When you need to buy a predictable and reliable smartphone

Once upon a time, the OnePlus promise was easy to understand. There would be a phone, it would seek to bring the best features of current competing flagships to the mid-range, and it would sell the phone under the alluring ‘Never Settle’ tagline.

That is no longer the case. With the launch of the OnePlus 8T today, the Shenzhen-based company launched its fourth phone in 2020. That matches the four phones released in 2019. The portfolio looks a bit clunky this year.

2019 saw a summer launch of the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, the latter representing the first time that OnePlus moved towards the actual flagship brand with a ‘Pro’ device. The winter release saw the ‘T’ updates on the 7-series phones, essentially a mid-cycle spec increase to account for new technology released in the last six months. This follows the traditional path of semi-annual updates, all taking a small step forward; But when the typical two-year lifespan of a contract phone ended, there would be a suitable OnePlus ready for that user.

The summer of 2020 saw the launch of the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. That kept the lineage up, although with both phones receiving major hardware additions, the phones felt more like the 8 was an upgrade to the 7 Pro and the 8 Pro was. effectively an update of the mythical 7 Pro Pro.

Then about a month later, we had the launch of the Nord. Here was a smartphone that the OnePlus fanbase could understand. This was a OnePlus ‘flagship killer’ of yesteryear. In the eyes of the community, the OnePlus Nord was (mostly) the only true OnePlus phone for 2020 … despite questions arising about using a 7xx SnapDragon on-chip system instead of an 8xx, and the disappointing camera.

Which brings us back to the OnePlus 8T. It is clearly well above the OnePlus Nord. But it is also above the OnePlus 8 (even allowing six months of new technology). It’s much closer to the OnePlus 8 Pro without going overboard. It looks like the 8T is precariously balanced between the 8 and 8 Pro. And if you had asked me in September if there was room between those phones for OnePlus to insert into another smartphone, I would have raised an eyebrow at Roger Moore.

So … where does today’s OnePlus 8T fit in the smartphone market? What are you trying to achieve? And for who it is?

One thing that has remained consistent is that with a six month cycle, there is not a huge difference in specs.

The 6.55-inch AMOLED display features the highest refresh rate of 120Hz, which matches the OnePlus 8 Pro and dwarfs the 90Hz found on the OnePlus 8. It’s a flat screen too, which is something I appreciate. The display is a good example of improving specs every six months to keep the leading OnePlus as close to the cutting edge as possible. In the case of the 8T screen, OnePlus notes that it is “28 percent thinner” and the brightness can reach up to 1,100 nits. The chin area is also significantly reduced, creating an almost uniform thickness around the entire device.

One genuine area of ​​improvement over the two summer devices is fast-charging capability. This has long been one of OnePlus’ brand partnerships, so the return of the Warp Charge brand comes as no surprise. By using two batteries, offering a total nominal capacity of 4500 mAh, more power can be drawn for faster charging. That 65 represents 65 watts; which in practice offers fifty percent vacuum in less than fifteen minutes, and one hundred percent vacuum in forty minutes.

The theory here is that OnePlus users would prefer to recharge with cable for a short period, rather than drink energy throughout the day. And if you’re looking for fast wireless charging alongside the 8 Pro’s Qi charging, you’re out of luck; OnePlus has decided that the 8T is only charged by cable.

The charger has been moved up to use USB-C, instead of USB-A. As with previous OnePlus fast chargers, much of the circuit for faster charging is in the adapters. The OnePlus 8T will accept up to 27 watts from other chargers, while the OnePlus charger will deliver up to 45 watts to other devices.

Specs-wise, it’s a welcome return to the 8-series SnapDragon 865 (the Nord returned to the SnapDragon 765G system on chip). That is coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which both sport silver; or the 12GB / 256GB pairing in green. They both come with UFS3.1 storage, an increase from UFS3.0 found in summer phones. Since Qualcomm sells the 865 bundled with the X55 5G modem, then it is a given that 5G is supported.

One of the biggest visual changes is the camera module. Traditionally, OnePlus has been run with a centerline module, but the OnePlus 8T has been moved to the more modern top left of the case. Here’s a quad-lens camera, with the long-awaited 48-megapixel Sony main camera backed by a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The macro lens makes a return from 2019 phones, while the fourth camera is a curious 2-megapixel monochrome camera.

If you want monochrome images, you won’t be limited to taking 2 megapixel images. This lens collects data to work with the 48 megapixel main camera when you switch to the monochrome filter (which has a curious side effect, it covers the monochrome lens and the main camera goes back to color. It’s a nice feature, but there are things that are easy to do. do in the software and the things you have Monochrome filters are easy to do … zooming in without losing detail is more difficult.

You may have noticed that there are no optical zoom lenses here, and I think that’s as big a mistake as leaving it out of the OnePlus 8 earlier in the year.

And the camera has practically the same quality as the OnePlus 8 of the summer. Again, the camera is solid, but not impressive. It has the addition of the monochrome lens, it has OnePlus’ software-based Nightscape mode to allow for low-light photography, it has OIS and EIS on the main camera to stabilize the lens while taking pictures … all of these are features that a high- The final smartphone is supposed to have,

Take the OnePlus 8T out in good light and you’ll get good photos with natural color reproduction, without excessive saturation here. Performance begins to decline as the light falls, and this is where the OnePlus traditionally is weak, and performance in medium to low light conditions falls short of flagship expectations. The 8T does not change this formula.

OnePlus has always sent a message of simplicity with its Android variant. In OxygenOS 11 (naturally using Android 11 as a base) it has kept the idea of ​​simplicity, but has moved away from the standard Android look. Yes, this caused a bit of unrest in the OnePlus vocal community, but the changes help on the bigger screen. Specifically, the operating system is now geared towards adding more white space and creating a ‘sweet spot’ of interaction around the middle of the screen. In other words, for one-handed use.

Of course, this requires you to have big hands, a trait not everyone has, otherwise you’ll be in a more accepted two-handed stance. That still feels the benefit because your focus on action mostly stays on this sweet spot, making it a bit more intuitive no matter where you jump to.

So after taking a closer look at the phone, it’s really easy to put the OnePlus 8T on. While a few different design decisions have been made, notably the switch to a flat screen and camera repositioning, the OnePlus 8T is the OnePlus 8 with the 90Hz screen boosted to 120Hz, and the rest of the specs. principals receive a similar increase to reflect new components from vendors.

The six-month cycle will always lend itself to little bumps. Observing the changes in a two-year window means comparing the OnePlus 6T to the OnePlus 8T. If that’s what you’re looking for in terms of upgrade, the OnePlus 8T is a very good phone. But in previous years, the six-month steps have been able to deliver a bit more hardware and software excitement than I can see here. The jump from the OnePlus 8 to the OnePlus 8T feels like a must-do, not a must-do.

Clearly, OnePlus decided that the OnePlus 8 Pro didn’t need a OnePlus 8T Pro to replace it. I wonder why that decision was the opposite of the OnePlus 8. The 8 is a competent phone, it’s a good all-rounder with one of the best fast charging options on the market. No new ground breaking here, just a welcome tweak to the specs to keep OnePlus in the game.

As the headline suggests, the OnePlus 8T is predictable and reliable. You know exactly what OnePlus will offer in a ‘T’ phone (even if the portfolio looks pretty confusing), there is consistency in the choices made by the design and engineering team, and if you need a classic example of ‘it just works’ in the mid-range… meet the OnePlus 8T.

Now read my review of the OnePlus Nord, launched earlier this year …