There are three things that stand out in the OnePlus 7 Pro – the build of the set, screen clarity and camera picture quality.
There was a lot of expectation from OnePlus to deliver a smartphone that would be a flagship killer. Well, it certainly seems to have upped the game in the premium segment and given the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and iPhone X some serious competition.
We tested the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB internal memory version of the OnePlus 7 Pro, and it delivers.
Design and build quality:
The front and back are glass clad with an aluminium frame. The screen has Corning Gorilla glass for protection. The right side has the power button and a three-way button that switches between the ringer, vibrate and silent modes. This is a very useful feature that saves the user the drudgery of holding down the volume button continuously like in other phones. The top has a microphone and pop-up camera. The left side has only the media volume up/ down button cum ringtone loudness button. The bottom has the USB Type-C port, SIM tray, speaker and microphones. The back has three camera lenses and an LED flash.
One thing that stands out is the finish quality of the back. The Nebula Blue looks simply brilliant and very premium. The shiny blue aluminium frame looks great too. However, it feels a tad slippery and it is best to use a case. A clear flexible protective case is supplied in the box and the quality is good.
Display:
The 7 Pro really scores in this department. The 6.67-inch Quad HD+ AMOLED screen is simply brilliant. It has a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels and that gives 516 ppi. The screen has an aspect ratio of 19.5:9.
The screen curves towards the edges and it is a nice touch. Also, the fact that there is no camera on the screen makes viewing a pleasant experience. The only thing that is on the front is the speaker, which is a very narrow slit and in no way takes away any of the beauty of the screen.
We watched 4K HDR videos from YouTube and the colours were simply stunning. The colours looked very vivid but the reds tended to stand out a bit.
The 90 Hertz refresh rate certainly seems to be useful and it truly shone when we played the Asphalt 9 game.
The adaptive brightness works well. For instance, the screen brightness is just right when one wakes up in the morning and turns on the phone with not much ambient light in the room.
Performance:
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (Octa-core, 7nm, up to 2.84 GHz) with Qualcomm AI Engine
GPU: Adreno 640
RAM: 12 GB
A phone with this kind of processing power is great, but an overkill if the user does not go beyond using email, WhatsApp, listening to music or watching YouTube videos. The 855 chipset is great for heavy usage like gaming and we were able to play Asphalt 9 flawlessly.
The OxygenOS 9.5 operating system offers a very pleasant user experience. It is very close to stock Android with almost no third party apps taking up storage space. The OS is easy to navigate around with and finding any setting you need is not very difficult to find.
Camera:
The 7 Pro has a triple rear camera setup with:
Main camera: 48 MP with Sony IMX586 sensor, f/1.6 aperture.
Telephoto lens: 8 MP, f/2.4 aperture.
Ultra wide angle lens: 16 MP, f/2.2 aperture.
Front camera (pop-up): 16 MP with a Sony IMX471 sensor, f/2.0 aperture.
Video: 4K video at 30/ 60 fps; 1080P video at 30/ 60 fps; super slow motion: 1080p video at 240 fps, 720p video at 480 fps.
OnePlus has done very well in this department too. The whole thing has been put together very well. The colours look very real and the Sony sensor certainly does the job well. Even when zoomed in quite a bit, the finer details do not begin to pixelate much.
Photography in low light is good too with the Nightscape mode.
However, just like when watching videos, the reds appear to stand out in photos.
The front camera pops up pretty quickly and selfies are pretty good too.
Battery:
The 7 Pro has a 4000 mAh non-removable battery. The Warp Charge power adapter ensures that charging is very quick. OnePlus had claimed that wireless charging is not required because it has warp charging. In real life, the battery can be fully charged from near zero in about 30 minutes.
The battery almost lasts one and a half days with 4G data on all the time, about an hour of watching YouTube videos, WhatsApp, email, a few other apps and about 20 minutes of gaming per day. This was with the screen brightness kept at about 40 per cent. If adaptive brightness is on, the battery will probably last longer.
In totality, OnePlus appears to have done a great job with the battery power management.
In conclusion:
The S10+ and the iPhone X have wireless charging and IP68 water/ dust certification, things the 7 Pro does not have. Here is where the two score over the OnePlus. If one can live without these two features, but still want a powerful phone with a great camera, the 7 Pro is highly recommended. This is considering that the cheapest S 10+ costs about Rs 73,000 and the top end OnePlus 7 Pro costs Rs 57,999.
Detailed pricing:
OnePlus 7 Pro Mirror Gray 6 RAM+128 GB internal storage, 8+256 GB INR 48,999, INR 52,999. Available.
OnePlus 7 Pro Nebula Blue 8+256 GB, 12+256GB INR 52,999, INR 57,999; Availability: May 28
OnePlus 7 Pro Almond 8+256 GB INR 52,999; June
OnePlus 7 Mirror Gray 6+128 GB, 8+256 GB INR 32,999, INR 37,999; June
OnePlus 7 Red 8+256 GB INR 37,999; June
OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2 INR 5,990; Coming soon
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