iPhone SE vs OnePlus 8 Full Review - Which one should you get? By TecworkZ

Should you get the new iPhone SE or the OnePlus 8? I know even thinking of comparing these phones might sound ridiculous to some of you guys. But believe it or not, there are a lot of people who are trying to make this decision right now. If you are one of them, you clicked on the right video. Hey guys it’s Sagar from Tecworkz, and in this video we are going to see which of these 2 smartphones will be right for you. We will cover everything starting from price, to design, display, internals, performance, software experience, camera, battery and everything else in between. And then objectively see, which of these 2 would be better suited for your needs.

In the end I will also tell you which of these would I choose, and the reason behind it. But before we get to all of that, if you are new to this channel, or if you just haven’t subscribed yet, make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell icon next to it. That way, YouTube will make sure you are notified, as a new goes live on this channel. Let us start with the Price. Usually when I compare iPhones and Android smartphones, there is a huge gap between their prices.

But in this case, iPhone SE costs less than the OnePlus 8. On Flipkart, which is Apple’s official online reseller, the 64GB Storage variant of the iPhone SE is currently available at Rs.37,900, 128GB variant retails for Rs.43,900 and the 256GB variant is priced at Rs.53,900. The base variant of the OnePlus 8, which comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB Storage is priced at Rs.41,999. One with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage comes at Rs.44,999, and finally the 12GB RAM and 256GB variant is priced at Rs.49,999. As I said, there isn’t a huge difference between price of these phones.

But even if the OnePlus 8 costs a bit more, it definitely seems to offer a better value for your money, and looking at the price alone, it is the one I would personally go with. Now once Apple stars selling the iPhone SE that are assembled in India, it’s prices will come down even more, and then it will be the popular choice of most people. Coming to the size, they both can’t be further apart. iPhone SE is a tiny phone which fits very well in your hands, while the OnePlus 8 is definitely a 2 handed device for most people. Other than that, both the phones get a metal frame sandwiched with Glass at the front and back.

Both feel premium in your hand. Design of the iPhone SE is not new, we have seen this design since the iPhone 6, the only difference is glass back instead of metal, as we saw on the iPhone 8. To many people this design look a bit dated. While the OnePlus 8 looks new, its design is also borrowed from the OnePlus 7 Pro and some elements are actually being carried forward from the OnePlus 6, but it still looks a relatively modern smartphone. Design is a personal choise, so which one you like will depend on your preference.

As for me, If we leave the size aside, I like the overall design of the OnePlus 8. OnePlus 8 gets a matte glass back on the Glacial Green colour, and glossy glass back on the other 2 colours. While the iPhone SE gets glossy glass back on all 3 colours. Personally, I feel the matte glass back looks much more premium, and all phones should get it. For the buttons and ports, Both phones get Power/ sleep wake button on the right.

There is an alert slider on the OnePlus 8 just above it, and a SIM tray on the SE just below it. OnePlus 8 gets a noise cancelling microphone at the top, and SE doesn’t have anything here. Both get the volume buttons on the left, and SE gets a vibrate switch above it. At the bottom, OnePlus gets a SIM tray on the left, Microphone besides it, a USB type C port for charging and data transfer, and a speaker on the right. On the iPhone there is a microphone behind the grill on the left, Lightning port for charging and data transfer, and a speaker grill to the right.

Both the phones get stereo speakers, and they can get pretty loud. Ones on the OnePlus 8 is a bit louder, but to my ears, ones on the SE sounds a bit deeper. I think it is too close to call for me, so here is a quick test from both, and you decide which one sounds better to you. No matter which one you like, you can’t deny that speakers on the SE are impressive, given the overall size of the phone. Coming back to the buttons for moment, we often overlook the good ones like on both these phones.

