OnePlus 8 review: too good to be true? By Phandroid

This year is the 1+8 prowl, a smartphone that can go head-to-head with the best devices of 2020 and then there's the one plus eight. It's basically the same size has the same overall design and same incredible Snapdragon to 865 chipsets, which means you get 5g baked right in, but this phone here costs $200 less making it one of the most interesting flagships, smartphones of 2020. But the question is: is the 1+8 actually too good to be true? Well, let's find out when these two phones showed up at my doorstep, a few days before the official unveiling I'll admit that I unboxed, one plus eight Pro and started using it first, but after a day, I took the one plus eight out of the box and only realized a couple of days later. That I had completely forgotten about its bigger brother. Now these two phones do look a lot alike, but there are quite a few significant differences between the two I've already done. A complete comparison between these two smartphones so make sure you check that out.

If you were looking for a closer comparison between the OnePlus 8 and the 8 Pro, but in this review, I'm going to be highlighting why the OnePlus 8, despite its flaws and a couple of its shortcomings, is one of the best devices that I've used this year. The best place to start is, with the phone's design. I'll admit that I'm a bit tired of the same old glass and metal slabs and manufacturers have been turning out for the past few years. It seems like no one's had an original idea in quite some time, and one plus 8 is no exception, especially when you compared to last year's of seventh row, I mean besides the lack of a pop-up camera in the newer device. OnePlus could have easily just used the same shell as last year.

The only positive here is that the symmetrical design with a centrally located camera bump on the back and the interstellar glow finish is at least a little more interesting than the color options that Samsung, LG and Sony are pushing out this year. Other than that, you get a solidly built phone with OnePlus. As usual, notification switch buttons with a satisfying click and then a device that doesn't go overboard in regard to its weight and overall size. As for the phone's main specs, OnePlus has delivered the bare minimum in order for the eight to be classified as a flagship device in 2020 that includes a snapdragon, 865, processor, 8 or 12 gigabytes of RAM and storage options that start with 128 gigabytes ago up to 256 as well. But the phone does have its drawbacks in true OnePlus fashion.

You don't get wireless charging, there's no expandable storage or headphone jack or unofficial IP rating for dust and water resistance. If you are a fan of wireless charging, that is a bit of a setback, but the lack of an IP rating shouldn't be a huge issue, since one-plus claims that they've done significant work to make sure that the phone will survive accidental splashes, and you shouldn't any issues. If you get caught in the rain. In fact, the 1+8 sold in the US by its carrier partners actually comes with an IP 68 rating, with no real physical differences in the hardware between the unlocked version and those sold by the carriers. Now I wouldn't go swimming with this phone, as you shouldn't with any smartphone with an IP 68 rating, but, as you can see, it can definitely handle being submerged and a little of water.

So the question is: why would I really want to use the 1+8 over any other flagship device this year? The answer is honestly quite simple: the 1+8 offers the most well-balanced experience, I've gotten from my flagship smartphone at a price. That's actually quite reasonable. This phone sells for six hundred and ninety-nine dollars. Now, while that's not exactly cheap, it is a full two hundred dollars less than the one plus eight pro and three hundred dollars less than the Samsung Galaxy s 20, and with that extra $300, you could just go ahead and buy yourself a 55 inch, 4k TCL TV and still have an extra twenty dollars left over in your pocket. As I've already mentioned, some compromises had to be made in order to get the price point at this low.

But those small tweaks are the hardware, really don't make a huge difference when it comes to using the phone day-to-day. The first thing to note is that OnePlus delivers one of the best Android builds around, while manufacturers have been tweaking Android to make it more useful. Since the days of the HTC Hero OnePlus has focused more on optimization delivering one of the smoothest and coherent builds of Android. You can currently find, while also giving you an immense customization power to make the phone feel like it's truly your own there's, nothing that gets in the way and the phone's combination of software and incredible hardware make the OnePlus 8 an exceptionally enjoyable device to use. Getting work done is a breeze even when you're, switching between multiple apps, sending emails, typing messages or simply scrolling.

