OnePlus 7T Pro first impressions: Another power-packed flagship phone

The look

The OnePlus 7T Pro, which has a 6.67-inch display, doesn’t look too different from the OnePlus 7 Pro. In terms of dimensions and weight, the OnePlus 7T Pro is a little heavier, wider and taller. The design is instantly recognizable, with the same bezel-less full-view AMOLED screen that takes up the entire front of the display. It has a Gorilla Glass on the front and back which looks undoubtedly premium, especially the blue color. What I really like about the OnePlus 7T Pro is the matte finish, which is not a finger-print magnet. The rear of the phone features a vertically aligned triple camera setup with a flash and a laser autofocus sensor.

The rear of the OnePlus 7T Pro features a vertically aligned triple camera setup with a flash and a laser autofocus sensor. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

The performance

In the short period of time I had with the device, the performance seemed smooth. The Snapdragon 855 Plus processor is an upgrade from the original Snapdragon 855, but don’t expect a drastic bump in performance. Obviously the real test is when I run a few graphics heavy games and load apps on the device. For your information, my review unit has 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal memory.

OnePlus 7T Pro features Snapdragon 855 Plus processor is an upgrade from the original Snapdragon 855, but don’t expect a drastic bump in performance. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

The screen

Speaking of the screen, the OnePlus 7T Pro has a 6.67-inch Fluid AMOLED screen, with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels, resulting in a wide 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The phone’s display is bright and colourful, and on top of that this is an HDR10+ panel. Quality of the display is at par with a Samsung Galaxy phone, with deep colours and intense brightness.

OnePlus 7T Pro comes with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels, resulting in a wide 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The phone’s display is bright and colourful, and on top of that, this is an HDR10+ panel. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

What’s also special about the phone is the 90Hz display. You won’t find a high refresh rate panel on the iPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy Note 1o, as they still use a 60Hz panel. Scrolling through Twitter was a delight and so was playing Real Racing 3 on the OnePlus 7T Pro

The camera

Apart from a 90Hz panel, the other major selling feature of the OnePlus 7T Pro is the triple rear camera setup. The main camera is a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor with an f/1.6 aperture lens and OIS. There’s an ultra-wide, 16MP f/2.2 sensor, too, and an 8MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom.

OnePlus 7T Pro sample images during the day. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

The main camera is consistent in delivering likable shots, at least, in the sample images that I have seen. The HDR mode gives you a good dynamic range across most scenes. Low light performance, in general, is good and it will be worth comparing to see how the OnePlus 7T Pro Nightscape mode compares to the Google Pixel 3 XL’s Night Sight mode.

OnePlus 7T Pro sample images during the day. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

Video recording on the phone was smooth, thanks to the optical image stabilisation. On the front of the phone, you have a 16MP camera. As expected, it works just fine.

OnePlus 7T Pro sample images during the day. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

OnePlus 7T Pro sample images at night. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

OnePlus 7T Pro sample images at night. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

The Rest

OxygenOS 10.0, a native UI built on top of Android 10, is clean, and easy to navigate. That’s why OnePlus smartphones, and the OnePlus 7T Pro, run so fast and apps load quicker compared to other Android smartphones. That said, OnePlus has added some additional features like a “reading mode” that adjusts the screen for a more comfortable experience. By the way, the OnePlus 7T Pro’s reading mode now has a new Chromatic effect, which essentially supports full-colour content. The “zen mode”, on the other hand, locks you out of the phone for either 20, 30, 40 or 60 minutes. You can still make calls, and use the camera.

OnePlus 7T Pro is getting a slightly bigger 4085mAh battery compared to OnePlus 7 Pro’s 4,000mAh. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

I should also mention that OnePlus 7T Pro is getting a slightly bigger 4085mAh battery compared to OnePlus 7 Pro’s 4,000mAh. The OnePlus 7T Pro also comes with the OnePlus Warp Charge 30T Fast Charging, which is claimed to be 23 per cent faster than the previous generation tech. I hope the phone will last longer, but obviously I couldn’t test that fully.

And like the OnePlus 7 Pro, the 7T Pro has a mechanical pop-up selfie camera, which slides up and down on top of the phone. The pop-up selfie camera automatically hides if the phone notices it’s falling, which is a clever implementation.

OnePlus 7T Pro has a mechanical pop-up selfie camera, which slides up and down on top of the phone. (Express Photo: Anuj Bhatia)

Underneath the screen is an in-display fingerprint scanner which seems to be fast in my initial testing.

Early conclusion

Not many find the OnePlus 7T Pro different from the OnePlus 7 Pro, which is true. I believe OnePlus users who have older phones like OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 6, or 6T model will see more satisfying changes. Still, I would say the OnePlus 7T Pro is a fantastic smartphone for the price. It may look and feel every bit like the old the OnePlus 7 Pro did, but it delivers the speed, screen, camera, and specs fans have been expecting for. Expect a full detailed review of the OnePlus 7T Pro in the coming weeks.

ALSO READ: OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition design first impressions 

Disclaimer: The author is in London attending the OnePlus 7T Pro launch at the invite of OnePlus India