OnePlus 7T Review : a refreshed OnePlus 7 with some upgraded features

With every premium smartphone in the market, the manufacturer tries to give a notch-free display but OnePlus seems to been going with the waterdrop notch from the OnePlus 6T launched in 2018 (Rs.27,999) to this year’s OnePlus 7 which we had expected would come with a notch-less design that was seen in the much expensive OnePlus 7Pro (Rs.48,999).

Even with the OnePlus 7T, OnePlus has gone with a similar notch like the OnePlus 7 which makes it look much similar to the OnePlus 7. But this time the display is slightly bigger at 6.55 inches compared to 6.41 inches on the OnePlus 7 which is quite noticeable when you hold it in hand.

From the sides, the phone looks identical to the OnePlus 7 with the volume buttons on the left side and the power button with the alert slider to control notifications on the right. On the bottom, there is the speaker, dual SIM tray, and a USB Type-C port.

On the back, OnePlus has gone for a matte-textured glass which is a combination of metal and frosted glass making the phone look very premium. This time a circular camera module is found in the OnePlus 7T which is similar to the ones found on the earlier Moto Z series.

The camera houses three lenses just like the OnePlus 7 Pro which we will find in the later section. This camera design may create love or hate but it all boils down to personal preference whether you like the circular design or the earlier designs of the OnePlus 7 and 6T.

On the front and rear, OnePlus 7T is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. On top of the notch, there is a speaker which together with the bottom speakers works as a stereo speaker.

The phone is splash-proof with P2i coating but not water-resistant like the Samsung or Apple to keep costs low. The phone is available in two colors- Frosted Silver and Glacier Blue.

On an overall basis, the build is very good and hasn’t been much changed from the OnePlus 7.

The OnePlus 7T comes with a 6.55 inches “Fluid AMOLED” Full HD+(1080 x 2400 pixels) with a screen to body ratio of 20:9. This screen is slightly bigger than the OnePlus 7 which is 6.41 inches. 

This time like the OnePlus 7 Pro, there comes the 90Hz refresh rate which makes the animations and app loading times a little bit faster as compared to the 60Hz display on OnePlus 7 and other smartphones as well.

If you compare with the OnePlus 7 you won’t notice any such difference in the display but scrolling is much smoother and faster. OnePlus has gone with a good 1080p panel and with the AMOLED the colors on the screen appear to be punchier.

If you take the phone to direct sunlight, the visibility is very good thanks to the brighter lighting.

The auto-brightness calibration is also done very good on this smartphone.

This display is compatible with HDR+ and HDR10 content as it can stream Netflix, Amazon Prime videos with ease. It also supports Widewine L1 which is not an issue.

On the security front, the phone comes with an optical in-display fingerprint scanner found on OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 7, and 7 Pro. The fingerprint is very accurate and seemingly fast just like the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro which is one of the fastest fingerprint scanner found on a smartphone at this range.

This is the place where OnePlus calls their smartphones “Flagship Killers” as it provides one of the fastest and smoothest chipsets in their smartphones all around in the market. In this area, there is a slight improvement in terms of performance in the OnePlus 7T over the OnePlus 7.

The smartphone is shipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 + chipset which is clocked at 1×2.96 GHz Kryo 485 Prime Core + 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 485 Gold cores and 4×1.78 GHz Kryo 485 Silver cores built on a 7nm process coupled with the same GPU Adreno 640 as found on Snapdragon 855.

This chipset is 4 percent improved in terms of CPU and 15 percent in terms of GPU performance as compared to Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 which has its Prime Core clocked at 2.84Ghz found on the OnePlus 7 and some flagships like the OnePlus 7 Pro, Asus Zenfone 6z (Rs.31,999), Oppo Reno 10x Zoom (Rs.39,999), Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro (Rs.27,999) and the US-based Samsung Galaxy S10 series.

There isn’t any such difference in performance when you use the phones in day-to-day from light to heavy intensive tasks. With the 90Hz display and the Snapdragon 855+, the OnePlus 7T breezed through all games and apps thrown in it.

The phone ships with USB 3.0 storage which is faster as compared to USB 2.1 on other phones as it helps with faster charging, read-write speeds, and better storage. OnePlus 7T now ships with a base of 8GB RAM compared to 6GB RAM on the OnePlus 7. In terms of graphics performance, it a little better than the Exynos 9820 developed by Samsung found in S10 and Note10 series.

In terms of benchmarks, OnePlus 7T scores 399598 in AnTuTu, 789 in Single-Core score, and 2738 in the Multi-Core test in Geekbench 5 which is by far the highest score in the Android smartphone industry. 

With every iteration of its smartphone, OnePlus has been improving the software experience with its custom OS almost similar to Stock Android called the Oxygen OS. This time around the OnePlus 7T comes out of the box with Android 10 having the latest Oxygen OS.

This is the first smartphone to come with Android 10 out of the box. So you get a lot of improved features in the form of revamped Android permissions, OnePlus’s navigation features have been replaced by Google and the Zen mode has also seen some major improvements.

Now with the latest version of Oxygen OS, you can change the look and feel of the home screen and the app drawer as you can set the shape of app icons and many more. Digital Wellbeing is one such feature found in this smartphone through which you can check your device usage and the number of times the device is unlocked.

The software was one point where the OnePlus provided one of the best experiences and further elevates it with the new smartphone.

With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ under the hood, the gaming experience is the best in the OnePlus 7T as it gets a Fnatic mode with game optimizer. All high-end games like PUBG, Asphalt 9 Legends, Fortnite ran smoothly with ease.

