OnePlus 9 Pro Review: Moon Mission By MrMobile [Michael Fisher]

(upbeat electronic synth music) - OnePlus. For years following its debut, the name alone conjured excitement among phone fans. First, for value, then for features, and recently, a kind of middle ground between the two. Unfortunately, the words excitement and middle ground seldom go together. So this year, OnePlus put another name on the only part of its new phones that sticks out. To see whether that hump lives up to the hype of the 180-year-old brand name etched upon it, I drove 700 miles to the mountains of North Carolina so I could point this Hasselblad at this Hasselblad.

A near-perfect replica of one of the most important cameras of all time. The one that brought us photos from the Moon. (upbeat electronic music) ♪ Sunshine ♪ Before we hit the road, let's get acquainted with the phone itself. Actually, there are two. The lower-end OnePlus 9 here makes enough sacrifices that I chose to focus solely on the flagship model.

But even the Pro bears some confusing compromises. After several generations of appealing and fingerprint-resistant satin finishes, OnePlus has reverted to glossy glass for some reason. While the Morning Mist color is striking and it gives the phone an appropriately lunar gradient, that Gorilla Glass 5 is just too slippery for my taste. So, while I'd normally save this for the end of the video, the fact is that as soon as I unboxed my review unit I gave it the dbrand treatment. dbrand is my sponsor, of course.

And they're excited about the relaunch of their Robot Camo skins, but to tell you the truth, I prefer the simple black leather for this one. Which plays just perfectly with the stylized camera module, to evoke that old-world, late '60s aesthetic. dbrand your device at the link in the description. Let's talk feature updates real quick. OnePlus has played to its core strengths to make this phone a very useful travel companion.

Not in terms of endurance, necessarily. Given moderate to heavy use it's an all-day phone and nothing more. But Warp Charging lives up to its name like never before. The 65-watt brick and trademark red cable took my review unit from 1% to 40% in 15 minutes, and 75% in 30. That's almost 40% faster charging speed than both the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

And neither of those comes with a charger in the box. OnePlus also bumped up wireless charging speeds, with the Warp Charge dock getting me from zero to 70% in a half-hour and a full charge in 50 minutes. This year, the cable is removable from the stand, nice. But the stand doesn't come with its own power brick. Not so nice.

Still, a small price to pay for the fastest charging available on a phone for the U. S. market. Especially, as we slowly get back to traveling and might only have time for a quick hotel room top-up between outings. Another thing that comes in handy when you're back out in the real world, display brightness.

It's been boosted to a stated max of 1,300 nits here. And while it is bright, it's still beaten by the S21 Ultra in North Carolina's brilliant springtime sun. The display can refresh it up to 120 hertz, which makes it feel as fluid under my fingers as that ROG Phone I tested a couple of weeks back. Despite the gaming phone's display technically being faster. But while OnePlus has also boosted the syncing speed between processor and display to make gaming more responsive, games need to be updated to take advantage of that.

And honestly, if you care enough about mobile gaming that it factors into your phone buying, you're probably gonna prefer something like the ROG Phone anyway. The last display tweak I'll talk about is equal parts cheers and jeers. See, OnePlus wanted to make a curved display, but it also wanted to avoid those false touches that curved edges have become known for. So it reduced the curve radius and implemented software to prevent missed touches. And it works very well.

Too well, actually. Because when typing in portrait orientation I find that Gboard consistently misses or delays keypresses from the edges of the panel. Maybe a software update can correct this. And this typo, hopefully. But as any reviewer worth his title will tell you, you've gotta buy based on what's on the device at review time, not based on promises of future improvements.

And when you combine this with OnePlus's typically anemic haptic feedback, it just makes for a phone I really don't enjoy typing on. Otherwise, it's the OnePlus you expect. Speedy software, fast fingerprint, serviceable speakers, and clear calls. The big changes are in the cameras. So, let's hop into a road trip review vehicle with friend of the channel David Imel, set a course for moon mountain, and put them to the test.

(upbeat music) - Did it. - 10 1/2 hours. - 10 1/2. - Now we're in Asheville, North Carolina. First thing we do? - Food.

- Second thing we do? - More food? - And then we go to sleep, so we can see some moon and stuff. But first? - Coffee. (laughing) - 700 miles, 11 hours, and one overnight stop in Asheville later, we found ourselves in the North Carolina workshop of one Mr. Cole Rise. You've seen his work, even if you never realized it.

He designed the original logo for Instagram and several of the apps early filters. One of which still bears his name. These days, Cole's pursuits are more astronomical. He's spent over five years completing this, a near-perfect replica of the camera that gave us some of humanity's most important photos. The Hasselblad 500 EL that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used on the surface of the Moon.

