The realme 9 Pro+ smartphone boasts a flagship-level camera sensor for awesome low-light photography. It also has a powerful Dimensity 920 5G processor, 90Hz AMOLED display, and 60W SuperDart Charge technology.
I’ve used the device for several weeks while observing its build quality, testing its performance, taking camera samples, and measuring the battery life. Here’s my full review.
realme 9 Pro+ and its box
The realme 9 Pro+ comes in three color options – Midnight Black, Sunrise Blue, and Aurora Green. I have the last one and it has a smooth glass back with a glittery gradient color scheme.
It has slightly curved sides and a chamfered frame that makes the phone very comfortable to hold. This won’t matter that much if a case is slapped on the phone though. It feels well-built and has some heft weighing 195 grams.
The power button is on its left side while the volume buttons and SIM card tray are on the right. Its loudspeaker, USB Type-C port, and 3.5mm audio jack are at the bottom.
Overall, the device is a solid smartphone with a mature design. The Sunrise Blue color variant has the more exciting “Light Shift Design” which changes the color of the back panel when exposed to sunlight.
The 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display of the realme 9 Pro+ has a smooth 90Hz screen refresh rate, high resolution at 411 pixels per inch, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 scratch protection.
It can reach 600 nits of brightness which is good for indoor use and decent outdoors. Colors also look vibrant while contrast is exceptional since it’s an AMOLED panel. However, it still looks a bit washed out under bright sunlight.
There’s support for up to 10 multi-touch inputs and a 360Hz touch sampling rate. This is very noticeable when playing games where touch input latency can affect the gaming experience.
Mobile Legends on the realme 9 Pro+.
The realme 9 Pro+ is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset with 8GB of RAM and Android 12-based realme UI 3 software.
It can run most games smoothly at high graphics quality including Mobile Legends, Call of Duty Mobile, and PUBG Mobile. However, more resource-intensive games like Genshin Impact are out of its league.
Here’s a more detailed realme 9 Pro+ gaming review.
Screenshots
Apps open quickly with virtually no lags while scrolling down social media feeds or swiping across web pages. The 90Hz refresh rate of the display also helps in the overall snappy feel of the animations and transitions.
There are pre-installed apps that I find very useful like Soloop Cut for editing videos. Most are just bloatware though that can be uninstalled.
It has several hidden features that users can explore including Always on Display, Edge Lighting, Kid Space, and more. I’ve enabled Edge Lighting to serve as a notification light and Always On Display has a lot of fun designs.
Camera app interface of the realme 9 Pro+
The flagship-class 50MP Sony IMX766 main camera of the realme 9 Pro+ sets it apart from the competition. This is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP macro camera, and a 16MP selfie camera.
Pictures produced by the rear cameras look bright, vibrant, and sharp even in low-light situations. It has several useful camera modes including Portrait mode, Starry mode, Ultra macro, Panorama, Dual-View video, Tilt-shift, Film, Street mode, and a dedicated Night mode.
Aspiring photographers and content creators have a lot to explore in this phone’s camera features.
Here are several sample pictures:
Portrait mode
Flower
Food
Night mode
Fruits (colorful subject)
Motion blur effect
Ultra-wide mode
The realme 9 Pro+ also takes good-quality selfies and selfie videos. However, the maximum video resolution for the front camera is 1080p unlike the rear camera which can shoot 4K videos.
Here are sample selfies:
Sample selfie
Portrait mode selfie
The realme 9 Pro+ is a dual-SIM 5G smartphone which means mobile internet speeds are ultra-fast in areas with 5G signals. Take note that the second SIM card slot doesn’t support micro-SD cards.
It also supports Bluetooth v5.2, Wi-Fi 6 including 5GHz networks, and NFC.
Voice calls sound clear on the phone’s earpiece while the loudspeaker is decent even at the highest volume level. It’s not great for music listening though. Thankfully, it has a 3.5mm audio jack, unlike other premium smartphones.
The realme 9 Pro+ is equipped with an under-display fingerprint scanner. It’s placed conveniently near the bottom of the screen and works fine.
However, it needs a slightly longer time to properly identify the user’s fingerprint compared to traditional fingerprint sensors.
It recommends enabling Face Recognition together with the fingerprint scanner. This works even when wearing a face mask.
realme 9 Pro+ battery life test
The 4500mAh battery of the realme 9 Pro+ can power the device for an entire day with normal usage. This is true if the screen refresh rate and brightness are set to automatically adjust.
It scored 14 hours and 25 minutes on the PCMark battery life test which is slightly above average. As usual, this test was conducted in airplane mode and with 50% screen brightness.
Re-charging the realme 9 Pro+ from 0% to 100% battery capacity takes 45 minutes only. Take note that this is possible when using the 60W SuperDart fast charger which is included in the box.
I highly recommend the realme 9 Pro+ for its rear camera capabilities. The ultra-fast charging technology is also great while the display, gaming performance, and battery life are on par with other smartphones in this price range.
My only nitpicks for this phone are the screen brightness and loudspeaker quality.
The realme 9 Pro+ is now available in realme stores, authorized retailers, as well as online on Lazada and Shopee.