In terms of gaming, the 90Hz refresh rate works very well providing smooth animations and good control as all games are able to run 90 frames per second. While playing PUBG for around 2-3hrs the phone’s back felt a bit warm but this phone is one of the best when it comes to gaming. Asus ROG phone 2 also runs this chipset provides a good gaming experience.

In terms of camera, OnePlus has given the 7T a good upgrade from the OnePlus 7. This time instead of housing the camera lenses vertically, the OnePlus 7T has all the camera lenses placed horizontally in a circular module.

The OnePlus 7 had the 48MP Sony IMX586 main camera + 5MP depth sensor for portraits with OIS but the OnePlus 7T goes one step further as it gets the three lens setup which includes the 48MP f/1.8 SonyIMX586 main camera + 16MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with a 117-degree field of view + 12MP f/2.2 telephoto camera which is different from the 8MP telephoto lens found on OnePlus 7 Pro.

The 48MP main camera performed really well as there was good color production and the dynamic range was also very high like the OnePlus 7. Switching to the ultrawide camera, the OnePlus 7T, there the images aren’t sharp or crisp and do lack some detail.

Maybe OnePlus will fix this issue in future software updates. This does not mean the pictures are bad but at this price, it should have performed well. In the night, the ultrawide camera works really well with good details.

Coming to the telephoto lens, the OnePlus 7T provided some surprising results as the pictures when zoomed 1x or 2x came to be very good as there were sufficient details in the background with good color production.

When switching to the HDR mode, the main camera and the telephoto lens performed really well as the colors in the background we’re looking very rich and true to life.

Coming to portraits, the photos shot with the main camera was really one of the best as the background blur was very good and the edge detection in the picture was spot on. While clicking macro shots, the telephoto lens also gave good shots both during day and night.

Coming at night, the phone is equipped with NightScape mode and with OIS provides good exposure and also controls the dynamic range better. In low-light conditions, the 48MP camera shines bringing the object quick to focus, and with the flash on the pictures come out to be really good.

In terms of selfie the OnePlus 7T nails, it with the 16MP f/2.0 camera that provides some good selfies and portraits and with the Auto HDR on it further improves the dynamic range and exposure in surroundings.

In terms of video, the cameras can record videos at 4k@60fps, 1080p videos, and so on. The video taken with the main camera is really good as there is a good dynamic range but the color seems to have been washed out when taken with an ultrawide lens.

The OIS works really well as there is no shakiness while shooting at 4k or 1080p. From the front camera, while shooting the video there is less noise and the audio quality is very good with a good dynamic range.

Overall the camera is a good improvement over the OnePlus 7 but OnePlus needs to fix the ultrawide camera on the OnePlus 7T which is lacking in some detail.

The earlier OnePlus 7 came with a 3700mAh battery coupled with a 20W Dash Charger which charged the phone completely in 1hr 25mins. But with the OnePlus 7T, there is an increase in 100mAh in the battery from the OnePlus 7 at 3800mAh.

Like the OnePlus 7 Pro, the phone gets a 30W Wrap Charge30T (introduced in the OnePlus 6T) which is seen to be 20 percent faster as compared to Dash Charging on the OnePlus 7.

The charger charges the phone 72 percent in 0-30mins and charges completely in 1hr 6mins which is one of the fastest in charging standards in the smartphone industry.

Even a 20min charge in the night will give you a good battery life throughout the day. A good improvement in battery life is seen as the Android 10 provides some major battery improvements. Since the Snapdragon 855 + is built on the 7nm process, there is good power efficiency.

OnePlus 7T Audio Quality:

The sound in the OnePlus 7T is adequately loud as the front speakers and the bottom speakers work together as stereo speakers and with Dolby Atmos, the sound effect is really good outdoors as well as indoors when watching movies or playing games.

                                   

On an overall basis, the OnePlus 7T is a good upgrade over the OnePlus 7 as it gets an upgraded processor, a better camera, and the most attractive 90Hz refresh rate with a slightly larger screen.

It is one of those first phones that ships with Android 10 out of the box and coupled with Oxygen OS, provides a good user experience overall. In terms of performance and gaming, it is completely a beast with that Snapdragon 855+.

The device also has some cons like it lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, no IP rating for dust and water resistance and the ultrawide camera does not perform that well.

For the customers having the OnePlus 7 you can upgrade to the OnePlus 7T if you want a better gaming experience (nonetheless the OnePlus 7 serves it very well), a better camera (triple camera setup), that 90Hz refresh rate is the top-notch priority and Warp Charging or otherwise the OnePlus 7 will work fine.

Since the OnePlus 7 is priced very aggressively at Rs.32,999 for 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and Rs.37,999 for 8GB RAM and 256 GB storage it holds the value for money when it comes to flagships.

The OnePlus 7T is priced at Rs.37,999 for 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and Rs.39,999 for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage which is priced a little bit higher than the OnePlus 7.

If you want to upgrade from an older phone to a OnePlus 7T, definitely it is worth the price as it offers good value at half of the price of other flagships like Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus (Rs.73,900), iPhone XS Max(Rs.1,09,900).

But if you want an overall powerful smartphone, the OnePlus 7T serves it right. Now OnePlus has another winner in their hands.

Kudos to OnePlus for such a product.

Also check Samsung S10 Lite vs OnePlus 7T: How do they stack up against each other and see which one is the better of the two. Samsung S10 Lite vs OnePlus 7T