 12 gigs of RAM, 128 or 256 gigs of storage, and a 4,500 milliampere
02:54hour battery.
02:55For those of you who have already seen the 9 Pro review, you may recognize that as the
02:59exact same set of specs as the 9 Pro, which is of course more expensive.
03:05So that's where we expect OnePlus to be competitive, lower prices, still keeping high-end specs.
03:10But there are a couple of small cuts.
03:11So this cheaper version does not have millimeter wave 5G support.
03:16Not a huge deal right now.
03:18This phone still has the ridiculously fast 65 watt warp charging setup that's been so
03:23convenient.
03:24And it still has wireless charging, but just at a standard 15 watts.
03:27Nothing too crazy, fine for topping up overnight and makes perfect sense if you weren't going
03:31to buy some $70 specialized charger anyway.
03:35And then for water resistance, where sometimes you see a cut, the T-Mobile version does say
03:41it's IP68 certified.
03:44Maybe just T-Mobile decided to pay for that?
03:47But since they're all built the same, I think we can safely assume they're all somewhat
03:53dust and water resistant.
03:54And this phone is just really enjoyable to use mainly because of that display, where
03:58I think they nailed it for this price.
04:00It's nearly the same size as the Pro, 6.55 inches, and it's great.
04:04It's flat at the edges instead of curved over, but the bezels are still thin and the display
04:08goes right up to the edges.
04:09This is great for watching videos with this speaker setup too, that's just as loud as
04:12the 9 Pro.
04:13And the screen doesn't get quite as bright as the brightest flagships, but it's still
04:18manageable.
04:19And it's 1080p, 120 hertz.
04:22So this is a nice screen.
04:23And you'll notice it's just 120 hertz.
04:26It's not smart 120 hertz, since it's not an LTPO panel.
04:30They've had slightly weird panels in the past, where sometimes you can see off-axis yellowing,
04:35maybe rainbowing, but I'm not seeing nearly as much of that here.
04:38So there's no distractions when just watching videos or gaming or whatever you're doing.
04:43I'm going to call out this odd fingerprint reader placement every time I see it though.
04:47I still think it's weird that it's so low on this phone.
04:50But other than that, using this phone, flipping through OxygenOS with all its animations and
04:54multitasking has been super fast, thanks to the screen.
04:59And then there's the camera layout on the back.
05:00So you can see it's one less camera than the 9 Pro.
05:03So this has a different sensor, but the same size primary 48 megapixel chip in there.
05:09It has the exact same ultrawide, which is one of the best in any phone.
05:13And then it drops the telephoto, but keeps the two megapixel black and white camera.
05:26Why?
05:27But like I said, using this phone overall is still great.
05:31This is what OnePlus has gotten so good at.
05:33There's not a single thing missing from this software that's in the 9 Pro.
05:37Like they've been very willing to tweak OxygenOS over the years, make it smoother, add features.
05:43Most people who aren't coming straight from a more expensive phone will find this perfectly fine.
05:47It handles multitasking, everyday use, exactly the same as its $969 brother.
05:53There's no extra stutters, no earlier drops in the RAM.
05:57It even had slightly better battery life in our testing.
05:59Otherwise, same deal.
06:01But of course, it's my job to point out the things that aren't quite the same in this phone.
06:04So you're not surprised when you get them.
06:06So just so you know, the haptics in this phone aren't quite as good.
06:12They're not as strong.
06:13They're pretty weak, honestly.
06:16And they're not quite as tight.
06:17Now they still lean into it in the software.
06:19So they emphasize the haptics a lot when you drag brightness and volume and a lot of other
06:24UI elements in the stock apps, like in the clock here.
06:26It still feels like it's trying to emulate that high-end haptics, but it's not as great.
06:31The alert slider on this phone is also much looser than it was on my Pro.
06:35And you know what?
06:36Maybe it's just this exact phone I got, but it's so loose that it's particularly easy
06:41to switch it to ring as you pull the phone out of your pocket.
06:44And then it's not quite the same camera setup as the Pro.
06:47Like I said, it's the same size main sensor, but it's a different 48 megapixel Sony sensor
06:51for the main camera.
06:52It still gets the Hasselblad branding though.
06:55And it still looks slightly more natural, like this more muted color profile than before.
