OnePlus has come a long way from launching a single device to four devices in multiple segments in a single year. OnePlus 7T is the third device from OnePlus this year with some significant upgrade (from OnePlus 7) in terms of design, display, and camera.
The OnePlus 7T acts as a bridging device between OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro both in terms of price and feature, giving users a perfect option to choose from. Priced at Rs. 37,999, OnePlus is back to its territory where it ruled the charts with OnePlus 6, 6T and 7. With several options available from OnePlus itself apart from its competition, is it wise to spend on the 7T? To make this clear, we have jotted down the reason on why you should and should not buy the device. If you are planning to buy the OnePlus 7T, do give our review a read before adding it in your cart!
Why you should buy
90Hz AMOLED display is brilliant
The successor to the OnePlus 7 sports a bit bigger display — 6.55-inch (2400 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 aspect ratio Fluid AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate. Said that, both OnePlus 7 and 7T features the same 402ppi. The ‘Fluid AMOLED’ display, as OnePlus labels it, is purely due to the 90Hz refresh rate that it supports. It also supportsHDR10+ sRGB color gamut and DCI-P3 color gamut.
OnePlus is always known for its AMOLED displays, and the 7T is no slouch. It is effortlessly smooth, be it animation UI, playing games, or scrolling through the website. Notably, OnePlus 7T boasts a screen-to-body ratio of 86.5%, featuring a 31.46%smaller waterdrop notch.
In real-world usage, blacks are deep, the color reproduction and viewing angles are good; it has a perfectly readable display under bright sunlight too.Also, there are options to calibrate the screen with three options – Vivid, Natural, and Advanced.
In case, if you read a lot on-the-go, Reading Mode – Chromatic effect and Mono effect, serve you the best.
Minimal yet splendid build
Available in Frosted Silver and Glacier Blue, the OnePlus 7T features a matte-frosted glass back. The company has carried forward the minimalism philosophy in terms of build. Just like other OnePlus devices, the 7T is very well crafted, feels sturdy yet slippery as well. The build quality is top-notch.
Talking about the dimensions, it is 8.13mm thick and weighs around 190 grams. However, the big camera module looks a bit awkward even though it reminds us of the good old Nokia 1520, Nokia 1020 days. Let’s talk about this massive bump in the later stage.
Class-leading performance
Right from the start, OnePlus motto has been ‘Fast and Smooth’. The OnePlus 7T is powered by the latest Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ 7nm Mobile Platform with 675MHz Adreno 640 GPU under the hood.
Unsurprisingly, the 7T is incredibly fast and continues to do what it is best at. The read/write speed is more rapid, with UFS 3.0 storage. In our experience, we experienced zero lag, zero hitches, and it’s just pure speed and raw power.
In technical terms, the Snapdragon 855+ mobile platform, boasting upgraded CPU speeds,15% faster graphics rendering, and multi-gigabit 4G connectivity. On a day-to-day usage, finding the difference between the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 855+ is just tough. Check out the synthetic benchmark scores below.
Also, check out the gaming performance videos.
Super smooth UI
OnePlus 7T is one of the very few phones to come with Android 10 out of the box with OxygenOS 10.0. As we all know, Oxygen OS is already quite minimal and streamlined.
With the latest version, OnePlus has added various new features, including refreshed navigation gestures, a new reading mode that can show low-gamut color, an extended Zen Mode for longer breaks, and Game Space, which optimises games on your device for high-fidelity play.
Analysing the track record, OnePlus is good at keeping its devices upgraded with the latest Android version so that one can expect Android 11 and 12 as well.
Impressive cameras!
In general, OnePlus cameras haven’t been amazing so far, but with 7 Pro, over a long time, the images got better with updates. And now, it’s amazing! The OnePlus 7T sports a same set of cameras as the 7 Pro –
- 48MP rear camera with f/1.6 aperture, OIS, EIS, 4K 60fps, Super Slow Motion 1080p at 240 fps, 720p at 960fps
- 16MP 117° ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture, 2.5cm macro
- 12MP telephoto lens with f/2.2 aperture for 2x optical zoom
- 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX471 sensor, f/2.0 aperture.
Talking about real-world usage, the daylight images are sharp with the right colors and details. The dynamic range is very good. Moreover, the images taken in HDR mode comes out good with improved contrast and saturation. The portrait shots are excellent with good edge-detection.
With 7 Pro, we had focus issues during Macro shots, but this time, the company has added a dedicated Macro mode. The result is stunning! In the low light conditions, the 7T did well to pick up reasonably good detail, but shadow regions did have some noise. The front camera is also very good. Images are sharp and have good color, and even look decent in low-light situations.
It’s worth mentioning here that the company tends to improve its camera software frequently, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a lot of updates for this device in a short amount of time. Check out some of the camera samples below.
Why you should not buy
Inherently subjective battery life
The OnePlus 7T is powered by a 3800mAh battery with Warp Charge 30T fast charging (5V/6A). The company has bumped an extra 100mAh, considering the apparent reasons — Fluid AMOLED display and a 50% higher refresh rate. Just like OnePlus 7 Pro, the 7T also suffers from the so-called battery problem! With 90Hz, we got a very average battery life even with casual usage. The saving grace here is the Warp Charge 30T. It charges the device very quickly, and that sort of makeup for the fact that it doesn’t have the convenience of wireless charging. Having said that, the battery life in 60Hz is far better and lasted around one to one and a half-day.
It achieved One Charge Rating of 17 hours and 46 minutes, which is slightly less than the OnePlus 7, even through we tested it in 60Hz refresh rate mode. If you are not aware, the Warp Charge 30T is 18% faster than Warp Charge 30. As per the company claims, 0 to 70% will be charged in just 30 minutes. And the claims are true! We got 50% in around 20 minutes and 70% at 30 minutes. It took just an hour to charge to 100%.
Is the battery life good or bad? Depends! Since you have the option to pick and choose the settings you want (60Hz or 90Hz), it entirely depends on the user.
Ugly camera bump and high SAR value
The massive camera bump on the rear looks bit awkward! Again it’s subjective. Having said that, it doesn’t juggle when kept on the flat surface! Moving on to the SAR values, OnePlus 7T is one of the devices with high SAR value.
- Head: 1.06W/kg (1g)
- Body: 0.93W/kg (1g)
Other mentions
Like OnePlus 7, the 7T also comes equipped with a stereo speakers setup with support for Dolby Atmos. The speakers are indeed loud at higher volume, Haptic feedback is yet another improvement. The call quality over earpiece and headphones is excellent as well. The in-display scanner is snappy and fast, one of the best in the market at present. It supports connectivity options including Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz) 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5, GPS (L1 + L2 Dual Band) + GLONASS and USB Type-C.
Pricing and availability
The OnePlus 7T comes in Frosted Silver and Glacier Blue colors, is priced at Rs. 37,999 for the 128GB storage version, and the 256GB storage version costs Rs. 39,999. It is available from Amazon.in,oneplus.in, all OnePlus experience offline stores.