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======= UPDATE 24/5/20
I added two more photos: one showing the Xray effect of the 4th camera that can see the motherboard through the black plastic covering of the remote control and a report from an app that was recommended in the OP community that tells you the specs of your phone where it can be seen that none of the cameras are what they are advertised to be. OnePlus told me to return the phone and they will investigate the issue. =======
The new OnePlus 8 Pro phone with 256 gb storage facility, 12 gb RAM and 5G connectivity arrived in its obscenely large red box that neighbours could have easily mistaken for something else. Fortunately, Amazon’s packaging is discreet, so no harm done.
I will not waste your time telling you about all the brilliant specs because I am sure you already know more about them yourself. All I want from my mobile phone is good sound, good picture, fast response, smooth running of apps and fast battery charging along with long battery life.
So let’s start with the battery. It takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to fill the battery whether you start at 3% or at 15%. Why? Who knows! In our day and age, we want everything to be fast and considering how quickly this phone munches on battery life, taking over an hour to fill is not good enough. My OnePlus 7 Pro used to do some 30 hours between charging and I worked that phone hard. This one cannot handle light use and extended standby. The phone was charged just before midnight and by 5 pm it was empty. Draw your own conclusions.
Let’s talk about photography. Well I can see details that I was not aware existed, like the dimpled surface of my remote control but indoor photography is grainy when zoomed in. There is also a problem where the edges of a photo are out of focus and that is using just the photo setting, not the portrait mode where you do expect some kind of bokeh effect. (This issue has been flagged by other users as well.)
I experimented with selfies using no filter, and then filter at position 1, 2 and 3. By 3 I didn’t look like me anymore. I was a cherub and all that was missing was my wings! (I am truly an old hag, looking much worse with the lockdown.) But that is a good thing in my books as I enjoy honest photography.
Compared my photos with photos taken with my daughter’s Oppo RX17 Pro, which is a mid-range phone that came out 2 years ago, so older technology. Not much difference. The photos taken with the OnePlus 8 Pro were marginally more lively, but I got a fantastic macro photo of my injured toe with beautiful background blurring using her phone which I haven’t been able to reproduce with my OnePlus. I’ll spare you the gruesome image which I sent to my podiatrist and just say the OnePlus erased details of the carpet in places making it look like mashed potato whereas the cheaper phone retained the information of the carpet fibres. In real life, you won’t be taking macro photos much so this probably does not matter but I had to mention it because sometimes we go for the very expensive thinking we are getting top quality and find out that we were fooled.
The sound is OK. Having a few problems with Viber and with some YouTube videos but that is probably not my issue.
The video playback is OK but I noticed the phone uses a small portion of the screen to project Netflix. You can pinch out to zoom in but because of the location of the camera (something that was not an issue with my old OnePlus 7 Pro as that had a pop up camera) you still do not get full screen.
Taking videos is fun. We tried a slow-motion of an olive being dropped in a glass of water and it felt that it had the right amount of speed to see the details. In contrast, my daughter’s Oppo films a bit faster so it loses out a bit. None of the two phones can do a normal video with a slow motion portion in it sadly. The recorded sound indoors is loud and clear and the picture is good when viewed on the phone. Viewing on a laptop though reveals graininess (from filming using selfie cam) caused by lack of appropriate lighting. I am sure this is not an issue when you have lights on or are using it outdoors.
Let’s talk apps. Surprise-surprise! Two of my most favourite apps are having issues. Angry Birds Friends will not even connect and Panda Pop is displaying beyond the screen so you actually cannot see the edge columns of balls. Argh! Disaster! The OnePlus 7 Pro never recovered the sound issue with Panda Pop. At least this new phone doesn’t have the sound bug. But not everybody plays games, right? Some people use their phone to do banking, yes? Hmm… I had so many problems getting my bank app to work. The reason? It asks you to give them your mobile number which you do but you never get a text message. Why? Because the phone is setup for … India! Took me hours of struggling and eventually contacted Amazon and spoke to a lovely lady who then put me through to a lovely gentleman and I was able to check that my location was correct (spot on to be exact!) But through trying this and that I was eventually able to change the prefix for the mobile to UK. Phew!
So, after using it for 2 days what do I think of this mobile phone?
I am disappointed in it. Especially when I compare my £900 phone to my daughter’s which cost under £250.
Despite OnePlus trimming this phone’s size and weight, it is still a cumbersome phone to carry. It is man-sized, not lady-sized. I think I would be much happier with a slimmer, lighter phone.
This mobile is better suited to the chav crowd with its motto etching on the silicone case. It is look-at-me loud, like its unnecessary large box and not flagship elite. I think OnePlus took a serious step backwards with the design of the accessory.
Please bear in mind the phone arrives without a pre-applied screen protector. Just two screen protectors loose in the pack, no wet wipe, no antistatic cloth, no stickers, no instructions. If you have not applied a screen protector before, just this fact is enough to make you resent the phone. Like I said: a step backwards.
At least the fingerprint reader works well!
I hope you have enjoyed this candid review. (It is amazing how all those YouTube influencers wax lyrical about anything new but do not talk about the issues like the jagged edges in photographs where the image seems to dissolve.) It is your money and your life and only you know what is best for you.
I am happy to read your comments if you have this phone. What has your experience been like? Do you like the short field of focus or has it startled you? Is your battery draining fast?
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