OnePlus 7 Pro Review- A flagship indeed!

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Indeed, OnePlus has come a long way from making budget flagship killers to stepping into the mainstream flagship estate, competing with brands like Samsung and Apple. The recently launched OnePlus 7 Pro is the company’s first approach towards the premium segment while still keeping the non-Pro model as competition for its former rivals.

Well, while the OnePlus 7 Pro is a much-hyped and popular smartphone to say ‘no’ to, some might still baffle whether to spend such a hefty amount on the device. That being said, we are here with our in-depth OnePlus 7 Pro review for you to decide if it really justifies the price tag and or can outshine the likes of Huawei, Samsung, and Google.

OnePlus 7 Pro Specifications

Before starting with the OnePlus 7 Pro review, let’s have a glance at the phone’s specifications, pricing and things we get with the device.

  • Display: 6.67-inch Fluid AMOLED display, Quad-HD+ (1440 x 3120 pixels resolution), 19.5:9 ratio, 516 PPI density, DCI-P3 | HDR10+ | 90Hz
  • Display Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 5
  • CPU: 7nm-based octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 485)
  • GPU: Adreno 640
  • RAM: 6GB/8GB/12GB
  • Storage: 128GB/256GB
  • Software: Android 9 Pie (Oxygen OS 9.5.9)
  • Main Camera: 48MP Primary (f/1.6, 1/2″, 0.8µm pixels, Laser/PDAF, OIS) +
    8MP Telephoto (f/2.4, 3x zoom, Laser/PDAF, OIS) +
    16MP Ultra-Wide (f/2.2)
  • Selfie Camera:Motorized pop-up 16MP (f/2.0, 25mm (wide), 1/3.0″, 1.0µm pixels)
  • Connectivity: USB TYpe-C 3.1, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, FM Radio
  • Cellular: Dual SIM
  • Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, optical in-display
  • Battery: 4,000 mAh, Li-ion Polymer, non-removable

Price: Rs. 48,999 for 6/128GB | Rs. 52,999 for 8/256GB | Rs. 57,999 for 12/256GB

Box Contents

A complete list of items you get inside the box:

    • OnePlus 7 Pro
    • 30W Warp Charger
    • USB Type-C WarpCharge Cable
    • Transparent Silicon Case
    • OnePlus stickers
    • Sim Ejector Tool
    • Documentation

OnePlus 7 Pro Review

Build & Design

While there’s nothing extra-ordinary to talk about, OnePlus has done an excellent job in designing the 7 Pro. With curved glasses at both the front and back, aided by an aluminium frame, the device feels quite premium and comfortable to hold. In fact, it feels a lot more similar to the Samsung Galaxy S9+ in terms of aesthetics, albeit keeping the size aside. Note that the phone not only bears a huge form factor but also feels bulky at the same time. It weighs a bit over 200 grams and hence takes time getting used to, mainly when used with a case.

Leaving the form factor aside, the motorised pop-up camera is a cool addition, helping the phone flaunt an all-screen display- no notch, no non-sense! And thus, the device really stands out in the crowd and looks no less than an equivalent Samsung flagship.

The rear, however, is more of industrial, comprising the centred-triple camera module and OnePlus branding. The Nebula Blue version we have here comes with with a matte gradient finish that changes hue based on the angle you look at it. Tough, there’s also a Mirror Grey option that sports a rather familiar glossy paint job,  accompanied by an Almond edition that boasts of a subtle soft gold glaze.

Unfortunately, even with the flagship iteration, OnePlus hasn’t provided any sort of IP rating, making the phone vulnerable to water damage (a bit tough for a phone having moving parts, though). Lately, one of my friends who tried playing with the phone under the pool, ended up damaging it completely and guess what? The repair estimate was almost the same as the price of a new one. So while there’s still some level of splash resistance, we will strongly recommend not to take the phone intentionally in water, except for minor drips and rains.

As for the button placements, the volume rockers are given to the left while the power button sits on the right frame, beside the company’s trademark alert slider. The dual-SIM tray is at the bottom, alongside the USB Type-C port and the speaker grille. As expected, there’s no audio jack, but thankfully it now gets a stereo speaker setup wherein the earpiece doubles up as the second one.

