Posts in category: Smartphone Review

We very much appreciate how OnePlus has renewed the graphics of its packaging, making it at least unique compared to the competition. A pleasant foresight for users who still buy smartphones at very substantial prices. Inside the package, we find a 30W Warp Charge 30T power supply for fast charging, a USB / USB-C cable and a transparent silicone cover to protect the smartphone. It is not the most beautiful cover you could have, in fact, but it is still a welcome gift.

Construction and Ergonomics

OnePlus 7T Pro is an exceptionally well-built smartphone and we have been able to see this from the first second of use, as nothing changes compared to the previous model. It is still a smartphone with an excellent opaque back glass cover. It keeps the fingerprints a bit, but you can still use it easily and the finish gives the smartphone an excellent sense of quality. The blue color is slightly lighter than the previous model and the shade from the darker blue is also found on the metal profile that runs all around the smartphone. This profile is very thin on the sides where the curved front screen visually joins the curved back cover. In his hand the grip is good, but the smartphone is still large and heavy with his 206 grams.

Hardware

The hardware of this Pro variant of OnePlus 7T has been refined but don’t expect big differences. The real novelty is the new Snapdragon 855+ octa core processor with 2.96 GHz with Adreno 640 GPU. A little more power but in everyday use it is really difficult to recognize. Otherwise there are no differences or they are marginal. We have 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.0 internal memory (very fast). For the first time, cutting memory becomes unique, a simplification not just for those who have to choose. LTE connectivity is guaranteed up to 1200 Mbps , we have dual band Wi-Fi ac , Bluetooth 5.0 and also dual band GPS, also accompanied by GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou. Lastly, not even the NFC. Among the absent we mention “the usual”: the slot for the microSD, the audio jack and the FM radio.

Good stereo sound guaranteed by this smartphone: as always it is not perfectly symmetrical but still helps in the use of multimedia content, especially using the smartphone horizontally. The optical fingerprint reader below the display works well and is one of the fastest in the category, although it may happen that you have to make a second attempt if you don’t rest your finger on the screen with extreme precision. It is also possible to unlock with the face, achieved through the non-instantaneous appearance of the pop-up camera. Always good, the USB-C 3.1 port introduced with the previous generation and always excellent the vibration motor that guarantees feedback precise and never annoying during all operations. And how not to mention the physical switch for the ringtone?

Camera

There are no real changes in the OnePlus 7T Pro photographic industry, except for some software adjustments. The main camera is a 48-megapixel 1.6 / 1.6 optically stabilized that, taking advantage of the binning pixel technique, produces quality 12 megapixel photos with good detail. Images are taken quickly and autofocus works well, thanks to the support of laser autofocus. In excellent light conditions the photos are often at the level of the most famous top of the range. We then have a wide-angle sensor16 megapixel ƒ / 2.2 fun and comfortable in many situations. Finally, we close with the 8 megapixel camera that acts as a 3x zoom. It has a 2.4 / 2.4 aperture and is optically stabilized.

The quality of these shots is sufficient, but not much more. The photos sometimes appear too sharp and contrasted and with less light the sensor stops being usable. It is normal, of course, but use cases are rapidly reduced. It is a good triptych of cameras, whose performance in low light conditions, however, cannot yet compete with Huawei, Samsung or Google. This also applies to shots with intermediate light conditions, where often the “battle” for the perfect shot is even more heated. This is made even more true by the fact that for night shots (especially landscapes) there is still a sufficient Nightscape mode (now also on the wide-angle camera) and “save” the final result. Always discreet selfies with the camera from 16 megapixels 2.0 / 2.0.

Speaking of video, the results are discreet, but there is undoubtedly still work to be done. Videos can be recorded, relying only on optical stabilization even in 4K at 60 fps. Going down in quality, electronic stabilization also comes into play, which helps a lot. It is a pity that with the new super stable mode there is an unpleasant wave effect in the central part of the video and that the stabilization is not however at the end of the corresponding functions of the competition. On the PC then the videos appear with boring tint (which is not there if viewed from phone or with professional software like Adobe Premiere).

Display

The display is undoubtedly the strong point of this smartphone. We have the same excellent 6.67-inch panel with QHD + resolution (1440 x 3120 pixels). It is made with Fluid AMOLED technology, which is an AMOLED screen with a 90 Hz refresh rate. This implementation, still quite rare on today’s smartphones, guarantees a perceived fluidity of the system really above average, which is added in this specific case to the real fluidity of Oxygen OS. The screen is bright, faithful to your liking (you will choose how “garish” you want it from the settings) and full of interesting features, such as support for HDR10 + and DC dimming to ensure a comfortable display even at very low brightness.

In addition, always speaking of comfort, reading mode is available which with the black and white screen guarantees excellent readability by resting the eyes. There is no always-on mode but you can turn the screen back on by lifting the smartphone or displaying new notifications for a while even when the screen is locked. To make the screen even more enjoyable, at least to life, there is also the presence of the sloping side edges and the absence of notches and interruptions in the upper part, which comes very close to the body.

Software

Even before the OnePlus smartphones became for many the first choice also in terms of design and display, the reason to buy one of the Chinese company’s smartphones was certainly the software. Clean, fast and constantly updated. OnePlus needs to be acknowledged as having improved on other fields and has never neglected its OxygenOS, which came in version 10 in conjunction with the arrival of Android 10, already pre-installed on this device.

The software, however, is not only fluid, taken and updated, but it is also rich in interesting features, such as parental control, rapid response to messages when the smartphone is held horizontally or convenient navigation gestures (even if someone regrets those of Android 9). Still on the subject of health and conscious use of the smartphone, we greatly appreciated the presence of Zen Mode, which allows you to detox from your smartphone for a minimum of 20 minutes. We would like all operating systems to implement a similar function. Finally, if you want you can assign a long press to the power button to start Google Assistant.

Autonomy

The battery on this smartphone is a full-bodied 4085 mAh, barely larger than that of 7 Pro. The results are good for an “average” use, even keeping the refresh rate active at 90 Hz, which in any case has a considerable impact on autonomy. By deactivating this mode and returning to the classic 60 Hz, you can still gain some autonomy, which for someone could be more than enough to reach the end of the day even with intense use. Overall, the real strength of the smartphone is the 30W Warp Charge 30T that is 23% faster than the 7 Pro charge, exceeding 70% charge with just half an hour of charging. Truly impressive. All without going to request “work” from the smartphone that will always remain fluid and “cold” even during charging.

Price

We have updated the review before publication and therefore we can tell you the price: £699. We are ahead of the usual good OnePlus product, even better in some ways to other similar devices with prices up to 50% higher. However, it is no longer the tattered figure to which the various OnePlus fans have become accustomed over the past few years.