My Thoughts On The Oneplus 8T
1. Introduction
Six months after the launch of OnePlus 8, the company has released its successor in the form of OnePlus 8T. OnePlus 8T will arrive in isolation without accompanying OnePlus 8 T Pro, as the current OnePlus 8 Pro will continue to be the flagship company’s.
The OnePlus 8T features a range of updates around the board, including an upgraded monitor and camera system along with a drastically improved charging system. The OnePlus 8T is also releasing the new OxygenOS 11, which is based on the newest Android 11. And all of this is achieved at a lower price than the outgoing model. With the 8 T, OnePlus will compete in an increasingly competitive $700 segment.
In the past, we’ve seen some heavy competition in the segment from devices like the iPhone 11 and the newly released Galaxy S20 FE. Google has just entered the fray with its latest Pixel 5. As such, the OnePlus 8T has its own job cut out for it. In this analysis, we’ll see how much progress the new OnePlus 8T has over its predecessor, how it compares to its closest rivals, and whether it’s worth your money.
2. Key Specs at a glance
For complete specifications click here
Quick specs
| DISPLAY | 6.55″ Fluid AMOLED, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi; Always-on display. |
| PROCESSOR | Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+): Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585); Adreno 650 |
| FRONT CAMERA | 16 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 1/3.06″, 1.0µm Video 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| 48MP + 16MP + 5MP + 2MP | |
| REAR CAMERA | 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1. |
| BATTERY CAPACITY | 4500mAh; Fast charging 65W, 100% in 39 min (advertised). |
| OS | Android 11, OxygenOS 11 |
| Market Price | 800$ |
| Launch Date & Availability | Available. Released 2020, October 16 |
| Miscellaneous | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer (market dependant); NFC |
3. Design Handling
The OnePlus 8 T features many design improvements over its predecessors, some of which can be seen as enhancements, while others sound more like downgrades.
The first thing you note about the OnePlus 8 T is that it is no longer curved. The OnePlus 8 had a very slight curvature on its screen, which was not as distracting as some of the other curved displays on the market (such as OnePlus 8 Pro) that raise issues such as image distortion and accidental contact. OnePlus 8 T renounces this by having a flat panel covered in the same Gorilla Glass. As people who are not necessarily enthused by curved screens, we see this as a change even though we did not see the OnePlus 8 curve as a big problem. This also makes the show on the OnePlus 8 T look a little bigger than the one on the OnePlus 8 even though they have the same surface area.
Moving around the edges, you’ll find that there’s a different radius to the curvature. The OnePlus 8 had a very small radius for the side curvature, which made the edges bent violently, causing the aluminum frame to jut out slightly. This made you believe like you were keeping the phone by the frame alone, which made the phone feel a lot thinner than it was.
The OnePlus 8 T, however, has a much larger radius due to its side curvature. In a wider sweep, you feel more of the back glass as it bends into the metal frame. This causes the OnePlus 8 T to feel much bigger and heavier in hand, even though the handset is just 0.4 mm heavier than the OnePlus 8.
Other than that, the sides are not visible. You have the same control positioning as usual for OnePlus phones, with the power and warning slider on the right and the volume button on the left. The power button is delightfully tactile and the warning slider has an extremely satisfying movement with accurate, audible clicks at each stop. Volume buttons are not as fun to use; they are less elevated than volume buttons.
Power button is delightfully tactile and the alarm slider has an amazingly satisfying movement with accurate, audible clicks at each stop. Volume buttons are not as fun to use; they are less elevated than the power button and a little too small. We would also have wanted them to be on the same side as the power key to prevent accidental screenshots that are very popular on OnePlus phones.
The back is where you’re going to see the greatest change. The OnePlus 8T takes a break from the pill-shaped OnePlus camera style (and the occasional one-off 7T circular camera) and goes to the ‘rectangle in the corner’ method that everyone is creating these days. The positive thing is that the OnePlus camera bump is not ridiculously high, so it doesn’t stick a lot out of the back of the phone. This means that the phone is still reasonably secure on the desk. Both camera lenses are filled with the same glass, so if you crack it somehow, both cameras on the phone will be affected.
The OnePlus 8T comes in two colors, Aquamarine Green and Lunar Silver. The Lunar Silver model has a matte finish surface with a frosted glass appearance.
One of the items noticeable when going from the OnePlus 8 to the OnePlus 8T is that the increase in weight. The OnePlus 8T is only 8g heavier than the OnePlus 8 but it feels more than that in hand. As mentioned before, the OnePlus 8T is also thicker, with a more substantial feel in hand. This results in the OnePlus 8T having a worse feeling in hand. If you didn’t know anything about these two phones and just picked up one after the other, you’d be convinced the OnePlus 8 was the newer model because it feels thinner, lighter, and just nicer in hand. OnePlus 8T has a more generic feel to it, which feels like a downgrade in comparison.
The OnePlus 8 feels denser, like every square millimeter of internal space was utilized. The OnePlus 8T feels a bit hollow when you tap on the back. We asked OnePlus about the increased thickness and they said it is due to various factors, including a larger battery, bigger heat sinks, and the new display with its controller bent underneath it.
One thing that hasn’t changed from the OnePlus 8 is that the lack of any dust and water-resistance certification. this does not imply that the OnePlus 8T doesn’t have any protection; OnePlus usually has some level of protection in situ that ought to prevent damage if you were to drop the phone in water. But because the device hasn’t been certified you do not have the reassurance and peace of mind. Of course, if you are not the type of one that constantly uses their phone around pools of water then this probably doesn’t matter much to you but at this price point, we do expect manufacturers to supply this feature.
Overall, the OnePlus 8T remains a comparatively well-designed and well-built smartphone. We just like the new flat display, the tactile physical switches, and therefore the new Aquamarine Color. However, the OnePlus 8T is additionally thicker and bulkier than its predecessor with a somewhat generic feel and still has no dust and water-resistance certification.
4. Cameras
The OnePlus 8T has an equivalent camera setup because the OnePlus 8. the most important difference here is that the addition of a single-chrome sensor. OnePlus has also expanded the sector of view of the ultra-wide camera, which they claim remains the widest. And if you’re curious about what the second white lens is next to the flash, it is a flicker detection sensor.
The Camera app has seen a couple of OxygenOS 11 updates. you’ll now press and hold the image gallery icon and consider a replacement carousel of shared options for the last image or video captured. You now have the choice to capture portrait videos and videos with Nightscape privately mode. aside from these additions, the app is actually an equivalent.
The complete 48MP images are less post-processed. this provides them a rather more realistic appearance sometimes, particularly within the way they capture the fine detail and therefore the noise pattern. However, this also means you are going to urge the occasional highlight blowouts. Even, we expect this model is worth trying if you do not mind the slower shot times.
The OnePlus 8 T has no dedicated telephoto lens. The 2x option on the camera and any subsequent zooming is achieved digitally. In 2x mode, the camera is shooting again at the sensor’s native resolution, on the other hand, a rectangle of 4000×3000 is cropping from the center of the camera. this suggests that the 2x mode isn’t a digital zoom intrinsically, since you are doing got to start scaling up the pixels.
The ultra-wide camera on the OnePlus 8 T is at the best mediocre. The resolution isn’t sufficient at this focal distance, and far from the detail appears blurry and blurred. Very frequently, the photographs appear as if they have been scaled down from a good lower resolution. The photos often have more noise and far less color quality than the most camera. The ultra-wide camera often doesn’t fit the white balance of the most camera, and therefore the photos can look very different between them.
5. Lab-test: Display, Battery life and Charging, speaker
Display
AMOLED monitor with a resolution of 2400×1080 6.55-inch will refresh 120Hz. it’s full coverage of sRGB and DCI-P3 color space and also supports HDR10, HDR10 +, and HLG video.
For this device, OnePlus uses a chip-on-panel display where the display controller is found at the top of the display then bent below it, on the brink of what Apple does on the OLED iPhones. This resulted in a drop by rock bottom bezel, which is additionally not as slim because the top bezel but is one among the thinnest we’ve ever seen. this is often what OnePlus called their Flows cape view.
