Oppo is gearing up for its autumn product launch event later today (16th September 2021), in which it will be unveiling ColorOS 12. The new update will also be arriving in OnePlus devices in China, however, an official has revealed that the company is also planning on announcing something new as well, which is scheduled to be revealed tomorrow.

The news arrives from @刘丰硕 who shared the news on his Weibo account, a Chinese microblogging website. For those unaware, 刘丰硕 (Liu Fengshuo) is the Chief Operating Officer of OnePlus. Previously, the senior official stated that its relation with Hasselblad is an in depth collaboration and not that of an ODM deal. Furthermore, he had also stated back then that the company is gearing up for something to look forward to, which would arrive later this month.

When another blogger (@科技九洲君) pointed out that half of September has already and there has been no news regarding when the company will finally make the announcement, the COO replied that the reveal will be tomorrow, which is September 17. Unfortunately, we have no information as to what the announcement is for as of right now. But it could be something new related to the Chinese smartphone maker’s partnership with the known camera lens maker.

RELATED:

• Purported OnePlus 9 RT 3C certified, October launch expected
• OnePlus to reveal rollout plans for ColorOS 12 at Oppo Conference on September 16
• OnePlus Nord 2 explodes in the pocket of an Indian Lawyer’s Black Robe
• OnePlus India reportedly offering free battery replacement for some older models
• ColorOS 12 Early Access program goes live for OPPO Find X3 Pro, OnePlus 9/9 Pro

The post OnePlus gears up for a new reveal scheduled for tomorrow appeared first on Gizmochina.

Earlier this year, the OnePlus 9 series had been launched as the company’s 2021 flagship lineup. While the company has been known to launch a T series model as well later in the year, a tipster had suggested that there might not be a OnePlus 9T this year. So, we might have to wait for the next gen 10 series that would launch in 2022.

But according to a LetsGoDigital report, graphic designer Jermaine Smit, aka ConceptCreator, didn’t wish to wait and released his own concept of the OnePlus 10 Pro. Smit also uploaded his concept render on his YouTube channel. As per his concept, the high end model will be equipped with a 6.7 inch AMOLED display with 3216x1440px resolution with 120Hz high refresh rate. Keep in mind, this is just a concept and is not the actual specs of the device.

Notably, the concept model even appears to sport an under display camera. Furthermore, we can observe a curved edge display from the sides where the alert slider can also be seen. As per Jermaine, the OnePlus 10 Pro concept arrives with a stylish faux leather finish as well. On the rear, a large circular camera module can be observed with two primary images sensors, with one likely being a wide angle main camera, while the other is the ultra wide angle lens.

Smit’s 10 Pro concept sports a 108 megapixel camera sensor paired with a powerful xenon flash. Interestingly, the ring module was also appears to be inspired by the Hasselblad 500c analog camera from 1957. ConceptCreator also imagines the new flagship with a Bionic Lens. While OnePlus is not known for being a class leader in smartphone photography, its three year contract with Hasselblad is an indicator of its increasing focus in camera performance.

RELATED:

• OnePlus plans to sell 25 million Nord phones by 2023, with big plans for the future
• OnePlus lead the Indian premium smartphone market in Q2 2021
• OnePlus Buds Pro TWS earphones launched in China for 799 yuan ($123)

The post OnePlus 10 Pro Concept envisions Hasselblad camera with Bionic Lens appeared first on Gizmochina.

OnePlus’ new flagships have finally arrived. 

What’s funny is that if you have been following OnePlus over the past few weeks, there was one word that has been associated with the brand name — Hasselblad. Indeed, if OnePlus wanted to attract a wider group of users, it made sense for the brand to announce the cooperation with one of the most well-known luxury camera brands with much fanfare. But the association with Hasselblad isn’t really exaggerated, as this time, the new OnePlus flagship definitely feels different. 

In this OnePlus 9 Pro review, we want to keep aside any bias that the Hasselblad logo may add, and want to highlight the qualities of the real phone that other reviewers may not tell you.

OnePlus 9 Pro Review: Design

Let’s look at the OnePlus 9 Pro’s design. To be honest, it’s hard to say that the 9 Pro brings us enough surprise over its design. The 8.7mm thickness and the 197g weight are not so outstanding among plenty of new models coming with a more compact body. 