Your social media feeds to kill time. It's also an amazing device for gaming, offering more than enough GPU power to take on the most graphic intensive games that Android has to offer, and while the base model comes with eight gigabytes of RAM, it can still multitask with the best, especially when you manually, lock in your most used apps into memory, so that they're, always there ready to go. The only downside that some will point out is that the 1 plus 8's, full HD plus display has a lower resolution than what we typically see on flagship devices these days. Those with a keen eye will be able to spot individual pictures when looking closely but honestly, it's something that won't bother the majority of users, especially if you're coming from an iPhone and while the resolution isn't spectacular, the screens at 90 Hertz refresh rate, definitely is again. This isn't the best of the best with flagship devices this year hitting a hundred and twenty and 144 Hertz.

But ninety is still quite amazing for a phone at this price point and honestly, I have absolutely no complaints on this front. The use of a curved display still isn't my favorite, adding unnecessary glare while playing games or watching videos in landscape mode and also introducing false taps when using the phone, one-handed I would have preferred a flat display, like the OnePlus 70 from last year, but this honestly comes down to personal preference. As for the phone's cameras, the 1+8 offers a good balance by delivering a pretty decent 48 megapixel main camera and 16 megapixels ultra-wide with a Q megapixel dedicated macro camera is a little perplexing, since it's honestly not that good. The main camera does a great job of capturing detailed shots, even in low-light conditions, though it's still not on the same level as what we've seen on other flagship devices this year, one plus choice to replace its typical zoom camera with the ultra-wide was a good decision in my book, giving you a different perspective with a wider field of view. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something extremely satisfying about tapping the ultra-wide button on the camera app and seeing so much more in your shot.

It would have been nice if one Plus had to use the same lens and sensor that the 1+8 is using for its ultra-wide, since the images here aren't quite as sharp, but if you're not a photography, snob it'll still get the job done and, of course, you can always use the 48 megapixel sensor to digitally zoom in to your subject. If you really miss that zoom sensor for its front-facing camera, the one plus eight is using a 16 megapixel sensor to capture you and your friends with crisp and detailed selfies. I was honestly surprised by how sharp the images were, especially when compared to devices like the Galaxy S 20, though it's not really that great in low light conditions, especially since one Plus hasn't yet enabled the nights cape setting for its front-facing camera, like Google, has on its pixel phones. Now this phone does have a slightly smaller battery than its larger, siblings and most other high-end devices we've seen this year, but at 4300 Williams, the OnePlus Eights battery still delivers impressive, lasting power with a slightly smaller display and lower refresh rate. The eight will actually last just as long as the OnePlus 8 pro does, meaning you're going to get a full day or up to 16 hours on a single charge without having to worry about your battery at all.

Naturally, not having wireless charging does feel like an oversight, especially for a phone at this price point, but OnePlus wouldn't want it to settle for ordinary QI charging, and I'm sure. By now. We all know that the company's proprietary 30 watt wireless charging technology doesn't come cheap. At least you do get warp charge, 30 T that can deliver a 50 percent charge in just over 20 minutes or a full charge in less than an hour. There's, no denying that the OnePlus 8 has its fair share of compromises and flaws compared to most flagship devices.

Some would consider this phone to be a joke or a poor man's version of what a flagship smartphone should actually be, but here's the thing no one really needs a flagship smartphone like the Galaxy S, 20 plus, or the Huawei P 40 pro, while those devices do push the industry forward. There are the supercars of the smartphone world aspirational devices that cost a lot more than they should smartphones that are packed with unnecessary features that don't fundamentally change what a smartphone is or does the 1+8 keeps it simple while not compromising on the overall experience, and the best part is that this phone costs three hundred dollars less than the cheapest galaxy s 20 device, if you're, not a tech enthusiast who simply has to have the best of the best, but still want a great smartphone with amazing performance and a good camera. The one plus eight is currently the best smartphone you can buy breaking the bank.

Source : Phandroid