OnePlus 8 Pro review: unbeatably good

The OnePlus 8 Pro is the latest trick from the Chinese company from Shenzhen. A little over a month ago it was presented - at TechnikNews so also tested right away. I can anticipate one thing: It was a really exciting test. Read it.
With the OnePlus 8 Pro, the company has finally made a big leap forward compared to its predecessor. For the first time, there is Wireless Charging for mobile phone, 5G and finally a more compact design. There are also other major improvements that weren't really advertised. Smartphones are usually boring these days - but the OnePlus 8 Pro is really worth mentioning. Why? So let's take a closer look at the flagship.
Jump to section
- 1 Compact in design, good workmanship
- 2 OxygenOS and performance: lightning fast
- 3 With the OnePlus 8 Pro you can see through everything
- 4 Camera: Finally on par with the competition
- 5 Battery: wirelessly almost as fast as charging it with a cable
- 6 5G in Austria with the OnePlus 8 Pro: Currently not available
- 7 Conclusion: unbeatably good
- 8 Buy OnePlus 8 Pro
Compact in design, good workmanship
Once you've unboxed the smartphone itself, a plastic case, the Warp Charger and a USB-C cable, you can actually get started. Thankfully, OnePlus also gave me the new one Warp Charge Wireless included. We'll come back to this later, however. The case mentioned above doesn't necessarily feel valuable, but does its job well, namely to protect the cell phone from dents and scratches. An included sandstone case would have been awesome when I think back to the OnePlus One, which had the sandstone directly on the back. I thought that was really cool. If you need such a cover, you can use the OnePlus website reorder.
- Image: © 2020 TechnikNews
- Image: © 2020 TechnikNews
The design has been improved more than with the OnePlus 7T Pro. You can finally use it with one hand again (at least I can) and it doesn't look so bulky anymore. The pop-up camera has also been removed and replaced by a "hole punch" in the top left of the display. In my opinion, the best solution - a notch and all other fantasies of fold-out cameras are just tinkering. There's nothing to complain about in terms of workmanship either, everything is firmly in place and the buttons have a good pressure point. The only thing is that the cover is a bit too loose on the edges for me, so you don't always hit the buttons straight away and sometimes they slip a bit.
The OnePlus 8 Pro also comes with a new vibration motor, which finally provides good haptic feedback. It does clatter a bit, but it is no longer extremely loud, as was often the case in the past.
OxygenOS and performance: lightning fast
The OnePlus 8 Pro is once again a smartphone that can probably be classified as the fastest Android smartphone currently available. OxygenOS is not stock Android, but it has been improved with useful and useful functions. For the first time, there is now a "Customization" menu item in the settings, where the entire software design can be set at a glance. Incidentally, this is also where you will find the dark mode (under "Tint" > "Dark"), which I initially looked for for a long time.
The 12 GB RAM also makes a difference in the fluidity of the system - almost all of the apps of a day remain in the RAM and do not have to be reloaded when opened. The display also makes a significant contribution to performance this year - the OnePlus 8 Pro has been upgraded from 90Hz to 120Hz. I have never noticed the difference as clearly as I do now. The processor is the Snapdragon 865, which also supports 5G. The graphics unit is an Adreno 650.
With the OnePlus 8 Pro you can see through everything
You can probably remember the numerous videos that made the OnePlus 8 Pro go viral with its infrared camera sensor. Some people claimed that the smartphone was the ultimate nude scanner and that X-Ray was no longer needed. What nonsense. You can't see through people with the OnePlus 8 Pro, nor can you read unopened letters (which is also a criminal offense) or see through walls. The feature is hidden under the name "Photochrome" in the filters in the camera, but is now being gradually deactivated due to some people's panic.

No, the OnePlus 8 Pro is not a nude scanner, but can see through infrared-permeable objects. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
It works by remote control or looking through some objects, but only if they have an infrared transparent housing. This is of course the case with many remote controls, which is why it works particularly well there. The 1st generation Apple TV also had such a permeable housing, which is why it worked there too. So do not panic, the feature does not break into your privacy and cannot screen you. You don't have to walk through your apartment either, there won't be many objects that you can x-ray.
Camera: Finally on par with the competition
With the camera, it almost seems like OnePlus listened to me and numerous other reviews. In many tests it was written that the camera has simply not been on par with the competition for generations. I also had it with mine Review of the OnePlus 7T Pro AngelsproIn some subjects at night and during the day, the OnePlus 8 Pro clearly outperformed the Huawei P40 Pro. You don't believe me? See for yourself.
By the way, this time the camera uses a Sony IMX689 sensor together with three lenses. They each come with 48 MP (main camera with f/1.78), 8 MP (telephoto lens with f/2.44) and 48 MP (ultra wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/2.2 and a viewing angle of 120 degrees). In addition, there is the aboveprochene color filter lens, which has a resolution of 5 MP and an aperture of f/2,4. You can take selfies with the 16 MP front camera with an aperture of f/2,45. Videos are available at 1080P/4K/4K Cine with 30 or 60FPS. 4K Cine is the cinema standard and offers a 21:9 aspect ratio for wider viewing. Slow motion is possible up to 480FPS at 720P.
