80 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 65BUYING GUIDEI’ve been testing the 12GB RAM, 256GB storage
model, and unsurprisingly all that power has seen it
sail through most of our benchmarks, with results
up there with flagship rivals – though not blowing
them away, and surprisingly it drops below the 6T
on some of the graphical tests, where the extra
RAM doesn’t really contribute. This is on pre-
release software though, which can complicate
things, and I’d expect software updates to refine
the hardware performance.
Either way, this thing is fast, and it’s at the point
where it’s so fast that minor variations in individual
benchmarks don’t reflect anything to worry about
unless you’re absolutely obsessed about maxing
out your frame rate in Fortnite.
The 4,000mAh battery just about stretched out
to 48 hours of usage, so if you charge every day
you shouldn’t ever have to worry about running
out – again, this is pretty much in line with similarly
priced rivals. The inclusion of 30W Warp Charging
also means it’ll top up fast – it managed to get 64
percent of its battery back in just half an hour when
charging from empty.
That charging is USB-C (still no support for wireless
here, OnePlus says it just isn’t good enough yet), with
a USB 3.1 port. There’s NFC, Bluetooth 5.0 (with aptX
HD support), and stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos- they sound good for a phone, but y’know. There’s
even a new haptic motor – something previous
OnePlus phones have struggled with. These still aren’t
the best vibrations out there, but how many people
really worry about that?
80 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 65BUYING GUIDE
I’ve been testing the 12GB RAM, 256GB storage
model, and unsurprisingly all that power has seen it
sail through most of our benchmarks, with results
up there with flagship rivals – though not blowing
them away, and surprisingly it drops below the 6T
on some of the graphical tests, where the extra
RAM doesn’t really contribute. This is on pre-
release software though, which can complicate
things, and I’d expect software updates to refine
the hardware performance.
Either way, this thing is fast, and it’s at the point
where it’s so fast that minor variations in individual
benchmarks don’t reflect anything to worry about
unless you’re absolutely obsessed about maxing
out your frame rate in Fortnite.
The 4,000mAh battery just about stretched out
to 48 hours of usage, so if you charge every day
you shouldn’t ever have to worry about running
out – again, this is pretty much in line with similarly
priced rivals. The inclusion of 30W Warp Charging
also means it’ll top up fast – it managed to get 64
percent of its battery back in just half an hour when
charging from empty.
That charging is USB-C (still no support for wireless
here, OnePlus says it just isn’t good enough yet), with
a USB 3.1 port. There’s NFC, Bluetooth 5.0 (with aptX
HD support), and stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos- they sound good for a phone, but y’know. There’s
even a new haptic motor – something previous
OnePlus phones have struggled with. These still aren’t
the best vibrations out there, but how many people
really worry about that?