It may have taken a little longer than expected, but the phone industry has largely rallied around the USB Type-C charging standard. Sure, there is the occasional one-off entry-level model with microUSB, but it’s getting to be few and far between.
Laptops, Chromebooks, earbuds, and other accessories are moving in that direction as well. Most of the newer products we buy in 2021 have a USB-C port. And while it’s great that they all come with their own respective cables and adapters, it’s nice to have extras on hand.
If you’ve ever purchased a replacement or additional cable, you know there’s something to be said about getting what you pay for. Not all cables or chargers are created equal. Sometimes you’d be better off spending a bit extra up front so that you don’t have to buy another one later.
What follows are a pair of accessories from Eggtronic which provide charging solutions for at home or on the go. We’ve spent some time using both devices and find them worthy of your consideration and money.
Sirius 65W Universal Charger
The Sirius 65W Universal Charger ($45) from Eggtronic is one of those quality chargers that you’ll appreciate having in your arsenal of accessories. Not only is it more compact than what you’d likely get from your device maker, it’s built better, too.
Input Voltage: 100-240VAC, 50-60Hz, 1.5A
Output Voltage: USB-C5V3A 9V3A 12V3A, 15V3A20V3.25A max 65W
Output Power Rating: 65W
Color: Black Soft Touch or White Glossy
The first thing we noticed about this charger was its low profile. It’s pretty compact stuff, with a design that calls to mind a shrunken deck of cards. In fact, according to its website, the Sirius 65W is “smallest and most efficient laptop adapter in the world”.
We appreciate that we can plug this unit in behind a desk or couch and still keep them snug against the wall. The included cord, which is braided and six feet long, has become our preferred cable for charging up when watching TV. It’s strong and not apt to show signs of weakness any time soon, plus it’s longer than the one that came with our phone.
Power Bar 4-in-1 10,000mAh Power Bank
It’s not uncommon for households to have multiple users looking to charge their devices up halfway through a busy day. It’s also fairly typical for people to want to juice up a handset, a wearable, or pair of wireless earbuds at the same time.
This 10,000mAh Power Bank ($115) is the perfect companion for someone who tends to live a more active device lifestyle. Find some downtime at dinner or in the library while studying? Why not plug in a few devices or place them on this unit so they can replenish their respective energy sources?
Designed with modern devices in mind, it’s possible to charge up to four things at once, with a total of 53W output. Plug in directly through the USB C port or place your phone on one of the fast charging Qi spot. If you’re an Apple Watch user, you’ll appreciate the magnetic puck that be raised from within the bar.
We like the low profile of the power bank and think it’s great that we can charge up two phones wirelessly at the same time. This makes the unit quite attractive for an overnight getaway or weekend off the grid.
When you hear RSS, you don’t immediately think – oh, this is a great business tool.
You’d be wrong and we’re to change that notion, because RSS has a lot to offer users especially considering how pressed we are to consume media and content at incredible speeds. RSS readers are excellent tools to organize your reading and diminish time spent on menial tasks like opening dozens of tabs and manually refreshing homepages.
Found a site you absolutely love and want to follow. Sign up directly in your RSS reader or use a browser extension to grab without fuss or stress. That’s just the beginning!
What is RSS?
Time for a history lesson, if you’ve never used RSS before. In short, RSS is a protocol for content distribution and syndication. What this means is that users can access a site’s article from a third-party client (RSS reader) and do this simultaneously with as many sites as they want.
We call this Really Simple Syndication. Another term is Rich Site Summary, because what RSS does is summarizes a site’s content to its most important components. An article has author, date of publication, link and a summary of the text (sometimes the first paragraph). On this last point, there have been changes as now users can read entire articles within their reader.
How can your business benefit from using RSS feeds?
RSS feeds are an excellent way to collect data, whether you’re researching a news piece or doing marketing research. Marketers have the most use professionally speaking, because they can…
Create better and more targeted content
Reading articles and press coverage of your brand and competitors, industry pieces and reviews all together gives you a better sense of the market you’re in, the language of your customers and where they’re spending their time online.
Every company starts with an idea as to who their ideal customer is, but customers are not static. They develop new needs, change opinions and values, adopt new language and frequent different digital circles.