Overall, the OnePlus 7 Pro looks premium and feels solid in hands. However, we’d have loved to see better weight management, and of course, something original and unique from OnePlus.

Display

As you’d acknowledge, one of the main selling points of the device is its screen. Notably, the phone touts a beautiful notch-less 6.67-inch ‘Fluid’ AMOLED display, which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. And while we’ve been unhappy with OnePlus for not giving Quad-HD+ panels, it’s finally here in the 7 Pro. What’s more interesting? Well, its the 90Hz refresh rate which you might’ve already heard by now.

As far as the experience goes, the OnePlus 7 Pro’s display is sharp, has punchy colours, excellent sunlight legibility and great viewing angles. It runs on 90Hz by default, making every scroll and swipe feel smooth and silky. To be frank, it won’t initially bother you much, but as your eyes get familiar with, you’ll start commending the difference. And no, it hasn’t spoiled me as such, but it’s something you should definitely experience in person.

I’ve been using the Huawei Mate 20 Pro for a while now and switching over to the 7 Pro’s all-screen panel feels quite refreshing. To give you a small comparison, the panel on the OnePlus is a tad brighter and smoother due to obvious reasons. Anyways, since it’s a large panel, you’ll have difficulty with one-hand operation.

Moving further, the display is HDR 10+ compliant, which is beneficial while streaming videos on Netflix and YouTube. Lately, we also received the DC Dimming feature via OTA that helps eyes by reducing screen flicker. Overall, while the 7 Pro’s panel managed to impress us more than we expected, the one on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is yet to be conquered.

Performance

OnePlus is known for giving top-end hardware with its smartphones, and the 7 Pro is no different. Ultimately, the phone packs top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC at its core, coupled with 6/128GB, 8/256GB and 12/512GB RAM and storage configurations. Interestingly, it’s one of the first smartphones to use UFS 3.0 flash storage standard after the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which isn’t commercially out yet.

Talking of the performance, the 7 Pro simply flies through anything you throw at it. Ranging from app opening speeds to gaming performance and multi-tasking, the phone feels super snappy and agile. It also flaunts liquid cooling, which keeps its thermals under control even when stressed for extended hours.

We tried playing PUBG at HDR and ultra settings for an hour, and there were no issues whatsoever. While casual users will appreciate the almost instant app launch times, gamers are going to love the top-notch performance and display quality.

Software

Coming to the software front, the device runs OnePlus’s own Oxygen OS based on Android 9 Pie. And it is indeed the best Android UI you’ll ever find in the market, all thanks to the near-to stock appearance while still offering almost all necessary features.

There’s a dark mode with an option to play with the accent colours, a built-in screen recorder, app twinning, and smart caller identification, accompanied further by a full-fledged App locker. The home screen involves a side shelf, which allows you to create notes, see weather information and contains recently-used apps, contacts, and more.

Apart from the already familiar Gaming Mode, there’s a brand new Fnatic mode which takes the gaming to another level by blocking all notifications, stopping useless background processes, and directing all resources on your game. Then there’s Zen Mode which kind of locks down your phone for 20 minutes while only allowing making emergency calls and taking photos.

Cameras

Cameras have always been a weakness for OnePlus devices in the past. But does that imply on the all-new OnePlus 7 Pro? Well, the phone now boasts a triple camera setup, offering a massive upgrade over the previous gen. There’s a 48MP primary shooter with f/1.6 aperture and OIS, followed by a 16MP ultra-wide shooter with an f/2.2 aperture and an optically stabilised 8MP telephoto unit that offers 3x optical zoom. We’re glad that the other two sensors are not just useless, like the one on OnePlus 6T (review). For selfies, we have a 16MP motorised pop-up front camera with f/2.0 aperture.

The Camera UI is uncluttered and simple, and different shooting modes can be accessed just by swiping left or right on the viewfinder. The app also incorporates auto-HDR, portrait and Pro modes, and can shoot in Raw.

Rear Camera

Natively, the 48MP sensor follows pixel binning to shoot 12MP images that are sharp, have more light and are rich in colours. Photos have plenty of detail, and the exposure is well-balanced.

