After having a pretty rough phase in 2016, Samsung has launched another smartphone, the Galaxy C9 Pro, yesterday for Rs 36,900. The smartphone will be out for sale in late February 2017 and the pre-booking starts from January 27 from select online portals. Considering the price range, we had a couple of options but eventually, we chose the OnePlus 3T ((128GB) for the one-on-one battle with the C9 Pro. The smartphone is priced at Rs 34,999 and is available exclusively via Amazon India. While the Galaxy C9 Pro looks impressive on the specs sheet, OnePlus 3T is the smartphone player to beat at the moment. So can the new Galaxy C9 Pro stand against the best smartphone of 2016 – OnePlus 3T? Let’s find out.
Design and Display
In terms of the design, both the smartphones are packed in a metallic unibody shell which keeps the premium built along with some decent looks. The Galaxy C9 Pro is a lot thinner at 6.9 mm when compared to the OnePlus 3T which is 7.4 mm thick. Further, despite the device being so thin, Samsung managed to avoid the ugly camera hump at the back, unlike the OnePlus 3T. Both the smartphones sport a fingerprint scanner at the front, while both of them has a USB Type-C port at the bottom for charging and data syncing. While the OnePlus 3T comes in Gunmetal and Soft Gold colour options, the Galaxy C9 Pro will come in Gold, Black and Pink Gold colour options. To summarise the design aspect, we would choose the Galaxy C9 Pro for its premium design language and no camera hump. Whereas, OnePlus 3T though is extremely premium to feel but isn’t that attractive in terms of looks. Also, there is an unnecessary camera hump at the back.
Coming to the display, things change slightly in terms of the size. The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro comes with 6.0-inch Full HD 1080 x 1920 Super AMOLED Display while the Oneplus 3T sports a 5.5-inch Full HD Optic-AMOLED display. Barring the Pixel density, both these displays will be beautiful to look at. AMOLED panels tend to over saturate colours but it is eventually more power efficient and is more pleasing to the human eye.
Performance and Memory
Now, this is where OnePlus 3T hits the accelerator paddle for the first time in this fight. The 2016 flagship from OnePlus is powered by a 2.35 GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Chipset coupled with Adreno 530 GPU. The device sports 6GB of RAM along with a non-expandable 128GB of internal storage. On the other hand, the Galaxy C9 Pro does match up with the OnePlus 3T in terms of RAM (6GB) and also gives the option to expand the 64GB of internal storage, however, the device is powered by a lower grade Snapdragon 653 Octa-Core chipset clocked at 1.95GHz coupled with Adreno 510 GPU for graphics.
On paper, OnePlus 3T is a clear winner here although we should not deny the fact that both the smartphone offers 6GB of RAM. On the other hand, Snapdragon 653 will be more battery friendly than Snapdragon 821. Another thing which gives OnePlus 3T an EDGE is the software. The device is already upgradable to Android 7.0 Nougat with OxygenOS 4.0 up top. Compared to Samsung’s UI skin, OxygenOS is much lighter and will offer better response even though both the smartphones share the same RAM specification.
Camera
In terms of optics, the two smartphones come really close at least in terms of the megapixels. The Galaxy C9 Pro features a 16-megapixel camera at the back with f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, dual-tone LED flash combined with a 16-megapixel shooter at the front with the same f/1.9 aperture. However, this camera can only shoot videos up to 1080p while the one on the OnePlus 3T can record up to 4K. The primary camera on the OnePlus 3T is a 16-megapixel shooter as well with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, OIS and LED flash. While the one on the front is a 16-megapixel shooter with the same f/2.0 aperture.
The camera on the Galaxy C9 Pro will let in slightly more light (f/1.9 aperture) and will be better for low-light photography when compared to the OnePlus 3T, however, the 3T offers the ability to record in 4K and comes with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS).
Still, we would recommend you to hold on for our review of the Galaxy C9 Pro whereas you can check out our review for the OnePlus 3T, here
Battery and Connectivity
All the power and performance is of no use if the device doesn’t last long enough in a single battery cycle. For the Galaxy C9 Pro, Samsung has given in a 4000 mAh battery while the one on the OnePlus 3T is a 3400 mAh battery pack. No doubt, the Galaxy C9 Pro sports a bigger screen but even that would not help the OnePlus 3T win in this segment.
In terms of connectivity, both the smartphones offer similar options with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS with A-GPS, NFC etc. For the sensors, both the smartphone come with accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass (gyroscope) etc.
Wrapping Up
To take the final call, we would advise you to list down your preferences. If you want the maximum power with no compromises and can deal with that annoying camera hump, OnePlus 3T is surely the best option you have right now. While, if you are more inclined towards the bigger 6-inch phablet devices and want a little more battery, you can consider the Galaxy C9 Pro. If you ask us, we would recommend you to go for the OnePlus 3T purely due to its insane ‘value for money’ proposition.