With the goal to disrupt the midrange segment, realme’s efforts don’t go unnoticed when they introduced elements of a flagship smartphone in the realme 9 Pro+, all while keeping popular features to retain its affordable price. However, will the most awaited flagship feature be enough to cut it and stand out in the sea of midrange smartphones? Read more to find out.
Design and Build
Featuring an innovative Light Shift Design in Sunrise Blue colorway, the rear cover transitions from blue to red when exposed to sunlight. Although the current one in review comes in Aurora Green colorway, it didn’t fall short in capturing my attention with its vertical beams surrounded by dreamy sparkles.
The realme 9 Pro+ provides an amazing feel with its lightweight and slim build measuring 182g and 7.99mm, respectively. You’ll find the power button comfortably located on the right side of the phone. The dual SIM card tray and volume buttons are found on the left. And at the bottom, the 3.5mm jack, Type-C USB port, and speakers.
Beyond the appealing and ergonomic design, it boasts a 6.6” Super AMOLED screen display and a 90Hz refresh rate. While the details and colors are commendable streaming my favorite Netflix series, the short supply in brightness was the only downside of its display. The viewing experience was supplemented with the Dolby Atmos Dual Stereo speakers offering consistent audio quality without any distortion.
Upon unboxing, you’ll also get a 60W SuperDart Charger, Type-C USB cable, protective case, SIM ejector tool, Quick Guide, and Important Information Guide.
Camera
As previously mentioned, the flagship feature I looked forward to the most is the Sony IMX766 sensor. Playing around with the camera settings of the 9 Pro+ has been a very delightful experience. I was impressed that the 50MP main camera effortlessly produced photos with crisp details and rich colors. Even at nighttime, the quality and detail of the photos weren’t compromised at all — they possessed nearly the same level of clarity as the photos taken in favorable lighting conditions. I believe the Optical Image Stabilization and Noise Reduction Engine 3.0 were also at play, giving the necessary enhancements in image clarity.
Of course, it doesn’t stop there. The Street Photography Mode 2.0 is something to talk about. What used to be only possible in professional cameras such as DSLR is made easily accessible in the realme 9 Pro+. From neon trail to light painting, it gave me a lot of room to exercise my creativity. You’ll be surprised by what this camera can do. Other camera sensors users can experiment on are the 2MP macro camera and 8MP ultra wide-angle camera.
Finally, the front camera wasn’t too shabby either. Similar to the rear camera, it was able to capture the details of the facial features even in low light, but one thing it could use is additional vibrance in colors.
Performance
The average 4500mAh battery of the realme 9 Pro+ is paired with a powerful 60W SuperDart Charger, which for me is a good way to even things out. With light to moderate usage, it should keep you company throughout the day. But even if your batteries run dry, it should only take you 24 minutes to charge up to 50%, so you can carry on with your activities, be it for work or entertainment.
Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G processor, my experience running several apps such as Netflix, YouTube and my social media accounts was uninterrupted. So on a day-to-day basis, with usage similar as previously mentioned, it’s safe to assume that you’ll get a smooth and lag-free experience. Fortunately, even while playing graphically demanding games like Asphalt 9, there were no frame drops in the default visual quality setting.
The realme 9 Pro+ runs on 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. Storage will also be the least of your problems since it houses a sizable capacity. This works to my advantage since I love taking photos and videos for work and personal enjoyment.
Here are the results after running the device through 3D Mark and Geekbench:
- Slingshot: 4771
- Slingshot Extreme- OpenGL ES 3.1: 3813
- Wild Life: 2276
- Wild Life Stress Test: 2301
- Geekbench Score: 810 (Single-Core Score), 2273 (Multi-Core Score)
Verdict
The camera feature is what stood out to me the most, although it didn’t disappoint in all other aspects. Users can relish the immersive viewing experience with its screen display, brief waiting time to get back to work, and stunning designs to choose from.
As expected, some features were not out of the ordinary to make it fit for the midrange segment. However, thanks to the Sony IMX766 sensor, it gave a major boost to its overall stature, making it shine in the sea of midrange smartphones. Thus, it will be a temptation content creators and photographers will find difficult to resist at a price point of P23,990.
