OnePlus 8 Pro Review: Everything you want
"The OnePlus 8 Pro meets all criteria."
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Amazing battery life
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Fast wired and wireless charging
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Breathtaking screen
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Great photos from the camera
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Slick software
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The response to screen touches must be adjusted
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Odd Color Filter is a misstep
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Fast wireless charging is proprietary
The OnePlus 8 Pro is the final OnePlus smartphone. It has everything you want, plus bonus features like wireless charging that enthusiasts ask for. However, OnePlus has tackled a strange feature that nobody is asking about. It's a great phone that's just a hair behind the best.
design
At first glance, the OnePlus 8 Pro does not differ significantly from the OnePlus 7T Pro in terms of design. However, there are some minor changes that make the OnePlus 8 Pro a better phone to hold and use. The phone is a few millimeters longer, not quite as wide and a bit thinner. The corners have a slightly different degree of curvature and are 7 grams lighter at a total of 200 grams.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
I prefer the OnePlus 8 Pro at a distance from the OnePlus 7T Pro. It doesn't feel bulky or bulky and is generally more comfortable to use and use. The changes also mean that it doesn't burrow into my palms as much when I've used it for a while, and the reduction in mass allows one-handed, if not preferable, use. This is still a big phone, and the pages taper to a point. If it can be uncomfortable if you hold it from certain angles.
While it is a significant advance over the OnePlus 7T Pro, the 8 Pro ranks the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus and the Huawei P40 Pro as competitors and cannot quite take the title of the most ergonomic phone in 2020. The competition feels lighter and quicker in the hand. OnePlus has followed Huawei in using a matte finish on the back, and it's a great move. Fingerprints are not easily displayed, and the curved 3D glass looks fantastic in the glacier green shown above, which shows aquamarine in some lighting conditions as shown in the photos. Nice.
For the first time, OnePlus is using a punch-hole selfie camera on the front. As with most examples, this is something you will not notice after long use of the phone. Tearing out the OnePlus 7T Pro's motorized pop-up selfie camera helped make the entire 8 Pro more compact and easy to use. This also means that the phone can be sealed and has an IP68 waterproof rating, although the company has had an extremely negative stance on this feature in the past.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Perhaps the only disappointing feature of the OnePlus 8 Pro design is the size of the camera hump on the back. It sticks out far more than the 7T Pro, maybe twice as thick as the Galaxy S20 Pro's bump, and has sharp edges that can scratch other objects when rubbed against them in a pocket. This trend continues with the thin and sharp volume rocker, although the slimmed-down slider that changes the notification alert status has a wonderful texture. Despite these nitpicks, the OnePlus 8 Pro is one of the best looking phones you can buy.
screen
The 6.78-inch Fluid AMOLED screen has a resolution of 3168 x 1440 pixels for an excellent density of 531 pixels per inch and offers excellent details. It also offers a wonderful refresh rate of 120 Hz for smooth scrolling and reduced eye strain, as well as 240 Hz touch sampling for faster reaction times when playing. Some other software optimizations are definitely required to achieve touch accuracy in the operating system, especially at the very edges. It feels sluggish in some moments and overly sensitive in others.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
OxygenOS provides options to improve color and enable motion smoothing. When color enhancements are enabled, the screen stays natural, but has slightly more vivid colors. It never reaches the saturation level of the Galaxy S20 Plus. I like the crisp white tones on the screen of the OnePlus 8 Pro that outperform those of the S20 Plus and even the Huawei P40 Pro. Outside in bright sunlight, whites still look like freshly washed sheets. Motion smoothing is less successful because it is rather inconsistent, looks great in one minute, and looks artificial in the next. I switched it off at some point – it is activated by default.
With color enhancement turned on and motion smoothed, the screen appears just right for my eyes and I loved watching movies on the OnePlus 8 Pro. The bezels are minimal and although the pinhole camera easily breaks up the all-screen look, it never gets intrusive. The screen is one of the outstanding features of OnePlus 8 Pro.
camera
The OnePlus 8 Pro's camera is a bit strange. At first glance, everything seems normal. The 48-megapixel main camera has the new IMX689 sensor from Sony with optical and electronic image stabilization as well as a 48-megapixel wide-angle and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor. This means 3x zoom, 4K video recording and various modes including night mode and super macro.
