Realme 9 Pro Plus review: Very good mid-range or a run-of-the-mill device?

Originally a small subsidiary of OPPO, Realme has become increasingly dominant in recent months. The Realme 9 Pro Plus is a good example as a flagship of the mid-range, because on paper it has very similar features to the OnePlus North 2 manages to push the price down to under 370 euros.
However, compared to its strength, the Realme also has some hurdles. We want to examine this in the following lines.
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Design: The Unexpected Vulnerability
Design is usually not a spectacular point for smartphones in this price range, because everyone prefers to focus on the internal features. The Realme 9 Pro Plus is not particularly good in this regard either.
The back is made of glass and the present blue version shows a yellow gradient depending on the light and is dotted with glitter. Personally, I probably would have found the design to be simpler, but a mid-range smartphone probably needs to be able to stand out with such methods. The back can even change color when exposed to large areas of sunlight, and at this color it becomes completely red, which really surprised me.
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Under the sun (Image: TechnikNews)
- Picture: TechnikNews
Next to a flagship smartphone like the Realme GT 2 Pro, the low price is clearly noticeable, especially in the build quality. The frame is made of plastic and, in keeping with today's trend, is also flattened. The problem, however, is that the back of the Realme 9 Pro Plus is rounded, the frame protrudes very far and the transition to the display is therefore miserable, so that the frame feels very strange overall. Due to a plastic layer at the transition to the screen glass, this is not like a line, but rather unpleasant. The buttons are opposite each other and you can tell from the pressure points that they could be of higher quality.
- Poor transition to the display (picture: TechnikNews)
- Picture: TechnikNews
The most striking feature, however, is certainly the front. This is not a big problem in principle, but the asymmetrical edges and the wide chin are clearly noticeable.
Camera system: The great strength
But in order not to only report negative things, let's take a look at the camera system of the Realme 9 Pro Plus, the first big point on the product's own advertising. It is therefore noteworthy that the IMX766 sensor has been installed, which we also know from the OPPO FIND X5 PRO know. Together with the otherwise often omitted optical image stabilization, the main camera can definitely stand out on paper.
Color rendering and dynamics during the day
During the day, the results show a higher image quality in most cases compared to a OnePlus 8T or Xiaomi 12X, which have two solid camera systems. As is typical for smartphones with a MediaTek processor, which in a smartphone not only has the CPU or graphics card, but also image processingproprocessors, the colors are very oversaturated in certain areas and images are brightened, which often makes for a rather cheap look and slip-ups happen more often. Based on many tested smartphones in the past, all of which had a MediaTek processor, such as the Xiaomi 11t, it can now be said that the optimization of these is not yet so mature. However, the problem has already been improved compared to the past, as the good results on the Realme 9 Pro Plus are now more consistent.
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
Night shots and ultra wide angle
The biggest advantage of the large sensor, however, is undoubtedly night shots, as this is simply a hardware advantage. The noise is low and the image quality and brightness are high; even compared to an OPPO Find X5, you can hardly see any relevant difference. Without oversharpening, it can sometimes even outperform a Samsung Galaxy S22. You will be hard-pressed to find a better quality main camera for under 400 euros than the one in the Realme 9 Pro Plus.
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
But that doesn't mean that this camera is perfect in all areas, for example we see a clear smear in the ultra wide angle. The images are not unusable, but especially in less than ideal lighting conditions, you can see the miserable sensor in the poor edge quality. I would advise smartphone users to use the main camera.
- Picture: TechnikNews
- Picture: TechnikNews
Consumer experience: unspectacularly good
Compared to the camera system, the consumer experience is much less spectacular.
screen
Samsung's 90 Hertz AMOLED display on the front is definitely not bad. It just doesn't stand out from the crowd because the high standard has already been established in the market. The calibration of the Realme 9 Pro Plus' display is a bit too reddish, which cannot be remedied by adjusting the white balance. The brightness is not a major problem, so content can be read well in sunlight for the price, but the typical weaknesses of a non-flexible OLED display, more precisely rainbow-colored discoloration when viewed from the side, cannot be avoided here either, and despite the slightly higher touch sampling rate of 360 Hertz, I subjectively have the feeling that the latency of the touch sensitivity is a bit higher, which also makes fast typing quite uncomfortable.
Haptic feedback
The haptic feedback is better via the vibration motor, which is also the X-axis, the highest quality type of vibration motor in a smartphone. It is of course not as high quality as in the OPPO Find X5 Pro, but the O Haptics are also integrated here. The haptic feedback is not quite as precise, but still comparatively pleasant. With the new ColorOS 12 software, called RealmeUI 3 here, there is also good optimization and versatile use of haptics. It is a good thing that good vibration motors have become more and more established as a relevant component in smartphones in recent years, now even up to the mid-range.
Unlock
The fingerprint sensor in the Realme 9 Pro Plus is placed in the display, not on the side, as manufacturers in this price range sometimes like to do. This technology has become very sophisticated over the past few years, so unlocking a smartphone is rarely a problem these days. Even if it is typically positioned too far down, this is still completely acceptable for the price.
The user experience
Processor
One of the most important differences between the OnePlus Nord 2 and Realme 9 Pro+ is certainly the processor, as this is the MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC. With less power than the Dimensity 1200 from the same company, it is still able to offer enough performance for everyday use. The RealmeUI 3.0 ensures consistently smooth everyday use.
Software
And unlike OnePlus, which still wanted to hide the ColorOS basis, this is actually the undoing of RealmeUI. The design elements changed on paper weren't thought through to the end and as a result this UI feels quite immature. For example, in the camera app and many other interfaces, the green colors on buttons are mixed with yellow Realme lettering, but other menus tell us that these should actually be blue. Otherwise, all the popular ColorOS features of Art+ are also available via the floating windows.
- Camera app (Image: TechnikNews)
- As it should be... (Picture: TechnikNews)
The advantage of OPPO's user interface over Android is that it runs the same on all devices across all price ranges and there are no differences in animations and the like. For expensive smartphones, this makes it feel less dynamic and fast than certain other UIs, but in the mid-range the clean optimization is definitely an advantage.
Battery
At 4500 mAh, the battery is just as big as in the OnePlus Nord 2. In terms of runtime, it can be positioned in the average range. No inefficient behavior of the MediaTek SoC is noticeable here. Thanks to the fast dart charging with 60 watts, the battery can also be recharged quickly.
Conclusion: Difficult thing...
Before unpacking the Realme 9 Pro Plus, I originally had extremely high expectations, partly due to testing the OnePlus Nord 2, which were somewhat disappointed with the first impression of the design. However, after using it in everyday life, it can be said that the main camera and internal hardware can deliver what is offered. In itself, the Realme 9 Pro Plus is a very good deal for under 400 euros.
Compared to the OnePlus Nord 2 from the sister company, I still find it difficult to give this smartphone a particularly high rating. It is obviously a smartphone designed specifically for the online market, very different from OPPO's. This meets the key specs that look good on marketing sheets online. But with the points that you only feel after unpacking, such as the design, the compromade a mistake.
In principle, this is not a problem at all, as you cannot expect a completely satisfactory package for a low price. Only OnePlus has found an even better balance with the Nord series in my opinion, which is why this model was rightly priced lower at the start. However, because the OnePlus Nord 2 has been on the market for a long time, it is not more expensive at the moment with various promotions. Therefore, I would wait a little until the price difference has been restored so that you can go for the actually very good Realme 9 Pro Plus.
We would like to thank Realme Germany for providing the Realme 9 Pro Plus!