OnePlus 9RT 5G hands-on review

Software

The OnePlus 9RT runs on OxygenOS 11.3, a half step between the OxygenOS 11 of older OnePlus phones and the OxyColorOS 12 on the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. It features the ColorOS codebase but still looks, sounds, and quacks like OxygenOS 11. This is the same version of the OS that's found on the Nord 2.

We have already expressed our feelings about the largely disappointing OxygenOS 12 in a separate review, and so we are mostly glad the OnePlus 9RT does not ship with it out of the box. While it should eventually get the update, hopefully, OnePlus would have ironed out all the issues by then.

Getting back to OxygenOS 11.3, it should feel familiar to anyone who has used previous OnePlus phones. The launcher, especially, is exactly the same as the one found on older OxygenOS 11 phones such as the OnePlus 9R, which should come as a relief to long-term OnePlus users.

OxygenOS 11 launcher

Digging into the Settings app is where you'd notice differences from previous versions of OxygenOS. The main page of the app looks familiar, but all the settings have different menus underneath. In some cases, this is an improvement, as some settings like Bluetooth were much more convoluted previously but simplified now.

On the other hand, the Settings app is now a bit too simplified. For example, you no longer have navigation button gestures anymore. This option allowed you to customize the back, home, and recent buttons in the navigation bar to have alternative functions when you pressed and held or double-tapped them. This option is now gone, and there's no replacement for it.

Apps and features

OnePlus has also been swapping its own OTA update screen to the one from Google phones. We are not sure what the reason behind this is, but as we noted in our OxygenOS 12 review, it prevents the user from easily and quickly sideloading OTA updates and instead forces you to do it from the bootloader screen.

The OnePlus 9RT in India comes with quite a few pre-installed apps. Most of these are either OnePlus or Google apps, and the good thing is that many of them can be uninstalled this time, which hasn't always been the case. However, OnePlus software updates are notorious for adding apps back even if you have uninstalled them in the past, so we wouldn't be surprised if some of these apps mysteriously reappear on the phone with the next OS update.

Some of the apps installed also have little to no thought put in them. There are three - yes, three - file managers installed on the phone by default. There's the OnePlus File Manager app, the Files by Google app, and the default Android Files app. None of these can easily be uninstalled by the user.

Minor annoyances like that aside, the software is still relatively clean, especially from third-party apps and services. OnePlus also doesn't load its phones (yet) with pointless features like anti-virus software and memory cleaners. And while some of the pre-installed apps do bother you initially with notifications, there are hardly any repeat offenders and don't inundate you with notifications after you dismiss them once.

The software was also quite stable during testing. While both the older and newer versions of OxygenOS have their fair share of issues, version 11.3 on the OnePlus 9RT is surprisingly free of quirks and unresolved issues. This makes it very easy to recommend for the average user who may not know or have the patience to deal with the various idiosyncrasies of this OS.

Overall, the software experience on the OnePlus 9RT was surprisingly pleasant for the most part. This isn't always the case with OnePlus phones, so we are glad that whatever OnePlus has done with this phone has worked and that they keep doing it.

Hardware and performance

The OnePlus 9RT runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. Our review unit had 12GB of LPDDR5 memory and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

The performance in everyday use is mostly excellent, even though the phone doesn't seem to be using most of its power. It's fairly well documented at this time that OnePlus prevents the use of the performance core in everyday applications to save battery. The company's solution for unlocking the hardware's full potential is the Performance mode setting, which locks all cores to a high clock speed. This doesn't seem to produce a noticeable improvement in performance but does burn through the battery.

Gaming performance is also mostly good. Once again, most of the phone's capabilities are being wasted by locking most games to 60fps, either to prevent overheating, overuse of battery, or both. OnePlus could easily provide an option similar to the performance mode to get around this, but despite our repeated appeals, the company refuses to budge on the matter.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 11i
  3641
• OnePlus 9
  3629
• OnePlus 9RT
  3325
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  3296
• OnePlus 9R
  3117

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  1129
• Xiaomi Mi 11i
  1114
• OnePlus 9R
  969
• OnePlus 9RT
  931
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  906

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  715196
• Xiaomi Mi 11i
  690021
• OnePlus 9RT
  670289
• OnePlus 9R
  617766
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  543986

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9RT
  41
• OnePlus 9
  40
• OnePlus 9R
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9RT
  26
• OnePlus 9
  22
• OnePlus 9R
  22

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  43
• OnePlus 9R
  34
• OnePlus 9RT
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  30
• OnePlus 9R
  23
• OnePlus 9RT
  22

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  58
• OnePlus 9R
  49
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  45
• OnePlus 9RT
  43

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  70
• OnePlus 9R
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  52
• OnePlus 9RT
  48

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  77
• OnePlus 9RT
  60
• OnePlus 9
  60
• OnePlus 9R
  60

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  119
• OnePlus 9R
  93
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  89
• OnePlus 9RT
  79