OnePlus 8 - Compact 6.55' S865 5G Beast | GadgetGuruBN

Last Updated 13/07/2020 01:22PM IST.
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Oneplus announced the OnePlus 8 smartphone in India which starts from 41,999 INR which will be available starting 29th May.
Check out below links to always stay up-to-date with current price, availability & best offers before you buy your OnePlus 8 smartphone. 
OnePlus 8 (6+128GB) at 41,999 INR (amazon.in)
OnePlus 8 (8+128GB) at 44,999 INR (amazon.in)
OnePlus 8 (12+256GB) at 49,999 INR (amazon.in)
Image - OnePlus 8
Firstly, What makes the Oneplus 8 stand out?
Secondly, What are the improvements over it's predecessor the OnePlus 7 & 7T?
Finally, Worth it for 41,999 INR?
Before we get started make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel (ABN World) & follow me on Instagram (arun_bn) to show your wonderful support, to stay connected & to never miss future updates!. Let's get straight into the review.

•1) Look Good = Feel Good (12/15)
Looks come in form of 3 beautiful colors Onyx Black, Glacier Green & Interstellar Glow. Among which the two new colors Glacier Green & Interstellar Glow does make this OnePlus 8 stand apart (but do note Interstellar Glow is exclusive to 12+256GB variant for now).
It carries forward compact dimensions of 160.2*72.9*8.0 mm (Length*Width*Thickness) & Weigh's 180g which should feel more comfortable & manageable in palm of your hand than its predecessor Oneplus7/7T.
The build uses 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on front & back along with aluminium frame to provide solid feel and the slightly curved edges & sides of the glass to provide comfortable feel.

•2) High Quality Display = Awesome Viewing Experience (12.5/15)
The display quality comes from 6.55' FHD+ 2400x1080 pixels resolution Fluid AMOLED panel having 402 ppi density (sharpness) in 20:9 aspect ratio (cinematic). The display supports HDR10+ (better dynamic range), 90Hz refresh rate (smoother UI experience), sRGB & DCI-P3 color space (wider color gamut),  8-bit Color Display (16 million colors), Display models (preset display calibration settings). Also comes with 1100 nits Brightness, 40% Less blue light, ~0.4 JNCD (higher color accuracy) & 4096 Levels of Auto Brightness settings (all of which as advertised).
Considering all the above put together along with higher brightness & contrast (better sunlight visibility) should provide you a display with excellent overall quality & awesome viewing experience.

•3) More Features = More Happiness (12.5/15)
The awesome features list include Dual nano SIM slot, 4G LTE/LTE-A with VoLTE & VoWi-Fi, 5G Ready (Sub-6 & 4x4 MIMO), Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Dual-Band (2.4G+5G) & 2x2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.1 (aptx, aptx HD, LDAC, ACC & SBC), NFC,  GPS (Dual-Band (L1+L5), GLONASS, Galileo Dual-Band (E1+E5a), Beidou & A-GPS), Sensors (In-display fingerprint, Accelerometer, Electronic compass, Gyroscope, Ambient light, Proximity & Sensor core), USB Type-C, Alert slider, Dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, But misses out 3.5mm headphone jack & IP68 Certification.
There are 3 RAM (6/8/12GB LPDDR4X) & 2 Storage (128/256 UFS 3.0 with Turbo Write) variants on offer.

•4) Upgraded Hardware = Super Fast Performance (17/20)
The internals is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SOC (7nm+ Fabrication) which is an octa-core processor (1x2.84 Ghz Kryo 585, 3x2.42 Ghz Kryo 585 & 4x1.8 Ghz Kryo 585), Adreno 650 graphics, upto 12GB RAM & upto 256GB storage.
The software on-board is Android 10 with OnePlus's Oxygen UI 10.0 layer on top (very close to stock android) which brings few software features to let you customize some options as per your taste & requirements.
The performance should be excellent thanks to all the tech inside, which would handle all your daily tasks (Faster app & game loading times, Better Multitasking & Smoother UI operations) with ease and for all the gamers out there you should be able to play all demanding games (PubG, Asphalt 9, Call of Duty Mobile & list goes on) smoothly without any lag or drop in frame rates in high settings to enjoy high level of detail from the game-play. Also thanks to dual stereo speakers the audio quality should be great as well which ads to immersive experience (gaming & video watching).
What ads to sustained performance is the RAM management which is my favorite part and here too the performance is quite excellent for 2 reasons,
•Firstly, There are plenty of RAM options to choose from. 
•Secondly, The RAM management itself is done quite excellent (efficient utilization of RAM) to enhance overall performance.