A brand with ambition for longevity ought to review what they know about their target audience and create content that better speaks to them and their needs.
Know what your audience wants
What are customers saying about you? What do they want more of? What do they complain about? Keeping one’s head in the sand and doing what’s on the agenda, because it makes sense, neglects the one factor that matters most to your sales – your audience.
No plan works better than having a bad plan. And a bad plan can sink a business. So listen…
To the praise as well as the pain points in order to build a better idea of how you can bring value to your customers and how you can change your products. Honestly, it’s free product research and not to mention how integral it is to not only listen, but respond.
Competitor brand names and products make for excellent keywords whether you want to receive a digest from Google Alerts or search through an RSS feed reader’s database for results. Inoreader, for instance, enables users to make use of custom searches within their subscriptions as well as every single indexed site in their database.
Tracking one’s competition has many practical applications. For one, you know when they are set to launch a new product (knowing when to schedule your product release) and how they’re doing their promotion. User engagement and press coverage highlight what elements in their marketing work and how you can best adopt their strengths without appearing as a direct copycat, or at the very least seek out related strengths in your branding.
Use your time more efficiently
Working with RSS is easy and less time consuming than how you’d normally approach your work day. The main benefit has to do with consolidating content. Newsletters, blogs, news publications, podcasts and social media channels can all be added to your subscriptions.
Anything and everything that’s important for your job and/or career development can be added to an RSS feed reader, which saves you time and effort in keeping tabs on everything else. A single dashboard ensures you keep your mind and your digital workspace, so whether you’re following the tweets an expert likes on Twitter or a killer newsletter, it’s all in one place.
Identify bloggers and influencers
RSS has proven itself as a stellar way to monitor brand mentions and product names. Keep your ear to the ground for long enough and you’ll stumble on the people who have strong ties to your industry and their words have an actual impact on sales numbers.
Influencer marketing is on the rise as a result of long-standing changes in customer behavior. The current generation of customers form strong para-social bonds with influencers and attach trust to their recommendations. Influencers are the celebrity brand endorsers of today, but in a much more human and approachable way.
Aside from monitoring industry keywords, you can spot influencers who speak about your direct competitors. Although a challenge to execute correctly, converting an influencer who’s had a bad experience with your products boosts brand reputation a great deal.
Check industry trends
Industries change almost imperceptibly all the time. Companies usually register massive changes when they shake up the foundations like an earthquake without warning or a trend has newspapers and experts talking. Monitoring keywords, influencers and competitors gives off small signals in changes on the horizon. It’s easy to spot opportunities when they come your way:
Indications in an increasing demand, which you can leverage with a stronger, targeted push to attract new customers.
Pockets of opportunity. Perhaps there’s interest from a customer group you haven’t seen or considered before, or a chance to reposition your product on the market.
Poach customers from competitors by adapting to new consumer needs. The brands, which win in the long term, are those able to sense change and adapt quickly, drawing in a shared audience with them.
NoxPlayer, developed by Nox Limited, has taken a spectacular breakthrough in integrating Android 9 emulator and it will be launched worldwide soon. Genshin Impact and The Rising of the Shield Hero: Rerise, which only support Android 8 and above, are available to NoxPlayer now.
Established in March 2015, NoxPlayer is an experienced and powerful internet-based group in the global emulator industry. It is committed to creating industry-leading PC emulator to bring the greatest product experience and user services, which is deeply favoured by users around the world. Since the establishment of the brand, the NoxPlayer team has insisted on technological innovation to lead the emulator industry forward:
2016/Q2: No.1 market share in the vertical emulator market of China;
2017/Q3: Covering more than 120 countries and markets;
2017/12: No.1 market share in the vertical fields of Japan, South Korea and other Asia-Pacific regions;
2018/Q3: Launch Android 7 beta version globally and the only emulator that supports three different Android versions at the same time;
2019/Q2: Launch the industry’s first 64-bit emulator beta version;
2021/04: The world’s first Android 9 emulator will be available soon, meanwhile NoxPlayer will also celebrate the 6th anniversary;
In the past year, the NoxPlayer focused on the Android 9 architecture and have re-constructed the kernel technology of NoxPlayer and Windows coding for in-depth optimization, which solves the problem of a large number of 3D game players.
