Gone are the days when photography-centric smartphones are exclusively flagship, expensive mobile devices only. As competition in the smartphone market continues to reach new heights, consumers win – because mobile makers are encouraged to roll out competent devices without compromising the price.
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| realme 9 Pro+ Review: All Things Positive |
Here we are with yet another review of a realme smartphone because the brand takes its job of offering the Filipino market quality devices for a reasonable cost seriously. Is the realme 9 Pro+ the new mid-range camera king? Read on what we discovered.
UNBOXING:
Our team admits – we get excited when we see the familiar bright yellow box in our lab because the realme smartphones that we have tried so far have been nothing but very capable. The realme 9 Pro+ is no different.
What comes along the realme 9 Pro+ inside the yellow box are the usuals – some documentation for the user manual and warranty, a 60W SuperDart Charge adapter, USB-C cable, silicon case, and a SIM ejector pin. Sadly, there's no free audio accessory.
DESIGN and BUILD:
You'll never go out of style with aurora-designed smartphones like the realme 9 Pro+. Its back cover comes with a glossy finish with a fancy gradient of colors, which realme calls light shift design. This smartphone is shiny, sparkly, and flashy all at once. However, a caveat for this kind of design is it is prone to fingerprints and smudges – but nothing a quick wipe can't fix. The Sunrise Blue one is the most attention-seeking out of its color variants. But if you're the type who likes to keep things simple, there's the Midnight Black version for you.
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| Light Shift Design |
For the realme 9 Pro+, realme fittingly ditched the plastic rear cover and replaced it with glass for that premium look and feel, further complemented by the smartphone's curved edges. At first, you might feel that this device is hefty at 182g, but once you get used to it, you can hold it in your hand easily.
The realme 9 Pro+, despite having the "Pro" and the "+" in its name, doesn't have a water- and dust-resistance rating. Better be careful and extra protective to safeguard the device, especially its ports, from water splashes.
On the left side of the device, you have the volume buttons, while the power button is on the opposite side. realme also opted to include an under-display fingerprint scanner on the realme 9 Pro+ instead of doubling the power button as the fingerprint sensor. The under-display fingerprint scanner of the realme 9 Pro+ gives access to the smartphone fast. Although there were multiple instances where the smartphone reminded us to wipe clean the fingerprint sensor area first before unlocking the smartphone. The buttons of the realme 9 Pro+ are also tactile and responsive.
Sitting next to the volume buttons is a dual-SIM card tray for two nano-SIM cards – and that's it. There's no dedicated slot for a microSD card which means that if you're getting the realme 9 Pro+, you have to make do with its onboard storage or use cloud-based storage subscriptions.
At the bottom part of the device is where its USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, and bottom-firing speaker are located.
Design-wise, the realme 9 Pro+ is a stunner. And what adds to this is its stunning screen.
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DISPLAY:
With a 6.4-inch 2400 x 1080 SuperAMOLED (Samsung-made) screen, the realme 9 Pro+ is a delight to the eyes. In addition to this, the smartphone comes with a 90Hz refresh rate and a Gorilla Glass 5 coating. Some people might argue that a screen with a 120Hz refresh rate is a better choice, but honestly, the slight difference isn't that noticeable on the realme 9 Pro+ at all.
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| FHD+ sAMOLED Display |
The display isn't exactly what you would call an all-screen, as there's a relatively thick bezel on the chin of the realme 9 Pro+, and it has a punch-hole selfie camera on the top left part.
You get three color options for the realme 9 Pro+'s screen – Vivid, Natural, and Pro mode. Whatever you choose among the three, the realme 9 Pro+'s display will give you strong colors and sharp details. Brightness levels are impressive, too, reaching up to 433 nits via manual adjustment and up to 613 nits through auto-brightness. This means that you can see the screen of the realme 9 Pro+ even outdoors and under direct sunlight.
PERFORMANCE:
Operating under the hood of the realme 9 Pro+ is a MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G chipset, with a Mali-G68 MC4 GPU, 6GB/8GB RAM, and 128GB/256GB internal storage. The device has WiFi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and USB Type-C for connectivity.
Long story short, the realme 9 Pro+ works smoothly – no lags or stutters whatsoever. This is both for switching between demanding apps and playing games at mid-settings.
The realme 9 Pro+ comes with Android 12 out of the box with a realme UI 3.0 on top. realme's new UI has very convenient customization updates that make the experience even more pleasing – including an always-on display option for its SuperAMOLED screen, enhanced privacy options, and customizable animation for fingerprint scanner and face unlock.
The realme 9 Pro+ joins the smartphone's bandwagon that allows virtual RAM expansion, which uses memory from the device's internal storage to make room for more app operations. From the 128GB/256GB of the realme 9 Pro+, a 3GB is allocated for RAM expansion by default.
