Thinking About the OnePlus 8T (Premium)

My OnePlus 8T review unit was supposed to arrive today, but what arrived instead was a torn-up package from which the phone was stolen, only to be replaced by a stack of stickers or coupons, taped back up, and then delivered by FedEx as if nothing had happened.

So, I contacted OnePlus and they’ve promised to send another review unit. It certainly wasn’t their fault, but with a new iPhone season underway, and shipment thefts at an all-time high, it’s perhaps best not to be sending phone-sized packages at the moment.

In any event, I’ve been thinking about smartphones a lot recently, and about the OnePlus 8T specifically since, again, I was supposed to get one today. And I will admit to some confusion. And a bit of disappointment. That is, I don’t quite “get” the OnePlus 8T. It’s not Pixel 5 bad, I mean come on. But ... I have concerns.

The easiest way to explain this handset, I guess, is that it’s a mid-season upgrade to the OnePlus 8, and not the OnePlus 8 Pro, though both of those handsets remain available for sale as well. It’s about the same size and weight as the OnePlus 8, and it has a nearly identical form factor. It has the same size display, with the same 1080p+ resolution. The same basic internal components. And the same basic communications capabilities.

And that’s all great: The OnePlus 8 is a gorgeous handset, and the OnePlus 8T looks to continue that tradition. Great.

But what about the upgrades? Where does the OnePlus 8T improve on its predecessor?

While it utilizes a 6.55-inch Fluid AMOLED display with HDR10+ capabilities, a resolution of 2440 x 1080, and a tall 20:9 aspect ratio just like the OnePlus 8, the OnePlus 8T display can run at up to 120 Hz, as opposed to 90 Hz for its predecessor. No one will complain about that.

While it ships with the same processor and graphics---an octa-core Snapdragon 865 and Adreno 650, respectively, and the same 8 GB/128 GB and 12 GB/256 GB RAM/storage configurations, the OnePlus 8T offers faster UFS 3.1 storage compared to the UFS 3.0 storage provided by the OnePlus 8. That’s fine, though it’s a bit odd that the OnePlus 8T doesn’t ship with the slightly improved Snapdragon 865+.

And while the two handsets’ front selfie cameras are literally identical---they both use a single 16 MP wide-angle lens with an f/2.4 aperture---there’s been a bit of movement on the rear camera system. But here, I’m worried that OnePlus hasn’t gone far enough, given that the OnePlus 8T doesn’t even meet the OnePlus 8 Pro camera system capabilities on paper.

This is unfortunate. But let’s step through it.

The OnePlus 8 offers a three-lens camera system. There’s a 48 MP main (wide) lens with an f/1.75 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), a 16 MP ultra-wide lens with a 116-degree field of view and an f/2.2 aperture, and a 2 MP macro lens with an f/2.4 aperture. So it’s really more of a two-lens system since the macro lens is a...

Gain unlimited access to Premium articles.

With technology shaping our everyday lives, how could we not dig deeper?

Thurrott Premium delivers an honest and thorough perspective about the technologies we use and rely on everyday. Discover deeper content as a Premium member.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC