OnePlus 7 Pro – The future begins (Review)

Oneplus 7 Pro is not the usual flagship killer from the revolutionary mobile manufacturer, Oneplus. It is a new product line and an entirely new mobile in a new segment. Oneplus mobiles have always carried the philosophy of giving the best hardware and software experience at an affordable price. They did try their hands on a new segment in the past. The Oneplus X was launched in the mid-range segment, but it did not take off well and Oneplus never tried anything else in that segment. But now they have entered the ultra-premium segment. Yes, they have always competed with the mobiles in that segment, but this is the first mobile that will be priced closely in that bracket and compete with features and not price. Is it a better buy compared to Samsung Galaxy S10E or iPhone XR? Let us find out in our review.

In the box

• Oneplus 7 Pro
• 30W Warp Charger
• Transparent hard plastic case
• USB-C Cable
• SIM Eject Tool
• User Manual

The box does not have USB-C to 3.5mm port converter. The case is good, but not the ideal protection for your mobile. Check out our compilation of best cases for Oneplus 7 pro.

Design

Oneplus has gone all out in all departments. Let’s start with the design. Like the earlier Oneplus mobiles, the 7 Pro is made of a premium glass body. But the design language has improved. The Nebula blue variant has a blue gradient glass texture with a matte finish. It does not attract fingerprint, but owing to the weight and size, it is still slippery. The metal rims and the curved display melt seamlessly to give a smooth feel all around. The curved display reminds me of the Samsung Galaxy S series. It looks premium, but practically it always catches a glare. Cases and screen protectors won’t protect curved displays and you would have to be really careful with this device. It has dual speakers which are welcome additions.

The front display covers the entire body and it has no notch. So the front camera is now a pop-up selfie camera. It still has face unlock and the popup mechanism is fairly fast for the face unlock mechanism. The fingerprint is under the display and it is super fast and reliable. This is the fastest in-display optical fingerprint displays we have ever seen. Oneplus has retained its alert slider and the position is better placed. The dual SIM card slot has no room for memory expansion. The rear has a triple camera arrangement and we will talk about it more in the camera section. But the camera hump is minimal and placed symmetrically.

It is not IP rated water resistant, but according to Oneplus, the mobile can withstand water damages and just that they have not been rated by any external agency. Oneplus 7 Pro is a big mobile and people with small fingers would find it challenging to hold and handle. But once you are used to the size, it is a comfortable mobile to operate. Overall, Oneplus 7 Pro design has all the characteristics of premium mobile and nothing has been compromised here.

Display

While Oneplus claims to have saved money with their IP Rating certification, they have indeed gone for certification for their display from a 3rd party. DisplayMate has given it an A+ certification. Personally, I feel that the display needs no certification. User can see it and with experience will know that this is one of the best display out there on any mobile. I wish Oneplus has saved money here and gone for IP rating. They could have also saved some money from the DXOmark rating for their camera, which we will come to later.

In terms of display quality, Oneplus 7 Pro has the best. The Quad HD+ display resolution and 90Hz refresh rate is a deadly combination. Though it consumes more power than the usual 60 Hz and FHD setting, I am addicted to the fast and smooth display experience. I am addicted beyond repair that I simply cannot use any other mobile after using the Oneplus 7 Pro. The color accuracy is spot on. The viewing angles are good, but it catches glare at the curved edges. The curved edges get a cool light effect upon getting any notification. The contrast levels are superior as the black levels on this AMOLED panel is absolutely pleasing. Gaming, Media consumption or simple browsing and reading, the Oneplus 7 Pro display is perfect for all occasions.

Camera

Oneplus 7 Pro is all about the camera. Naturally, the premium price tag can be justified only if the camera is as good as the other ruling champions in the segment like the Huawei P30 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S10 series or the ultimate camera champion Pixel 3 series. Well, to prove it theoretically, Oneplus has gone for DXOMark ranking and has got a high score of 111. Well, this raises some questions on the reliability of DXOMark ranking system. Oneplus claims that the software which DXOmark used for the ranking has just been rolled out and the camera is really as good as the score reflects. I have my doubts.

Don’t get me wrong here. Oneplus 7 Pro has a sweet combination of hardware and software for its camera. But the hype around it is not justified. DXOMark ranking does not reflect real-world usage, so take it only with a pinch of salt. Your decision-making process must not be swayed by any synthetic scoring mechanism. Let us talk about the real world performance of the Oneplus 7 pro camera.

