2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

44 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

ONERELIABLECONSTANTin the fast-

moving world of smartphoneshas been that

every time OnePluslaunchesahandset,it

goes straightto the topofthe charts for

value.This time maybedifferent,however:

instead of going forflagship specs at alower

price,the OnePlus7Pro is makingaplayfor

the ultra-premiummarket.

Don’t fret if you’re along-time OnePlus

fan, as the cheaper(£549) standardOnePlus 7

has also been released,but it’s an interesting

step intonew territory forthe Chinesefirm.

ONTHE RISE

The phone itself looks stunning,and doesn’t

feel as unwieldyas its huge 6.7in display

might suggest,mainly due to the dramatic

curves that run down the leftand right front

edges. The screen is also completely free of

any cameranotches or cutouts, as the

front-facing snapperinstead pops up from

the body on amotorised riser.

The in-displayfingerprintsensor has also

been improved from the OnePlus6T (Shopper

373). It’s slightlyfaster,and in our experience

results in farfewer unsuccessfulreadings.

It’s unfortunatethat there’s no IP-rated

protection againstdust and water,but largely

the OnePlus7Pro is impressivelydesigned.

The displayiseven more tricked out, with

HDR10+certificationand aresolutionof

3,120x1,440 foraludicrouslyhigh pixel density

of 516ppi. Since it uses AMOLEDtech,

contrastis effectivelyperfect, and apeak

brightnessof 412cd/m^2 should ensure you can

read it in most circumstances.It doesn’t go

nearly as bright as its Samsungrivals in

automatic mode,however,sovery bright

sunshinecan presentaslight challenge.

We also recommendswitching from the

default Vivid profile to the

oddly named Nature profile.

This gives you the best sRGB

gamut coverage at 89%,

which is actuallyhigher than

the third sRGB profile,which

reachesonly 84.3%.

Forwatching Netflix,

meanwhile,you’ll want to use

the DisplayP3option. Listed

under Advanced in the

Screen Calibrationsectionof

the Displaymenu, this

deliversan outstanding98%

coverage of the DCI-P3

gamut. Weirdly,however,

despitethe HDR10+

ONEPLUS7Pro

★★★★★

£649•From http://www.oneplus.com

ANDROID9.0 SMARTPHONE

certificationand the fact

that it measureswell, HDR

content didn’t look right at

all. Everythinglooked far

toodark –even scenes

filmed in broad daylight.

There’s clearly something

brokenhere.

The big attractionwith

the OnePlus7Pro’s screen,

however,isthat it has a

90Hz refresh rate,

raising the prospectof

ultra-smoothgaming

and silky-smoothscrolling.

So far, high-refresh-rate

displays have been

limited to gaming-specific

smartphonessuch as the

Razer Phone 2and Asus

ROG Phone (Shopper 376), so it’s good

to finally see such screenstrickle down to

more mainstreamhandsets.

Raw performanceis impeccable,too.Under

the bonnetis Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon

855 SoC, which drove the OnePlus7Pro to

3,456 in Geekbench4’s single-coretest and

10,933 in the multicoretest. The Exynos

9820-poweredSamsungGalaxy S10 and S10e

(pages 48 and 49) have more single-coreheft,

but OnePlus’shandsetis as good as it gets

formultitaskingon Android.

The Snapdragon855 is also apowerful

gamingchip,althoughthe OnePlus7Pro’s

screen resolutionupgrademeans there’s a

performancehit in exchangeforcrisper-

lookinggames:GFXBench’s Manhattan

onscreentest averaged 51fps, down from

the 2,340x1,080OnePlus6T’s 59fps.

THREE’SFRAME

Still, nothingwe played on

the OnePlus7Pro ever

causedit to seriouslysweat,

and the higher resolution

hasn’t stopped it having

fantastic battery life, either.

The phone lasted 18h 30m

in our video rundowntest,

outlastingboth the Galaxy

S10 and S10e.

Aside from the display,

the other big attractionwith

the OnePlus7Pro is the

triple-lenscamerasetup,

certainlywhen compared

to the regularOnePlus7.

The primarycamera

comprisesa48-megapixel

Sony IMX586module,an

f/2.2, 16-megapixel

ultra-wide sensor and an

f/2.4, 8-megapixel,3x

telephotosensor.

This arrangementtakes

12-megapixelshots by

default, via atechnique

called pixel-binning,wherein

the data from four pixels is

combinedintoone.The

results are vibrantand

sharp,with the exceptionof

when you’re taking

ultra-wide shots. Here,the

colourslook slightlyoff,

there’s lots of chromatic

aberrationin areas of strong

contrast,and the distortion-correction

algorithmis toostrong in the corners,

resultingin imagesthat look stretched and

out of shape.The good news is that software-

based issues such as these can be fixed with

updates, unlike hardware-basedshortcomings.

Video is ahighlight;you can shoot at 4K

in 60fps, with optical image stabilisation

that works effectively.Zoomingisn’t

perfectly smooth,like it is on the iPhone XS

and XS Max (Shopper 371), but it’s better

than most multiple-cameraAndroid

smartphonescan manage.

WEALTHANDTASTE

Even thoughthis is by farthe most expensive

smartphoneOnePlushas produced,it still

ends up being pretty good value next to

similar handsetsfrom Samsungand Apple.

It’s fast, has great battery lifeand looks lovely.

There are flaws with the camerasoftware,

and the Galaxy S10e’s lower price makes it a

temptingalternative,but this is still afine

first attempt at areal luxury smartphone.

JonathanBray

Batterylife

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage108forperformancedetails

PROCESSOROcta-core2.8GHzQualcommSnapdragon855

• SCREENSIZE6.7in•SCREENRESOLUTION3,120x1,440


• REARCAMERAS48megapixels,16megapixels,8
  megapixels•STORAGE128GB•WIRELESSDATA4G•
  NFCYes•DIMENSIONS163x76x8.8mm•WEIGHT206g•
  OPERATINGSYSTEMAndroid9.0•WARRANTYOneyear
  RTB•DETAILSwww.oneplus.com•PARTCODEGM1910

SPECIFICATIONS

18h30m

VERDICT

Thebiggest,mostpowerfulandluxuriousOnePlus

handsetto date, butitneedssomepolish