Last but not the least, Android 9 version of NoxPlayer is not only a milestone to the industry, but also to other competitors. We are looking forward to inviting all gaming users to try it out soon on NoxPlayer’s official website (https://www.bignox.com/)
The Nitty Gritty: Grab one year of PlayStation Plus and a lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited for just $50 right now. If not for yourself, do it for the gamer in your life
Whether you’re concerned about security domestically or you’re a frequent traveler, transmitting your data over public Wi-Fi and mobile carrier networks isn’t always the safest option. Enter the VPN Unlimited service, providing you with a dedicated server to protect your online activities.
With this one-year subscription plan you’ll have access to worry-free browsing, unlimited bandwidth, and the ability to unlock territory-restricted content by choosing a server from the country of your preference. Some users have found that, through bypassing their ISP’s restrictions, they’ve even increased their transfer speeds.
Gaming Benefits
It’s not just computers and phones that benefit from having a VPN, either. Millions of people own game consoles like the PlayStation 4 or PS5. Those, too, have apps that connect to services like Hulu, Netflix, and others. Moreover, connection speeds are vital when you’re dealing with battle royale games; lag is enemy number one.
If you’re a PlayStation owner, you’re probably signed up for its PlayStation Plus service. If not, you really should be. It’s a great way to get free games, access classic titles, store things in the cloud, plus more.
We’ve got an amazing deal in the AG Deals Store today which provides you with one year of PlayStation Plus and a lifetime account to VPN Unlimited. Indeed, you can get all of this for just $49.99. That’s hundreds of dollars you won’t have to worry about spending.
PlayStation Plus Features
Free games (two each month)
Exclusive discounts & deals
Online multiplayer to let you enjoy your favorite games to the fullest
Cloud storage allows you to upload saved games & character profiles
VPN Unlimited Features
Reliably protect your data on any public WiFi
Surf w/ no speed or bandwidth limits
Access a wide range of VPN servers w/ 70+ locations globally, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia & Hong Kong. Check the list here
Surf on a variety of VPN protocols, like IKEv2, OpenVPN & KeepSolid Wise
Access streaming servers for US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, ESPN+ & HBO Now
Enjoy a better browsing experience w/ handy features, like Trusted Networks, Ping Tests & Favorite Servers
Easily configure your VPN connection on your router.
Convenient management of connected devices
24/7 customer support
Get Started Now!
Valued much higher in the hundreds of dollars, AndroidGuys readers can get a lifetime of VPN Unlimited and one year of PlayStation Plus for just $49.99. Hell, if anything, use it as a chance to save on the cost of renewing your PlayStation Plus account.
LG this week confirmed that it will continue to support its phones even after it sunsets the mobile division.
According to a statement from LG, it is offering a “Three Year Pledge” for its premium phones, meaning they will receive up to three iterations of Android updates from the year of purchase.
As LG sees it, the “premium” devices include those that fall under the G series, V series, and the Velvet and Wing. Further, it applies only to those released in 2019 or later.
Other phones, such as the K series and Stylo will still see updates, however they’ll only receive two OS releases. Moreover, this is limited to those devices released in 2020.
LG is currently fulfilling contractual obligations to carriers and partners, however that will slowly end over the coming months. With that in mind, customers who buy today’s models should rest easy knowing that they’ll be backed by normal warranty and supported with software updates.
The Nitty Gritty: This eBook packs nearly 800 pages of key Java topics and teaches you how to build games like Minesweeper, Retro Pong, Bullet Hell, Classic Snake, and others. Purchase your copy for just $19.99 while it’s on sale.
Looking to build your own game? Mobile is where it’s at with the market now worth more than $21 billion in North America alone. Creating and publishing a game doesn’t have to be a headache, especially if you have the right tools.
One such thing to put in your toolbox is the eBook “Learning Java by Building Android Games.” It’s priced just $19.99 and is packed with nearly 800 pages of help on Java and other development resources. Normally priced $35, it’s yours to keep for life and comes with a discount of almost 50% off.
This eBook doesn’t make any assumptions, like that you are already an expert. It will help you learn step-by-step from the ground up, teaching you how to develop a game.
