Oneplus 7 – Meeting expectations and beyond! (Review)

When OnePlus launched the 7 Pro, little did we expect them to launch the Oneplus 7 along with it and at a price lower than the launch price of OnePlus 6T. OnePlus 7 is a smartly priced mobile. Last year Poco F1 grabbed a large bite out of OnePlus 6T’s sale and this year, OnePlus knew that they would be similar competition from multiple brands. At a starting price of Rs 32999, is the OnePlus 7 a perfect suit for all your use cases? Let us find out.

In the Box

• OnePlus 7
• TPU Gel back case
• SIM ejector tool
• 20W Dash Charger
• USB C Port
• User Manual and other documents.

OnePlus could have added a USB C to 3.5 mm adapter as the OnePlus 7 lacks a 3.5mm audio port.

Design

OnePlus 7 is similar to the Oneplus 6T in all aspects, on the outside. The camera bump is bigger and the alert slider is smaller and better located. Oneplus 7 has glass body sandwiched between metal rims with seamless smooth curves. The weight distribution is even. Holding and handling the mobile is very comfortable. The bottom has USB C port, a speaker and mic inside the grill. The top has noise canceling mic. The right side has the alert slider and power button. The left has volume buttons and SIM card tray. It can take in dual SIM card and it does not support memory expansion. It does not have a 3.5 mm audio jack and notification LED. The mobile has a teardrop notch and this notch style is pleasing and non-intrusive to the viewing experience. Above the notch is the secondary stereo speaker. The back has a dual camera setup with a single LED flash.

The fingerprint display is beneath the display. It is an optical sensor and it is as fast as a physical fingerprint sensor. Oneplus 7 has face ID unlock and it is one of the fastest in the industry. There is nothing new in the design here. But it feels good in the hands and it reminds you that it is a premium mobile, every time you pick it up.

Display

Oneplus 7 has a 6.46-inch display with full HD plus resolution. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6. It is an AMOLED screen and is very bright and has excellent contrast levels. The display has accurate color reproduction. The viewing angles are wide and it has very good direct sunlight readability. The notch can be hidden. Apart from night mode, the reading mode can be enabled for certain specific apps. Apart from the default screen calibration, it can be tuned to sRGB, DCI-P3, Adaptive mode or user-defined custom mode. The display is slightly improved from what we had on the OnePlus 6T. It is not as brilliant as the 90 Hz display on the Oneplus 7 Pro, but finally, we can say that OnePlus has mastered the art of mobile displays to please the media consumers.

Camera

Oneplus 7 camera, under the hood, is largely different from the Oneplus 6T Camera. The rear camera is a dual camera setup with 48 MP, f/1.7 lens and assisted by PDAF autofocusing and OIS. The secondary camera is 5MP, f/2.4, 1.12µm, depth sensor compared to the 20 MP secondary camera we got on the Oneplus 6T. But the 5 MP depth sensor does its job and now we know that the 20 MP for a depth sensor was an overkill. The camera also has gyro-EIS for video shooting and it is enabled even for 4k videos. It can shoot 1080p and 4K videos at 30 or 60 fps. It also has slow motion and time-lapse modes. The front camera is a 16 MP, f/2.0, 25mm lens arrangement which is the same as 6T. It does not have a flash on the front. The quality of images out of the rear camera has a high dynamic range. The PDAF focusing has issues focussing in close range. The images are sharp and detailed. Exposure, brightness, color saturation and dynamic range are perfect under most lighting conditions. The portrait shots are better than Oneplus 7 Pro. Nightscape mode has been improved and the results are much more natural on the OnePlus 7. OnePlus 7 Pro has another advantage with its tele focus lens and wide angle lens, which are missing on the OnePlus 7. But for the price, the Oneplus 7 has a very good camera and can click pleasing images under different lighting conditions. Check out a few samples below.

Performance

Oneplus 7 has Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 Mobile Platform with 7nm, 64-bit octa-core processor. It has Qualcomm® Adreno™ 640 for GPU. The mobile has up to 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage type UFS 3.0. It has NFC and Bluetooth 5.0. Last year the OnePlus 6T was the only mobile in the price range with such a configuration. But this year we have some healthy competition in the industry. But still, Oneplus 7 has the advantage of UFS 3.0. It fast not only for gaming but also for your everyday usage with faster IOPS. Resource intensive games like PUBG Mobile, Vainglory and Asphalt 9 were smooth to play with no glitches or lags. The mobile does not heat up a bit even after 60 minutes of intensive gaming. Oneplus 7 gives you the expected performance without a single glitch.

Software

Oneplus 7 runs on the latest version of Android 9 with the latest version of Oxygen OS skinned on top of it. Oxygen OS, in my mind, is the best version of Android compared to any other skin UI. It has the sleek looks and fast feel of Stock Android but adds in loads of functions and experiential features on to it. It is optimized for speed and performance. It has loads of customization capabilities baked in. New to Oxygen OS 9.5 is the hi-resolution screen recorder and Zen mode that helps you disengage from your mobile for 20 min. There is a reading mode and invert color mode apart from the eye protection mode for display. It has Dolby Atmos support for audio. There is a new FNATIC mode or the Gaming mode, that increases the performance of the mobile during gaming. With all these features and much more, the UI feels light and slick.

Battery

The battery is still 3700 mAh and it has the same 20 W Dash charger. It gives you the same satisfying one-day battery performance like the Oneplus 6T. The Dash charger can charge the mobile from 0 to 60% in under 30 minutes and a full charge takes less than 1 hour 30 min. A fully charged Oneplus 7 gives you a screen on time of 5 o 6 hours. On moderate usage, it can last for more than 1 day and on minimal usage.

Verdict

Unlike the OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 7 is not a clear choice, due to the heavy competition. Asus 6Z is priced similar but it has a flipping camera and a massive 5000 mAh battery. Xiaomi is also preparing to launch the K20 Pro in India soon. But OnePlus has one advantage which is not present in any other mobile: Oxygen OS. Oxygen OS is the best-skinned version of Android out there. It is not the age of specifications, but it’s now the age of user experience. Oxygen OS can give you the best user experience in terms of speed and features, making the OnePlus 7 remain a clear choice for many, in this price segment.

Oneplus 7 gets on to our recommendation list and it is available to buy from Amazon and Oneplus stores.