But the good news is that the 9 Pro maintains an excellent build quality with OnePlus’ unique AG-glass processing. The camera module doesn’t protrude too much either. After we got our hands on the real model of the OnePlus 9 Pro, we think the Pine Green variant in our hand is the best-looking one among all three colors. By the way, we have one complaint about the position of the fingerprint reader. It’s too close to the bottom, which requires you to access it with a really uncomfortable stretch of your thumb. 

And although OnePlus explained at the launch that it was so proud of the upgrade of the 9 Pro’s display, in actual use, we didn’t really feel the gap. OnePlus claims the 9 Pro’s display is made of LPTO O-Led, a new display material that remarkably reduces the power consumption of the excellent high-refresh-rate display. But in our test, the battery life of the model didn’t see any remarkable improvement. But let’s talk about it later. Anyway, by far this display is still one of the best phone displays on the planet, having the best colors, the 2K resolution, the 120Hz smooth refresh rate, and probably it does consume less power. However, as ordinary users, we cannot really feel the improvement in battery life. 

OnePlus 9 Pro Review: Abandoning HydrogenOS in China

This time, surprisingly,  OnePlus decided to abandon Hydrogen OS and replace it with ColorOS in all its new China models. ColorOS is an operating system based on Android developed by its sister brand — OPPO. So is it bad news for Chinese users? Nope. Actually, the Hydrogen OS has been criticized for years and most OnePlus users are happy to see the change. 

But the global OnePlus 9 series still runs the Oxygen OS. So there is no need to worry about it. But our concern is, how does Color OS perform? Is it much better than the Hydrogen OS?

Well at first glance, there is no significant difference on the UI level. OnePlus has copied the basic design of the Hydrogen OS to the new system and preserved the smooth experience with a similar simplified design, so it’s not a problem to get used to it, even if you get the china version. 

ColorOS possesses the traditional advantages of hydrogen OS i.e. its “light and fast”. Quick response is the foundation of hydrogen OS’s survival, but now this advantage has almost disappeared as others have caught up. Another major feature of Hydrogen OS is that it is completely open and close to the original Android system. And Color OS has always been a GMS-certified system, there is no obstacle to using original Google services, and there is no problem in managing Google accounts. The icon-pack functions that hydrogen-os fans loved were replaced by Color OS’ personalized customization center. You can not only use ART+ icons in the icon style but also those compatible icon packs from the HydrogenOS packs.

Not to mention the optimization of Color OS’ localized services, including game acceleration centers, SoC performance scheduling strategies, energy-saving strategies, the latest LTPO backplane dynamic variable refresh rate algorithm, and localized life services, which are all missing from hydrogen OS. These are indeed the functions urgently needed by domestic users.

Simplicity used to be the main advantage of Hydrogen OS, but at present, it’s turned to be a downside, pushing OnePlus to change. The brand is short of resources to provide as many features as the other systems do. Consequently, the simplified Hydrogen OS wasn’t able to keep up with increasing users’ needs. And OPPO’s Color OS has higher level of completion with an increase in positive rating. So probably it’s time for OnePlus software department to shift their focus to the camera experience and give up struggling with the operating system. 

And now, another question comes: What will they do with the Oxygen OS? Will they abandon the slow-evolving Oxygen OS in the same way? Actually we don’t think so in the near future. If OnePlus is to keep a positive image in their global market, the Oxygen OS still got its mission to complete. But what they may do is to integrate some of the features that developed in Color OS into the Oxygen OS, which probably is a good thing for Oxygen OS to solve the same issue that happened on the Hydrogen OS. 

OnePlus 9 Pro Review: Benchmarks & Gaming

Well, most reviews wouldn’t really talk about the 9 Pro’s gaming performance. Here is our conclusion: by far it’s not ready for gaming. 

In some benchmark tests, the OnePlus 9 Pro’s results couldn’t compare to the other flagship models running the same Snapdragon 888 chipset. And even just for running these benchmarks, the OnePlus 9 Pro easily heated up. Then we weren’t really expecting much on its gaming performance. 

Running Genshin Impact, the average framerate on the 9 Pro is 39.98fps, which is not close to other top flagships from this year. Even if it’s for lower power consumption and CPU thermal-throttling, the CPU strategy seems really conservative. But the fact is that in our battery life test, the 30mins gaming consumed 18% of power, which is not really as good as they claimed. 

