From the start, the company’s goal has been to showcase the world’s best smartphones with powerful, versatile devices that don’t cost a fortune. There were problems along the way, but companies quickly became synonymous with their way of balancing high performance and low price. But things are starting to change. OnePlus is no longer chasing the biggest player in the industry with its cheap and fast phones. Now try to beat companies like Samsung in their own premium games – and the OnePlus 8 Pro is proof of that. It’s slim and powerful, just like the best device I’ve tested this year, and it includes some flagship features that OnePlus has never covered before, such as wireless charging and an IP68 water resistance rating.
However, these perks come at a price: the base OnePlus 8 Pro with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage costs $ 900, and a model with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage costs $ 1,000. For those doing the math, that’s as much as the Galaxy S20 and $ 250 more than last year’s high-end OnePlus 7 Pro. The price advantage of OnePlus – an integral part of the identity the company has built for itself – doesn’t matter much anymore. That raises an important question: what does the company rely on today? Accelerate. Speed is everything with this phone and – spoiler alert – enough to make it my favorite Android phone of 2020.
The OnePlus 8 Pro doesn’t rely on gimmicks like other 2020 flagship phones, so it doesn’t seem like an instant win. However, don’t be fooled: between its great performance, well-designed software, and one of the best smartphone screens we’ve ever seen, the OnePlus 8 Pro is a fantastic smartphone well worth the price. Don’t assume everything is perfect here – some questionable business camera choices and a slightly larger battery would go a long way. Still, the 8 Pro has surprisingly beat the best the industry has to offer and is on track to become a fan favorite.
When you choose the OnePlus 8 Pro, you have various options. First of all, which variant would be best for you: I ran most of the tests on the standard 8GB, 128GB RAM ($ 899) model. It offers great performance yet is an understatement of the Galaxy S20. The high-end version with 12 GB of RAM won’t run smoother, but since it has 256 GB of storage space, you should consider whether you plan on transferring a lot of files – or maybe you ever plan on transferring a lot of files.
You also have to choose a color. The OnePlus 8 Pro is available in black, navy blue, and light green. I’ve tested this latest version and it’s easily my favorite of the three, although ‘green’ can seem like a bug: depending on the light around you, the end result varies from seafoam to teal, which you’ll likely see in our photo.
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