Is this a perfect upgrade over the OnePlus 8?
OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro had a very good early start in the market and now it is time for the T version to arrive in the OnePlus family. Each year OnePlus launches a T model that brings some incremental upgrades in terms of hardware, cameras, and some more over the new flagship OnePlus device launched earlier each year.
Here the OnePlus 8T has arrived and is just an incremental upgrade over the OnePlus 8 (Review) in terms of design, cameras, battery, charging speed, etc. While all other things remain the same, the OnePlus 8T promises to provide a flagship smartphone experience but still misses on some like an IP rating, wireless charging, and newer camera sensor.
The OnePlus 8T provides a newer flatter design with a 120Hz display which was seen on the OnePlus 8 Pro (Review), has a slightly larger 4500mAh battery, an extra camera, and most exciting of all is the 65W fast charging over the regular 30W fast charging on all OnePlus smartphones.
Do the small upgrades make it a perfect flagship smartphone to consider and is it worth buying it over the OnePlus 8 or does the OnePlus 8 provide the better deal of the two?
Let's find out in the full review.
OnePlus 8T Design:
In terms of design, the OnePlus 8T looks much different from its predecessor, the OnePlus 8. At the back, the OnePlus 8T has a rectangular housing for the cameras instead of the single vertical arrangement of cameras in the middle of the back on the OnePlus 8.
The camera housing looks more like the ones found on the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, and also the new Realme 7 Pro, etc. There is an extra camera which is a monochrome sensor about which will be discussed in the camera section. The camera bump is not much there like on the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 7T (Review).
At the back, you get a frosted matte finish with Gorilla Glass 5 for protection and now you get two exciting colors Aquamarine Green and Lunar Silver. The Aquamarine Green looks attractive as it changes color while tilted at different angles. This matte finish catches fewer fingerprints compared to the Interstellar Glow variant on the OnePlus 8.
On the front, there is a similar 6.55 inches display as found on the OnePlus 8. In the OnePlus 8T, now you are getting a flatter panel instead of the curved panel found on the OnePlus 8 and the 8 Pro. The chin at the top is slightly narrower and houses the earpiece.
Moving to the sides, a metal rim runs around the edges and to the right, we get the OnePlus's alert slider and a power button just below it and to the left, there are the volume controls. On the top, there is a secondary noise-canceling microphone while the bottom houses the USB Type-C port, loudspeaker vent, and a dual SIM card slot.
There is no microSD card slot for storage expansion and this will not worry the users much as it ships with a base storage of 128GB. The OnePlus 8T does not have an IP68 rating which we had expected as the OnePlus 8 did not have.
The back of the OnePlus 8T also lacks wireless and reverse wireless charging something which is present on the OnePlus 8 Pro, but however, you do get that 65W fast charger for those speed charging. The weight is capped at 188 grams which makes it easy to hold compared to many flagship smartphones out in the market.
Overall, the newer design on the OnePlus 8T might not strike in terms of design much but still looks good and fresh.
OnePlus 8T Display:
The OnePlus 8T houses a similar 6.55 inches Full HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and has a screen to body ratio of 19.5:9 as found on the OnePlus 8. This time OnePlus has got of a curved display and what you get is a flatter display as previously seen on the OnePlus 7T.
This Full HD+ display now refreshes at 120Hz compared to 90Hz on the OnePlus 8. When comparing both the 90Hz and 120Hz display side by side, you would not notice a difference as such. So whether it is scrolling through webpages, or multi-tasking and playing games felt smooth to play.
There is no option like Auto or Dynamic where the smartphone can switch between two refresh rates but still, the OnePlus 8T does switch from 120Hz to 60Hz in some scenarios where a heavy application is not used heavily. The display has support for Widevine L1 and HDR10 contents.
Since this is an AMOLED panel, you get vibrant colors with inky blues and blacks, and also the viewing angles are good when compared to an LCD panel. Like the OnePlus 8, there is a single punch hole camera at the top. On the sides, the bezels are barely minimum.
The brightness is good on the smartphone and can go as bright as 1100nits which is slightly more than the OnePlus 8's display. There are different display modes like Vivid, Natural, and Advanced. For getting the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts, you have to go with the Advanced mode.
Under direct sunlight, the brightness is very good, and in low-light or dark, the screen can go very dim thus not straining the eyes and you do get the regular blue light filter and newer reading mode. The touch responses are good on the display as you are getting a 240Hz touch sampling rate.
There is an optical in-display fingerprint scanner which is quite faster and can be customized in terms of design and the regular face unlock works very fast compared to many flagships. The Always-On display also shows how many times the smartphone has been unlocked throughout the day.
The display is not much of an improvement over the OnePlus 8 but the upgrade from 90Hz to 120Hz refresh rate is good and does feel a bit responsive.
OnePlus 8T Performance:
With every T version of the OnePlus smartphones, the chipset gets an upgrade like we have seen on the OnePlus 7 series last year where the OnePlus 7 came with a Snapdragon 855 chipset, and later the OnePlus 7T was launched with a Snapdragon 855+ chipset.
