Here's the OnePlus 8, the OnePlus device for peoplewho want this
year's model, but maybe aren't intosome of the wackier ideas that OnePlus is
experimentingwith its Pro models. It starts at $699, which is$200 less than the
Pro device that Dieter's taking alook at in his review.
OnePlus 8 review: a
familiar formula
But all of the OnePlusessentials
are still here. It's still got a great screen. It's still got great battery
life. It's fast charging, it's still fast, and it's take on Android isstill
just as clean as ever. And you're getting a screenwith a 90 hertz refresh rate,
which is honestly, still so good that I wish it was astandard-issue feature for
most modern flagships. Now, if you think that sounds like a fairly traditional
OnePlus device, then you're not wrong, but the difference thisyear is that with
the 8 Pro, OnePlus has finally addressedsome of those issues that OnePlus fans
have beenasking about for years. It's a device that reallymakes a serious
attempt to break the OnePlus mold. The OnePlus 8 hasn't quitemade that same
attempt, but it's still a goodphone at a good price, which really begs the
question, is a good OnePlus device that doesn't break the mold worth it? Or do
you need to spendthe extra money on the Pro?
(calming ambient music) But the
OnePlus 8 is asolidly-specced device. It's powered by a Snapdragon 865, starts
with eight gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabytes of storage, but I've been using a
modelwith 12 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of storage. There's 5G onboard,
Wi-Fi6, all that good stuff, and that's a lot of spec for $699. Especially
compared to,oh, I don't know, the, pretty much identicallypriced entry-level
iPhone 11.
So essentially, you're
gettingmost of the internal specs of the OnePlus 8 Pro in the OnePlus 8. The
exception that OnePlusis keen to emphasize is that the Pro is using LPDDR5 RAM,
while the 8 is using LPDDR4X, but I struggled to notice the difference in
real-world usage. I mean, the two phones even look damn near identical from the
front because they both havethat same hole-punch, selfie cutout at thetop left
of the screen. Yes, the 8 screen isever so slightly smaller at 6.55 inches,
compared tothe 6.78 inches on the Pro, but the two phones arebasically the same
width, so they don't really feelany different to hold. I mean, seriously, when
I wastaking comparison photographs, I occasionally forgot which one was which.
I will say that the 8screen seems
to curve ever so slightly less aroundthe sides of the device, which is maybe
why I didn't experience the accidental touch issuesthat Dieter had with the
Pro, but honestly, it's really subtle, and you have to really be looking for it
to actually notice it. All of which is to say, the OnePlus 8 is not a device to
get if you're after a smaller phone. Personally, I'd love tosee OnePlus
experiment with a smaller device, but hey, maybe that's just me. Of course, the
screensaren't actually identical. With the 8, you're gettinga 1080p, 90 hertz
display, with a peak brightness of 1100 nits. Meanwhile, the 8 Pro goesup to
1440p, 120 hertz, and 1300 nits peak brightness. But please, don't letthis
numbers-to-numbers spec comparison lead you to believe that the 8 has a bad
screen. It doesn't, it's great,it's bright, it's vibrant, and it's yet more
evidence thatOnePlus really, really knows how to put the right display on a
phone. Even compared to the 8 Pro, the 8's display still feels smooth. It took
me sitting withboth phones side-by-side to spot the difference, and even then,
OnePlus 8 review
it wasn't a night and day
comparison. The phone feels nice and snappy to use. Apps open quickly, games
run well. You're getting a flagshipAndroid experience here. Oh, and OxygenOS is
justas out of the way as ever, which is exactly what I want out of a
manufacturer's operating system. I'm looking at you, LG. (calming music) So
I've been scurrying aroundthe issue for a little while, but what are the
differences between the 8 and the 8 Pro that actually matter? Well, to my mind,
thereare three main differences that you need to worry about, person who
watches YouTubereviews of OnePlus phones. Namely, IP ratings, wirelesscharging
and cameras. So let's just come out and say it. The OnePlus 8 doesn'tdo
wireless charging. It doesn't do the fancy30 watt wireless charging, the
OnePlus 8 Pro, and it doesn't do the more basicfive watt wireless charging that
basically every other flagship device does at this point. You already know if
it'sa feature you want or not, so I'm not gonna labor the point too much other
than to say that it'sstill a bit of a bummer.