The OnePlus 8 T monitor has an above-average brightness that’s sufficient under most lighting conditions. However, the brightness isn’t adequate for a genuinely strong HDR output and therefore the OnePlus 8 T monitor is significantly smaller than the more costly OnePlus 8 Pro when viewing HDR video.
This monitor also features a maximum refresh rate of variable 120 Hz. From the settings, you’ll choose a 60Hz locked or 120Hz variable. In 120Hz mode, as you avoid communicating with the contact screen, the view adjusts from 120Hz to 60Hz, no matter which program you’re in, without Dark mode or under 50% brightness setting.
Despite high refresh rate displays that appear prominently in OnePlus’ ads, Oneplus 8T doesn’t support high-fresh rate games outside its partnerships. PUBG Mobile and Fortnite are the sole two games that operate at a high rate for refreshment (90Hz, to be precise). No other games were quite 60fps we’ve tried.
The first problem is some things that also applied at OnePlus Nord, where the region of the display outside of a video frame isn’t black because it would need to be dark gray. Their material also contributes to 2 problems with the display on the OnePlus 8T. this is often obvious once you check out the HDR material within the darkroom and see the screen area on your left and right when it’s black, then totally off, given the OLED monitor. The video is visibly gray. Only in HDR and not in SDR content do that matter arise
The other problem is how the show treats near-black posterization. Although OLED panels are capable of displaying perfect blacks, they fail to point out colors just above black. This leads to noisy or blocky colors during this range, particularly when viewing compressed material, which manufacturers usually like better to “fix” by simply crushing the near-black levels.
On the OnePlus 8 T, the near-black levels have a clear gray glow with large macro-blocking objects. This was very interesting, as we’ve never seen anything like other recent OnePlus devices
Finally, just like the Nord, the OnePlus 8 T doesn’t offer DC dimming options.
The other problem is how the show treats near-black posterization. Although OLED panels are capable of displaying perfect blacks, they fail to point out colors just above black. This leads to noisy or blocky colors during this range, particularly when viewing compressed material, which manufacturers usually tend to “fix” only by It’s all crushing near-black depths
On the OnePlus 8 T, the near-black levels have a clear gray glow with large macro-blocking objects. This was very interesting, as we’ve never seen anything like other recent OnePlus devices.
Finally, just like the Nord, the OnePlus 8 T doesn’t offer DC dimming options.
Overall, the OnePlus 8 T features a fine phone display in its price range. Most of the problems we mentioned here can only be limited to early software constructs on our review unit and may theoretically be resolved with an update. However, viewing angle color changes are intrinsic to the display and harder to correct within the program. We also don’t anticipate OnePlus to try to something about the shortage of high refresh support for sports, which is our biggest monitor concern.
Battery life and charging
OnePlus 8 T features a 4500mAh battery, a little 5 percent boost over OnePlus 8. the most important adjustment here, though, is that the way it’s paid.
Before we get thereto, here are some preliminary findings from every week of phone use. From only daily use, it had been easy to travel through an entire 24-hour cycle of only 6 hours of active use before you had to charge your phone again. Nothing unique but more typical of a computer with a robust chipset and a non-comically big battery.
OnePlus 8 T is that the first OnePlus smartphone to permit 65W of charging. It comes with a replacement Warp Charge 65 power adapter, so you’ll get everything you would like to charge your phone at its peak speed right within the pack.
The Warp Charger 65 adapter will approach to 10V 6.5A to a compatible computer. The way this will be achieved safely is by getting a two-cell battery built into the handset, which divides the voltage into two 5V streams per cell in order that neither cell is overheated. The charger itself is additionally fitted with 12 thermal monitors to stay temperatures in check.
The Warp Charger 65 is additionally capable of fast charging USB-Power Delivery devices. In USB-PD mode, the charger can obtrude up to 20V/2.25A, which is 45W. this is often enough to charge all smartphones and tablets and also laptops. It can charge the OnePlus 8T from flat to 100% in 38 minutes. It doesn’t add up to line this phone to charge overnight, so we recommend employing a standard 5W charger. The charger doesn’t offer a mode to scale back the charging speed as other OEMs do.