We often complain about the ones that are too loose or not tactile enough, but don’t appreciate the really good ones. So let me say it here, the buttons and even the alert sliders on both these phones are very well made. They are tactile and don’t rattle at all. The SIM tray on the OnePlus 8 can hold 2 nano SIM cards, and it gets 5G connectivity, for the when the networks will support it. Tray on the iPhone SE can hold just 1 Nano SIM card, but you can add an E-SIM to it, so it also gets dual SIM capability.

iPhone SE gets a IP67 waterproof rating, while the OnePlus 8 while still being resistant to water to some extent, doesn’t get any official waterproofing rating. Coming to the diaplay, iPhone SE gets a tiny 4.7inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1334x750 pixels, and huge bezels all around. OnePlus gets a 6.55 inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels, 90Hz refresh rate and HDR 10+ content support. Now people are saying that the small screen is disadvantage for the iPhone SE, but I don’t believe that is the case. Smaller display is actually the Unique Selling Point of this phone.

Most people who are interested in this phone are actually looking for a phone with a small display. Even tough the SE has a LCD screen, it is the best LCD you will see. Colours are accurate, contrast is good, viewing angels are excellent, and with 650 nits of brightness, you should be able to view it in outdoor lighting conditions. The bigger display on the OnePlus 8 is just gorgeous. with a peak brightness of 1100 nits under certain conditions, it is easy to use even in direct sunlight.

Colours look good, contrast and viewing angels are also good, but my gripe with it is, it doesn’t get dim enough even on the lowest brightness setting. It also gets curved edges, which makes it a bit easier to reach across it with your thumb. And it also makes the phone look a lot more premium. I am not a big fan of these curved edges, because light refracts through it at various angels while watching videos, and it also triggers a lot of accidental touches. Just a side note, using the OnePlus 8 with a case on helps reduce the accidental touches by a big factor.

So the display on the OnePlus 8 is definitely better and I would choose it over the iPhone SE any day. But there are a lot of people who are looking for a phone with a smaller display, and for them, the SE makes perfect sense. Now let’s talk about those bezels. OnePlus gets very thin bezels all around, and the side bezels look even smaller, thanks to the curved edges. The selfie camera gets a punch hole cutout on the top left.

iPhone SE on the other hand gets these thick forehead and a chin, which makes it look so much dated compared to todays smartphones. Earpiece, front facing camera and all the other tech like ambient light and proximity sensor hidden behind the huge top bezel, while the bottom bezel houses the Home Button and TouchID sensor. I am a big fan of a physical fingerprint sensor on the SE and any other phone that has it. These are so much more accurate and faster than the In display ones, like on the OnePlus 8. I mean the one on the OnePlus 8 is pretty fast, and accurate, but I still like the physical one on the SE.

Knowing where it is on the SE makes it even faster, while on the Oneplus 8, you need to use it for a few weeks until you develop a muscle memory, to use it flawlessly. While unlocking both these phones, you get the taste of the vibration motors on them. On the Oneplus 8, there is a vibration under your finger as it unlocks, and while this vibration is stronger than 90% of Android smartphones, it is still not as good as the one on the iPhone SE. On the iPhone SE you get to experience the vibration motor right when you press the Home Button, and these haptics are also embedded throughout the User Interface. We say its the Home button, but actually it is actually not a button.

It doesn’t click when you press on it. When you press it, the vibration motor on the SE simulates the click, and unless someone told you this, you will never notice it, and that is how good the haptics on the iPhone are. You actually have to use the iPhone to know how good this feels. Anyways, moving on to the internals, OnePlus 8 gets all the fancy specs that most people drool over. It comes with the flagship Snapdragon 865 Processor, with Adreno 650 GPU, 6/8 or 12 GB of LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB of UFS 3.0 2 Lane storage and a mammoth 4300mAh battery. The only fancy part inside the iPhone SE is the Apple A13 Bionic chip.

It just gets 3GB of RAM and 64/128 or 256GB of fast built in storage. And Due to the smaller body, it packs in a tiny 1821mAh battery inside. Looking at the on paper specs, no-one in their right mind would choose the SE over the OnePlus 8, right! But the specs don’t tell the full story, in everyday use iPhone SE is just as fast as the OnePlus 8 if not faster. Thanks to the 90Hz refresh rate, animations on OnePlus 8 definitely makes it feel faster. The on paper specs don’t always tell the complete story.