•5) Very Good Camera = Equally Good Performance (14/20)
The rear camera comes with triple lenses which includes 48MP wide (Sony IMX586, 25mm lens, 1/2.0' sensor size, f/1.75 aperture, 0.8 micron pixel, PDAF, OIS), 16MP ultrawide (13mm lens, f/2.2 aperture, 116° FOV, PDAF) & 2MP macro (f/2.4, 1.75 micro pixel) with dual LED flash. In terms of video recording it supports upto 4K(2160p)@30/60 fps, FHD(1080p)@30/60 fps, Slow-Motion FHD(1080p)@240 fps, Super Slow-Motion HD(720p)@480 fps & Time-Lapse in 4K(2160p)/FHD(1080p)@30 fps. The rear camera features include CINE aspect ratio video recording, UltraShot HDR, Nightscape, Macro, Portrait, Pro Mode, Panorama, Cat & dog face detection & focus, AI Scene Detection & RAW Image.
The front camera comes with single lens 16MP wide (Sony IMX471, 1/3.0' sensor size, f/2.45 aperture, 1.0 micron pixel, Fixed Focus). In terms of video recording support upto FHD(1080p)@30 fps & Time-lapse. The front camera features include HDR, Screen Flash & Face Retouching.
Talking about image, The overall image quality from 48MP main lens should be great in day light & pretty good even under low light in auto mode and there are pro mode, RAW, HDR & Nightscape features to take better control of things. The overall image quality from 16MP ultrawide lens should be very good (very good in daylight & good in low light) & from 2MP macro lens should be quite very good too.
Talking about video, The overall video qualilty from 48MP main lens should be great in day light & pretty good in low light, There is video stabilization (gyro-EIS) option which should provide very good video stabilization which helps to minimise unwanted shake to a good extent while recording. The overall video quality from 16MP ultrawide lens should be very good (very good in daylight & good in low light). To add dramic experience to your videos there is an option to record slow motion videos (1080p@240fps) & to further enhance this there is an option to record super slow motion videos (720p@480fps) of which the overall quality from both these options should be very good.
Talking about image & video quality from 16MP front camera should be very good overall (very good in day light & quite good in low light). Sadly OnePlus missed opportunity to add 13MP telephoto/macro camera combo found on OnePlus 7T & went with lower resolution 2MP macro camera instead.

•6) Upgraded Battery = More Endurance (12/15)
The non-removable Li-Po battery capacity is rated at 4300 mah, Which supports 30W fast charging (1% to 50% in 22 min advertised), But misses out on wireless charging.
Talking about battery life the increase in battery capacity from its predecessor (600/500mah more than 7/7T) and thanks to slightly better & efficient S865 SOC (S855/S855+ on 7/7T) while keeping same FHD+ screen resolution you can easily expect much better battery life from OnePlus 8. One place where it consumes more juice is the addition of 5G modem (when using) which in india currently there is no 5G yet.
SOT (Screen On Time) :  upto 7h Avg*.
Battery Life : upto 1 day Avg*.
*Above stats give you better understanding of the screen on time and battery life which you can expect in real world (Note : Battery life depends on one's usage (light/medium/heavy), task (video watching/gaming/camera) & network (wifi/5G/4G/3G). Based on one's usage, task & network above SOT & Battery Life will increase/decrease respectively.

Pros 
+Great Build.
+Excellent Display.
+5G Ready.
+Excellent Performance.
+Great Audio Quality.
+Quite Great Camera & Video Recording. 
+Quite Excellent Battery Life.

Cons 
-No Telephoto Camera. 
-No Wireless Charging.
-No 3.5mm Audio Jack.
-No IP Rating.
-Slight Premium Price. 

GadgetGuruBN Product Rating* - 80/100.
•<50 - Average •50-60 - Good •60-70 - Very Good • 70-80 - Great •80-90 - Excellent •>90 Extra-Ordinary.
*GadgetGuruBN Product Rating is given based on overall performance of the device on all above factors in it's segment.

VFM Rating* - 5.6/10.
•<=4 - High Price  •5-5.9 - Good Price •6-6.9 - Very Good Price •7-7.9 - Great Price •8-8.9 - Excellent Price •>=9 Most VFM.
*VFM (Value For Money) Rating is given based on price to performance in it's segment.

Conclusion
To conclude here are the answers to the following questions asked at the beginning,

Firstly, What makes the Oneplus 8 stand out?
•One of the compact 5G flagship with S865 SOC & Big 6.55' Display.
•Oxygen OS. 

Secondly, What are the improvements over it's predecessor the OnePlus 7 & 7T?
•Compact (narrower, slimmer & lighter) with familiar 6.55 Screen Size
•Bigger Battery.
•Newer Snapdragon 865 SOC.
•UFS 3.0 with Turbo Write.
•5G Ready.

Finally, Worth it for 41,999 INR?
Based on Pros, Cons & Ratings one of two things are clear for sure!
•1)If you can live with the Pros and Cons, Than this OnePlus 8 is an excellent smartphone for you at a good price.
•2)If you can live with the Pros and cannot live with Cons, Than this OnePlus 8 might not be ideal for you but is still a great smartphone at a good price.

So what do you think of Oneplus 8? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I hope you found this review helpful in clearing your confusion.

That's it for this one, Subscribe to my YouTube channel (ABN World) & follow Me on Instagram (arun_bn) to show your wonderful support, to stay connected & to never miss future updates!.
As always stay awesome, Have a great day.

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