[REVIEW] OnePlus 8T is proof that the company is returning to its roots. A detailed review of Oxygen OS 11

Flat 120 Hz AMOLED, an improved camera with great video, ultra-fast 65 W charging, a comfortable grip option, top-tier performance, the latest Oxygen OS, and a relatively affordable price. All these features OnePlus 8T delivers and it comes as a treat for smartphone fans. If this model caught your eye, the just-starting OnePlus 8T review will definitely tell you more.

Our tested version is in a beautiful green color and the 12 + 256 GB memory combo—that’s the best available option. The design is very nice; the slim body with the back curvature makes it comfortable to hold. We can honestly say that the OnePlus 8T is a great piece, but it also has its downsides.

Compared to the OnePlus 8 introduced at the beginning of 2020, the main changes are in the display, the camera, and also the battery. However, the OnePlus 8T can be described as a smartphone that “feels” like a flagship, but in reality it isn't one, because it lacks a few things.

Where did we buy it?

You can get this smartphone for several dozen euros less than from resellers or even the official seller, on the website of our official partner Banggood. They offer reliable EU delivery via Priority Line.

Buy OnePlus 8T at the best price

Right now, however, they only have the 12 + 256 GB version in green available.

Quick specs table

For those who want to quickly go through the device specifications, we prepared a clear table.

Packaging and first impressions

The smartphone arrived with a Global ROM version, which is essentially the Chinese version with an international system installed (sold on Banggood). So the packaging is in Chinese too, including a Chinese charging adapter. However, that isn’t really an issue as long as you have a plug adapter at home.

The “Oneplus” classic red packaging didn't disappoint, and in a long box the OnePlus 8T itself was on top, with a protective film stuck on it. Under that you get a 65 W power adapter with a red Warp Charge USB-C to USB-C cable. You'll also find a silicone case, a SIM card pin, and other cards with text. If you're a fan of the brand, you'll certainly also be pleased with the generous set of OnePlus stickers.

First impressions were similar to the previous generation OnePlus 7T Pro. The smartphone fits perfectly in the hand—it wasn’t heavy at all on the first touch, and the green color really impresses. We can say that our first meeting with the smartphone left us genuinely excited.

Premium look and OnePlus quality

The smartphone dimensions are set at 160.7 x 74.1 x 8.4 mm, so it's one of the more compact pieces. Even with a weight of 188 grams, it isn't any “giant paddle”, and you can handle it fairly comfortably with one hand. On the right side, the famous OnePlus switch is there too, with which you change the ringer mode.

On both the front and back, you get Gorilla Glass 5 protective glass (solid parts made from an aluminum alloy). However, the back panel is very prone to scratches, and during our testing we managed to pick up a few scratches already. That’s why you should protect both sides properly.

Best with official OnePlus cases. We ordered a nice Quantum Bumper Case, which mimics the look of an exposed electrical circuit (or, in other words, the motherboard) and looks perfect—see for yourself.

The contrasting look of the rear camera set with the green color looks great. For some people, the punch-hole in the display for the front camera might feel distracting—it’s placed in the left corner. So overall, our design assessment is positive.

A top-tier display and finally Always-On

Of course, the OnePlus 8T comes with a top-notch AMOLED panel with a 6.55-inch diagonal. Even with this larger size, it’s not an enormous device thanks to minimal bezels and the display punch-hole for the selfie camera. The refresh rate is the mentioned 120 Hz, with a 240 Hz sampling rate.

So the user experience with this display is literally smooth, and using 120 Hz on the smartphone after switching from a lower frequency is a real treat. We used 90 Hz on the OnePlus 7T Pro, and the difference was noticeable. In settings, you can switch to 60 Hz mode, and it’s a shame that there’s no 90 Hz option, which would also save battery while still delivering a smooth experience.

The resolution is 1080 x 2400 pixels, the display sharpness is high at 402 ppi. The AMOLED display supports HDR 10+, and thanks to Oxygen OS (after a long time of fans requesting it), it also adds the Always-On AMOLED feature.

