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Hello everyone, my name is Martin! First of all, I wanted to give my gratitude to OnePlus for presenting me with this opportunity and trusting me to be one of the 10 people selected out of 28564 applicants. I hope you will find my review helpful and thorough. While I have tried to be rigorous and in-depth in my evaluation, I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
I am currently pursuing a PhD in Robotics and Autonomous Systems. More importantly though, I am also a big tech enthusiast, and I have been a while for quite some time now. When it comes to phones (or Pocket PCs/Handhelds as they were more popular back in the day), I have owned a wide range of devices. While I have updated them fairly rarely, I got my first handheld device back in 2005, a few years ago before they became mainstream. I have been through different manufactures and operating systems; I have done various tweaks and hacks to almost all of my phones so they suite my needs. As such I hope I can give you a good overview of what you can expect from the OnePlus 8 Pro, and where does the phone stands. Before receiving my review unit, my daily driver has been the OnePlus 5 since the first day it came out until last week, for almost three years now.
For my review, I got the OnePlus 8 Pro, 256GB ROM/12GB RAM in Glacial Green colour. OnePlus has asked my and all the reviewers for our honest opinion, whether good or bad. Throughout my review, I am going to discuss some of the newest advancements in the OnePlus 8 Pro, and how it compares to recent flagships, but also discuss it with regards to my OnePlus 5. I hope this gives a good perspective for anyone thinking about whether this phone is for you, but also for everyone who is thinking of upgrading. So, without further do, let’s dive in!
Unboxing and first impressions
The feeling of getting a new phone never gets old! Once I got the first delivery notice that the phone is shipped, it looks only a day for the phone to arrive. Hopefully, I didn’t scare the delivery guy with my grinning smile!
My first impression of the box is that it looked a bit abnormally tall when I first hold it. That's probably to give a hint of the screen ratio of the phone. I prepared a knife to cut some of the wraps around the box, but the OnePlus have thought of this annoying part of every unboxing providing a small piece of paper, that when pulled cuts through the transparent folio wrapping the box. Inside the box you find the phone sitting on the top. Inside the cardboard holding the phone, you find all the paperwork, stickers and a welcome letter from Pete outlining the history of OnePlus up until this very moment. A clear TPU case is included as well, with "Never Settled" engraved on the back (Nice!). Finally, one of the highlights of OnePlus for a few generations now, a 30T Warp charger brick, together with a USB-A to a USB-C cable. Overall, a well throughout packaging with well appreciated accessories (fast charger, case). The only complaint I would have is that I would really like to see a USB-C to USB-C cable, with a USB-C power brick. That being said I can appreciate that some people might like the USB-A cable better, as it might be easier to use to connect your phone to a computer. No headphones are included, but that I imagine is a good way to cut off the price for people who don't really need a new pair, and OnePlus already sells very competitively priced and good quality buds.
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As I mentioned my previous daily driver was the OnePlus 5. Compare to it, the OnePlus 8 Pro is quite a bit taller, but with similar width. It is also slightly thicker and slightly heavier. Personally, I am not a huge fan of big phones, but OnePlus have done a good job of making the phone comfortable to hold.
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One thing that I really love about the design is the feeling on the back of the phone. It’s very soft to the touch, and I am happy to report that the matte glacial green doesn’t leave any fingerprints. The colour dynamically changes based on the angle you view it. If you look directly from the top it looks like this:
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While if you look at the phone at an angle:
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Speaking of that green colour, there are also a bit more pronounced matte green antenna bands, which add a nice touch to the aesthetics. The buttons feel quite tactile and precise, definitely an improvement over my OnePlus 5. On the bottom of the phone you have the SIM cards slot, microphone cut-out, USB-C and a speaker. On the left of the phone you have the volume buttons. On the right you have the power button and the OnePlus three way slider for Ring/Vibrate/Silent. On the top you have another microphone cut-out and quite a nice indentation of the frame.
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In case you want to check high resolution photos, you can visit the album
here.
That's it for now, stay tuned for more!
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