OnePlus 7 256 GB / 12 GB

Junior Flagship Assassin

The OnePlus division of BBK Corporation has gained fame thanks to its flagship smartphones with a low price. However from generation to generation they only became more expensive. In 2019, the manufacturer decided to “go back to basics” by releasing two versions of the smartphone: OnePlus 7 Pro, stuffed with the very best, and a somewhat simplified and affordable version of OnePlus 7. We’ll talk about the latter.

Repetition of the past

Externally, the smartphone is very similar to its predecessor OnePlus 6T. It will receive a glass body, a widescreen display with a teardrop notch on top and a dual main camera. Among the most notable differences, we highlight the thinner bezels around the display, the location of the LED flash, the flagship Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor and 12 GB of RAM. The hardware here is similar to the Pro version, and for many, such power will even be redundant.

AMOLED screen with QHD resolution

As is tradition, at the time of the release of the new OnePlus, it has one of the best screens on the market. We are talking about a giant 6.4-inch AMOLED-matrix manufactured by Samsung and an aspect ratio of 19.5: 9 and a resolution of 2340x1080. From a purely subjective point of view, the screen is equally impressive both in static (for example, when viewing an Instagram feed) and in dynamics while playing a dynamic fighting game like Injustice 2. It’s no wonder that the OnePlus 7 display received the highest rating from DisplayMate specialists.

Top 48MP Dual Camera

The main optics are dual, using a 48 MP sensor with f / 1.7 aperture, as well as an auxiliary module that helps to simulate the bokeh effect. Compared to the sixth version of One Plus, the new camera has a great Auto HDR mode, and digital zoom when shooting video (now there is stabilization). In general, the quality of shooting and the speed of the camera have increased — this is still the same near-top level, which is quite a bit behind the recognized camera phones like Huawei Mate 20 Pro 128 GB and Samsung Galaxy S10 128 GB.

Fast and clear under-screen scanner

A 4000 mAh battery will be responsible for the battery life of the device, which, depending on the intensity of use, can give one and a half to two days of work on a single charge. The list of additional features is impressive, you don’t expect anything else from a flagship smartphone: an NFC chip, transmission of aptX HD audio codecs, fast charging, a metal and glass case, and a fingerprint scanner. It turned out to be nimble and not prone to false positives, although in terms of speed it is still slightly inferior in speed to conventional scanners.

Evolution, not revolution

Considering the price of $600, it looks like a good, but never revolutionary smartphone, which is doomed to constant comparisons with the OnePlus 7 Pro. The thing is that the Pro received a lot of interesting updates and at the beginning of autumn is one of the most interesting smartphones of the spring, while the regular OnePlus 7 has become only an improved version of last year's model.