07:00So it looks pretty much the same in good lighting and almost has this neutral version
07:05of a contrasty pixel-like look.
07:08But you can't zoom in nearly as far, of course, without it starting to get soft.
07:11There is a 2X button here in the viewfinder, but that's just a digital punch in.
07:16And that's about as far as I'd go if I want a good quality photo.
07:21The ultra-wide is amazing.
07:22Like I said, honestly, it's the best part of this particular camera system this year.
07:27But then the shutter lag that I talked about from the OnePlus 9 Pro, it's still here.
07:31There's still this overall weirdly slow camera performance.
07:35And I'm really hoping that that's something that's fixable through a software update.
07:38And then let's just talk about the 2 megapixel monochrome camera.
07:42For those who are wondering why I said I was just going to ignore it in the 9 Pro review,
07:46the best case for this extra piece of hardware they've thrown in here, according to OnePlus,
07:52is it helps add detail to your black and white photos.
07:56Number one, it's two megapixels.
08:00How much detail could it possibly be adding
08:02to the 48 megapixel sensor's black and white photos?
08:07But also number two, just for black and white photos,
08:10like if I want to take a good black and white photo, I don't know about you,
08:13but I just take a regular photo and later I just make it black and white.
08:17I just turn the colors down, saturation off.
08:20So this is, it's basically a useless extra piece of hardware to me.
08:24Look, this extra sensor is a waste of money,
08:28a small amount of money, but it's a waste of money.
08:30And you should have spent that money on something else.
08:33Changed my mind.
08:34But long story short, OnePlus 9 is a pretty good phone.
08:38And it's one that I'll be recommending to certain people, but not all.
08:41You know, some phones are just so good overall
08:43that you can sort of blanket recommend them to a bunch of people.
08:46This isn't quite that phone,
08:48but for people who value the OnePlus software experience,
08:50like the clean near stock type of look,
08:54the fast and smooth experience,
08:57the fast charging that they offer, all of that,
08:59this phone is actually, I think, sneaky good value.
09:02Like, I obviously don't love the design.
09:04As I said, maybe put it in a case, fine.
09:06But if you weren't going to buy
09:09that extra $70 turbo wireless fast charger,
09:14and if you're cool with 1080p flat and no telephoto,
09:18this using the phone experience,
09:21this software experience is exactly the same.
09:25To the spec, to the speed, to the performance,
09:27it's exactly the same as the phone that costs $240 more.
09:32Whether you believe it deserves to cost that or not,
09:35that's what makes this actually a pretty good deal.
09:38Now, if you compare it to something like the Galaxy S21,
09:40which launched at a little higher of a price,
09:43but now is roughly 700 bucks,
09:45this is probably what OnePlus was looking for.
09:47This is probably about the comparison they were aiming at.
09:50And it's kind of a toss-up.
09:53Like for build quality, I would give the Edge,
09:55even though they're both plastic,
09:56I would give the Edge to Samsung
09:57because the camera and the rails are metal,
10:00and they've got a nicer finish.
10:02Then they're both 120 Hertz flat 1080p displays,
10:06but I would again give the Edge to Samsung
10:08just a little bit for extra brightness.
10:10Then they've got the same RAM, same storage,
10:12same Snapdragon 888,
10:14but I give the Edge to OnePlus for the bigger battery
10:17and the faster 65 watt wired charging.
10:20I think this is a better battery setup.
10:22And then they're both triple camera systems technically,
10:24but I'm giving the Edge to Samsung
10:26because there's a real zoom in there
10:27and they didn't waste a sensor.
10:29So, and then it's just software.
10:31How much do you prefer what Samsung's doing with theirs
10:34versus what OxygenOS is doing on OnePlus's phones?
10:37I personally would prefer OxygenOS,
10:39and I think I would lean towards this phone over this one,
10:43but it's gonna be about your priority.
10:44Are you about that battery?
10:46Are you about that software?
10:48Are you about that camera?
10:49It's all about you.
10:50So there you have it.
10:50It's the OnePlus 9.
10:53It's a good phone
10:54if you know what you're getting yourself into.
10:55No doubt, cast in a little bit of a shadow
10:58by the hype of the OnePlus 9 Pro,
11:01but this is worth looking at.
11:04There you have it.
11:05Thanks for watching.
11:06Catch you guys in the next one.
11:07Peace.