It's Techtober, and that means its time for another T release from OnePlus. OnePlus usually releases a new flagship(s) in April every year with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, and they typically follow up with a minor refresh in the form of a "T" variant. Things are a little different this year, though. Even though we saw the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro released earlier in the year, we are only getting a OnePlus 8T and not a OnePlus 8T Pro this time around.
OnePlus 8T - Specifications
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Specification |
OnePlus 8T |
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Build |
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Dimensions & Weight |
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Display |
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SoC |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 CPU
Adreno 650 GPU |
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RAM & Storage |
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Battery & Charging |
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Security |
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Rear Camera(s) |
Video:
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Front Camera(s) |
16MP Sony IMX471, f/2.4, 1.0µm pixels, fixed focus, EIS, 1080p@30fps |
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Port(s) & Buttons |
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Audio |
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Connectivity |
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Software |
OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11 |
Design and Build
The OnePlus 8T is a definite shakeup in design for the company. While the OnePlus 7T had a rather iconic circular camera bump, the OnePlus 8T goes for an offset rectangular camera bump that has little uniqueness to it in 2020. We've seen this camera bump and placement on so many phones, and we have also seen the thin-bezel, hole-punch-camera flat front on several other phones. Even the Aquamarine Green color is not new, so the OnePlus 8T feels like a mashup of familiar design elements. The Lunar Silver color is somewhat new though.
For heat dissipation, the OnePlus 8T makes use of three methods together. There is an L-shaped vapor chamber soaking plate sitting above the battery compartment that is said to be 3.8 times the size of the corresponding plate on the OnePlus 8. Then, there is thermally conductive silicone grease spread over high-heat segments of the motherboard (such as the CPU, modem-RF components, etc.) to help with thermal conductivity. A single layer of graphite 70μm thick also sits atop the heat sink. The end result of all of this should be that the phone stays cool even in demanding situations.
Performance
The theme with the OnePlus 8T is exactly that: it has a few new changes, but the package overall feels familiar (and one can point out that that is exactly what the T releases have been). This means you also get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 on the inside for flagship performance all through. Why did OnePlus not go for the Snapdragon 865 Plus, though? OnePlus mentions that the Snapdragon 865 is still very powerful, so opting for the Snapdragon 865 Plus would have brought only marginal improvements, and we agree. The SoC is paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM (the OnePlus 8 had LPDDR4X RAM while the OnePlus 8 Pro had LPDDR5), but you get an upgrade to UFS 3.1 for storage (both the OnePlus 8/8 Pro had UFS 3.0 storage).
Display
The big upgrades over the OnePlus 8 come in the display, battery, and charging tech. For the display, the OnePlus 8T has a 6.55-inch, 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ resolution AMOLED panel, up from the 90Hz panel on the OnePlus 8. OnePlus calls its 120Hz implementation “Dynamic Refresh” as the phone can lower the refresh rate when watching video or when the content is static. However, there are only a few fixed refresh rate modes that the phone can switch between, meaning this is not a true variable refresh rate panel like on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 2.
The OnePlus 8T also features the Pixelworks i3 visual processor (formerly called "Iris 3"), a chip that was entirely not present on the OnePlus 8. The T refresh boasts DCI-P3 support, 8192 levels of luminance control, DC Dimming 2.0, calibrated flesh tone correction, and a "Tone Adaptive" color tone changing for reducing blue light (not to be confused with the "Comfort Tone" feature on the OnePlus 8 Pro). The OnePlus 8T does not support MEMC, HDR Boost, or Comfort Tone, which are some of the marquee display features of the OnePlus 8 Pro. This is because the OnePlus 8 Pro sports the higher-tier X5 visual processor (formerly called "Iris 5").
Battery and Charging
Next up, the battery! This will be the biggest tangible change for most users, as the OnePlus 8T is the company's first smartphone with 65W wired charging support. The company calls this Warp Charge 65, and it provides super quick wired charging through the included, proprietary charging brick. OnePlus claims that you just need 15 minutes of charging for a day's worth of power, and just 39 minutes of charging for a complete 0-100% cycle. Those who have experienced 65W charging on other devices can affirm to the fact that it changes the way you use your phone. Much like OnePlus's Dash Charge and Warp Charge 30, the power management for Warp Charge 65 happens in the brick, so less heat is dissipated in the phone or near the battery. Another big change is the fact that you can also charge the OnePlus 8T with non-OnePlus USB Power Delivery chargers up to 27W (up from 15W), so you are covered even if you do forget the provided charger once in a while.