It also doesn't havean official
IP rating, which wouldn't be surprisingcoming from OnePlus, apart from the
fact, thecompany has finally relented and actually added one to the 8 Pro. And
yeah, the company claims that it'll still survive being used in the rain and
whatever, but come on. And also, finally, the camera's different. So let's dig
in. There's good news and there's bad news contained within this triple-camera
array, which consists of a 48megapixel main camera, a 16 megapixel ultra-wide
camera, and a two megapixel macro camera. The good news is there'sno gimmick
lens here. The bad news is you don't get a zoom lens. The macro lens is tricky,
and you also don't get a main sensor that's quite as good as the 8 Pro. It's
still 48 megapixels,which yeah, is the same, but long story short,it's an older
sensor, and it's just, well, see for yourself. In bright conditions, Ithink it
holds up well against both the OnePlus8 Pro and the Pixel 3 I happen to have
for comparison's sake. If you check out these shots I took during my government
sanctionedwalk around the block, I'll be well-pressed to tell a difference
between the 8 and the 8 Pro,and the Pixel 3's images have a slightly softer
look in comparison. Look at this picture of acar and you'll see the hedge
behind it tints slightly yellower on the 8 compared to thePro, but look, it's
minor. It's after the sun goes down that things start to go badly for the 8.
Things are just a lot brighterand clearer on the Pro.
Faces can look a littlesmooth,
weird and brightened, especially at night. Oh, and here's some selfie shots,
and OnePlus uses the same16 megapixel selfie sensor between the 8 and the Pro,
so they're aren't many differences there, but there definitely seems to be some
kind of skin brightening going on compared to my Pixel 3, especially considering
it's managed to correctly expose the sky behind me. Obviously, you don't geta
zoom lens with the 8, but you do get a macro lens and, (groans) I don't really
know how useful it is. Look, I'm not gonna deny thatunder the right
circumstances, you can get a little bit more detail with the 8 than the Pro. I
took these two shotsfrom the same distance away with both phones with
theirmacros modes turned on and let them do their thing, and sure enough, you
cansee a little bit more detail in the shot from the 8, but other times, I
straightup got a better macro shot out of the 8 Pro, even thoughit doesn't have
a macro lens, like with this horsehead on a Venetian mask, which I just
couldn'tget the 8 to focus on no matter how hard I tried. Or if you're more of a
video person, then you can see foryourself what it looks like.
This is from the 16
megapixelfront-facing camera. So the easy answer is that if you want the better
camera setup, you gotta go Pro, especiallyif you want a zoom lens and better
low-light performance. But the much harder question to answer is how well the
modestly priced OnePlus 8 competes against similarly priced rivals. And let's
not forget, these include the entry-level iPhone 11, and honestly, I just
don'tthink the 8 quite nails it. I can't really complain aboutthe battery life
in OnePlus 8. It's got a 4300 milliamp hour battery, and I haven't even been
able to come close to running it down with a full day of use. Although, you
can't charge it wirelessly, it supports Warp Charge 30T, which can charge
yourphone in around an hour. So this is a nice phone,but you already knew that.
It's a OnePlus phone, at this point, there's just certain thingsyou can kinda
take for granted. It's got a great screen, it's wicked fast, it's solidly
built. It's camera can standto be a little better, and for reasons that seemto
apply only to OnePlus, it doesn't support wirelesscharging or have an IP
rating.
So yeah, the OnePlus 8doesn't
really break the mold, but I don't think thatmakes it a bad phone. It just
makes it a littlepredictable at this point, but that makes for a hard choice.
Do you go for thepredictable OnePlus phone, or do you spend $200 more for a
device that definitely overcomes some of these long-standing issues? You'll
have to watch Dieter'sreview of the OnePlus 8 Pro for a complete look at that
device's strengths and weaknesses. But a lot of the choicecomes down to this,
is a $200 price premium worth it for wireless charging and IP rating and a
slightly better camera? Because if it's not, then theOnePlus 8 is a great
phone. All right guys, thank you somuch for watching this review in these super
weird times, and I truly hope you arestaying as safe and well as you can be at
the moment. And check out the super janky camera setup that we've had to use as
Alix has directed meremotely (laughs) from zoom. Anyway, thank you so much
guys,and check out theverge.com for the full review of the OnePlus 8 and
OnePlus 8 Pro
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