64 PCWorld JUNE 2020REVIEWS ONEPLUS 8 PRO
With solid hardware, the 8 Pro’s camera
abilities could change with updates—and as
such, a mid-review update did improve the
speed of autofocus and quality of low-light
shots—but it’s unlikely that the 8 Pro will see a
significant leap. You can argue that the issues
I’ve outlined below are nitpicky, but at
$1,000, the OnePlus 8’s camera should stand
up to those in other like-priced handsets.
Take night mode. While OnePlus has
done a fine job with improving its phones’
low-light abilities over the years, the OnePlus
8 Pro still doesn’t quite measure up to
Google’s stellar output. In the image above,
both phones are able to pull out an
impressive amount of detail from pitch
blackness. The Pixel 4 handled the color
properly, however, and captured far greater
detail than either OnePlus phone. Thatadvantage served the Pixel 4 in typical low-
light conditions as well: Google’s processing
engine did a better job with sussing details
and preserving the integrity of the scene.
OnePlus’s inferior processing is evident
with action shots as well. While OIS and
Super Steady mode do well to keep videos
stable, the photo engine struggles to capture
clean motion even in brilliant sunshine. In the
photos at right, the 8 Pro (left) was able to
lock in on my son’s face, but his feet and
hands are blurry, and the badminton birdie
and racket are barely recognizable. The Pixel
4, on the other hand, snapped the whole
scene as if everything were perfectly still.
OnePlus’ most unique camera feature is its
fourth lens, which introduces a color filter lens
for snapping Instagram-worthy shots at the
source. In a world where filters are a dime aIn pitch blackness, the Pixel 4 (right) was still able to pull the correct colors and some detail, while the
OnePlus 8 Pro, left, and OnePlus 8 (center) struggled with white balance and focus.