Oneplus 7 Pro has Sony IMX 586 48 MP sensor with f/1.6 lens, This sensor has Laser/PDAF focusing along with OIS. The second camera is an 8 MP, f/2.4 lens for 3x lossless optical zoom, again with Laser/PDAF and OIS. Their camera is an ultrawide 16 MP sensor with an f/2.2 lens. The front camera is a motorized pop-up 16 MP sensor with f/2.0 lens. The arsenal is impressive, but does it translate to impressive images? Yes, it does.

Oneplus 7 Pro can click crisp and detailed shots under ample light conditions. The saturation is a bit high for certain color in the red, purple or blue band. The exposure accuracy and dynamic range are impressive. The highlights are not always blown out. The depth of focus is smooth and feels natural. In portrait mode, the edge detection and background blurring algorithm are accurate. Under low light, the shutter speed is a bit slow but as it has OIS, the images are fairly sharp. To improve the low light shots, Nightmode comes in handy. Unlike the Night mode on other mobiles, Oneplus 7 pro feels natural and the details are captured clearly. Macro shots are not sharp due to the fact that it struggles to focus and keep the focus locked. Though it has laser focus, the focusing mechanism needs a bit of tuning.

The ultrawide camera adds a wide-angle perspective to your shots. As much as I love wide angle shots, the shots out of Oneplus 7 Pro wide angle lens has its highlights blown out and edges softened. It has a wide room for improvement. The telephoto lens is impressive. I would advise to stick to the 3X optical zoom and not go for to the 10x digital zoom, which has poor processing and soft edges. But having these two perspectives on mobile along with the main camera is always handy.

Oneplus 7 Pro has an impressive camera, but it falls short of the processing capability of Huawei P30 Pro, Pixel or the Galaxy S10 series mobiles. It is definitely better than any iPhone out there. I am sure that future OTA updates will improve the camera on OP7 pro further.

Oneplus 7 Pro can shoot 4K videos at 60fps. It can also shoot HD videos at 480 fps slow motion. Electronic Image stabilization works like magic and creates smooth footage at most resolutions. The best results can be seen on 60 fps 1080p videos.

Oneplus 7 Pro has an impressive camera spec sheet and a capable image processing algorithm. But there are few itsy bitsy issues to be ironed out and everything in that list is software related. Over saturation and oversensitivity to certain color bands and focus hunting issues can be easily resolved. Oneplus 7 Pro may not have a better camera than the Pixel series, but it definitely packs in a punch to beat the odds out of iPhone or Samsung devices.

Hardware Performance

Oneplus 7 Pro is also about the hardware prowess. It has the top of the line spec sheet with Snapdragon 855, DDR4 RAM and the first mobile with UFS 3.0 type internal storage. My review unit is a 12 GB RAM unit and it screams speed. Right from the display responsiveness to the processor capability, this device has spoilt me with its speed. It has liquid cooling technology under the hood. It has an improved motor for vibration and this gives a solid experience, especially while gaming. The RAM Boost technology makes sure that the right application gets the right share of RAM storage for faster performance. Gaming is naturally fast and responsive. The overall usability of the mobile feels smoother, faster and stealthier. I have nothing more to say here. Oneplus has left no stone unturned to give the fastest Android mobile on the planet.

Software

Oneplus 7 Pro 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 on the Oneplus 7 Pro is a 4000 mAh battery. On papers, it must last for more than a day. But the 90 Hz/QHD+ display drains it a lot quicker. I get about 5 hours of screen on time. When you reduce the refresh rate to 60Hz and keep the display at FHD+ resolution, you will give more than 8 hours of screen on time. It depends on how you want your mobile. Also, the battery consumption is very low when the mobile is idle. The mobile comes with a 30W Warp charger. This can charge the mobile from 0 to 100% in 70 minutes, which is mighty impressive. The mobile exhibits no signs of heating while charging or discharging under intensive usage.

Verdict

Oneplus 7 Pro is a flagship mobile, which is still priced lower than the mightier ones. But for OnePlus 7 Pro, it is not about the price tag anymore. It is about the specification and features it brings to the table, which the mightier ones are yet to explore. I would choose the OnePlus 7 Pro over any of the Samsung Galaxy S10 variants for its Oxygen OS, 90 Hz fluid AMOLED display and impressive battery life. I would choose the Oneplus 7 Pro over iPhone X variants, Huawei P30 Pro and Google Pixel 3 series, for its better price to value ratio. OnePlus 7 Pro is the mobile to beat in 2019 and until then, this is The Mobile of the Year.

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