In recent weeks the price of OnePlus 8 it dipped dizzily and we went by 719 € list price at a street price of 477 €. So, enthralled by the figure, I decided that the time had come to change my believer OnePlus 6T and I purchased the latest top of the range from the Chinese company.
However, the surprises do not end there, because the new one will be presented in a few days OnePlus North, a new line of medium range that puts the sticks in the wheels at flagships all too depreciated. We do not yet have the detailed data sheet, let alone the price, but Carl Pei has revealed to us that it will definitely cost less than $500.
This makes us hypothesize two variants from 399 € e 449 €, but the question we ask ourselves is: since buying from Chinese stores you can still enjoy the official 12-month warranty, isn't it better to buy a top of the range instead of a mid-range with such a low margin?
In today's review I want to analyze OnePlus 8 and make some reasoning together with you, as never before has there been one devaluation so fast. That the Shenzen company dared too much? Let's find out in the article.
Index
OnePlus 8 Review
Unboxing - OnePlus 8
The sales package is made of red hardcover with a rubbery finish and has an elongated shape. Nothing to say from this point of view as the brand always takes great care of the packaging and the following equipment is present inside:
- OnePlus 8;
- silicone cover;
- USB charging cable - USB Type-C;
- wall power supply with Chinese plug (in our case) and Warp Charge 30 quick charge;
- pin for the SIM slot;
- instruction manual.
Design
Il design di OnePlus 8 it hasn't changed that much compared to OnePlus 7T Pro, as we have a backcover without particular frills and with a triple central vertical camera.
The company has put a curved panel on both variants 8 e 8 Pro, added a hole for the selfie camera and created some fantastic colors, more in detail I refer to Glacial Green and Interstellar Glow.
Here, although we have no official confirmations yet, it would appear that OnePlus North don't have a curved display and this factor could be a reason for choice compared to8, as a good portion of users prefer a flat panel.
However, it must be said that the design that we have seen so far is very anonymousindeed, it is very reminiscent of a Redmi Note 8T. I was a little disappointed because I was expecting surprises and not a seen and revised look.
Returning to talk about OnePlus 8, construction è eccellente thanks to a back cover in opaque glass and an alloy side frame aluminum. Thanks to the curvature on the front and on the back and also thanks to the not too generous dimensions, the smartphone holds very well.
One-handed use is always a bit difficult with current smartphones, but I must say that in daily use it does not differ so much from OnePlus 6T. In fact, here we have the dimensions of 160.2 x 72.9 x 8.0 millimeters for a weight of 180 grams.
La camera and a little' protruding and when you place the smartphone on the table it will tend to dance when we touch some side points, but with the silicone cover it will go to equalize the difference in height.
Below we find the main microphone, the system speaker, the USB Type-C input and the dual SIM slot, unlike the upper profile on which only the second microphone resides. On the right side you can see the alert slider and the Power button, while on the left the volume rocker.
It should be noted that the headset capsule it also acts as a second speaker in order to increase involvement during the use of multimedia content.
Absent unfortunately the IP68 certification which instead we find on OnePlus 8 Pro. What a pity.
Display
OnePlus 8 has a display Fluid AMOLED da 6.55 inches diagonal with resolution Full HD + (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20: 9 ratio, density of PPI 402, support sRGB and HDR10 +, refresh rate to 90 Hz and 3D Corning Gorilla Glass protection.
In short, those who have more put more and after some initial problems with some units (green shades), it seems that the company has adjusted the shot and personally I have not found any type of criticality.
What is certain is that with a base price of 719 € we would have expected at least one refresh rate to 120 Hz but, unfortunately, it is a "luxury" which belongs only to the older brother.
Other than that OnePlus 8 has a panel deserve it exceptional, the maximum and minimum brightness are excellent, the colors are a pleasure for the eyes and the 90 Hz make it seem even more fluid than usual. I found a good reaction in the brightness sensor, but a few times it happened that he lost his compass a bit.
As anticipated in the previous paragraphs, in the eighth series the Chinese company has abandoned il flat panel in favor of a curved one. Personally I find it pleasing aesthetically, but not very functional and this could be the aspect that can make you prefer OnePlus North (or just another smartphone) to this.
