I’ll be trustworthy. When OnePlus first introduced the Eight and eight Pro, it felt just like the 7 collection from final yr over again. The OnePlus 8 Pro acquired a better decision, larger refresh-rate show, higher cameras, and two extremely sought-after options — wi-fi charging and IP-rated waterproofing. The OnePlus Eight appeared considerably left within the shadow of the 8 Pro, and this time, it does not actually have a killer beginning value. Of course, this was an preliminary response purely based mostly on what I’d solely seen and examine, due to the cancellation of the in-person launch occasion.
With the easing up of the lockdown and a glimpse of normalcy returning to our lives, I lastly managed to get my fingers on the OnePlus 8. After my preliminary scepticism, it is time to see whether or not this cellphone has sufficient advantage for me to alter my opinion about it. With costs beginning effectively above Rs. 40,000, the OnePlus Eight is now bordering on flagship territory, which implies it is really competing immediately with older flagships from Samsung and Apple.
So is it actually value it? Should you be paying this a lot cash for a cellphone that is nonetheless lacking two fairly important flagship options? We’ll get to that reply, however first, let’s take a fast take a look at what’s new.
What’s new within the OnePlus 8?
The OnePlus Eight is the non secular successor of the OnePlus 7 (Review) and can go on to ultimately exchange the OnePlus 7T (Review). Compared to the 7T, the primary new options are 5G assist and a new-ish design. The OnePlus Eight options the Snapdragon 865 processor, which guarantees higher efficiency and effectivity over final yr’s mannequin. 5G doesn’t suggest a lot to us in India for the time being nevertheless it does not damage to have it.
OnePlus 8 Design: Subtle, but distinctive
I wasn’t an enormous fan of the round digital camera bump on the OnePlus 7T and I’m glad that is gone away. However, I do miss the frosted end of the glass again. The Onyx Black model of the OnePlus Eight has a shiny end, which picks up fingerprints very simply. It’s additionally very slippery, which did end in unintentional drops after I had the cellphone mendacity on a chair’s armrest. There’s a case supplied within the field, which ought to assist.
The show now has a hole-punch cutout, within the higher left nook. OnePlus has stated goodbye to the notch and I believe it is for the most effective. The hole-puch is not the smallest I’ve seen nevertheless it offers the OnePlus Eight a recent look.
As I discussed in my first impressions, the OnePlus Eight is surprisingly comfy to carry given its show measurement. It’s additionally slim and never too heavy. The black model appears tremendous, however I used to be actually trying ahead to seeing the Interstellar Glow trim first-hand, as I really feel that that is the color to get.
As you’d anticipate, construct high quality is great due to the curved-edge back and front glass sandwiching the steel body. The buttons are simple to succeed in, and the alert slider is useful as at all times. The USB Type-C port, SIM tray, and fundamental speaker are lined up on the underside.
Overall, the brand new simplified design is welcome, and I like that OnePlus is not attempting too onerous to impress. This cellphone may look a bit boring within the photos, nevertheless it’s immediately recognisable as a OnePlus gadget.
The OnePlus Eight has a easy, but distinctive design
OnePlus 8 Display: Bright and vivid
The show is likely one of the most essential elements of any smartphone, and the OnePlus Eight has an excellent one. It’s a 6.55-inch AMOLED panel with sloping sides, a large color gamut, and a hole-punch cutout within the higher left nook. OnePlus has used 3D Corning Gorilla Glass along with the pre-applied display protector. I discovered the latter to be extra of an annoyance than something since my finger grazed towards the perimeters when swiping in from the edges.
Other specs embrace a decision of 2400×1080 (full-HD+) pixels, HDR10+ assist, a 90Hz refresh fee, and software program options like studying mode, evening mode, and the power to spice up colors when taking part in movies.
The 90Hz refresh fee makes utilization basically really feel fluid and snappy. You can drop right down to 60Hz if you wish to save a little bit of battery energy. HDR content material appears superb on the OnePlus 8. When taking part in appropriate reveals by way of Netflix, the brightness and color saturation routinely get a lift. This goes again to regular when you exit the app.
The OnePlus Eight has an in-display fingerprint sensor, which is tremendous fast at authentication. All it takes is a fast, agency faucet to unlock it. Face recognition is equally quick and works decently effectively in dim lighting. You can allow the ‘double-tap to wake’ gesture, however what I actually wished was a raise-to-wake gesture, which remains to be not an possibility.
The ‘Ambient show’ characteristic presents a peek at which apps have despatched you alerts when the display is off, together with the time, battery stage, and many others. However this is not always-on and solely reveals up if you faucet the display or choose up the cellphone. It even reveals you the title of the music observe being performed, however you’ll be able to’t management playback from right here.
