OnePlus 7T: A “Pro” Model without the Pro Price

The OnePlus 7T seems to be the upgrade that we missed with the OnePlus 7. Because finally the cheaper model offers a triple camera including ultra wide angle and telephoto camera and also the smooth 90 Hz display of the OnePlus 7 Pro makes it into its smaller brother this time. In addition, you get one of the first devices that is delivered directly with the new Android 10 Q.

OnePlus 7T at Geekbuying from $569.99

Technical data of the OnePlus 7T & OnePlus 7T Pro

Design: Matt glass & round triple camera

After the OnePlus 7 had a reflective glass back in both color variants (black & red), this time we use slightly matt Gorilla Glass. You have the choice between the quite simple Frosted Silver (our test device) and the intense Glacier Blue. The slightly frosted glass means that fingerprints are not quite as conspicuous as with the OP 7, but the back is a bit more slippery. Fortunately, OnePlus as always includes a silicone case next to the Warp Charge 30T charger and the red USB-C cable.

The most striking change is not the color, but the circular camera body on the back, which reminds of the old Nokia Lumia 1020, current Motorola smartphones and the new Huawei Mate 30. Whether you like the new design or not is a matter of taste. Personally, I don’t think it’s beautiful, but it’s not horrible either. What’s worse is how far the circle protrudes from the phone and how sharp the edge at the transition is. That’s another reason why I would use a case or a skin.

But this is the only sharp edge you will find on the 7T. All other transitions between the glass and aluminium frame are barely noticeable, so the smartphone lies comfortably in your hand. With dimensions of 160.94 x 74.44 x 8.13 mm, it is of course not exactly small, but still smaller than the OnePlus 7(T) Pro, which was simply too big for me. The keys are well placed for the size and easy to reach. This also includes the well-known notification slider on the right, which more manufacturers are likely to use.

Since the 6T, you have unfortunately looked in vain for a headphone connection with OnePlus, after all, the USB-C connection offers USB 3.0 speeds. To the right of it there is a loudspeaker which, in combination with the earpiece, provides stereo sound. To the left of the USB port is the dual-sim slot, which also has a red rubber ring, which provides a certain water resistance (e.g. in the rain). This is of course again not officially certified according to IP68 standard, which is why a dive with the smartphone is absolutely not recommended.

Flat & bright 90 Hz AMOLED display

In addition to the sheer size, the rounded display was probably my biggest personal criticism of the OnePlus 7 Pro. So I’m all the happier that OnePlus at least with the cheaper not “Pro” series sticks to a flat display and this now also runs at 90 Hz. So the panel updates itself 90 times per second instead of the normal 60 times. This provides for an even smoother display in games that support 90 Hz, but above all for an overall smoother experience when using the OnePlus 7T. The phone feels even faster than OnePlus smartphones usually do.

The system also reduces the frame rate in terms of battery life to 60 Hz depending on the content, e.g. for videos or not 90 Hz games, if the 90 Hz does not bring any advantage. But the display is also top off 90 Hz. The AMOLED panel becomes with 700-800 nit typical maximum brightness as bright as that of the iPhone 11 Pro and can in extreme cases (e.g. direct strong sunlight, HDR content) even reach a brightness of 1,000 nit. Thus, the display is easy to read in any situation and at the same time becomes dark in the evening to protect the eyes. But of course there is also an extra night mode (blue light filter) and a monochrome as well as a chromatic (little color) reading mode for bookworms.

HDR10 and HDR10+ directly support two HDR formats, so you can play HDR content on Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube. The display itself has grown by 0.14 inches to 6.55 inches and has an aspect ratio of 20:9. With 2400 × 1080 pixels, the resolution is FullHD+ and the sharpness is a good 402 pixels per inch. The only possible point of criticism for the display will have been noticed directly by all Notch-haters, because here again there is a teardrop notch for the front camera. After all, according to OnePlus it’s 31% smaller than the OP7 and I personally get used to it very quickly – but that’s a matter of taste, of course.

