Ninetology U9R1 Review

Smartphone has been a necessity to everyone at this modern time but not everyone can afford the top notch high end smartphone which is currently available in the market. Today we take a look at the Ninetology U9R1 a smartphone released by Ninetology, the ASEAN mobile device technology company.



The Ninetology U9RI is considered as a mid range smartphone with an affordable price tag of RM799 is planted with Qualcomm® SnapdragonTM processor, 1.2GHz Quadcore CPUs. With that price, we now able to experience a quadcore cpu device and definitely will provide a smoother user experience as well.



Looking at the device, we get a 4.3"IPS display with 960 x 540 resolution. What we can get from this display is better response time as compared to regular LCDs, better color reproduction, better viewing angle and sharper Images but sadly, it's less bright and more power hungry than AMOLED display.



The dimension for this device is 126.3 mm (H) 62.9 mm (W) 7.8 mm (D) and weight at 107.5g. It is as long as the iPhone 5s but slightly wider. It comes in Black or Red. There's the volume control on the left side profile and the lock/unlock button on the right side profile.



On the top, it's the audio out jack and micro USB input for charging and file transfer purposes.



On the back cover, there's the 8megapixel camera with LED flashlight. The front camera is also provided with 2megapixel for those who like to do a lot of selfie pictures. Apparently, the image quality of the camera is quite outstanding for a budget phone. I'll talk further about it towards the end of this review.



At the bottom, a long stretch of speaker. Quality wise, it's alright but it's going to be muffled if we place this device into our pocket or simply placed it on the table. Now the advantage is given to devices that have dual speakers in front like the HTC One.



Side by side with ZTE Acqua (a phone which I reviewed last year, link here). The back design of Ninetology U9R1 seems rounder at every edge and every corner with a way slimmer profile.



Here, the back of the case is opened and the Polymer 1600 mAh battery, sim card slots, microSD slot are revealed. Dual sim card slots are pretty handy especially when you have more than 1 number but don't have 2 devices (yeah right!). They sealed the battery onto the phone chassis, it's a good effort to prevent third party battery to step in but at least provide a higher battery capacity (at least more than 2000mAh) if you decided to seal it. They claimed that the 1600mAh can last up to 8Hrs of talk time and stand-by time up to 177Hrs.



Recently, Ninetology launched a campaign called Ninetology Smart Ecology II, where consumers can trade in their old phones and get rebate to purchase their smartphones. This seems like a really good green effort for the environment but looking at the superbly huge smartphone box, it's sort of contradicting what they are trying to do. It's like saying, lets recycle all the old phones but kill all the trees! A smaller box will be good for the environment and for us as the consumer.



Inside the box, we will get the Ninetology U9R1 smartphone (duh!), the quick start guide, warranty card, plastic back case, two screen protectors, earplugs, usb plug and usb cord. Kudos for the two screen protector and the superbly good quality usb cord. It's really rare to see phone manufacturer to provide this stuff and not to forget the rather fragile plastic back case just so you know that you will never get to buy their accessories in a mall or wherever.



A plastic back case that is so fragile that won't be able to more than two drop test. The visible scratches on the back after a few weeks. Hopefully this can be improved in the next batch.



Like what I mentioned earlier, the 4.3"IPS display with 960 x 540 resolution provides sharp and accurate colour but somehow it drains the battery at the same time.



Here we have the BatteryGuru, a battery saving application that comes with every Ninetology phone that you purchase. A funny thing that I discovered that is this app only work after 5 days. There's this countdown thing and I am not sure why but on those 5 days, the battery drains like water. It can't even last for 6 hours on heavy usage. Hopefully Ninetology will look into this as well.


The main highlight of this device comes down to the camera performance. The shooting speed is average with all the shooting modes like portrait or night but lacking of ISO control. On broad daylight, the picture that we get is sharp and the colour is accurate.


I have no complain on the sharpness and clarity of the images even after zooming in. The number plate on the Honda Civic is clear and this surely be one of my top reason why I should get this phone.



Close up images are pretty good as well even at night. It flashes the object twice in order to have a brighter background at the same time the clear and sharp front object. The colour was quite accurate as well even with flash on.



The only problem with the camera is the lowlight performance. Most of the pictures I took with flash and flash on, the flash doesn't seems to be sufficient and so majority of the photos I took was quite blurry and noisy. If you don't really shoot at night or under lowlight then you will be loving the crisp and sharpness of the image quality.



The Ninetology U9R1 is priced at RM799 and with the current rebate, you can purchase it at RM649. For students who can't afford a high end smartphone or those who want a second phone, you might want to consider this. Anyway, they might not be the most affordable quadcore CPU device compared to the cheaper ZTE V967S, the latest OS update on the Moto G and could be having a hard time bouncing off from the big battery life of Lenovo P780.

PROS
• Dual sim card function
• Slim and light
• Affordable price tag
• Sharp and accurate IPS display colour
• Image quality is great and sharp with flash and daytime

CONS
• Sluggish performance when multiple apps are opened
• Device seems to heat up quite fast
• Insufficient battery life to last a full day of usage
• Bad lowlight image quality

Do you own this smartphone or are you thinking of getting one? Let me know what's your opinion at the comment section below. For more information about Ninetology U9R1, do check out their website at www.ninetology.com/u9/products/r1/


.: Peace Out :.

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