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The Realme 9 Pro+ 5G comes in three colour options - Midnight Black, Aurora Green and Sunrise Blue. The Sunrise Blue variant that we received has a glittery design that shimmers a lot and while it looks pretty, we’re not sure if it will be appealing to everyone. The design isn’t subtle at all and it doesn’t try to do so either. It’s very reflective with different colours gleaming out depending on the lighting conditions. The Midnight Black variant can be an option for those who don’t want a design that stands out.The phone otherwise has a slim and tall body and is very light to hold. Since it’s tall it fits quite well in your hand and even one-handed use is possible most of the time. The power and volume buttons are very thin though and might feel a little flimsy. They do take some time to get used to. Other than that you have the USB Type-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack and speaker grille at the bottom of the phone.DisplayThe Realme 9 Pro+ has a 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It has a punch-hole camera cutout on the top-left corner for the selfie camera. The phone has a “Super AMOLED” display but it doesn’t offer that display quality and colour clarity. The colours are rather warm even when calibrated to the brightest setting. It does have a 90Hz refresh rate so you get a smooth scrolling effect when using the phone.CamerasAdvertisementOn the Realme 9 Pro+, you get a triple camera setup featuring a 50-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra wide angle lens and a 2-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, there’s a 16-megapixel front camera. With this phone, you can get really good photos, especially in daylight. The phone has a separate 50-megapixel camera mode that you’ll have to switch to and this one brings better colour clarity and detail in photos. We also tried the macro camera but the result wasn’t great, as expected.Low-light photography is decent even with night mode for optimised photos. You can get a nice silhouette background with visible stars but don’t expect a nice shot of the moon. The front camera is a 16-megapixel sensor for selfies which turn out way too beautified despite keeping all settings at neutral. It’s something that may not appeal to those who want a more natural look without the artificial touchup.We also tried out video recording on the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G and we found it to be quite impressive. The phone shoots at 30 fps (frames per second) by default but you can switch to 60 fps if there’s a lot going on that you want to capture. Even at 30 fps, the videos turn out stable and not shaky. While we didn’t do anything adventurous the phone delivers good results if you’re shooting videos just moving around. The audio is also captured accurately of each person talking and background sounds too. Performance, battery lifeAdvertisementThe battery life and fast charging of the Realme 9 Pro+ is quite impressive. You can use the phone for around a day and a half with regular use like taking calls, using social media apps, alongwith a little bit of streaming and gaming. When it comes to intensive gaming for about an hour the battery drops around 20 per cent. But the phone comes with a SuperDart 60W fast charger which can easily get the phone from 0 to 100 per cent in less than an hour. The fast charging makes it great for situations when you don’t have enough time to charge the phone as it can get up to 30 per cent of power in around 15 minutes.We also played Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) on this phone and the experience was great. Even with graphics set at the highest setting (60 fps), the game ran smoothly with no lags. The phone also doesn’t heat much despite playing for almost an hour.The overall performance of the phone was also good as we did not face any issues while shuffling through apps, watching videos or streaming. In terms of software, the Realme 9 Pro+ ships with realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12. While you do get a very close experience to stock Android, the phone is still cluttered with third-party apps. It also comes with Glance pre-installed for lock screen wallpapers so if you want a clean phone you would have to do a lot of cleaning. But otherwise brownie points for shipping the phone with the latest Android OS.The smartphone’s great for watching videos since it has a tall display so if you’re someone who loves binge watching shows and movies then this phone will not disappoint you. The speakers are also quite loud and you get Dolby Atmos for that surround sound feel. We also did not face any issues when using the phone for calls and the audio was quite clear for the other party.AdvertisementThere’s also this heart rate monitoring sensor on the Realme 9 Pro+ that’s embedded in the in-display fingerprint sensor. You can use it to measure your heart rate and see a record of heart rate measurements. Realme however clarifies that this isn’t a medical device and rightly so. But this feature can be helpful to anyone who wants to keep a regular check of their heart rate.Verdict The Realme 9 Pro+ offers a good all-round experience even if there are very few shortcomings in some areas. It however gets the important bits right which is the camera, speed and battery life. If you want a good mid-range smartphone delivering on all the key parts then we would definitely recommend the Realme 9 Pro+. But if you still want more which could be a higher refresh rate, even faster charging and better cameras and are willing to spend a little more then we would recommend the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge 5G.SEE ALSO:Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G review – Fan edition, round two, still affordableCarl Pei hints at a possible Nothing Android smartphone with a Snapdragon chip{{}} NewsletterSIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. Sign up for a weekly brief collating many news items into one untangled thought delivered straight to your mailbox.CAPTCHA:Enter captchaBy clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

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