Then we moved on to PUBG Mobile. Since the game has got excellent optimization, we have tested it on so many models. not just flagships but also mid-rangers can perform well without any performance throttling down. However, we still met tiny throttling down on the OnePlus 9 Pro with an average framerate of 57.97fps. But don’t get me wrong. It’s still fluent enough and probably you won’t perceive it during gaming. But is it necessary to throttle down by 5fps in such a light game?  

But we also got good news in 2K20 mobile. It’s easy for the 9 Pro to access the best performance at 60fps without any throttling down issues. 

The last game we tested is Nimian Legend. What’s funny is that the OnePlus 9 Pro didn’t finish the 20mins gaming test and the game crashed in the 12th minute, leaving a reminder saying that the model was overheated. Well, then we knew where the issue is. Due to the heating issue, the OnePlus 9 Pro has to apply a pretty conservative strategy to protect the model from being overheated. Even though the phone still easily got heated up and the temperature of the model surface was really perceivably high. We noticed that usually the performance down throttling would happen when the surface temperature reached 47℃.  

OnePlus 9 Pro Review: Camera Performance

Now let’s see what we got in its camera department. The main camera features a customized 48MP Sony IMX789 sensor; and the wide-angle camera using the latest freeform lens features a 50MP Sony IMX 766 sensor; and along with these two, there is one more 8MP telephoto camera and another chromo lens.  

Before we show you camera samples, there are some important details that we wanna share with you. One is that the overheating protection also exists for the camera, and it happened quite frequently when you continuously use the camera for 15 or 20 minutes. When it happened, the phone would not allow you to use the camera to shoot photos or videos. Trust me, you would definitely be frustrated waiting until the phone cools down and gets back to work. 

Another one is the strange photo preview issue. When you capture a photo, the preview window in the bottom right corner doesn’t show the exact photo that you’ve clicked. It’s more like the moment when you click the shutter button. And only when it is opened, the real photo shot on cameras will appear. When you go back to the camera interface the preview window eventually will show you the real one. The reason why OnePlus does it probably is to give users an illusion that the phone has fast shutter response and fast image processing. But the fact is that like most other phones, the shutter and processing delay exists on the OnePlus 9 Pro but most of them didn’t cover it up this way. 

And the high-resolution option and RAW image option are hidden in the Pro camera mode. About their performance, we will show you some samples later. 

Main Camera 

Let’s start with its main camera. we have to admire that the OnePlus 9 Pro is using hybrid focus technologies and has a really quick focusing speed. Most of the samples are impressive with a natural richness of color that is pleasing to the eye but not unrealistic. It did show off a close style of Hasselblad colors. At the same time, the images shot under normal mode also has good contrast detail with accurate exposure. But what surprised us is the Raw image mode collects richer image detail. It allows you to have an excellent image post-creation, provided you are professional enough. 

The night samples were also stunning with a great improvement of overall brightness but its noise control is not excellent. And when shooting night photos with a smudged lens cover, we found that sometimes the 9 Pro encountered excess flare issues, which may immediately spoil your sample. So please make sure that you wipe the lenses clean before you begin your shooting, which can reduce the annoying flare to some extent. 

Ultra Wide Angle Lens

The biggest surprise should be the wide-angle lens. It’s the best wide-angle lens that we’ve ever seen to effectively solve the issue of distortion and resolution. Its colors were pretty consistent with what we have on the main camera, being natural with rich detail. And there is almost no image distortion on the wide-angle lens. This makes us a bit excited to see how it performs in video shooting. And its night shooting is also not bad but still has the same noise issue, which may get adjusted in future updates. 

Both the main camera and the wide-angle camera support high-resolution mode with HDR processing. So if you want a better resolution on your photos, just remember to turn it on. 

Telephoto Lens

The 8MP telephoto camera supports 3.3-time optical zoom and up to 30-time digital zoom with OIS anti-shaking. The image quality is not bad. Not only for good lighting conditions but in night shooting, it also performs pretty well with good colors and exposure. 

Well as for the last chromo lens, we don’t think it’s necessary to equip such an assistant lens for only one filter use. Actually, OnePlus offers 3 black and white filters on the 9 Pro. Two can work without the chromo lens. Except for higher contrast, the one that works with the chromo lens didn’t really show much difference. 