6. Software performance and skin
The OnePlus 8T is that the first non-Google phone to launch with OxygenOS 11. this is often a pre-release build of the new Android OS that was released last month. it’s perhaps the most important UI overhaul within the history of the OS with a replacement look focused on accessibility.
The top half of the screen is now crammed with empty space and enormous typography for the app title. The File Manager app remains an equivalent because it was before and therefore the Camera app is essentially unchanged. The Phone, Contacts, and Messages apps have their own story as they’re designed to be used on the 8T.
The price of the phone has yet to be announced but it’s believed to be cheaper than the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. The phone features a screen resolution of 8.5 inches (102.5mm) and a screen-size of seven inches (152.7mm) with a screen protector. it’s a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and rear-facing camera with an anti-fingerprint sensor. The screen resolution has been increased from 5 meg to 7 meg.
OxygenOS 11 adds an always-on display, new clock options, and Bitmoji. The insight will show how often you unlocked and used your phone during the day. The dark mode is now an easy dark mode option under Display settings. Scrolling in OxygenOS wont to desire skating, now it feels more like skating. Canvas and Canvas won’t be available at launch and can be arriving during a later update.
The OS now features a new clock option called Insight that displays what proportion your phone is getting used. It’s built to permit you to use your phone less by monitoring what proportion it’s unlocked and unlocked again. The screen now has the Always-On show function, which may be activated permanently or for a period of your time. It also has new dark mode options for apps that don’t support dark mode and may display a dark UI in certain apps.
The scrolling behavior has changed in order that scrolls now feel vaguer instead of precise. It wont to be smooth and straightforward, but now it slipped loosely, making the scrolls seem blurry. In OxygenOS 11, the scrolls have increased friction, which causes the scroll to rapidly lose energy after traveling a brief distance. This causes the screen to scroll just the proper amount rather than just loosely gliding away.
The scrolling behavior reminds us of scrolling on iOS, which also features a similarly taught motion for scrolls. The scrolling speed eventually builds up if you scroll a couple of times during a row. OxygenOS 11 is predicated on Android 11, which suggests it also carries over many of the features that we discussed in our Android 11 review. It comes with the Google versions of the Phone, Contacts, and Messages apps rather than OnePlus’ own. We do think Oxygen OS 11 may be a good update overall to a superb OS. The new apps are better looking and easier to use.
Performance
The OnePlus 8T is powered by an equivalent Snapdragon 865 chipset because of the OnePlus 8 and eight Pro chipsets.
It also offers an equivalent two memory options, 8GB or 12GB of fast LPDDR4X.
For storage, however, OnePlus has upgraded to the newer and faster UFS 3.1 from the UFS 3.0 used on the OnePlus 8 series.
You get that during a choice of 128GB or 256GB.
The combination of a strong chipset, fast storage, and memory, and a high refresh rate display may be a match inbuilt the celebs, and therefore the phone is an absolute blast to use.
7. Benchmark Test
8. Alternatives, Pros, Cons and final Verdict
OnePlus has done an honest job with the new 8T.
In the week approximately that we’ve been using the phone, we’ve come to love it for its many qualities and would have only a few issues in continuing to use it even after this review is bound up .
OnePlus 8T hands-on review
However, the phone isn’t without its drawbacks.
OnePlus has once more chosen to launch a premium smartphone without essential features like an IP68 rating and wireless charging.
Features both of its key competitors have.
We also don’t like that OnePlus has converted to using Google’s versions of the Phone, Contacts, and Messages apps.
The display on our review unit also had several minor issues across the board.
OnePlus 8T hands-on review
due to the camera, there’s now a really strong delineation between the 8T and therefore the 8 Pro.
As such, we only reserve our recommendation of the OnePlus 8T to those for whom the camera isn’t a priority.
It has many qualities that also make it an honest smartphone.
However, it’s not the foremost well-rounded handset in its price range, and as surprising because it sounds to say, the OnePlus 8 T is outperformed by the Samsung Galaxy S20.
Pros & cons
PROS
- Excellent software
- Strong network performance
- Super-fast charging
CONS
- Cameras are just average
- No wireless charging
- A little too expensive for what you get
If anything is left out please let us know