In daylight, the phone performs nearly similar to other flagships in terms of colour balance, and detail. However, flip the light, and it’ll start struggling severely. Well, the OnePlus 7 Pro produces really soft images in low-light situations, and the colour balance usually goes off the track. While the dedicated NightScape mode does help in getting a brighter picture with a bit more detail, it still is nowhere near to the Samsung Galaxy S10, Huawei Mate 20 Pro or even the much cheaper Pixel 3a.

That said, the 3X lossless zoom works flawlessly, and we didn’t notice any major loss in quality. Similar to other phones, it relies on digital zoom through the primary sensor in dim lighting conditions. The telephoto lens is also used while taking portraits, which results in a bit soft but natural-looking images with good-enough edge detection. The wide-angle shots, on the other hand, are quite average and exhibit a lack of definition even in bright daylight. Moreover, it also suffers poorly from the lens distortion effect towards the sides of the frame.

Talking of videos, the OnePlus 7 Pro has the ability to shoot 4K video at 60fps, with a limitation of 5 minutes per clip. Both the 4K and 1080p videos are stabilised very well and offer the right amount of details as well as on-point dynamic range. The colours are sometimes pronounced more than required, though.

Front Camera

As noted, the phone uses a motorised pop-up camera for selfies. It’s sort of quick and doesn’t make any fancy noise like other phones. Overall, the selfies are sharp and have great dynamic range, even while shooting in bright conditions or direct sunlight. Contrarily, noise starts creeping in low-light situations, changing the overall dynamics of the image.

The pop-up mechanism is pretty solid and is tested enough times to last you more than five years. Moreover, there’s a safety mechanism, which automatically retracts the camera in case if you drop the phone out of a sudden. We tried dropping the device repeatedly on the mattress, and it worked almost every time without any issues.

Battery & More

The phone’s 4,000mAh battery might look large at first glance. However, it’s quite underpowered for a feature-packed performer having a large Quad-HD+ panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. On default settings, the OnePlus 7 Pro lasts even lesser than the OnePlus 7. And indeed, that enchanting 90Hz display does hold a big impact on battery life.

However, you can manually scale down the resolution to FHD+ and refresh rate to 60Hz in order to save a significant amount of juice. In the latter case, the phone lasts throughout the day on mixed usage that comprises of playing PUBG, listening to music over Bluetooth, using GPS navigation and some casual pictures. So, overall, the battery backup isn’t something you need to be worried about once you tweak the settings correctly.

On top of that, you’ve got the superfast 30W WarpCharge which charges the device from zero to 60 per cent well under 30 minutes. A full charge, on the other hand, takes about a little over an hour. Interestingly, the phone was cool even while charging it. Sadly, OnePlus hasn’t implemented wireless charging on the device citing the supremacy of wired solution, despite costing a hefty premium.

Talking of miscellaneous aspects, the stereo speakers on the device are loud, crisp and clear. And while the earpiece isn’t as loud as the bottom speaker, the overall output still complements the multimedia experience. The fingerprint scanner, on the other hand, despite being an optical one instead of ultrasonic, works consistently well even with moist fingertips.

Pros

  • Looks and feels premium
  • Amazing display
  • Top-notch performance
  • Superfast Charging
  • Fluid and snappy Oxygen OS

Cons

  • Average low-light camera
  • No 3.5mm audio jack
  • No IP Rating
  • Lack of Wireless Charging
  • Big and chunky

OnePlus 7 Pro Review Verdict- Should you buy it?

Undoubtedly, the OnePlus 7 Pro seems to be a very compelling option, offering top-notch performance, a magnificent display, superfast charging and the much-loved Oxygen OS. However, it still is an expensive affair for a starting price of Rs. 48,999 and might not impress every prospective buyer in this segment.

That said, is it the perfect phone for you? Well, you need to ask yourself whether you’re comfortable to compromise with average cameras, lack of IP rating and wireless charging. If not, we’ll suggest spending a bit more to get the Samsung Galaxy S10 which offers an even better display, a 3.5mm audio jack, waterproofing and of course much better cameras.

For the rest of the part, the OnePlus 7 Pro is more than enough for someone who’s not a photography-enthusiast or is willing to upgrade from a mid-range phone to a flagship.

Buy OnePlus 7 Pro from Amazon.in

About the author

Ritik Singh

An avid media student who is highly passionate about technology since childhood. He has good experience in video production, gadget reviews and is ardent about writing on tech.