OnePlus 8 Smartphone Review
Launched in late April, OnePlus 8 Smartphone is the worthy successor of the previous OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro series. Speaking of an affordable flagship, OnePlus 8 came out along with the OnePlus 8 Pro, a slightly upgraded version.
This time I reviewed the basic OnePlus 8 model. It has changed in a few things from the previous series, a couple steps forward in characteristics and a few steps back.
OnePlus was always known by the clean, simple but still powerful setup. With its price tag, it was always after the well-known flagship phones. The slightly cheaper price and the almost same values have made OnePlus be a sought after brand.
In 2020 OnePlus 8 inherited the major characters of the previous OnePlus, but of course, it has an updated, rethought feature and specification list.
In a nutshell, OnePlus 8 has the latest chipset setup, a powerful battery, almost the best screen we’ve ever seen, a clean design, premium features, a great camera, updated OxygenOS, and many many more.
Design
OnePlus 8 at first touch looks premium, with a curved Gorilla Glass front and back and an aluminum body, it feels a solid piece.
OnePlus never compromised the built quality for other features, and that’s a hallmark for every model.
Never settle is not only a great slogan of OnePlus but also shows the premium nature of their products.
The OnePlus 8 Pro has finally an IP68 certification upon water and dust. Oddly enough, only the One Plus 8 intended for the US market received the same certificate. Probably the manufacturer did not bother to receive this certificate in other parts of the globe.
Although it has the same built in every part of the world, so probably all the OnePlus 8 models are dust and waterproof.
The design hasn’t evolved enough from the OnePlus 7 Pro or the OnePlus 7T Pro; it looks very similar.
OnePlus 8 is slightly longer than the Pro versions of OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T.
On the front, the curved display looks similar to the predecessors, only a hole punch stands out on the display. The previous pro models had a motorized pop-out selfie camera solution. It seems they have gotten rid of it, for the benefit of a much lighter construction.
The OnePlus 8 is available in three colors, Onyx Black, Interstellar Glow, and Glacial Green, the latter having a matte finish.
Display
OnePlus 8 has a 2400 x 1080 pixels fluid AMOLED panel with a 20:9 ratio and around 402 ppi density.
The HDR10+ fluid AMOLED display has curved sides with a 90 Hz high refresh rate.
Scrolling and videos feel smoother for the eyes. Although OnePlus 8 Pro has an astonishing 120 Hz refresh rate, the Pro version is almost in the flagship league.
We know that the WQHD+ Samsung Galaxy S20 display is unbeatable, but this FHD+ panel is also pretty good.
The OnePlus 8 inherited from the OnePlus 7 the familiar Reading mode, they are useful features especially because we tend to glance at our phones much more than healthy.
Camera
Speaking about the camera setup, OnePlus 8 has a three-camera setup on the back and a hole punch solution for the selfies.
The three-camera setup sits in a vertical position in the middle. They went back to the original positioning of them, unlike the OnePlus 7T which was encased in a rounded structure.
The main camera is a 48 MP Sony sensor with an f/1.75 aperture value and 0.8µm pixels.
Unfortunately, there is no telephoto lens like in the previous models, it is exchanged with a macro lens. So the zoomed photos are only the crop versions of the main 48 MP camera.
The second camera is a 16 MP ultra-wide lens with a 116˚ angle, and f/2.2 aperture value. Autofocus for macro shots is disabled.
A dedicated fixed macro lens does the macro shots, a 2 MP sensor with an f/2.4 aperture value.
The overall performance of the cameras is great, as we are used to in OnePlus devices.
The photos, in general, have plenty of detail, great sharpness, and vibrant colors. In darker places noise is prevalent. Night shots lack detail but have much dynamic range and contrast, although the night mode remedies the details and sharpness problem.
The selfie camera is a 16 MP wide sensor with an f/2.0 aperture value. Auto-HDR mode is available, selfies came out with significant detail and sharpness. This camera takes surprisingly great photos.
Both the main camera setup and the selfie camera have gyro – Electronic Image Stabilisation when recording videos. The main camera can record in 4K at 30/60 fps and in 1080p at 30/60/240 fps. The selfie camera records only in 1080p at 30fps.
Performance and Battery
OnePlus 8 has the latest Snapdragon 865 chipset with an eight-core processor and an Adreno 650 GPU. Paired with 8 or 12 GB of RAM, it is no wonder that this device performs exceedingly.
You won’t notice any lags or hiccups whatsoever. Performance construction is unquestionably a flagship one.
The storage place is limited, no SD Card slot is available as we have been accustomed to with the OnePlus. You can choose a 128 GB or 256 GB internal storage.
The additional Snapdragon X55 modem helps with the 5G network.
The OS runs smoothly and clearly. OxygenOS 10.0 comes with some novelties, but generally speaking it is like the old one. It is like a stock Android experience with a few add-ons.
Since I have not mentioned yet the fingerprint reader, I would like to say a few words about it as well. OnePlus 8’s under the display fingerprint reader is one of the best solutions so far. Snappy and prompt as it should be on a flagship-like phone.
OnePlus 8 owns a 4300 mAh battery that is big enough for everyday use. Along with the 30W fast charging, you can get 50% juice in around 22 minutes, which is a surprisingly good value.
Conclusion
OnePlus 8 overall is an excellent phone. The price range where it is targeted is on the higher side, competing with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S20+, Xiaomi Mi 10 5G, or even Huawei P40.
OnePlus 8 has everything you want from a flagship-like phone. A great camera setup, a modern curved 90 Hz display, astonishing performance, 5G connectivity, a smooth and fluid OxygenOS experience, and I forgot to mention the stereo speakers on the bottom.
For around $650 it is a personal preference considering a great deal. It has not changed so much compared to the previous model. It is more of a facelift, but as I mentioned before it depends on personal preferences.
OnePlus 7T or OnePlus 7T Pro is still a great choice nonetheless. But if it is important for you the fresh touch of the OnePlus 8, 5G connectivity, and excellent battery performance, then go with it.
You can grab the new OnePlus 8 from Gerabest, AliExpress, and the official OnePlus store.