Features
Lifetime access to eBook with 774 pages
Get straight into Java, Android & game development
Set up the Android Studio development environment
Learn more about object-oriented programming, Java design patterns, loading game levels & more
Put what you’ve learned into practice by developing a game
You will build games such as Minesweeper, Retro Pong, Bullet Hell, and Classic Snake and Scrolling Shooter games. In the later chapters, you will create a time-trial, open-world platform game. By the end of the book, you will not only have grasped Java and Android but will also have developed six cool games for the Android platform.
Lenovo’s newest gaming phone the Legion Phone Duel 2, has been formally announced and it’s an outright monster. And if we’re being honest, its name is fairly fitting, too. Why? Because there’s a handful of things that come in twos.
The Duel 2 comes with two USB Type-C ports, two 2,750mAh batteries (total 5,500mAh), and two fans for cooling the phone down. Technically, there are also a pair of front-facing speakers with a dual amplifier, and a pair of cameras on the back.
The Duel 2 features a 6.92-inch 2,460 x 1080 pixel OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate which is massive and should be quite attractive to mobile gamers.
Running an Android 11-based ZUI 12.5 software, the phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and comes with up to 18GB LPDDR5 RAM. In terms of storage, it has 256GB and 512GB UFS3.1 capacities.
When holding the phone in landscape mode the Duel 2’s 44-megapixel selfie camera can pop up and be used for video chat or live streaming. Around back is a 64-megapixel main camera and 16-megapixel ultrawide camera.
The handset features a rather distinct design with a prominent camera bump on the back. It’s also here where Lenovo places an intake fan and hidden exhaust fan.
The Dual’s two USB-C ports (side and bottom) can be used for 90W fast charging, should you purchase an optional adapter. Lenovo advises they can simultaneously charge the phone’s two separate batteries in 30 minutes. A full charge should provide you with “up to 8 hours of intermittent gameplay.”
The Legion Duel 2 comes with 5G support for both sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum, which is key when you’re worried about lag, right? The phone also features four shoulder buttons enabled through haptic feedback, ultrasonic sensors on the sides, two capacitive touch points on the rear, and two force touch points in the display.
The Duel 2 comes in either “Titanium White” or “Ultimate Black” and will available in China later this month, followed by Europe in May. The European model will be priced €999 (~$1,186 USD) and include 16GB RAM, 512GB of storage, come with a charging dock; A €799 (~$948 USD) will be offered with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. As of today there are no plans to bring it to the United States.
The lock screen for your phone is exactly what the name suggests – it’s the screen that stands between you and your phone when it’s locked.
Seasoned users may know this, but relatively newer phone owners may not – you can customize the way your phone is unlocked. Further, you can decide what sort of content or notifications can be displayed on that lock screen.
The lock screen is a universal measure on most smart devices. Primarily, it’s designed to protect a user’s phone from any person not allowed to view its content. Here, we’ll talk about how to customize that lock screen to your personal preferences and to make the most from it.
Adjusting the lock screen on Android 10
Keep in mind, different OEM’s will have different lock screen features. Some features like “tap to wake”, or “lift to wake” may appear for you on your lock screen options. For some OEM’s these sort of options are found elsewhere, such as under Ambient Display in OnePlus phones.
Locating lock screen options on the phone can be a little tricky, especially for users who switch brands. One way to find the lock screen settings is to search for it in your phone, if it allows for such a thing.
Depending on your OEM, the name can appear as Lock Screen, or Screen Lock, or something similar. When you pick the right option, you will see something not unlike the following choices.
When you see something similar to the screen above, it means you are indeed in the lock screen for your Android 10 phone.
Let’s walk through each of the customizable features here.
First and foremost, what content to be shown on your home screen when the phone is locked. There are three main options to this:
Show all notifications. (Your notifications will be shown without any protection. Any one with your phone can see the app, name, and the text they have sent)
Show private content only when unlocked. (Your notifications will only show app badges, hiding all sensitive information on the lock screen, you can see the content by unlocking your phone)
Don’t show notifications at all. (No notifications will show. You will still hear the notification tone, but nothing will appear on your lock screen)
Next, we can customize the lock screen message. This helps with telling others who the device belongs to, or you can put your contact information here should you misplace your phone.