Video Shooting

For video shooting, both the main camera and wide-angle one supports up to 8k 30fps filming. Although the 8K video has pretty good resolution and allows you to crop the proper image you want, it also requires a high-performance machine to do the 8K editing. On the other hand, the 4k 120fps filming is a real surprise. It allows users to shoot excellent slo-motion videos with great resolution, which only exists on some expensive professional cameras. Now on the OnePlus 9 Pro, you can create the same work.  

OnePlus 9 Pro Review: Camera Performance

About its charging and battery life, just check the results here. 

Based on the battery life test we did, we don’t really think that the battery life of the OnePlus 9 Pro is gonna cheer you up.

So that’s all the details we want to share with you. 

Is the 9 Pro a flagship model worth buying? No doubt the answer is yes. But if you want to buy a gaming model, however, just skip the 9 Pro. As we said, it’s not yet ready for gaming. 

But if you are looking for a unique camera phone, it definitely could be one of your best options. Also please note that the system part we shared with you all is only for the China version. We just want to share why OnePlus was choosing a new path in the Chinese market, and why this time OnePlus is different. 

The post OnePlus 9 Pro Review: A top 2021 flagship with an excellent Hasselblad Camera appeared first on Gizmochina.

The OnePlus 9 series is said to debut in multiple countries on March 23 at 10:00 AM ET and March 24 at 2 PM Beijing Time in China. The launch event will include four products – OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus 9R(for India), and the OnePlus Watch. Let’s take a look at the expected specs, features, and prices of the OnePlus 9 devices ahead of launch.

OnePlus 9 series- What’s New?

Unlike the past, OnePlus has built quite the hype for the OnePlus 9 series cameras with the announcement of the Hasselblad partnership. The company will jointly develop natural color calibration with the Swedish camera maker. This partnership will continue for the next three-years as OnePlus invests about $150 million in its R&D labs situated around the world.

Talking about the design, high-quality renders show a revamped camera layout. We see the Hasselblad branding on both the models suggesting that the above-mentioned software tech could be available for both.

Either way, the camera layout gets a more refined finish as compared to the OnePlus 8T. Specifically, it looks like OnePlus has taken inspiration from the OPPO Reno series of smartphones. 

1 of 6

However, unlike OPPO, the camera lenses inside are stacked in varying sizes. The OnePlus 9 Pro has quad-cameras while the non-Pro is said to stick with the triple-camera setup. The devices will launch in the following colors:

• OnePlus 9
  • Colors- Arctic Sky, Astral Black, Winter Mist.

• OnePlus 9 Pro
  • Colors- Stellar Black(sandstone-like finish), Forest Green, and Morning Mist(Silver)[2]*

As for the OnePlus 9R, the third device would be a first in the series [5](and launch in countries like India) as the OnePlus flagship lineup traditionally featured a standard and a Pro variant (if we exclude the special editions). The device is expected to feature a Snapdragon 870 chipset and provide a flagship experience at a more affordable price.

1 of 6

Not just the press renders, the static and live wallpapers of the devices have also been leaked. As you can see in the renders above, the wallpapers have a mix of color variants in them.

OnePlus 9 series Specifications and Features(Expected)

Below are the expected specifications for the OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro. This time, OnePlus is likely to separate the above-mentioned devices in Display, and Wireless charging but unite it in Camera department. Let’s take a look at them below:

OnePlus 9 Specifications

• Weight, Thickness:192 grams & 8.7mm(Global), 183 grams & 8.1mm(India)
• Display: 6.55-inch FHD+ flat AMOLED top-left punch-hole display, 120Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 
• Cameras: 
  • Triple-cameras with 48MP Sony IMX689 main lens, 50MP ultra-wide, 2MP monochrome sensor
  • Front: 16MP selfie shooter
  • Camera features 4K and improved HDR video recording, PDAF, Nightscape.
• Battery: 4,500mAh with 65W Warp Charging, 15W Wireless(Indian variant might skip this).
• Memory: 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Other features: 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GNSS
• OS: OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11, ColorOS 11(China)[4]

However, it’s hard to believe this leak and we think it will be more of color calibration on the non-Pro. Either way, let’s take this with a pinch of salt and wait for official info.