In fact, a common flaw is found in the mode full screen with gestures in which, if you want to send an audio note on Whatsapp o Telegram, the touch is not received and you will have to try at least a few times. This is because the microphone icon is too low and close to the edge.
A partial solution to this problem is to activate gestures, but those with the horizontal bar on the bottom.
For the rest, however, we find many additional settings such as the calibration of colors at our convenience, the night and reading mode, thealways-on display and Ambient mode. About the latter and other goodies such as the time and the unlock animation, I must say that they are highly customizable with different colors, fonts and shapes.
Hardware and Performance
Under the body of OnePlus 8 we find a chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, which is inclusive of an octa-core processor flanked by one Adreno GPU 650 and, in the variant in our possession, 12 GB di RAM LPDDR4X e 256 GB di internal memory UFS 3.0 2-LANE not expandable via microSD.
I point out that through the Official site only the variant can be purchased 8 / 128 GB.
However, from this point of view there is good poco to say, the smartphone is a lightning and, although with the OnePlus 6T I thought I still had a splinter in my hands when I switched to8 it seemed to me to fly, thanks to the new chipset, the super lean software and the fluidity of the refresh rate at 90 Hz.
The only note I want to make is that, even in this case, only the variant Pro memory is up RAM LPDDR5. Somehow you have to justify the difference in price, but it does make your nose turn up a bit, especially if you think that compared to the previous generation8 did not see great upheavals.
Excellent new vibration motor that offers a excellent haptic feedback and this is very noticeable for those who, like me, pass by OnePlus 6Tall '8.
Camera
Here too we have differences between the8 el '8 Pro, in which the latter has gods newer sensors e performers.
A board OnePlus 8therefore, we find one triple camera with main sensor Sony IMX586 da 48 mega-pixels with OIS ed ICE CREAM and aperture f / 1.75, as well as an ultra-wide angle lens from 16 mega-pixels from 116 ° and aperture f / 2.2 and one macro from 2 mega-pixels with f / 2.2. Obviously present the double LED flash and the auto focus PDAF + CAF.
On paper it changes poco compared to the previous generation and even here we would have expected perhaps more news but, despite this, the smartphone takes some noteworthy shots good quality, but obviously they are not comparable with the top of the range from beyond 1000 €.
In daytime we have a good level of detail and an automatic HDR that intervenes well, i colors they are represented fairly faithfully even if in some situations cold colors are emphasized. The focus is very fast and the lighting management is good.
Overall they are soddisfatto in these situations, the only thing I want to point out is that by enlarging the photos on a monitor I found some micro-move photos, so you must have a good steady hand. You can't see it on the smartphone display, but if you want to go into detail, you can take notice.
La wide-angle lens performs very well with favorable brightness, but obviously in closed or dark places the quality inevitably drops. He will still give us some good shots, but we will see a little noise. There portrait mode finally it cuts out well and I have not encountered any particular problems.
In night and with very dark scenes obviously the quality decreases, but overall we still get good shots. There night mode in several cases it will help us a lot, but with one good steady hand you will still be able to take home photos for social media. The wide angle is not very bright and will struggle a bit.
In short, what I want to tell you from these opinions is that for 500 € is definitely a great deal, but on 700 € perhaps the Chinese house he had to do more considering that Huawei P40 on that price range makes competitors tremble although it doesn't have Google services.
From the front OnePlus 8 has a sensor Sony IMX471 da 16 mega-pixels with digital stabilization, fixed focus and f / 2.45 aperture.
Here I would like to repeat what was said above: during the day the photos are very good, characterized by satisfying colors, reliable lighting management and a good level of detail. In the evening the quality drops, the digital noise is more noticeable and we will have to keep our hand firmly in order not to make the photos shake.
I video can be registered up to a maximum of 4K is 60 fps, but only for the main camera because to record with the wide-angle lens you will have to get off at 30 fps. All in all we have one rapid focus and good stabilization.
Audio and connectivity
Il OnePlus 8 can enjoy a stereo audio thanks to the main speaker placed on the lower frame and the headset capsule, which together manage to totally involve the user in the scene. The volume It's really very high and there is a good balance of frequencies with a satisfying bass presence.