The OnePlus 8 Pro also uses optical and electronic image stabilization, which you can sometimes hear rattling and clattering. It's not annoying, but you can hear it in very quiet environments. But I don't know how you could implement silent image stabilization, since a motor has to be used here.
OnePlus 8 Pro: Test photos
In the following you will find some unedited original pictures of the smartphone. However, due to the otherwise large file size, some images are compressed (lossless!).
- Normal recording at dusk. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- Without night mode a bit more contrasting, ... (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- ... with night mode it is a bit brighter. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- Wide-angle photo ... (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- ... normal setting ... (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- ... 10x zoom ... (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- ... and 30x zoom. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- The details are easy to see even at night without night mode. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- Without night mode, ... (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- ... with night mode a little brighter, but not as colorful anymore. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- Good colors, beautiful sky. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- Detailed shots are very good - turtles like that too. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- Recorded in automatic mode with HDR. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
- The 30x zoom is unfortunately not really useful for many details - you should actually see a deer here. (Image: © 2020 TechnikNews)
As you can clearly see in the pictures, OnePlus has solved the problem of noise at night brilliantly - you can't see any of it at all anymore. The 30x zoom needs some improvement, as you can see fewer details (color and sharpness) than with the competition. But compared to the Huawei P40 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20+, the OnePlus 8 Pro gives us the most natural, true-to-life photo:
- Image: © 2020 TechnikNews
- Image: © 2020 TechnikNews
Battery: wirelessly almost as fast as charging it with a cable
The OnePlus 8 Pro is the first to offer wireless charging. Not the usual 10 watt wireless charging, but 30 watts. prowith these sizes you already reduce a lot of power loss and waste heat, but still only charge ten minutes longer than with the Warp Charge cable. From 0 to 100, the 4510 mAh battery needs around 1 hour and 11 minutes with the Warp Charge cable and around 1 hour and 21 minutes with the wireless charger.
Apropos heat: the Warp Charger has a fan on the back, otherwise everything would get too warm. However, I would not put this next to my desk, as it sounds like a permanently running hair dryer in the next room. However, in the settings under "Battery" there is the item "Bedtime mode", in which the power of the wireless charger is reduced (probably to 10 watts?) and the fan no longer has to run. Then you could use a normal 10-watt charger.
The built-in 120Hz display, together with 12 GB of RAM, also takes its toll on the battery - this is clearly noticeable in the OnePlus 8 Pro. I haven't had to charge a smartphone so often in a long time - with intensive use even twice a day with a maximum SOT (Screen On Time) of around 3,5 hours. If it weren't for the fast Warp Charge, charging would have really gotten on my nerves. So it remains a point of criticism, but it is bearable. To save battery, you can of course switch back to 60Hz with FHD+ resolution in the settings instead of 120Hz with QHD+. In my test, however, I wanted to get the most out of the device and so I constantly tested with the latter setting.
5G in Austria with the OnePlus 8 Pro: Currently not available
In cooperation with the mobile operator "Three“ I have the opportunity to test the 5G network in this country. Of course, the OnePlus 8 Pro was also part of my tests, but it did not want to use 5G. The network coverage was definitely there (compared to the Huawei P40 Pro 5G), but the OnePlus 8 Pro did not find its way into the 5G network. When I asked Drei, they said they did not know anything about any problems, but OnePlus was able to help me and gave me the following feedback:
Currently, customers using OnePlus 8 series will not be able to use 5G services from Drei in Austria however, we are constantly working to make sure more people can enjoy 5G experience.
So if you want to get the OnePlus 8 Pro just to test 5G in Austria, you'll have to be patient and wait for the successor. There are also a few other problems at the moment - for example, you can currently only put the 5G SIM in the first SIM slot. OnePlus just needs a few software updates and fine-tuning to make this work smoothly.
Conclusion: unbeatably good
In my opinion, the headline would best describe the OnePlus 8 Pro. Of course, there is plenty of competition in this price range, but none that offers exactly this package at this price. Incredibly smooth performance, great workmanship, a naked scanner - of course not 😉 - and a great camera. The fast charging with Warp Charge is also really convenient and fun. You can actually watch the OnePlus 8 Pro charge up one percent more every 30 seconds.
I was bothered by the comparatively short battery life, which was due to my setting of 120Hz and QHD + resolution. But if you want to have exactly this fluid experience, you have to make compromises here. I also cannot understand the fact that the Google Assistant is started by default when the power button is pressed for a long time and that you cannot restart the smartphone directly from the factory. I have no idea why you want to make switching off and restarting so complicated - you have to set the button in the settings under "Buttons & Gestures"> "Hold the on / off button" to "On / Off menu" instead of the voice assistant .
Otherwise, OnePlus is doing everything right with its latest flagship and, given the now finally powerful camera, can place itself at the top. Sure - the price of 999 euros is no longer a “flagship killer” like it used to be (the OnePlus 3 cost 399 euros), but unfortunately a normal price for high-end devices in 2020. But now high-end devices are also installed -Components and is at the top.