Lastly, the lock interval. This is the time your phone will take to lock itself when it faces inactivity. I prefer having a brief interval so I have set it to five seconds.
There are other lock screen features you can tinker with on other phones like Samsung, Oppo, Realme, etc. but those are in the settings. Features such as Always On Display are often hidden in other settings.
In addition, the ability to further customize your phone can be put in other settings too that go by names of Customization, Personalization, etc. This is where you may be able to adjust the clock on your lock screen, the font, date and time on lock screen, etc.
When you first set up your phone, its worth configuring all the features as early as possible.
Whether you’re waiting for the next version of Android, or checking for a security patch, keeping your software updated is important for your phone.
Things are nowhere near as worrisome as in the past, but the occasional software vulnerability is still a possibility. It’s never 100 percent guaranteed that your software experience is fool-proof.
Find out how you can check for software updates on Android 10 swiftly.
Checking software updates on Android 10, made quick and easy.
If you are on an Android 10 device, you are either waiting for the next security patch, or Android 11.
It’s recommended that you check your device for security updates once every 15 days or so, and if you are expecting a software update, follow your OEM’s official social media channels to see if your phone is going to get an update.
While this setting can vary from one OEM to the other, the most common place you will find the option to access software updates is located in your Settings and in System Settings.
The name can vary from one company to the next, and if you are not able to find the setting on your phone, use the search feature to look for Update or System Update.
While Android 11 is currently on a lot of flagship and mid-range phones, the new Android OS is still missing from a lot of phones such as the OnePlus 7 series, and countless other OEMs.
As such, if you are eager on finding out what are the latest updates for your phone, make sure you follow your phone manufacturer’s official social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter) to learn about potentially new security updates or Android builds.
Even if you are not expecting an Android OS update, you should also be keeping an eye out for security updates as they help keep your phone protected against potential security threats on the Android OS.
They are similar to updating your anti-virus on Android 10, so it is highly recommended to keep your Android phone regularly updated. Most importantly, if your phone automatically pushes an update to you and recommends installing it, do exactly that.
Chances are pretty good that if you live in the US, you’re probably buying your phone on a payment plan. That is, of course, if its retail price is more than a few hundred bucks. Similarly, odds are that if you are purchasing a handset this way, it’s likely a Samsung.
Samsung has spent decades cultivating its relationship with wireless carriers. Other device makers, like Motorola, Google, and (at one time) LG, have comes to have tight business associations.
OnePlus, who has been in the game for a few years now, hasn’t made quite the same inroads. While it’s done a great job of creating compelling devices that rival flagships, OnePlus hasn’t done much outside of its partnering with T-Mobile here in the United States.
Why does any of this matter? Because OnePlus has steadily waded deeper into the flagship territory over its lifetime, increasing its prices along the way. At the same time, it doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to foster any new relationships.
No matter how good its phones are, the flagship OnePlus models are no longer the wallet-friendly “killer” stuff, it’s just flagship. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, it has become the very thing it swore to destroy.
That is to say they are just as expensive as other top-tier handsets. And along that line, you’ll have to pay full price for them or all up front if you’re not a T-Mobile customer. Is the OnePlus 9 Pro a great phone for its ~$1,000 price? Is it even a great phone? Should it be considered as one of the best options available because it’s priced like one?
Pros
Top-notch hardware and performance
Unparalleled charging
Remarkable screen
Excellent software
Cons
Curved display leads to occasional problems with gestures and taps
Camera takes some time to master and struggles with digital zoom
No support for AT&T 5G
Design
Sleek and Seamless
From a hardware design and overall aesthetic, the OnePlus 9 Pro the company’s most elegant and sophisticated one thus far. Like its predecessor, it’s big and a bit hefty, but generally sleek with all the right curves.
In terms of materials and quality, the 9 Pro is as beautiful and balanced as anything we’ve seen in the thirteen years of this site. The aluminum and glass are as fun to look at as they are to handle.
OnePlus does a great job of selecting its colors, too, even if we’re talking about black. And as boring or uninspiring as “pine green” sounds, the collective chatter suggests it’s actually quite compelling in person.