Of course, the fingerprint sensor, which is the same as in the OnePlus 7 Pro, is also located in the display. Thanks to “new sensors and algorithms”, it should work even more precisely – that’s the theory. In practice, I had no problems with the OP 7 Pro and in 99% of the cases the sensor works fast and without problems, which is unfortunately not yet the case with all in-display fingerprint sensors.

OnePlus 7T as always with strong hardware

The OnePlus 7T comes, as you would expect from OnePlus, with the latest Qualcomm chip. This is currently the Octa-Core Snapdragon 855+, which is expected to offer about 4% more CPU power and 15% more gaming power than the 855. So the upgrade is quite small here, but the OnePlus 7 (Pro) already had so much power that you can’t really use it completely. For the memory there is now always 8 GB RAM and for the mass memory you have the choice between 128 GB and 256 GB fast UFS 3.0 memory. It can’t be expanded as usual with OnePlus, but at least you start directly at 128 GB.

In practice, this OnePlus also flies through the system and simply doesn’t want to slow down or stutter, even during the strongest multitasking. Apps open very quickly and remain in memory for a long time. In general, everything goes very quickly with the OnePlus 7T, which is due to a combination of strong hardware, the 90 Hz display and well optimized software. Once you get used to it, pretty much every other mobile phone feels slower at first. The benchmarks also confirm the good performance.

Android 10 with a useful OxygenOS surface

As just mentioned, the software of the OnePlus 7T is very well optimized again and I couldn’t find any bugs or errors. Everything runs fine and Android 10 Q has been enhanced with the OxygenOS10 interface. For example, you can choose from three preset designs or customize pretty much everything to your own taste. So after some time with the default settings I decided to use the dark theme with round speed settings and the dark red accent color.

The gesture control was taken directly from Android 10, but if you don’t like it you can use the three normal keys again. In general I like the new gesture control very much, especially the change to the previous app is very fast. However, the back gesture is currently a wipe from the left or right edge of the screen to the middle. Unfortunately, many apps have assigned the gesture from left to center to opening the Burger menu (three lines button in the right top corner), so an attempt to open it is now always interpreted as a “back”. This is so annoying that I will probably return to the three keys for the time being, although the rest of the gestures work very well.

Other Oxygen features have been known to OnePlus users for quite some time and are now available again: fast gestures for the camera, flashlight, etc., double-taps for waking up, Zen mode (now for 20, 30, 40, or 60 minutes), the shelf to the left of the Home screen, and the hidden area for apps. All in all I personally still like OxygenOS the best of all Android surfaces, because it offers many good additions without having double apps and being overloaded.

OnePlus 7T finally with triple camera!

That was my first thought when I saw the OP 7T images. Because the triple camera with ultra wide angle and zoom functionality was previously reserved for the more expensive OnePlus 7 Pro. If this is outside the price range or simply too big for you, you had to make do with the dual camera of the OP 7. However, its second camera is only there for depth information and thus relatively useless in everyday life. Now you are finally flexible in your everyday life with the cheaper model. The triple camera consists of a 48 MP main camera (Sony IMX586), the 16 MP 117° ultra wide angle camera and the 12 MP 2x zoom camera. In addition, there is a new macro mode via the ultra wide angle camera with a close-up limit of 2.5 cm.

48 MP main camera with OIS

The 48 MP main camera always combines four pixels to a larger one by pixel binning, so that the normal photos come to 12 MP. 48 MP photos can be taken in Pro mode, but you can eat a lot of memory and, as you can see, are not really necessary. Because the photos are also sharp, have beautiful natural colors and offer many details. The optical and electronic image stabilisation means that even quick snapshots don’t blur, and thanks to HDR, the photos have good dynamics. All in all, the main camera is simply very reliable and delivers consistently good results, even with less light.

Ultra wide angle & 2x zoom

For me, the ultra wide angle camera is the biggest improvement over the OnePlus 7, besides the night mode, because it’s simply fun to shoot with it. You can capture images that would simply not be possible with the main camera and that look particularly dramatic due to the ultra wide angle of 117°.

Furthermore, it is of course easier to capture buildings and landscapes without having to walk several meters backwards. The telecamera offers only a double zoom, but is still a good addition and provides a high flexibility of the 7T camera. Moreover, it’s nice to see that the colors and the general quality of the individual cameras are very close to each other, at least in good light.

Night Mode of Main & Ultra Wide Angle Camera

This time, night mode is available for both the main and ultra wide angle cameras right from the start. Of course, the main camera also benefits here, but doesn’t need the mode as much as the ultra-wide-angle camera. As you can see in the first picture, the night mode (right) simply gets more light out of the scene through an extended exposure time, so that the dark areas are brightened and more details can be seen.

With the ultra wide angle camera you unfortunately notice that the aperture lets considerably less light through to the sensor and the camera is only electronically stabilized. In addition, the OnePlus 7T has no laser autofocus compared to the Pro model. As a result, the photos are usually somewhat blurred in low light without night mode. If the scene offers enough light overall, the night mode can work wonders, as the photo above shows. In extremely low light (below) it brightens the photo, but it’s still not really good. So you’re not at the level of a Huawei P30 Pro yet, but you’re on the right track and the improvements are noticeable.

New macro mode with ultra wide angle camera

According to OnePlus, new hardware had to be installed for the macro mode, which leads to the fact that this is really only available for the 7T models. The close-up limit is 2.5 centimeters and you can digitally zoom in twice before taking a shot. Of course, the shots need a lot of light, but they still look impressive. Certainly not the killer feature, but a nice and well implemented addition.

Front camera in waterdrop notch

The 16 MP front camera sits in the 31% smaller Notch, but is otherwise the same as the OnePlus 7 (Pro). Accordingly, the Selfies here are very good again, as long as it doesn’t get too dark. The camera also handles direct backlighting respectably and the separation of foreground and background in portraits leaves nothing to be desired except for 1-2 hairs.

Face Unlock is of course available again and is still quite insecure, because only a photo of your face is taken. Since the camera doesn’t have to extend out of the housing, the 7T’s display is unlocked faster than the 7(T) Pro.

Good battery life & full charge in 60 minutes

Compared to the OnePlus 7, the battery is approx. 8% stronger and grows from 3,700 mAh to 3,800 mAh. Of course, the battery must now also drive a 90 Hz display, which is even larger, so a few milliamperes hours are appropriate. Altogether I managed to get through the day very easily and never saw myself forced to recharge the OnePlus 7T before sleeping. In the benchmark it came to a good 9 hours and 22 minutes at medium brightness and 90 Hz activated. Depending on use, 1 to 1.5 days are possible with the OnePlus 7T.

But the real strength is the loading speed. Thanks to Warp Charge 30T (yes, charging technologies now get the “T” attached) the 7T charges from 0% to 50% in only 20 minutes and after 30 minutes we were already at 73% – that should be a new best value for 30 minutes! Since the charging speed remains relatively the same compared to other fast charging technologies, the 100% is reached after only 56 minutes. The mobile phone also remains quite cold, because most of the heat is generated in the charging adapter and not in the mobile phone. Here one could keep really all advertising statements – hat off.

OnePlus 7T: A “Pro” model without the “Pro” price

With the OneOplus 7T, the manufacturer has taken the best features of the OnePlus 7 Pro and packed them into a cheaper device. With the 90 Hz AMOLED display and the versatile triple camera, it should also be the best “T” upgrade of OnePlus to date.

The only advantages of the Pro models are now the sharper display and the absence of Notch. In order to get this, you have to make friends with a pop-up camera and the display of the Pro versions is unfortunately very rounded, which I personally don’t like at all. Considering that the 7T Pro costs considerably more, OnePlus has a very strong competition from its own ranks.