Cole's replica is accurate, not just down to the serial numbers, not just down to the number of screws holding each access panel in place, but to the threading on those screws. Every modification NASA and Hasselblad made to assure the camera would function in space has been recreated too. The reflective aluminum paint used to protect the camera from the Moon's 260-degree daytime temperature. The shutter mechanism that makes the same sound on Earth as it would have on the Moon. If there were any air to conduct it.

(camera whirring) - Yeah, we love that sound. (Michael laughing) It's so great. - That is satisfying. And the lens, which was specially modified to ensure fidelity all the way to the edges of the frame. That was important because this camera wasn't just for posterity.

In 1969, before terrain mapping lasers and other modern sensors, hyper-accurate cameras like this were the only way to measure the height of lunar features, like distant mountains. And again, this replicates almost everything about that original. The only way you'd be able to see a more accurate version of this camera would be to literally go to the Moon. That's where the original was left, in order to save weight for the astronauts' return flight to Earth. Now, why did I travel half the Eastern Seaboard to see this replica? Because all the engineering that went into the original, all the painstaking work that ensured the astronauts could safely and reliably capture photos from the Moon, that took massive effort and expertise on the part of NASA and Hasselblad.

And by partnering with Hasselblad, OnePlus is hoping you'll associate its camera with that lunar legacy as well. Does it earn that equivalence? Well, it's about dinnertime. So let's head to one margarita in Michael Fisher for the short answer. Not really Look, it's not that these cameras are a disaster or anything. You saw the footage from the road trip and Asheville and Cole's workshop, it can be great.

There's even a kind of unintentional parallel with the moon camera. Remember that lens modification that made sure the image at the edge of the frame was accurate? Well, OnePlus used a similar approach on its free-form lens, the lens on the wide-angle camera to prevent distortion at the edges of the frame. Something earlier models did but needed to do through software. The phone's wide-angle camera also offers less color variation and at similar resolution to the primary, pretty good stuff. It's also great to have the option of shooting 4K120 for those slow-mo opportunities.

The few Hasselblad touches that did make it into the software, like the distinctive orange button and the custom leaf shutter sound, I liked them too. (camera clicking) And focus peaking in Pro Mode is a nice bonus. As, as the addition of the privacy alert light, when the selfie camera is activated. However, that front camera itself is nothing special. Name a common shortfall, like poor low light performance or poor dynamic range, or a narrow field of view, and they're all here.

There's no fun bonus microscope, as there is on this phone's cousin, Oppo's Find X3. There's no enhanced zoom like you find on Samsung's S21 Ultra. The low light performance lags behind that phone and Apple's iPhone 12 Pro Max. The device seems more prone to overheating while recording video than most. And the focus assistant that's supposed to help you take better close-ups, it does that, but in the process, it basically breaks the camera's QR code scanner.

Something that will drive you crazy when you're trying to call up a restaurant menu mere minutes before the kitchen closes. Now, let's stay real. Okay? Most smartphone cameras face similar shortfalls. It's true. It's just that OnePlus made such a big deal about this new Hasselblad initiative.

And like I anticipated in my licensing editorial earlier this month, this first attempt really doesn't do anything special. OnePlus says Hasselblad will have more input into the next device the companies co-develop, including hardware at some point. And I genuinely look forward to seeing that. The OnePlus 9 Pro goes on sale April 2nd for a starting price of $969 U. S.

, or 1,069 for the trim seen in this review. That puts it within spitting distance of the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max. And for the first time, I gotta say, I don't think OnePlus has done enough to justify that kind of pricing proximity. The 9 Pro is a fine phone, more attractive than most, with some compelling features, but the camera is just okay. I've always been able to follow that up by saying, "But, you know what? It's a substantial amount cheaper.

" Well, this time, unless you a new line or do a trade-in at T-Mobile, that price difference is almost negligible. So, for me, this particular moonshot falls a little bit short. Folks, this review was produced on the road, with VO recorded in an Asheville hotel room. So I hope you'll forgive the varied audio quality this time around. I hope you get a chance to visit Asheville as well.

To paraphrase Clint from LGR, it's a bizarre blend of Portland, Mid-Atlantic, and the South. And I really dig it Special thanks to Cole Rise for giving David and me special access to his workshop of wonders. If you wanna know more about the moon camera, David is planning on publishing an in-depth interview video on his new channel. I will post that, as well as a link to Cole's website below. All profits from Cole's store go to charity, by the way, which I think is pretty great.

Disclosure. This review was produced following 12 days with an OnePlus 9 Pro review sample provided by OnePlus, but as always, the company had no editorial input into this video, it provided no compensation in exchange for its production, and it didn't receive an early preview either. The opinions contained herein are mine and mine alone. Please subscribe to theMrMobile on YouTube if that's the kind of video you'd like to see more of. Until next time, thanks for watching.

And if you decide to hit the road this spring, remember to do it safely, and mask up when you're around others. As you stay mobile, my friends.

Source : MrMobile [Michael Fisher]