Software optimisation plays a big part in how fast or slow a phone will be. iPhone SE has the latest and Apple’s most powerful processor, combining that with iOS iPhone SE is just as powerful as the OnePlus 8 which comes with all the latest internals. The biggest difference is their battery backup. Thanks to the much larger battery, OnePlus 8 can easily give you 6 and half to 7hrs of screen on time, and it will last you an entire day even if you are a heavy user. iPhone SE has a much smaller battery to begin with, but thanks to the efficient processor and less power hungry display, it can still last you an entire day with average usage.

On good days, I can get close to 5 hours of screen on time on it, but this is without playing any games. If I play games, It comes down to about 3 and half hours, which is really bad if you are a gamer. So battery backup wise, OnePlus 8 is definitely better. When it’s time to charge them up, OnePlus 8 comes with a 30T warp charger, which means even the massive battery inside it can juice up pretty quickly. iPhone SE on the other hand comes with the same age old 5watt charger.

Now the battery inside it is not very big, but the slow charger, still takes over an hour to charge it up. You can use fast charger with it, but you will have to buy it separately. SE also gets wireless charging support, so if you have a couple of wireless chargers around your house like I do, you are set. Software plays a very important role in the overall experience of any smartphone. As you might already know, iOS is one of the simplest and most basic mobile operating system.

It runs smoothly on iPhone SE and you get to enjoy all the same features as the iPhone 11 and the 11 Pro. Apple also makes sure that you get the latest software update the day they release it, and iPhones usually get 5 years of major software updates. Oneplus 8 is also running on the last version of Oxygen OS, and right now it is built on top of Android 10. As far as Android skins go, Oxygen OS is the simplest yet most feature rich one out there. It is very close to stock android with no bloatware.

OnePlus is also very prompt with software updates and security patches. But you still don’t get the latest version of android on the day that Google pushes it out. They however promises 2 major software updates, and 3 years of security updates. Software is a personal choice, and you might prefer one over the other and that is completely fine. Let us come to one of the last but most important factors in this comparison, the cameras.

iPhone SE doesn’t get a fancy quad, triple or even a dual camera setup. It comes with a single 12 megapixel camera with F/1.8 aperture and Optical Image stabilisation. And that’s it. OnePlus 8 on the other hand gets a triple camera setup. Primary camera gets a 48 megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with F/1.8 aperture and Optical Image Stabilisation.2nd one gets a 16 megapixel sensor with F/2.2 aperture and a 14mm ultra wide lens. And finally there is a 2 megapixel useless camera with F/2.4 aperture. At the front iPhone SE gets a 7 megapixel sensor with F/2.2 aperture, while the OnePlus 8 gets a 16 megapixel sensor with F/2.0 aperture. Now the camera on the iPhone SE might look very weak on paper, but its images tell a different story.

Here are a few images from both these phones compared side by side. In bright daylight conditions like this, there are plenty of details in the images of both these phones. Now I am not going to analyse all of these images like I always do. I want you to take a look at them and decide for yourself, which one looks better to you. I like natural looking colours and slightly warm tones in my images, so I prefer the ones from the iPhone SE, but the ones from the OnePlus 8 are definitely more detailed.

That being said, iPhone SE even with its 12 megapixel sensor is holding on pretty well, even in these diffused lighting conditions. Colour is a personal choice, so which one of these you like will depend on your colour preference. Dynamic range wise, iPhone SE is doing an excellent job. OnePlus 8 did better with the shadows in this shot, but look at the highlights, SE clearly did better there. This one comes to personal choice, but I think the one from SE looks good.

Which one do you like? Now the SE gets only one camera, but the OnePlus 8 gets a secondary wide lens, so you can take shot like this. This lens lets you get so much more of the scene in the shot, and it is nice to get a different perspective of the scene. You can use add on lenses like this on the SE to take wide shots. It is not as convenient as having a wide lens on your phone, but the option is there. iPhone SE is faster at setting the focus on a nearby object, which is important for taking close up shots.

In this one we can see the OnePlus 8 managed the brighter background much better, while the SE completely blew it. OnePlus gets a bigger sensor, so the background in its close up shots is blurred out more. Most important camera mode for me on any smartphone is the portrait mode. And knowing that the SE gets only one camera and has to take care of the blurring via software, had me worried at first. And while the edge detection in its portraits is not that great, SE still manages to pull good looking portrait shots.

