OnePlus 7T Review: The Real Upgrade

OnePlus 7T Review: The Real Upgrade

Skip the pro, buy this instead

OnePlus has been releasing two flagship models every year for a while now and 2019 is no different. But while previous phones released in the second half of the fiscal year only had incremental updates, the OnePlus 7T is a massive upgrade from the earlier OnePlus 7, bringing better cameras, processor and more importantly, a 90Hz display that’s usually reserved for gaming phones.

Pros:

  • 90Hz display looks buttery smooth
  • Fast Snapdragon 855 Plus processor
  • Great cameras for the price

Cons:

  • Camera module design is very polarizing
  • 128GB of storage may not be enough for some

Radically different design from the OP7

OnePlus rarely strays away from established design norms for the phones they put out for the year, which isn’t the case for the OP7T. While the Pro version of the phone is a near identical copy externally of the earlier model, the OP7T is radically different from the OP7.

Flipping the phone over reveals the big difference – a large, circular camera module protrudes from the rear ala Huawei’s Mate 30, with three cameras placed across the middle. It’s a big design change that not everyone might like, and certainly takes getting used to.

The phone is available in two colors – Frosted Silver and Glacier Blue, and just like the firm’s other phones, build quality is superb. This may be the cheaper option of the two, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way.

The ever-present alert slider is still on the side which we love, as it allows us to mute notifications with a simple, satisfying click.

90Hz displays should be norm

One of the biggest upgrades from the previous model that’s present on the OP7T is the buttery-smooth 90Hz refresh rate panel. We saw it first on the OP7 Pro, and now it’s available on the lower-priced model as well.

The 6.55-inch, full HD+ AMOLED panel looks amazing in person and feels incredibly smooth. There’s really a noticeable jump in smoothness when you make the jump, and honestly it makes us not want to go back to plain 60Hz smartphones.

Display quality is pretty good too, since the display is HDR10+ enabled and if you don’t like how the color looks, you can dive right into the settings and tweak the color profile to how you want it.

The phone has a notch to accommodate the front-facing camera but that’s not really a problem per se – you hardly notice its there, to be honest.

Camera is great

No matter what you think about the triple camera module, it’s hard to argue with the results that it delivers. The module is composed of a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 main camera with a f/1.6 aperture lens, a 16-megapixel wide-angle shooter, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera.

Images captured by the camera look pretty great, with excellent detail and color reproduction even in low-light conditions. Considering what you get for the price, the OP7T’s camera performance punches above its class even in challenging lighting situations.

Fast enough for serious gaming work

The OP7T has a leg up over the more expensive OP7 Pro thanks to its new, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset. This particular piece of silicon is the same one that powers gaming phones nowadays, making the OP7T a great choice if you want a hard-hitting gaming phone for not much money.

Complimenting the processor is 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The phone runs Android 10 with OxygenOS UI overlay which delivers a great balance of functionality and design.

Battery for the OnePlus 7T comes in at 3800mAh. OnePlus’ fast charging capabilities are still present via Dash Charge at 30W. There’s no wireless charging which is a little annoying, and Dash Charge is a little slower than the 40W charging we’re seeing from Huawei, vivo, and Samsung for their flagship phones.

PCMark’s Battery benchmark put the OnePlus 7T at 12 hours and 37 minutes, which is pretty good considering that the phone’s battery doesn’t go past the 4000mAh mark.

Verdict: Definitely the real upgrade VS the OnePlus 7T Pro

Between the OnePlus 7T and its more expensive Pro brother, the former is a better buy if you’re looking to upgrade to a flagship this 2019.

There’s really no describing how smooth that 90Hz refresh rate looks in person, which is just cherry on top of a really nice-looking fluid AMOLED panel.

If that wasn’t enough, the phone comes armed with a top-tier Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, 8GB of RAM along with really good triple cameras for the price – even though the camera module design is highly polarizing.

Priced at Php 32,990, the OnePlus 7T is definitely good value and should be on the top of your list if you’re looking to buy a new flagship phone under 35K this Christmas.

OnePlus 7T Specs

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ octa-core processor
  • Adreno 640 GPU
  • 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
  • 128GB of UFS 3.0 storage
  • 6.55-inch Full HD+ Fluid AMOLED display, 20:9 aspect ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut, HDR10+ Certified
  • Triple rear cameras: 48-megapixel Sony IMX 586 f/1.7 main camera with Gyro EIS, 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom and Gyro EIS; PDAF, LED Flash
  • 16-megapixel f/2.0 front camera with AI
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE Cat. 16/13 4CA
  • Wi-Fi,4×4 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
  • GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
  • USB Type-C, in-display Fingerprint sensor, Face unlock, Stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos
  • 3800mAh battery with 30W WarpCharge
  • Android 10 with OxygenOS 10

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