Even in call the audio is crystal clear and the microphones work great. In short, excellent work by the Chinese company.
Connectivity side OnePlus 8 presents the support to Dual SIM and 5G thanks to the modem Qualcomm Snapdragon X55. Obviously there is no lack of support for 4G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 (support aptX & aptX HD, LDAC, AAC, SBC), theNFC, USB-C 3.1, Dual Band GPS / GLONASS / Galileo / Beidou / A-GPS.
In short, from this point of view the smartphone does not miss absolutely anything, indeed with the Type-C 3.1 we also have thevideo output. I have to say that after a month of use everything works great, from reception to GPS to Bluetooth.
Good fingerprint reader below the display that's enough Quick e accurate, but most of the time in the daytime I took advantage of it facial unblock which is very fast in recognition. In the evening he missed a few shots but I was still satisfied.
Software
Do we really need to talk about it? For each OnePlus now the script is the same and I don't deny you that my choice fell on OnePlus 8 just for the user interface rapid, simple and at the same time highly customizable.
In fact, on board we find the OxygenOS 10.5.10 based on Android 10 and with security patches updated to June 1 2020.
The level of customization is high and we can change fonts, icons, unlock animations and notifications in the ambient display, night and reading mode, dark mode, gestures with the screen on and screen off. In short, with the Oxygen you never get bored and you have one crazy fluidity, which is also accentuated by refresh rate to 90 Hz.
The only note is that due to the curved edges we have that problem that I have previously explained to you, but otherwise everything runs smoothly like oil.
Battery
OnePlus 8 compared to the last generation sees an increase in battery capacity and it goes to well 4300 mAh, which guarantees us aexcellent autonomy.
Indeed, with intense use, with adaptive brightness, 90 Hz refresh rate and a misto between Wi-Fi e data network they average themselves 6 hours di active display. Obviously only Wi-Fi you can easily reach them 7 hours.
As if that were not enough, thanks to the support for fast charging Warp Charge 30 a 30 (which occurs only with the power supply that you find supplied) you can fully charge your smartphone in about 1 hours and get to 50% in poco more than 20 minutes.
Absent unfortunately the wireless charging which, again, belongs to the older brother. Such a pity.
Conclusions - OnePlus 8
Here we are finally arrived at conclusions and I feel that I really have a lot to tell you. Let's start from the fact that OnePlus 8 8 / 128 GB is sold by official store a 719 €, but on Banggood thanks to our discount codes you can already find it in 495 € (the historical minimum was 477 €), while the variant 12 / 256 GB (the one in my possession) is available at approx 565 €.
To these figures OnePlus 8 really has sense and it really is competitive, as to 719 € it still remains a good device, but with some shortcomings that do not make it an excellent device for quality / price ratio. Personally I wouldn't buy it for that amount, even because OnePlus 8 Pro 8 / 128 GB you can find it with coupons a 675 € su Banggood.
Let's be clear, in some respects I have been hard because of this price increase compared to OnePlus 7T is not completely justified, because it would seem more like an updated version in design and processor and indeed the heavy devaluations prove it, but with a maximum budget of 500 euros I would not buy any smartphone other than this.
For this reason the question arises spontaneously: but if OnePlus North should be launched at 399 e 449 € (depending on the variant) or 449 e 499 euro, which smartphone would I buy?
We assume that at the moment we only have rumors on card technique, but it should have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, a flat display, 3 cameras that could be similar to these and two fronts and a somewhat anonymous design.
In light of all this it would make sense to spend that amount knowing that with poco more we can take the top of the range? Taking into account that now too buying from China you can enjoy 12 months of official guarantee in my opinion No., also because if already this a 700 € has flaws, the North part should have even more waivers.
Obviously to give a complete and sincere opinion we should first wait for it to come out and then try it, but at the moment my feelings are these. What are yours instead?
Finally, I remind you that the 22 July there will be one exclusive live in collaboration with Banggood and where we will put a coupon for OnePlus 8 for 299 euros! You absolutely must be there!