OnePlus 9 Pro Specifications

1 of 4

*[2] OnePlus 9 Pro Morning Mist 

• Weight, Thickness: 197 grams & 8.7mm
• Display: 6.7-inch QHD+ curved AMOLED top-left punch-hole LTPO display, 120Hz refresh rate, true 10-bit, 1300 nits brightness, Gorilla Glass 5 protection, 360Hz Touch sampling rate, 8192-level brightness adjustment, DisplayMate rating- A+[2]*.
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 
• Cameras: 
  • Quad-cameras with 48MP Sony IMX789 main lens, 50MP ultra-wide 140-degree FOV Sony IMX766, 8MP Telephoto(3.3x Optical), 2MP monochrome
  • Front: 32MP selfie shooter(possibility)
  • Camera features:4K video at 120FPS and 8K video at 30FPS, dual-native ISO, full-pixel Omnidirectional AF, Freeform lens for minimal distortion(ultra-wide), 12-bit RAW support, Digital Overlap HDR, Nightscape. Camera samples- [2]*
• Battery: 4,500mAh with 65W Warp Charging, 50W wireless charging[1]*, Reverse wireless charging
• Memory: 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Other features: 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GNSS, IP68-rating for water and dust resistance
• OS: OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11(Global), ColorOS 11(China)[4]

OnePlus 9 series- Price, Availability

The OnePlus 9 series is expected to begin at $699. Specifically, the OnePlus 9 will likely cost around 699 euros for 8/128GB while the ‘Pro’ variant could begin at 899 euros for the base model as per WinFuture.de[3].

As for availability, registrations have already begun in China despite the launch being a day later than the global one. We can expect the global variants to be available across the majority of Europe, the USA, and Asia.

OnePlus 9R is launching for the Indian market and along with it, the entire pricing for the series has been leaked.

Updates– [1]-Mar. 13- 50W Wireless charging leaked; [2]-Mar. 16 – Color, Display, Camera details officially confirmed;[3]-Mar. 23- Price;[4]-Mar. 23- ColorOS;[5]- OnePlus 9R;

RELATED:

• Android 11 update for the OnePlus Nord paused due to bugs
• OnePlus 9 Pro shows up in real skin in an official promo video
• OnePlus Band adds support for Google Fit synchronization

The post [Updated]OnePlus 9 series Rumor roundup: Expected Specs, Features, and Price ahead of launch appeared first on Gizmochina.

OnePlus has officially confirmed to launch the OnePlus 9 series on March 23 at 10:00 AM ET. The launch event will be livestreamed on the company’s official YouTube channel. That’s not all, the Chinese smartphone maker has also formally announced its partnership with the Swedish camera maker Hasselblad.

In the press release, OnePlus did not reveal the models in the OnePlus 9 series, which are expected to be OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, and OnePlus 9R, as per leaks. Instead, the brand has confirmed the camera specs of these devices.

OnePlus says that it has signed a three-year partnership with Hasselblad to co-develop camera systems for future OnePlus flagship devices. To do so, the company will be investing $150 million over the next three years for four R&D labs around the lab, including two imaging labs based in the United States and Japan.

The OnePlus 9 series and the upcoming high-end phones from the OEM will ship with ‘Natural Color Calibration with Hasselblad’, a new color solution jointly developed by OnePlus and Hasselblad. The brand’s flagship smartphones will also come with ‘Hasselblad Pro Mode’ with support for 12-bit RAW format and options to adjust  ISO, focus, exposure times, white balance, and more.

Additionally, OnePlus and Hassleblad are also working on a panoramic camera with a 140° FOV (Field of View) and T-lens technology for faster focus in the front-facing camera.

That said, here are some of the camera specs of the OnePlus 9 series, as confirmed by the company itself.

• Custom Sony IMX789 Sensor
• Freeform Lens for Minimal Distortion in Ultra-Wide Pictures
• Support for 12-bit RAW
• Improved HDR Video Recording
• Video Recording at 4K 120FPS and 8K 30FPS

From the above-mentioned parameters, we can clearly say that none of the hardware is new but they are first for a OnePlus smartphone. Hopefully, the OnePlus 9 series’ camera system performs as well as the company claims.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming OnePlus 9 series and the OnePlus-Hasselblad partnership? Do let us know in the comment section below.

RELATED:

• OnePlus 9 Pro Stellar (Sandstone) Black poses for the camera
• OnePlus to continue selling the OnePlus 8 series for the first half of 2021
• OnePlus Nord 2 powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1200 to launch in Q2 2021
• OnePlus 9 series color variants leaked, Pre-orders to include OnePlus Buds Z TWS as a gift

The post OnePlus 9 series launch set for March 23, Hasselblad partnership & camera specs officially confirmed appeared first on Gizmochina.