Review: Ninetology U9 R1 – The Slim Imaging Wonder

When I first opened the box, I was amazed to see such a slim phone. The bright red looks really good on this one. I’ve been told that the camera clarity on this phone is really good so I can’t wait to put it to test straight away.

The Ninetology U9 R1 is a super slim lightweight smartphone powered by Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with a quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB RAM. As far as where endurance is concerned, this phone did well for me. After I installed the usual apps, it still performs well under harsh usage on daily basis.

The box is quite big for keeping in something so small. But it’s ok I guess.

All comes standard. Phone (duh), USB charger, earphone, rear plastic case and the warranty/manual booklet.

Here’s a brief specifications on the R1

• Platform
  Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1.2GHz Quad Core CPU
• OS
  Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
• Memory
  4GB ROM/1GB RAM, up to 32GB MicroSD
• Display
  4.3 inch screen with 960 x 540 resolution
• Camera
  8 megapixel rear shooter, 2 megapixel front camera. Autofocus, LED flash and face detection.
• Battery
  Polymer 1800 mAh
• Other features
  Dual SIM, Snapdragon Battery Guru, FM Radio

The mid range specification is similar to some of the budget smartphones out there but so far, the R1 is the prettiest. The slim design made it feels premium and unique. Although it is small by today’s standards, it is quite comfortable to hold. But having a shiny rear casing surface made it highly prone to fingerprints.

On the right side of the phone, we have the power/standby button whereby the volume rocker button is on the left side. Under the cover is the non-removable polymer battery that is unfortunately didn’t last long enough for an entire day use. I did a full charge in the morning and by noon, the battery is down to 60%. The Snapdragon Battery Guru helped a little. I probably managed to save about 10% battery when I activate this function.

Good thing about Android phones by Ninetology, they use the original Android interface rather than having a customized launcher. What’s good about it is that it maintains the original Android experience which is easy to use without having to understand how to customize a certain launcher, like others by Samsung’s TouchWiz or HTC Sense.

This is what I call simplicity. It’s not much of a looker but it’s simple. Besides, there are so many other launchers that we can choose from in the Play Store. Launchers that I like are Nova, Apex and Smart Launcher.

Jelly Bean 4.1.2 is considered old by now. I do hope that Ninetology have an update for this phone so that at least I feel better to use a more up-to-date device. If they can port this phone to use Android 4.3, that would be great. Better yet, upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat. Nice.

From the title of this blog review post, I did mention something about “Imaging Wonder”. And I mentioned that the rumours I heard about the camera clarity is much to talk about. Let’s see how the photos that came out from this phone looks like.

First, the camera interface. It is basically the basic camera UI that comes standard with every Jelly Bean powered phones. Easy to understand and, well, standard.

It is still using the old interface but it’s okay.

Let’s see some pictures! ->