This year the Snapdragon 865+ is not used on the OnePlus 8T, instead, you get the same Snapdragon 865 chipset with 8/12GB LPDDR4X RAM and comes with 128/256GB storage. You are still not getting the LPDDR5 RAM as found on the OnePlus 8 Pro.
With the OnePlus 8T, you are getting a base of 8GB RAM and now the storage speeds are of UFS 3.1 which is slightly faster than the UFS 3.0 on the OnePlus 8. So performance does not seem a bump from the OnePlus 8 as you are getting good gaming and day to day performance.
All heavy games like Call of Duty, Asphalt 9 played very smoothly, and combined with a 120Hz display and 240Hz touch sampling rate, the gaming experience felt really smooth when played at the highest graphics settings. The dedicated GameSpace also provides quick controls for playing games.
There is no liquid cooling, so, the back of the OnePlus 8T does feel a bit warmer after extended gaming.
With the Snapdragon 865, you are getting support for 5G and WiFi 6. In terms of benchmarks, the OnePlus 8T scores 592194, and in Geekbench 5.1, the single and multi-core scores are 893 and 3126 respectively.
In terms of performance and gaming, the OnePlus 8T is not different from the OnePlus 8, but you are getting a flagship experience.
OnePlus 8T Software:
Every OnePlus smartphones continue to overwhelm the consumers with a refined software experience from the past with the OxygenOS. This custom skin provides a lot of customizations and provides a near Stock Android-like experience.
The OnePlus 8T runs on the latest OxygenOS 11 built on top of Android 11. It is the very few smartphones in the market to run Android 11 out of the box. But this time the OxygenOS is going on a different path and looks more or less like OneUI found in Samsung smartphones.
Most of the applications like Gallery, Settings, Calculator, etc. have been revamped and look a lot different from the OxygenOS 10. Now there is a full-fledged Always-On display as found on Samsung smartphones and you can change various styles of it on the lock screen.
It also shows how many times the smartphone is unlocked and usage throughout the day. Bitmoji, Canvas Insight are some of the new additions to the Always-On display which will be fully featured in the November software update. The animations are also completely newer.
And like the previous OnePlus smartphones you are getting the regular Zen Mode which keeps you away from the normal routine, GameSpace where you can enable the Fnatic Mode and it will show the usage of CPU and GPU while gaming, a system-wide dark mode which now can be accessed as it is a separate option under the settings.
Like the OnePlus Nord, there is a Google dialler and a messaging application on the smartphone, and talking about accessibility, the one-handed operation has been quite improved.
Since the OnePlus 8T has Android 11 out of the box, you get some very cool features like Conversations, Bubbles, newer device controls which were first seen on the Pixel 4a, newer permissions, and all the usual Android 10 features also.
This being an OnePlus smartphone, it is slated to receive another three major Android updates and security patches. Overall, the look and feel are not so Stock Android, but still some improvements make quite a good deal for the software experience.
OnePlus 8T Camera:
The OnePlus 8T houses a quad-camera setup that includes the regular 48MP main camera and 16MP ultra-wide camera as seen on the OnePlus 8, a newer 5MP macro camera, and an additional monochrome camera. This is one area where OnePlus has not done so well but still since it is a T version, you do get some improvements. The cameras are:
- 48MP f/1.7 Sony IMX586 sensor with OIS and EIS
- 16MP f/2.2 Sony IMX481 ultrawide camera with a 123-degree field of view
- 5MP f/2.4 macro camera
- 2MP f/2.4 monochrome camera
In terms of daylight images, the colors look punchier and the details are good. The colors do look oversaturated in most cases and with HDR turned on, the images have a better dynamic range. This may not be the best camera out there but still, it is pretty good. The default images come in 12MP resolution.
There is also a 48MP mode that takes images with good details but loses sharpness and is quite noisy. The presence of OIS does help in getting low noise images on the OnePlus 8T.
At night, the OnePlus 8T takes images with a good amount of detail and the dynamic range is also fine. There is some amount of over-exposure in the background and the contrast is not so good. The noise is clearly seen but turning on the NightScape, does improve certain things.
It brightens the environment by keeping the color in check, restores the highlights in shadows or in very dark and patch areas, and also lowers the noise. However, this is still not good when compared to images taken from the Galaxy S20 FE in low-light.
Moving to the 16MP ultrawide camera, this is a pretty good one and does a good job in terms of images shot during the day as well as at night. The dynamic range is good and the contrast works well. The images do look a bit softer and the colors are not as punchier as on the main camera.
During the night, the ultrawide camera takes good images but the dynamic range is above average and the images look softer. OIS does mask out some noise and turning on the NightScape, the dynamic range improves, and the long exposure shots get improved.
The NightScape gets triggered automatically when taking a night image with very poor lighting conditions.
The macro camera gets an upgrade from 2MP on the OnePlus 8 to the 5MP macro camera on the OnePlus 8T. This camera can focus as close as 3cm and improves upon the dynamic range and has better details and colors look punchier. It does a better job compared to the macro camera on the OnePlus 8 but needs some improvement though.
There is no telephoto camera something which we had expected on the OnePlus 8T, as the OnePlus 8 did not have. However, for zoomed-in images, you can use the main camera for 2x digital zoom and the images come out with excellent detail and the dynamic range is good.
Similarly, at night, the zoomed-in images come out with excellent detail and the noise is also very less. The 48MP mode does crop in some in terms of zoomed images.
There is a 2MP monochrome sensor that is just for making up the numbers. It is just present to provide some depth and black and white images with good detail and portraits come out really good. The edge detection is good with perfect background blur and noise is also low with good dynamic range.
On the front, you are getting a 16MP f/2.4 Sony IMX471 sensor which has been carried unchanged from the OnePlus 7T. The details are good and the skin tones look natural with good color reproduction. The field of view is not so large as is the case with a 32MP camera. There is also an option called the Auto HDR which brings out more saturated colors.
With the portraits, the OnePlus 8T takes decent ones and the edge detection well maintained. When you zoom into the selfies, the details look softer and the background blur can be adjusted. The dynamic range is similar to the main camera selfies and this sensor remains good as seen from the OnePlus 7T.
In terms of videos, the OnePlus 8T shoots 4K videos at 60fps. The hardware does support 8K video recording, but it is not present here. The presence of OIS does help in bringing more stabilization to the videos, and the videos have a much better dynamic range with punchier colors.
Switching to 1080p at 30fps and 60fps, both the OIS and EIS kick in, resulting in much stable footage with excellent dynamic range and contrast. The images have much more saturated colors with no noise in the background.
The ultrawide camera can also record videos at 1080p as well as in 4K and the video output is good but not as good as the main camera. The Ultra Steady Mode helps in some better stabilization and improves the dynamic range at 1080p.
From the front camera, you are only limited to 1080p videos at 30fps which is a big disappointment since the OnePlus Nord records 4K videos at 60fps. Still, the 1080p video footage comes out with good dynamic range and contrast.
There are a couple of other video modes present that includes Video Focus Tracking, Video Portrait, and Video NightScape. The Video Portrait mode creates depth around the subject thus providing good edge detection and Video NightScape mode that offers better exposure in videos at low-light.
Overall, the cameras do not seem to be an upgrade over the OnePlus 8 and still continues to good favor.
OnePlus 8T Battery Life:
The OnePlus 8T houses a 4500mAh battery which is just 200mAh battery capacity over the OnePlus 8's 4300mAh battery. With normal usage and the display is set to 60Hz, the OnePlus 8T lasted easily for two continuous days.
And when the display was set to 120Hz and with heavy usage, the smartphone easily lasted for one single day with around 10-20 percent left in the tank. The average screen time found on the OnePlus 8T was 6-7 hours which is slightly more than that of the OnePlus 8.
In terms of charging, here you are getting a massive 65W fast charger which is a big upgrade over the 30W fast charger on the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro. There is a 65W Warp Charger bundled inside the box which charges the OnePlus 8T from 0 to 50 percent in 15 minutes which is extremely fast and also the 0 to 100 percent completely in 39 minutes.
This 65W Warp Charger is also capable of charging other smartphones with faster speeds and finally, the OnePlus 8T can be charged fast using other fast chargers which may not be as fast as the 65W fast charger, but still quite faster.
OnePlus also claims that this charger can charge other OnePlus smartphones faster when they get the OxygenOS 11 in the future. The OnePlus 8T like the OnePlus 8 comes with battery customizations called Deep Battery Customization which means if the smartphone is not used for a long time, it will charge slowly and will not heat up the smartphone.
In terms of battery life and charging, with the 65W fast charger, the OnePlus 8T has nailed it.
OnePlus 8T Audio Quality:
The OnePlus 8T comes with a stereo speaker setup in which the earpiece and the loudspeaker vent together act together to produce sound. The level of sound is clear and quite louder compared to many smartphones but there is some sort of distortion and still needs some more clarity.
There is support for Dolby Atmos for further enriching sound experience while watching videos or playing games. Like all OnePlus smartphones, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack present, so you have to rely on Bluetooth or wireless earphones.
Verdict:
The OnePlus 8T is a great all-rounder and is just an incremental upgrade over the OnePlus 8 and this may not seem a huge T upgrade as we had seen with the OnePlus 7T from the OnePlus 7. Still, some of the upgrades like a 120Hz display, faster 65W charging, and a monochrome sensor seem to be a good addition for those portraits.
But this T version is not an upgrade which you can clearly see here as the main camera remains unchanged, there is no support for wireless charging, the telephoto camera's presence would have been great as the Galaxy S20 FE (Review) which is priced almost similar to it has one, and the Snapdragon 865+ chipset is not being used as it ships with the regular Snapdragon 865.
If you look past these things like average camera performance, no IP rating, or wireless charging, the faster 65W charging and the 120Hz display make the OnePlus 8T slightly different from the OnePlus 8. And compared to the OnePlus Nord (Review), you are getting a faster chipset and faster charging.
Other than these if you want a cheaper OnePlus smartphone that has almost all the features of the 8T, the OnePlus Nord is the perfect buy. But switching from the OnePlus 8 to the 8T does make it slightly better and you have to pay an extra Rs.2000 over the OnePlus 8.
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