One of the hallmarks of a OnePlus phone is its dedicated ringer switch, located near the power button. It lets users jump directly to silent, vibration, and ringer with a simple slide. Is it necessary? Hardly. Do you miss once you’ve spent a fair amount of time with one? Definitely.
Other than that, there’s not much different here, until you flip the phone over and get a look at the camera system. From the front and side, it’s a standard approach. On the back, it’s quite unique. More on that later.
Internal Hardware
Hard to Beat at Any Price
The OnePlus 9 Pro houses a top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, bolstered by no less than 8GB RAM. Storage comes in at 128GB and there’s no microSD expansion card slot, but $100 more nets you 12GB RAM and 256GB worth of space.
The OnePlus 9 Pro supports both the Sub-6 and millimeter-wave (mmWave) versions of 5G but it’s only certified to work with T-Mobile and Verizon networks. Sorry, AT&T subscribers, you’ll be left with just 4G LTE. Then again, that definitely sounds like a first-world problem in 2021.
If there’s one thing that OnePlus does exceedingly well, it’s charging. That’s certainly the case here as the 9 Pro comes with a downright insane 65W charger in the box. That, plus the fact that the phone actually has two batteries making up the 4,500mAh power source, is what leads to the crazy fast charging speed.
OnePlus offers a $69 Warp Charge 50 wireless charger which technically charges the split-battery setup at 25W speeds. In essence it’s like having a 50W wireless charger. If you understand batteries and charging, you know that this is just bonkers.
How long does that 4,500mAh battery last? Over the course of ten days we found it lasted considerably longer than we needed it to last. Most nights we went to bed with it at 30% or more left.
If, for some reason, we needed to charge up along the way, it only takes a few minutes to get a day’s worth of life. As we’ve seen before, you’ll want to use OnePlus’s proprietary red cables to get the fastest and most efficient charging.
One of the biggest selling points for OnePlus this time around is its display. And after playing with this one for just one day alone we can see why. It’s pretty remarkable stuff, but not without a quibble.
Similar to what Samsung has done, OnePlus now employs an LTPO OLED screen that’s more battery-friendly and efficient. Further, it gives the company more control in the area of refresh rate. Here, the phone can go anywhere from a silky smooth 120Hz down to 1Hz depending on what the situation needs.
Like refresh rate in 2020, touch response rate is fast becoming one of those benchmark figures enthusiasts and early adopters pay attention to. The Hyper Touch tech in the 9 Pro clocks it at 360Hz which means its among the highest you’ll find in a phone.
As to how that really translates to mobile gamers, it’s a bit too early to determine. At a certain point you just don’t recognize how quickly a screen registers your tapping. And if tell us that you can discern the difference between 240Hz and 360Hz, we suspect you’re not being entirely truthful.
Software
Stock Android with the Right Extras
The OnePlus software experience, called OxygenOS, is based on Android 11 and is more or less a stock build. It provides plenty of extras in the way of customization and user experience, but it doesn’t have any sort of bloat.
OnePlus commits to two major software updates and three years of security updates. This is fairly similar to the Android One program and what Nokia promises for its devices. Given the hardware is as solid as it is, we like that OnePlus plans to support it for a few years.
OnePlus does a pretty good job of offering software updates in a timely manner and that’s important to us. We also dig it when we’re able to tinker and modify, customizing our phones to be truly unique and feel like it’s “ours.” The 9 Pro does just that and manages to do so in a way that doesn’t require users to have a degree in engineering.
Camera
Hand it to off to Hasselblad
Until recently, one of the main areas of concern for OnePlus is its cameras. It doesn’t matter how many cameras you have on the back or how many shooting modes you have if the results don’t look very good. Sadly, OnePlus has struggled to keep pace with others in the flagship camera space.
As far as we’re concerned, it’s nearly impossible to beat what Google does with its cameras. That is to say for the “open the app and snap a pic” demographic. We often don’t fuss with ultra-wide or telephoto shots; it’s usually a standard pic or something with the portrait mode on.
For 2021 OnePlus turned to Hasselblad for its camera experience in both the 9 and the 9 Pro. In fact, this is the start of a three-year relationship between the two companies. The biggest task for Hasselblad and these new devices is the color-tuning and accuracy.
