When the OnePlus 7T hit the streets, we called it the best value in smartphones at the time. The company is back with a successor, the OnePlus 8T, and it features a new quad-camera system, incredibly fast charging—and a higher, $749 price tag.
One of the biggest letdowns for the OnePlus 7T is subpar camera performance, and the company seems like it’s trying to fix that this time around. The OnePlus 8T uses a new quad-camera system, somewhat inspired by its elder sibling, the OnePlus 8 Pro.
First up is a 48-megapixel main shooter paired with a 16-megapixel ultra-wide lens. To help you get your creative on, OnePlus also threw in dedicated macro and monochrome lenses to round out the quad-array. As with the OnePlus 8 Pro, you’ll find a hole-punch selfie camera on the front.
Hardware is only half the equation, though, so we’ll reserve judgment on the phone’s camera prowess to when we can test. But OnePlus is working on improving its camera software, and now it will automatically detect low-light situations and turn on NightScape mode for you.
OnePlusThe OnePlus 8T also steps up from the 90 HZ refresh rate found in the 7T to 120 HZ. OnePlus is calling it a 120Hz Fluid AMOLED display, and claims its the first “flat 120 Hz display ever to earn an A+ rating from DisplayMate.”
You’ll also get the latest and greatest software straight out of the box. The OnePlus 8T is the first global smartphone not manufactured by Google to launch with Android 11. As is ever the case, OnePlus tweaked Android 11 and calls its flavor OxygenOS 11
One of the standout features, though, isn’t about how you use your phone. That’s because OnePlus took its proprietary fast-charging system and made it even faster. With its new Warp Charge 65 system, OnePlus says you can get a “full day’s charge” (nearly 60% charge) in just 15 minutes. If you need a full phone charge, that’ll take about 39 minutes.
OnePlusThat’s despite having a 4,500 mAh battery capacity. The company accomplished the feat by splitting its battery into two 2250 mAh series-connected batteries and creating a dual-battery charging system. Both ‘batteries” get charged simultaneously. OnePlus says the battery will last too, even after 800 charging cycles, it’ll retain 80% of its capacity.
Charging that fast usually causes plenty of extra heat, but OnePlus says it has that figured out, and your phone should stay at a “comfortable level.” Spec-wise, the OnePlus uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 12 GBs of RAM, 256 GBs of storage, and it supports 5G and Wi-Fi 6. That makes the phone pretty close to future-proof. What you won’t get is wireless charging or an IP rating.
Despite all the camera lenses and large battery, the OnePlus is incredibly thin and light. It’s just 8.4 millimeters at its thinnest point. And it weights just 88 grams. For comparison, the OnePlus 8 Pro is 199 grams, which puts the 8T at less then half the weight.
You can preorder the OnePlus 8T today for $749, and it will release October 23. You get to pick from two colors: Aquamarine Green and Lunar Silver.