One factor to notice is that for the reason that hole-punch cutout is not very near the highest edge, any app that should black out this space must create a thick black bar. This is most noticeable in some video games and video apps, when you want to maintain the cellphone horizontally. You also can black out the realm completely however that simply appears odd.
OnePlus 8 Performance: Keeping it cool
With its top-end {hardware}, it is hardly shocking that efficiency from the OnePlus Eight is spectacular. However, what actually caught our consideration is that it does not warmth up all that a lot within the course of. That’s not one thing let’s imagine for the Mi 10 5G (Review), for instance. The OnePlus Eight aces by way of benchmarks too. In AnTuTu, we acquired 5,78,289 factors, whereas GFXbench’s Car Chase graphics check returned 46fps, which is likely one of the harder scenes within the suite. The sides and some spots on the again, beneath the digital camera, do get heat after continuous benchmarking, however by no means too scorching. This speaks quite a bit in regards to the thermal administration design of the cellphone.
We reviewed the top-end variant of the OnePlus 8, which has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, priced at Rs. 49,999. There’s additionally an possibility with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for Rs. 44,999, and an Amazon-exclusive variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage at Rs. 41,999.
Gaming efficiency is top-notch. Fortnite can run at 90fps and the expertise is nice, however you may must manually change this within the settings. Other equally demanding video games comparable to PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile ran simply tremendous too. We tried a bunch of racing video games together with Asphalt 9: Legends and Metal Madness, each of which ran at their highest graphics settings and have been fairly enjoyable to play. The high steel portion of the cellphone did get scorching in some video games, like Fortnite, however this wasn’t the case with most others. Game Space is a neat utility that allows you to quickly lock the brightness stage, disable incoming notifications, and scale back distractions when gaming.
Games and films are particularly pleasant due to the superb stereo audio system on the OnePlus 8. The earpiece and bottom-firing speaker work collectively to supply superb, balanced stereo sound. Dolby Atmos enhancement additionally helps increase the low and mid-range frequencies, which provides the sound added depth and readability.
Apart from 5G, the OnePlus Eight additionally options Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, a number of navigation satellite tv for pc methods, and all the standard sensors. You can use two Nano-SIM playing cards within the OnePlus 8, however there isn’t any choice to broaden the storage.
OnePlus 8 Software: Clean and useful
OxygenOS is likely one of the causes that followers maintain coming again to OnePlus smartphones. We acquired just a few updates after unboxing the OnePlus 8, and on the time of this evaluate, it was operating v10.5.8. This relies on Android 10, with the May safety patch. The interface is clear and free from bloatware. You will not discover advertisements or annoying alerts from inventory apps clogging up your notifications shade.
At the identical time, it is also effectively outfitted with a lot of shortcuts and gestures ready to be found. The new launcher now presents a extra seamless multitasking expertise, there’s 5GB of free cloud storage for backups when you signal in with a OnePlus account, a built-in display recorder, and dynamic wallpapers.
OnePlus 8 Cameras: Going backwards?
Cameras have at all times been a little bit of a sensitive topic for OnePlus. While the 8 Pro will get some notable enhancements when it comes to sensors, the Eight has to make do with hand-me-downs from the 7T and one very notable discount. The 7T did seize high-quality photographs, however contemplating the massive bump in value, I anticipated higher.
The OnePlus Eight has the identical 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with optical stabilisation because the 7T. However, it has a barely narrower aperture of f/1.75, in comparison with the broader (learn: higher) f/1.6 aperture of the 7T. The wide-angle digital camera has the identical 16-megapixel decision, however once more, with a touch narrower subject of view of 116 levels (117 on the 7T).
However, the most important change, or relatively downgrade for my part, is the introduction of a paltry 2-megapixel macro digital camera instead of the 7T’s telephoto digital camera. The outgoing mannequin shot macros utilizing its wide-angle digital camera, which implies that a devoted sensor wasn’t even actually obligatory. This for my part, is a wasted alternative, and OnePlus ought to have caught with the telephoto digital camera. We’ve seen 2-megapixel macro cameras in loads of funds telephones, and truthfully, I did not wind up utilizing all of it that a lot.
In daylight, the OnePlus 8’s major digital camera captures detailed pictures with vivid colors and balanced HDR. I used to be shocked at how intently the wide-angle digital camera matched the colors and general tone of the primary one, as we have usually seen a mis-match with different telephones. Close-ups regarded good too, with loads of particulars and saturated colors. Portrait mode works effectively, though you’ll be able to’t modify the extent of blur earlier than or after you’ve got taken a shot. OnePlus additionally claims that face recognition for portraits works on cats and canines.
Low-light photographs are respectable, and the app routinely brightens pictures when taking pictures with the primary digital camera, with out the necessity to swap to Nightscape mode. In reality, I discovered little or no distinction between an everyday photograph and one shot with Nightscape. This doesn’t apply to the wide-angle digital camera although, which captures horrible low-light photographs in auto mode, however delivers higher outcomes with Nightscape enabled.
