I’ve only had the OnePlus 8 for about twenty-four hours so I won’t get into outright recommendations, but at the same time it’s a familiar package so perhaps I’ll venture to voice some impressions.

Our OnePlus 8 is an Onyx Black and not one of the other colours, meaning Interstellar Glow, Glacial Green, Polar Silver, or Ultramarine Blue. I’m not personally overly fond of black phones anymore, but I know a huge number of people who are, so this is to keep them happy. It also is reminiscent of previous black OnePlus phones and considering there’s an avid following to please, it’s nice to see the same design, actually. The surface of the back is very reflective so unless you want to be stuck with smudges, you’ll want to use a case, and there’s a specially interesting one in the box because although it’s the usual transparent back cover it has a nice big ‘Never Settle’ vertically lined up on the right which looks really nice and proclaims to one and all that you’re a OnePlus user. It’s narrower than some OnePlus phones, but it’s no featherweight: you can feel its weight in your hand.

On the front the glass is a bit curved in, which becomes more bearable when you put the case on, and has everything else where you expect to see it — why fix something if ain’t broke, after all. Personally any big physical changes to the OnePlus would probably startle me.

When you turn the phone on (after the usual setup), you see this lovely flowing wallpaper that seems to emphasise the smoothness the device is capable of immediately. The 6.55-inch screen — 90Hz refresh this time and not more — is really nice despite just being a 1080p one and has the most modest little dot of a punch hole to house the front camera.

12GB RAM & 256GB storage

On the inside is the Snapdragon 865 this time. Our unit has 12GB RAM with 256GB storage. You can feel the smoothness straight off as you navigate around the device — and what else would one expect, really. This time the phone has a 4,300mAh battery with 30W fast charging. The phone has no 3.5mm jack, as expected. It does have stereo speakers and sound rather good.

The main camera is a 48MP one which is much the same as it was, really. Companion apps are an ultra-wide 16MP and a 2MP macro — no telephoto lens. The two extra lenses drop the quality dramatically. Overall, the camera setup doesn’t bring anything new as such.

Users of the previous series, OnePlus 7, certainly don’t need to think of upgrading to the OnePlus 8. OnePlus phones actually have longevity in their favour in any case. But for those with much older phones, it’s a nice powerful smooth phone.

comment COMMENT NOW