OnePlus 7 Pro: The Fastest & Most Affordable Premium Flagship

‘Never Settle’ has been the tagline for OnePlus since its inception back in 2014. They have gained quite the cult following within the 5 years they’ve been dropping phones. I actually bought the OnePlus One eventually after getting a referral code as well.

Fast forward to 2019 as we enter their 10th, yes 10th, device w/ the OnePlus 7 Pro. This time around, they went completely premium this go round w/ everything about it being high-end save for the price. Previously, the company has crafted high-quality yet affordable Android smartphones. Kind of teetering the line of mid-range and high-end internals.

We spent a little over 9 days w/ the OnePlus 7 Pro thanks to the folks over at T-Mobile for making it happen. On paper, this looks like a possible dream Android phone as it starts only at $669. We see how it lives up to it in real-life in our full review.

The 6.6inch QHD+ display is something to see as it is one of the shining stars of the 7 Pro. It is really bright, vivid colors, many pixels, and an OLED panel ideal for Dark Mode. What’s even better is that you can switch from default color profiles or get more custom and adjust sRGB or P3 sliders to get the ideal colors you want.

The faster refresh rate of 90Hz is also much appreciated. It just makes everything moves faster and more fluid – from swiping, scrolling, and touch responses. Of course, this really comes in handy for gaming. But this isn’t the 1st device to beef up the display refresh rate but the 1st one that’s not on a dedicated gaming phone.

OnePlus retains the optical-based in-display fingerprint display while Samsung went for the ultrasonic-based one. I heard that on their last device it performed on the slower side. That is definitely not the case this time around. This is easily faster than the one of the S10 line of devices.

The dual stereo speakers sound amazing! Like really good. They’re tuned by Dolby Atmos so viewing/listening to media or taking a call on speakerphone is pretty loud – which isn’t the case for most phones. The competition is usually in the ‘this is fine box’ for the most part as OnePlus stands out in this area.

Now I’m gonna say this from the rip, this is a big phone and made for big phone lovers. It has a massive display, a bit on the heavy side, and a tall glass/metal body. Not a deal breaker for those who aren’t big phone lovers but something to make you aware of.

6.67inch QHD+ Fluid AMOLED 90Hz refresh rate display w/ 3120 x 1440 resolution + 516ppi
Snapdragon 855 CPU
8GB of RAM + 256GB of faster UFS 3.0 storage
3 rear-facing shooters: f/1.6 48MP sensor w/ OIS, an f/2.4 8MP telephoto lens, and an f/2.2 117-degree 16MP ultra-wide sensor
f/2.0 16MP pop-up selfie camera
in-display fingerprint reader
a 10-layer liquid cooling system
dual stereo speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos
Oxygen OS on top of Android 9 Pie
4000 mAh battery w/ Warp Charge 30

Any type of lag or stuttering doesn't exist here.

The performance on the 7 Pro is fast, fast, fast. Between the 90Hz display and beefy internals, the performance on the latest OnePlus is nuts. Our model is powered by a Snapdragon 855 CPU and has 8GB of RAM + 256GB of faster UFS storage. Ridiculous speed and responsiveness throughout my experience w/ the 7 Pro – even w/ hardcore gaming. I know you’ve heard it over x1000 times but I haven’t used on a phone this fast.

So w/ a lot of internals inside, it will require quite the battery to handle it. The 4000 mAh battery steps up to handle the challenge. The majority of my time was using it for hours streaming on Spotify and YouTube for the most part and handling social media and email. It didn’t get me the day and half of usage I would get from the Note 9 4000 mAh battery but it was still good. I went to sleep after heavy usage just under 40% of juice so no huge complaints here.

OnePlus went full premium flagship this year w/ the 7 Pro and wanted to make sure to give their cameras the same treatment as well. So they made sure to equip this w/ an f/1.6 48MP sensor w/ OIS, an f/2.4 8MP telephoto lens, and an f/2.2 117-degree 16MP ultra-wide sensor on the rear. In the front, you got an f/2.0 16MP mechanical pop-up selfie camera.

The cameras are good enough.

Click Photo For Full Resolution

The main camera is good on sharpness and dynamic range but mutes the color a bit. The low-light capture was decent as the NightScape mode is better than most. The results of the selfie camera can be a bit hit or miss for the most part. Portrait mode is definitely better than most where it doesn’t mess up the edges as other shooters have done. On the video side, I got the absolute best results when I maxed out on 4K @60fps. You do need a great deal of light or else it will get some visible noise present. In 4K @30fps, the quality dropped down to Pixel 3 quality footage.

So I would place the shooters at the good enough placement. Not Motorola bad, not Pixel great but a nice in-between that leans towards the Pixel side of things.

The software is pretty stock Android 9 Pie still w/ the Oxygen OS running on top of it. The treats from Oxygen OS are great. This has the fan-favorite ‘Shelf’ of apps, widgets, etc., customizable screenshots, reading/night/zen/gaming modes, and Google’s Digital Wellbeing + Adaptive Brightness. All of this w/ a great history of keeping up updating to the latest Android OS + betas.

If you liked it before, you’ll still love it. If you’re new to this, this is equivalent to what Samsung did w/ their One UI w/ Pie. Last time I’ve used a OnePlus device it was utilizing Cyanogen Mod. So pardon as it’s been a while.

OnePlus shows phone makers how to make a good premium device and still be somewhat affordable.

Now we haven’t fully handled a OnePlus phone since the OnePlus One – outside of demoing colleagues OnePlus devices. So missed out on the cool additions of the Alert slider, Oxygen OS, and tons of RAM for a speedy performance. So stepping up to the OnePlus 7 Pro is quite the upgrade – even compared to today’s premium flagships.

Consider me impressed as the OnePlus 7 Pro can truly compete w/ the iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy S devices in many ways. A screen that parallels Samsung, performance to go neck & neck w/ the iPhone, great battery life, and a pretty good camera/video capabilities. All of this for $300 less than you can get a Galaxy S10 or an iPhone XS. The OnePlus 7 Pro is perfectly priced that performs like a phone that costs hundreds more. They obviously didn’t settle much on this one.