The 16-megapixel entrance digital camera isn’t unhealthy so long as you give it sufficient gentle. During the day, selfies had good element and HDR was dealt with effectively too, when taking pictures towards the sunshine. Low-light selfies regarded closely processed, and relying on the placement of the sunshine supply, the outcomes various wildly. Portrait mode usually didn’t detect our define accurately too.
One neat element I favored is that when taking pictures selfies, a little bit ring across the entrance digital camera lights up so the place to look. I discovered this very useful at evening, when it may be tough to see the digital camera, particularly for others within the photograph.
The OnePlus Eight can document as much as 4K decision video at 60fps, which is not as flashy as having 8K 30fps like on the Mi 10, however I do not foresee many complaining about this. The high quality at 4K is excellent, footage is stabilised effectively, and the color tone is retained even if you swap to the wide-angle digital camera. In low gentle, noise is suppressed fairly effectively however there is a nagging focus looking problem each time the body modifications even a little bit bit.
You can swap between the wide-angle and fundamental digital camera whereas taking pictures, however solely at as much as 4K 30fps. This isn’t doable at 60fps. The OnePlus Eight additionally brags about one thing referred to as ‘4K CINE’ at both 30fps or 60fps. At first I believed this was a Cinema 4K mode, which ought to document at a 4096×2160 decision, however all it does is crop the footage to a 21:9 side ratio, leading to a decision of 3840×1644.
The most annoying factor in regards to the video mode on the OnePlus 8, is there isn’t any simple option to change the decision or framerate from inside the viewfinder. You must faucet the Settings menu, for which you want to maintain the cellphone vertically, make your choice, after which swap again to horizontal to proceed taking pictures. The decision toggle, which remains to be proven on older OnePlus telephones, has been changed by a filters button. I discovered this to be an enormous annoyance and I hope OnePlus reverts this transformation.
Other than this, the digital camera app is fairly useful. The newest update added an choice to document movies utilizing the HEVC codec for smaller file sizes. I additionally discovered the autofocus to be fast and responsive, which was particularly useful when switching between topics in video.
OnePlus 8 Battery: Lasts lengthy, very lengthy
The OnePlus Eight has a decently massive 4,300mAh battery, which lasted me a day and half on common. My utilization wasn’t significantly camera-heavy, however I did play lots of video games and watch lots of Netflix, and nonetheless simply managed to sail previous a full day. When utilization was gentle, the OnePlus Eight even managed to final until the tip of the second day. Considering the show was at 90Hz continually, I’d name this gorgeous good. Our battery loop check echoed this, operating for almost 22 hours.
Charging the cellphone may be very fast, due to the Warp Charge 30T charger. Topping up a completely depleted battery took a little bit greater than an hour, however in 30 minutes, you’ll be able to cost the battery as much as 61 %.
Verdict: Should you purchase the OnePlus 8?
The quick reply could be — sure, completely. At the beginning, I felt that the OnePlus Eight was a bit overpriced for what it presents, and that sentiment nonetheless stands after reviewing it. It’s not a large improve over the 7T like I hoped, however maybe OnePlus is saving some massive upgrades for the 8T, which must be due someday later this yr.
If you presently personal a OnePlus 7T, there’s completely no want to leap to the 8. However, for those who’re nonetheless hanging on to your 6T or something older, the OnePlus Eight could be value switching to. Many are going to seek out it tough to pay greater than Rs. 40,000 for it, however if you take a look at different flagships such because the Samsung Galaxy S20 and even the iPhone 11 Pro, the OnePlus Eight nonetheless prices method much less.
I do really feel that OnePlus ought to have introduced IP-rated waterproofing and wi-fi charging to the 8, to make it an entire worth package deal. I’d have even taken a decrease IP67 score and common 10W wi-fi charging, relatively than having nothing in any respect. I’ve a sense that OnePlus will repair this with the 8T, however that is nonetheless a protracted wait away.
I do not assume the 12GB mannequin presents superb worth, since at almost Rs. 50,000, I’d be tempted to pay a bit extra and get the OnePlus 8 Pro as an alternative. The storage might be the one motive somebody would contemplate it. Sadly, the Interstellar Glow color possibility is just out there on the top-end variant. If you are okay with 128GB of storage, the 6GB and 8GB RAM variants undoubtedly supply higher worth.
Will OnePlus Eight collection have the ability to tackle iPhone SE (2020), Samsung Galaxy S20 in India? We mentioned this on Orbital, our weekly expertise podcast, which you’ll be able to subscribe to through Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or simply hit the play button beneath.
This post was last modified on June 22, 2020 4:25 pm