OnePlus 8 Pro on long-term test: Still a top-class flagship smartphone

Back in April I reviewed the OnePlus 8 Pro and concluded that it was a worthy flagship handset. For £799/$899 you get 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, even though £899/$999 receives you 12GB and 256GB respectively. I was sent the Glacial Inexperienced (12GB/256GB) model and can validate — even in lockdown when social speak to is minimum, and even between those who are used to observing me with unique phones — that it turns heads.

But appears to be are not everything. So how has the OnePlus 8 Pro done even though it has been my main mobile phone?

OnePlus’s final decision to ditch the pop-up camera it used on the 7T Pro was a incredibly good a single. Right after just a handful of months of use by somebody who isn’t going to acquire many selfies, the 7T Pro’s camera became a bugbear. It was sluggish to arise, and obtained caked in dust. Truthful play to OnePlus: it tried using the thought out, and dropped it like a stone. The very small punch-hole 16MP front camera on the OnePlus 8 Pro is a a lot better remedy, not the very least due to the fact replacing the pop-up system allows the 8 Pro gain an IP68 rating for dust and drinking water resistance.

There are two capabilities that I locate a big reward. 1 of these is OnePlus’s Reading through Manner. This pops the display into possibly monochrome or a ‘chromatic effect’ with dialled-down color. It can be established to kick in each time unique apps launch, or you can launch it as essential. There is even a button on the speedy settings menu it truly is tucked absent on the 2nd display by default, but I moved it to the major display and used it a good deal. This is unique, by the way, from the blue-light filtering Evening Manner, which is also present, and which can be established to toggle at dawn/sunset, at scheduled times or be manually selected. It’s also unique from Convenience Tone, the place display colors automatically adapt based on ambient lighting disorders. I tried using this and rather appreciated it.

The other element I locate wonderful is the Notify Slider. This tiny a few-posture button on the handset’s correct facet will make it simple to switch amongst silent, vibrate and ring modes. Both equally the Reading through Manner and the Notify Slider have been OnePlus staples for a even though now, and they are defining capabilities of the line. Prolonged may possibly they past.

The curved display has gains and negatives. It appears to be great, and owning curves on both of those back and front of the prolonged edges will make the 6.78-inch handset extra cozy to keep. But it can be problematic in use: notably, there is certainly no contact-rejection together the screen’s curve, which intended I in some cases produced accidental display presses.  

The Fluid AMOLED display has a 19.8:9 factor ratio, generating this a very tall mobile phone to have about. Possessing claimed that, it truly is only marginally taller than the handset I switched in excess of from, so the modify wasn’t also apparent. You can decide for possibly 2,376 by 1,080 resolution (385ppi), which is the out-of-box default, or three,168 by 1,440 (513ppi). The greater resolution produced minimum visual big difference for me, and is a battery drain, so I caught with the default solution and didn’t come to feel I was missing out on anything. Nor did I generally will need to use the complete 120Hz display refresh: sticking with 60Hz was lots good ample for my common use sample. I did appreciate the 1,three hundred nits utmost display brightness nevertheless, as this allowed me to use the mobile phone outdoors on some of the sunniest times in May perhaps.

Battery everyday living continues to be as good as I described in my initial review, the place I didn’t see it drop under 35% in common use. In actuality, I even end some lighter-workload times with the battery nearer to fifty%. On the other hand, I seldom indulge in gaming, GPS use or prolonged stints of video clip seeing, and ability customers will deplete the 4,510mAh battery speedier than I do, in which case they are going to appreciate the rapid charging.

Speedy charging is a element I count on as normal these times, and so below it just became aspect of my each day regime. The very same are not able to be claimed of the (optional) OnePlus wireless charger I was sent, which was returned to its box very rapidly. I could not seriously justify the desk area it wanted, or the actuality that the handset need to be in portrait mode to perform. Rather, I placed the OnePlus 8 Pro in my possess handset stand, in whatsoever orientation suited at the time, and billed it via the supplied 30W USB-C charger. This is able of providing fifty% charge in 23 minutes — marginally speedier than the 30W wireless charger can deal with (fifty% in 30 minutes).

I have not experienced many opportunities to exam the OnePlus 8 Pro’s cameras — 16MP f/2.5 at the front 48MP f/1.8 (wide), 8MP f/2.4 (telephoto, 3x), 48MP f/2.2 (ultra-wide, 120°) and 5MP f/2.4 (color filter) at the back — through lockdown. Each day photos glimpse good, while it truly is honest to say that other flagship handsets have better camera setups and I nonetheless are not able to see the level of the color filter camera — just isn’t that what on-unit put up processing application is for? For the file, the OnePlus 8 Pro is currently tenth in the influential DxOMark smartphone camera rankings, with an general score of 119 (126 for images, 103 for films). The primary handset at the time of creating is Huawei’s P40 Pro, which scores 128 (140 picture, one zero five video clip).

All round then, while I have discovered some negatives with the OnePlus 8 Pro, it truly is nonetheless a prime-class flagship mobile phone, and I could certainly live with it as my major handset.

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