Faces and overall shots look more natural in the images from the iPhone SE, and OnePlus 8 sometimes brightens the face in a weird way and makes it look over processed. But in the end, portraits from both look good, so pick the ones that look more natural to you. Since the iPhone has a tiny sensor, OnePlus 8 should have an obvious advantage when it comes to low light photography. But other than a bit more noise in SE’s images, you won’t notice a major difference straight away. OnePlus 8 has a night mode, but without the night mode, images form the SE looks much better.

Even the colours in SE’s images are more richer. As the light gets even lower, we see the SE really struggle to keep the noise down. OnePlus gets night mode, so it can take good images even in these lighting conditions. Look at how much more light it can capture, whereas the SE really struggles. Videos look better and more pleasing to look at from the iPhone.

That doesn’t mean the ones from the OnePlus 8 are not good. I just prefer the look of videos form the iPhone SE. Personally for the camera, my choice is the iPhone SE, because it delivers better looking and more consistent colours. I don’t shoot many images in lower light, so night mode is not my top most priority, and its videos are definitely better. But for most of you guys, overall I would say the OnePlus 8’s cameras are more versatile.

In low light it also gets the night mode option, and with the wide and macro lens it also gets more features. So quality wise, I would says iPhone SE has better camera, but OnePlus 8’s cameras are more feature rich, and it gives you the satisfaction of getting more value for the money that you spent on it. Now the next point that I want to cover is longevity, means which one will last for longer. We all know that iPhones last for a long time, and they keep on performing well even after 4-5 years. Apple also sends major software updates to older iPhones for 5 years at least, if not longer.

And these are 1st day updates. You don’t have to wait around hoping that your Android manufacturer will push out the software update weeks or months after Google released it. OnePlus phones also last for a long time, and they send out major software updates faster than other android manufacturers, but they don’t support their phones for as long as Apple does. So the iPhone SE will definitely last you longer. I have the original iPhone SE, and with iOS 14 installed, it still runs smoothly.

iPhones also generally have better resale value. If one or 2 years down, you are looking to sell either of these phones, iPhone will definitely fetch you more money. Now this point doesn’t come under Longevity, but you should know that OnePlus brings a new phone every 6 or 7 months, so your phone starts to feel much older very fast. So in conclusion, as we saw in the video, other than the screen and battery, the iPhone SE is not too far behind the OnePlus 8. If you absolutely need a smaller phone, this is the best one you can get and it will serve you very well for years to come.

I know there are lot of people who are not too tech savvy, or they don’t care about having all the latest tech packed inside their phone. All the want is a phone with smooth and reliable performance. And for them iPhone SE is the perfect option. Now if you are looking to get the most value for your money, or if you want all the latest tech packed on your phone, and want it to look modern, OnePlus 8 the way to go. As I said, It gets a newer design, bigger display and battery and its camera gets more features.

So if you want a feature rich phone, you can’t go wrong with the OnePlus 8. Let me say it again, OnePlus 8 is a better option between these 2 phones. And unless you absolutely need a smaller phone, OnePlus 8 offers you most bang for your buck. That being said, I am going to stick with the new iPhone SE for the next month or so. I like its smaller form factor, and for what I do on my phone, its battery is surprisingly adequate for me.

It is pretty fast, and runs everything smoothly. The camera is not as versatile, but it is not bad and gets the job done for me. And between using a huge phone or using a smaller one, with my average sized hand, I prefer using the later. Also with the Apple watch, Macbook Pro, iMac I am deep into apple’s ecosystem, so iPhone SE fits my needs better. Now this doesn’t have to be the same for everyone.

Just because I choose the iPhone SE over the OnePlus 8, doesn’t mean that you have to do the same, or call me names in the comments. Look at all the points that I mentioned in the video, evaluate which one fits our needs the best, weigh up their pro’s and cons, and then make your decision. Whatever your decision is, let me know in the comments, and if possible the reason behind it. That will help me understand your needs a bit better. If you are looking to get any one of these, I will really appreciate if you get them from the affiliate links in the description section.

That is it for this video guys, please hit the like button if this video helped you, and subscribe to the channel for more quality tech videos like this. You can also check out some of the other videos from this channel. This has been Sagar and I will catch you guys in the next video, Take care.

Source : TecworkZ