OnePlus held their Yearly Mid Summer Phone Release Event on 14 April 2020. Although amidst the Novel Corona Virus Pandemic, the Company rolled their dice even though no one is going to be able to get their phones ordered as everything on Earth is in a Stand Still Condition.
OnePlus unravelled 2 products. OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro following suit like last year.
Looking at the Price tag, OnePlus 8 is a Budget Flagship phone, which is a speciality of OnePlus Brand, delivering Flagship Features at a Budget Price. But, as we all know that the OnePlus phones become slightly more expensive every year. That is a trend from the beginning and is still continuing. And because of which, OnePlus 8 starts at USD 699.
But, the main attention seeking big brother OnePlus 8 Pro is a different story altogether. OnePlus 8 Pro starts at USD 899. The price tag suggests and correctly portrays that OnePlus has finally step foot into the Flagship Smartphone Market. And it seems OnePlus is here to stay.
OnePlus phones in the past had 3 major shortcomings.
- No Official Water and Dust Resistant Rating.
- No Wireless Charging.
- Below Par Camera performance.
This year, they nailed it and have rightfully secured their place in the race for the Best Overall Phone of The Year.
OnePlus 8 Pro comes with Official IP68 Water and Dust Resistant Rating. This is due to the removal of the Pop-Up Camera as was in OnePlus 7 Pro. They introduced a Punch Hole Front facing Camera on the left top corner of the screen to secure the phone from water and dust.
OnePlus 8 Pro comes with Wireless Charging. Although OnePlus has its own ultra fast “WARP Charge 30T” which charges the phone from 0-50% in just 25 Minutes; OnePlus introduced 30W Fast Wireless Charging which works only with specially made OnePlus Wireless Charging Dock. The phone also charges using the Qi-Wireless Charging Docks, but only at 5W. And the OnePlus Fast Charging Dock only works with OnePlus phones and doesn’t fast charge any other phone. The OnePlus Fast Charge Wireless Dock charges the phone from 0-50% in just 30 Minutes.
OnePlus raved of the much improved Camera performance given by OnePlus 8 Pro Cameras. The OnePlus 8 Pro boasts Quad Camera setup. A 48MP Main Camera with OIS at f/1.7, 48MP UltraWide Camera with Macro Mode at f/2.2, 8MP 3X Telephoto camera at f/2.44 and a 5MP Colour Filter. Although the Cameras have improved exponentionally this year and have surprised a lot of people who used the camera; the phone comes in direct comparision with the Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra and Huawei P40 Pro. But, the Camera performance falls short of The Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 Series. The Video Quality has also improved by a lot and is on par with the Pixel 4 series at 4k and still not comparable to the iPhone Video Capturing Capabilities.
Apart from these 3 Main Big Strides towards perfection, the rest of the Phone is still the usual OnePlus phone, which is a good thing. The Build quality is still top noth and the it still has Design elements from the Previous OnePlus phones. The phone comes in a new Blue Matte Finish which is very pleasing to the eye and attracts minimal Fingerprints. Phone still comes with OxygenOS which is “The Cleanest Android Skin”. It still has the Alert Slider, Very Good haptics and a big camera bump.
As for the Specs, the Specs are still Standard OnePlus style. Snapdragon 865 with 5G Capability, 128/256GB UFS3.0 storage, 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 4510mAh Battery Capacity. They are all Top Notch.The Screen is a 6.78″ 1440p 120Hz QHD+ AmOled Display. It’s a Variable Refrest Rate Screen which has an option to switch between 1080p and 1440p & 60Hz and 120Hz. It still has In-Screen Optical Fingerprint Reader, Curved Edges on both sides. The Curved Edges on both sides may or may not lead to Accidental Touches depending on the method of use of the Phone, but it certainly does bother majority of the Users.
As improvements go, OnePlus 8 Pro is the most improved phone from it’s Previous Iteration (OnePlus 7 Pro) in many a ways. And it goes without saying, since these phones become Slightly more expensive every year, this is the “Most Expensive OnePlus Phone Ever”.
The Phone is available for ordering from April 15, but delivery will be delayed until the end of Covid-19. Until then, Fingers Crossed…
THE WHISTLING WIND 