If others forget their chargers or you have another device you want to charge, the Warp Charge 65 charging brick can provide up to 45W speeds via USB Power Delivery, which is good news. The charging brick also makes the switch to Type-C, and you get a Type-C to Type-C cable in the box now. The OnePlus 8T also gets a bump up to a battery with a total capacity of 4500 mAh, split across two cells connected in parallel. The larger capacity is made possible by optimizing the routing of the flex cables, thus freeing up space inside the phone. Overall, this is the biggest change in the T refresh.
OnePlus also claims that since the heat dissipation is happening in the brick and away from the battery, the battery longevity of the OnePlus 8T should not be detrimentally affected by Warp Charge 65. In its internal testing, the battery retained more than 80% of its original capacity even after 800 full charge-discharge cycles. Battery lifespan is affected by full charge cycles in these cases, with partial charges counting as a fraction of the cycle. So the equation here is affected by how much you use your phone rather than just how frequently, how much, or how quickly you charge it. Warp Charge 65, to that end, is said to have no effect. If you're still concerned about battery longevity, you can take advantage of the Optimized Charging feature to limit how long the battery stays at 100%, though OnePlus has no plans at this time to add a slow charging or battery limit feature.
Do note that there is no wireless charging support on the OnePlus 8T, with OnePlus stating that adding in wireless charging coils would have made the phone thicker. Keep in mind that OnePlus's 30W wireless charging tech can co-exist alongside its 65W fast wired charging tech, as its sister company OPPO has confirmed in the past.
Camera
The front camera on the OnePlus 8T is the same 16MP shooter as on the OnePlus 8. The rear camera is where we see most of the changes, beyond the obvious design decisions. The primary camera is the 48MP shooter, with the same image sensor as on the OnePlus 8. The 16MP wide-angle camera sees a change in the lens, with a 123° lens that gives this the largest field-of-view on any OnePlus smartphone yet. The third camera is now a 5MP macro camera (up from the 2MP macro camera on the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus Nord), and you now have a fourth camera which is a 2MP monochrome sensor to capture and record light information.
In terms of camera features, OnePlus has improved low-light photography with an improved algorithm to detect the lighting condition and stack multiple photos for a brighter picture, added portrait bokeh, and added a video portrait mode.
Software
The OnePlus 8T launches with Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 out of the box. That means you get most of the new features that the OxygenOS 11 update brings along, such as an Always On Display, Zen Mode 2.0, Dark Mode 2.0, and of course, all that Android 11 has to offer. The latest OxygenOS release also features a major visual redesign to be more one-handed friendly; OnePlus confirmed to us in a briefing that it dropped plans to develop a dedicated one-handed mode toggle after feedback pushed the company to redesign OxygenOS in the manner that we see now.
OxygenOS 11 on the OnePlus 8 Pro – Hands-on with OnePlus’s Android 11 update
Internally, OnePlus has also made improvements to what they call their "Smooth Chain" technology, which the company says is their custom technology for optimizing all aspects of the software that can impact the screen smoothness. There are more features coming with an update in mid-November. You can expect to get features like Voice Note (convert English and Mandarin Chinese speech to text), Bitmoji Always On Display, and Straighten Doc feature (within OnePlus Camera and OnePlus Gallery).
Since this phone is launching with Android 11, expect to receive updates to Android 12 and Android 13. The OnePlus 8T should also receive bi-monthly security updates until 3 years after release.
5G
The OnePlus 8T supports T-Mobile's sub-6GHz 5G network but does not support 5G on AT&T or Verizon. It does, however, support AT&T's and Verizon's 4G LTE networks. There are no plans for an mmWave model, though.
OnePlus 8T: Pricing and Availability
The OnePlus 8T goes on sale starting October 23 on OnePlus.com and Amazon in the US, with pre-orders beginning October 14 at 11:00 AM ET on OnePlus.com. The device will go on sale in Europe starting October 20, with pre-orders starting today. Indian fans will be able to get their hands on the OnePlus 8T before the rest of the world, with the device going on sale on October 16 for Amazon Prime and OnePlus Red Cable Club members. Non-members will be able to purchase the device starting October 17.
The pricing for the device is as follows. Note that some regions are getting the top variant only.
- Canada: 12GB + 256GB: $1,099
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Europe:
- 8GB + 128GB: €599
- 12GB + 256GB: €699
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India:
- 8GB + 128GB: ₹42,999
- 12GB + 256GB: ₹45,999
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UK:
- 8GB + 128GB: £549
- 12GB + 256GB: £649
- USA: 12GB + 256GB: $749
OnePlus 8T
- OnePlus
- View at Oneplus