Normal, right? Wait, I'm not done yet. The fourth sensor of the OnePlus 8 Pro is a color filter camera that inverts the colors in your images. Why? I really have no idea.
Even OnePlus is not sure. In the press details, the color filter camera is described as a way to stand out from the crowd and express your unique style. You can also do this by standing in the street and howling at the moon, but that doesn't make it a good idea.
OnePlus 8 Pro color filter image Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Photos taken with the color filter remove shades of green, red, and blue, leaving muted shades of brown, black, white, and beige. Do you find that ugly? Most of the time you're right. It's not that the color filter doesn't make interesting pictures because it can do it in some kind of nuclear wasteland. I'm just not sure how often I want to use it. It's hidden in a menu, so it's not even visible and is therefore forgotten – and maybe that's a good thing. It's not always a disaster, and shooting in the sun can lead to some atmospheric shots. Otherwise, my local park looked like a bizarre alien landscape.
When I saw the OnePlus and McLaren concept phone at CES 2020, I hoped the electrochromic camera function would make it to the OnePlus 8, but instead we have the color filter sensor and it's definitely not a worthy replacement. Calling it quirky fun would be a nice description, but more specifically, it would be a gimmick added to obscure the fact that there is nothing really new here outside of the improved main sensor.
Otherwise, I like the photos taken by the OnePlus 8 Pro. The dynamic range is great, the saturation is just at the right level and I was very impressed with the effectiveness of the night mode. It brightens scenes very effectively and also works with the wide-angle camera. I don't understand the inclusion of the color filter and if it is removed from the equation, the camera will be exposed as relatively normal for a flagship Android phone (no pun intended).
Software and battery
The OnePlus 8 Pro's 4,510 mAh battery is a superstar. Granted, I've only used Wi-Fi most of the time at the moment, but that doesn't make performance any less impressive. The moderate use of a whole day from 8 a.m. to midnight consumed only 25% of electricity, which I couldn't quite believe. I didn't charge the phone and it went into "sleep" mode by itself overnight, where it minimized power consumption, so that only 4% of the battery was used during sleep. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. the next day it was 53%. After several voice calls and at least one hour of video calls, I ended the day around 5:00 with midnight.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
This is an excellent achievement, and charging is also extremely fast. The supplied Warp Charge 30T charging stone and the cable bring the empty battery to 55% in just 24 minutes. The battery will be fully charged in one hour. A new feature of the OnePlus 8 is the possibility to optimize the charging time overnight, by getting to know your habits and only fully charging the battery shortly before normal waking up. It worked very well for me and should lead to less deterioration of the battery over time.
OnePlus added wireless charging to the OnePlus 8 Pro, a welcome addition that should have come a long time ago. It breaks to 50% in about 30 minutes. Although it supports the Qi standard, for OnePlus wireless fast charging, you'll need to buy the OnePlus wireless charger, which costs $ 80 or $ 70. Granted, it's very nice, but that's a significant surcharge. If you don't buy it, other Qi wireless chargers will work, but will only offer slow charging speed.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
This quick charging is associated with additional costs: The OnePlus charger has a built-in fan that buzzes on itself when the phone is set up. It's acceptable enough if it's on my desk, but I'm not sure if I'm the same if I try to sleep.
The OnePlus 8 uses OxygenOS 10.5, which is based on Android 10, and it is almost identical to OxygenOS 10 on the OnePlus 7T Pro. There are some changes in dark mode as well as support for Google One. A number of dynamic background images have been added that look really great. OxygenOS is one of the best interfaces you can get, and reusing it reminded me why I like it.