In our time with the OnePlus 9 Pro we’ve found the overall image quality to be good, sometimes bordering on great. But that’s not with out a bit of qualification.
Lighting seems generally even across the board, even with using the different shooting modes. Some may skew a tad blue or have a bit too much sharpening, but you’ll have to look closely or compare the shots in head-to-head showdowns.
OnePlus does an admirable job with its app, giving users a clear and concise way to get around. It doesn’t take much time to figure things out and if you’ve used a OnePlus in the past, you’re already more than halfway home.
We’ve enjoyed playing with the 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera as it does a great job of tightening up and squaring off the edges. Often we find ultra-wide cameras tend to do that slightly curved fisheye distortion. OnePlus put in a custom lens to help with that and and it as good as expected. It’s better to do it in the hardware first and not have to rely on a software adjustment.
One rule of thumb we tend to employ with phones and their cameras is to stay at least one step away from its maximum zoom settings. Just because you can zoom in on a subject doesn’t mean that you should. And here when you do that, you’ll find some less than desirable final results.
We suggest taking a few pictures of your subject whenever possible and spend time learning its limitations. Get out in the real world and try to snap some pics too early and you’ll come away with grain, noise, and unflattering shots. It’s a really decent camera experience, but you need to figure that out. By contrast, the Pixel 5 may not be as well-rounded but it’s easier to understand and master.
Given its price, the OnePlus 9 Pro and its cameras should be held to a high standard. While we wish we could provide true head-to-head shots and testing, we just haven’t had that much time with the phone (and access to another flagship at the same time). But from what we can gather from other sources, the 9 Pro seems to do quite well in such tests.
Performance
As Good as You’d Expect
Let’s be honest, there’s no real way a typical phone user is going to tax this much hardware. We suspect the OnePlus 9 Pro would be strong enough for a casual type for at least two or three years.
Given its specifications we loaded our full daily driver’s worth of apps, games, accounts, and settings onto the phone. We’ve done our best to look for stutters and lags, but haven’t been able to discern anything along those lines. Now, to be fair, we don’t have benchmark tests running, and aren’t doing head-to-head comparisons.
If you’re really looking for a top-of-the-line device, you’ll want to add this to your list. We suspect, though, that you’ll be using this review as only part of your homework. To that end we recommend looking for sites who do full deep-dives into battery tests, gaming with a close eye on frames per second and drop rate, and other more technical information.
As much as we appreciate that this phone screams, we don’t exactly love dealing with the curved display. Yes, it looks great and we dig the resolution, refresh rate, and colors, the occasional phantom gesture or missed swipe can be aggravating.
Conclusion
So Damn Awesome, But…
The OnePlus 9 Pro is not a “flagship killer” but that’s simply because of its price. Were it a hundred dollars less, it would possibly get the chance to wear that moniker. As it is, though, it’s a flagship with a full suite of high-end bullet points and promises.
With about two weeks of usage under our belt we are confident in saying that the OnePlus 9 Pro delivers on its claims and lives up to its expectations. Each passing generation makes us feel more at ease with the brand and more comfortable with recommending it.
One of the issues we often face when reviewing phones is trying to look at them objectively and in a vacuum. That is to say we do our best to not compare it to other handsets. That’s hard to do, especially when a brand debuts two versions of a phone at the same time.
As we’ve been spending time with the 9 Pro we have also played with its sibling, the OnePlus 9. Priced about $240 less, it gives you more or less the same performance.
There are some extras you get for your money, but they’re nothing that’s necessity. Those features include faster wireless charging, a telephoto lens, optical image stabilization, mmWave 5G support, and a slightly smaller screen. Yes, the displays are technically different, too, but we bet you’d hardly notice. And if we’re being fully honest, we like the flat screen on the 9 better than the curved edge of the 9 Pro.
Do we recommend buying the OnePlus 9 Pro? Absolutely. Are you selling yourself short by opting for the OnePlus 9 instead? Not at all.
If you’re a person who loves to be different or buy something that others don’t, the OnePlus brand is one you should consider. Further, if you are the type who absolutely has to have the most phone you can buy, the 9 Pro is where you land.