Here are the benchmark results for reference.
- Antutu - 506,401
- Geekbench Single-Core - 814
- Geekbench Multi-Core - 2,332
- Geekbench Compute - 2,910
- PC Mark Work Performance 3.0 - 12,423
- PC Mark Work Storage 2.0 - 31,120
- 3D Mark Wild Life - 2,308
- 3D Mark Wild Life Stress Test - 2,310
- 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme - 637
- 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test - 638
- 3D Mark Sling Shot - 4,876
- 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme - 3,977
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CAMERA:
We've mentioned earlier that the realme 9 Pro+ could be one of the top photography-centric smartphones available today, all thanks to its brilliant-performing cameras – top-billed by a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor – the same one found on the flagship and pricier OPPO Find X3 Pro. Joining this shooter at the back of the device is an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide camera with a Sony IMX355 sensor and a 2-megapixel f1/.8 macro camera with OmniVision OV02B10 sensor. You get a 16-megapixel camera with an f/2.4 lens and a Sony IMX471 sensor for selfies.
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| 50MP Triple Camera |
Camera modes include the standard ones, plus Chroma Boost or AI Scene Enhancement, Expert Mode, Film Mode, Dual-View Video, Starry Mode, 50MP, and many more.
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| 16MP Front Camera |
We had fun using the realme 9 Pro+ in shooting images, as its cameras produce photographs with the right amount of everything – colors, sharpness, HDR levels, and details. This smartphone takes acceptable photos even in night photography, albeit a little bit of noise can be detected.
For videos, the realme 9 Pro+ shoots up to 4K 30fps and 1080p 60fps. Below are photo samples taken using the realme 9 Pro+.
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| Pool, 1x Zoom |
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| Pool, 2x Zoom |
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| Night, Pool, Normal |
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| Night, Pool, Night Mode |
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| Buildings, 1x Zoom |
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| Buildings, 2x Zoom |
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| Night, Buildings, Normal |
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| Night, Buildings, Night Mode |
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| Playground, 1x Zoom |
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| Playground, 2x Zoom |
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| Night, Playground, Normal |
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| Night, Playground, Night Mode |
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| Flower, Normal |
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| Flower, Macro |
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| Selfie, Normal |
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| Selfie, Portrait |
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| Night, Selfie, Normal |
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| Night, Selfie, Portrait |
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| Night, Selfie, Night Mode |
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BATTERY:
The realme 9 Pro+ has a 4,500mAh battery – smaller than most mid-range and flagship smartphones in the market by capacity. However, it can last a day and a half with moderate use, which is impressive.
Charging the device from 0% to 100% only takes around 50 minutes, thanks to the device's 60W fast-charging support and USB PD 3.0 feature.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
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| realme 9 Pro+ |
realme once again ticked the right and essential boxes with the realme 9 Pro+. With all the mentioned features, it's a no-brainer that this smartphone is a must-buy for those looking for an affordable upgrade.
The realme 9 Pro+ is available for Php23,990 for the 8GB/256GB variant and Php20,990 for the 8GB/128GB version.
How much is the realme 9 Pro+ price in the Philippines?
- The realme 9 Pro+ price in the Philippines is Php20,990 for 8GB+128GB and Php23,990 for 8GB+256GB.
- Get yours now via Shopee at https://bit.ly/realmephofficialstore or Lazada at https://bit.ly/realmeofficialstoreph.
When will be the realme 9 Pro+ available in the Philippines?
- The realme 9 Pro+ is now available in the Philippines.
realme 9 Pro+ Specs Philippines:
- Dual SIM, dual standby, supports 5G connectivity
- 6.4-inch FHD+ (1080 x 2040 pixels) TrueView Super AMOLED Display, 90Hz refresh rate, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
- Dimensions: 160.2mm x 73.3mm x 8mm
- Weight: 182 grams
- realme UI 3.0 based Android 12
- Octa-core (2x2.5GHz Cortex-A78 + 6x2.0GHz Cortex-A55) CPU, ARM Mali-G68 MC4 GPU, MediaTek Dimensity 920 6nm chipset
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB/256GB storage, non-expandable
- 50MP f/1.8 OIS PDAF main + 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide + 2MP f/2.4 macro triple rear cameras, 4K video recording at 30fps
- 16MP f/2.4 front camera, 1080p video recording at 30fps
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band
- Bluetooth v5.1
- NFC
- USB Type-C 2.0 with OTG function
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo
- Multimedia Player
- Hi-Res Audio
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Sensors: fingerprint (under-display), light, proximity, accelerometer, gyroscope
- Battery: 4,500mAh non-removable lithium-ion polymer; supports 60W fast charging
- Colors: Midnight Black, Aurora Green, Sunrise Blue
- Price: Php20,990/Php23,990