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OnePlus introduced the new 8 and 8 Pro this week and now that the dust has settled here are some ideas on the new additions. It’s mainly about where they fit into the overall scheme of things and what they stand for for their creator – if you’d like to learn more about the phones themselves, we’ve got hands-on articles for OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro.
The flagship killer no longer exists
Let’s start with the elephant in the room and it definitely has the most angry fans. Starting at $ 699 / EUR 699 and $ 899 / EUR 899, respectively, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro vanilla are significantly more expensive than their predecessors, despite the latter having half the base storage.
At this point, the transformation of a company that was initially trying to position itself as the helpless “flagship killer” is complete. Looking back on the 7T, and the 7T Pro, those launched at € 600 and € 760, respectively. And just over 12 months ago, the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro had a starting price of € 559 and € 700.
Now OnePlus is finally confident that it can compete without having to undermine its rivals. The fact that the 8 Pro costs more than a Galaxy S20 + is a forceful statement and if OnePlus maintains its competitiveness at these new heights, it could become BBK’s new golden goose. However, we still have to see how big the result is.
The new posts
With the passage to higher levels, the concept of value for money changes. While being able to perform the widest variety of tasks is king in the midrange, in premium segments it’s also about being the best at least in some of them. You don’t spend this kind of cash without getting at least some bragging rights.
On paper, the OnePlus 8 Pro doesn’t have the best camera setup or the biggest battery, and while the 30W of wired and wireless charging is decent, they barely make the charts.
So it seems that OxygenOS will be crucial to the success of the 8 Pro. If it manages properly the resources and offers great battery life and if the processing of the camera takes full advantage of the available sensors, the new flagship could go to places.
The OnePlus 8 in no man’s land
The Vanilla OnePlus 8 is apparently in a tough spot. Its new price not only brings fiercer competition from the outside, but you also have to consider the OnePlus 7T. Last year’s non-Pro phone offered most of the features of its Pro brother, keeping it more reasonably priced. In contrast, the OnePlus 8 is located lower than the 8 Pro: it is made up of a 90Hz screen, instead of the new 120Hz model, with lower main and ultra-wide cameras and without wireless charging or IP rating.
The OnePlus 8 also completely loses the standard telephoto camera and swaps it for a macro unit. The last replacement itches a bit more when we consider that the OnePlus 7T had a 2x telephoto lens. How that will compare to a 48MP main camera cutout in OnePlus 8 is a valid question and one that we will be able to answer once the review is complete.
What could have been
Thanks to being part of BBK Electronics, OnePlus has access to R&D and manufacturing resources far beyond what its revenue streams would otherwise allow. The downside is that he has to play the team game and not get too close to his brothers. So while we would have loved to get the camera setup of the Oppo Find X2 Pro on the OnePlus 8 Pro, we get how that would have brought the two even closer in price and created unwanted internal competition.
But if the 13MP periscope telephoto unit is too much, why couldn’t we at least get the brightest f / 1.7 aperture for the main camera, which is also found in the normal Find X2?
It’s similar to charging: 30W sure sounds great, even better when wireless, but the Oppo Ace2 already does 65W SuperVOOC and 40W wireless recharge.
OxygenOS is the name of the game
We definitely don’t want this to be a complaint. OnePlus’ new flagship has a lot to offer and we’ve already hinted at what its primary weapon will be: sophisticated OxygenOS software.
Standing out as one of the best custom Android launchers out there, it has a faithful following that few of the manufacturers that partner with Google can enjoy.
Again, we have yet to examine it in detail, but early signs indicate that the OxygenOS 2020 experience will be nimble and fluid with an original look and well thought out and well implemented tweaks and feature additions. And if camera processing goes a step further than what the OnePlus 7T Pro had, it could start to improve.
A couple of questions remain
The official premiere and first practices gave many answers, but many questions remain. The much-requested official IP68 rating is here on the Pro, as well as Vanilla’s OnePlus 8 units, sold by Verizon and T-Mobile. What gives? Well, frankly, it’s a mess that hasn’t been deciphered yet, as people begin to take apart the unlocked and transport units to see what, if anything, is different in their internal design.
And what about 8K video capture. You don’t get any if that’s ready to go, and while we doubt there are too many 8K displays, it seems the outrage is significant. So can OnePlus enable it with a firmware update or was it left out due to hardware limitations?
These are just some initial thoughts and possible talking points. We’re already hard at work on in-depth reviews for both OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro, so we should be able to give you more information on that next week.