It is very fast, is not flooded with senseless apps and is attractively designed. The plug-in screen controlled by Google Assistant is useful and offers news updates, weather information and quick access to your own assistant page with personal updates. I like the sensitive haptic feedback, which feels a lot better in quality than almost any other phone that I test, to the cute little vibration when someone answers a call.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
However, it is not perfect. The lack of a constantly active display is a disappointment, although you can tap the screen to see information. According to OnePlus, a constantly active feature is under development, but it's confusing why it takes so long. I also had some issues with the edge of the screen that was oversensitive. A software update has improved things considerably, but the sensitivity is still not correct. Finding settings isn't smart either, so it's hard to find hidden features like dark mode, which she calls sound.
However, these are only minor annoyances, and like the rest of the phone, the battery life and software experience are some of the best you can find at the moment.
Performance and games
The OnePlus 8 Pro has a Snapdragon 865 chipset and the X55 5G modem as well as 12 GB RAM. Due to social distance measures, I was unable to test the 5G component, but I used 4G and made calls as usual. The calls are clear and it's easier to place the speaker on your ear than the Galaxy S20 Plus. Here are the benchmark results before we start playing games.
- Geekbench 5: 3,352 multi-core / 890 single-core
- 3DMark: 6,589 (volcano)
These are higher results than a Galaxy S20 Plus with a Samsung Exynos chip inside and only slightly higher than the Oppo Find X2 Pro with similar performance. The OnePlus 8 Pro has two game modes, a standard mode and a hardcore Fnatic mode (so-called because it was developed with the E-Sports team of the same name), which increases CPU, GPU and RAM and at the same time switches off all unnecessary time.
Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
When playing Asphalt 9 Legends, DariusBurst SP and Vectronom with Fnatic mode on and off, I didn't notice anything else. The 120 Hz refresh rate made Asphalt 9 Legends look great. The 19.8: 9 aspect ratio of the screen means that you have to play DariusBurst in a smaller window if you want to see everything that is going on. This is a problem for many phones with a similar screen size and shape. The phone stays completely cool during the game.
How about the OnePlus 8?
OnePlus 8 Pro (from left) and OnePlus 8 Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends.com
The OnePlus 8 Pro is the new flagship for 2020 and will be released along with the OnePlus 8, which is cheaper and smaller from $ 700. The phone has a 6.55-inch fluid AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, a three-lens camera without a color filter sensor, a smaller battery, no wireless charging and basic splash resistance. The design is very similar, although it is lighter and slimmer, which makes it easier to use with one hand. Check out our full review
Price, guarantee and availability
The OnePlus 8 Pro costs $ 1,000 for the 12GB / 256GB version or $ 900 for the 8GB / 128GB model in our test. In the UK, the 8 GB / 128 GB OnePlus 8 Pro costs £ 800, while the 12 GB / 256 GB model costs £ 900. OnePlus grants a one-year guarantee on its phones, which only covers the hardware in the event of a defect.
This makes it more expensive than the OnePlus 7T Pro for $ 850.
Our opinion
The OnePlus 8 Pro's best features are the ones that really matter: the screen is stunning, the battery life is amazing, and the software is nifty and attractive. The camera works well and the design is great. It also has wireless charging and IP68 protection. As much as OnePlus wants the color filter to be a differentiating factor that really pushes people to buy it isn't. However, take it away and you still have a state-of-the-art smartphone that doesn't miss a beat.
Is there a better alternative?
We recommend everyone to take a closer look at the $ 1,000 Apple iPhone 11 Pro and the $ 1,200 Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, as they both offer the best technology currently available, from screen to camera, and excellent Offer software experiences.
Although Google Pixel 4 is also recommended for $ 800, the battery just can't keep up with the OnePlus 8 Pro. Keep this in mind when you are seduced by the Pixel 4's amazing camera and slick software. We were also impressed with the Oppo Find X2 Pro for $ 1,300, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus for $ 1,100 is still a brilliant all-rounder.
How long it will take?
When you buy a OnePlus 8 Pro with a two-year contract, it lasts at least as long in terms of performance and the technology it contains. The 5G function is also future-proof, and OnePlus is good at keeping its software up to date on time. OnePlus has an IP68 protection rating for the phone, which means that it is waterproof. However, the rest of the phone is made of glass, so it can break if dropped. One case helps avoid expensive glitches.
Should you buy one?
Yes, but it is not quite the mega smartphone we are used to from OnePlus.
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