Here you can set a few design options—for example, a drawn version of your own photo, or a special look from a university design team, which uses a timeline to show the current time, day progress, active time on screen, and the number of unlocks per day. We use it, and it’s awesome.

The display has a flat shape, so anyone who’s against the so-called waterfall displays will definitely be pleased. And in our opinion, a flat display is a better solution than a curved one, which may look nicer but is less practical to use. Also, applying screen protectors isn’t a problem at all.

Top performance with Snapdragon 865

The latest OnePlus smartphone naturally also can’t miss the most powerful processor for the release period. The 7 nm Snapdragon 865 handles all demanding tasks with ease, and you won’t have any problems even with the Adreno 650 graphics chip. You’ll feel the smoothness of the system all the time, and a positive example is, for instance, the ultra-fast processing of night shots.

We also put our tested unit through performance tests in the Geekbench 5 app. The processor and calculations handled it, but somewhat weaker than the previous OnePlus 8 and Pro models:

A more demanding 3D test from 3DMark, namely Wild Life and Sling Shot Extreme, can’t be missing either:

12 GB RAM (LPDDR4X) is already more than enough even for Android, but if you plan to keep this device for longer, you’ll definitely appreciate having more memory. Storage is UFS 3.1 2-LANE, and you’ll feel the higher speed, for example, during large file batch actions or when processing edited video. It’s really a very snappy smartphone.

Incredible 65 W charging and a 4500 mAh battery

One of the biggest highlights of the smartphone is undoubtedly the ultra-fast 65 W Warp Charge charging. The battery, however, is split into two 2,250 mAh parts, so basically two separate cells are being charged at the same time, and their combined power totals 65 W. That’s how all manufacturers do it for now.

Getting from 12% to 100% took only 40 minutes in our test. In the subsequent charging cycles (often from 30% to 100%), Warp Charge kept that perfect figure of around 30 – 37 minutes all the time. For everyday use, 15 minutes would therefore really be enough, which OnePlus promotes.

The battery itself has a capacity of 4500 mAh, which is the standard size. In our testing (120 Hz mode), we achieved screen-on time from 3.5 hours to 4.5 hours, depending on how demanding your usage is (we didn’t play games; mostly social media + video).

With 48 MPx, photos and video are decent too

Even though these days it's not really about MPx value anymore, the OnePlus 8T delivers very good photo and video results that we honestly didn't expect. From our point of view, an incomprehensible move by the Chinese giant is the use of an older primary sensor Sony IMX586, which had already appeared with the OnePlus 7 (almost one and a half years ago).

With good software optimization, OnePlus was able to get the most out of this sensor. You can check out the test photos and video below. The main sensor is backed up by a 16 MPx “ultrawide” camera with a 123° field of view (the shots are really very wide).

On the back you’ll also find 5 MPx macro, 2MPx monochrome sensor and a pair of LED flashlights. No controversy in the form of a Color Filter sensor, which can “see through clothes,” so that won’t be happening, unfortunately (or thankfully?).

This is what a shot from the 48 MPx main sensor looks like (here only a 4:3 aspect ratio is possible):

You can see the result of the regular 12 MPx mode on the left shot, and the wide-angle sensor on the right:

Available modes include panorama, of course wide-angle shots, 2 – 10x zoom, portrait, night shot, and a professional mode. Night photos handle it very well, and as we mentioned, processing is also very fast.

This is what the night shot mode result looks like:

The selfie camera is a Sony IMX471 with 16 MPx. In our test it did quite well and could take good photos even in worse lighting conditions. It’s located in a cutout on the left side and also supports face unlock.

Decent stabilization and high-quality video

The combination of optical and digital stabilization delivers downright brutal compensation for shake and unwanted movements in video. If you have at least a little experience filming, you can create YouTube content without any problems with this smartphone.

We liked the video page the most on the OnePlus 8T. It offers 1080p as well as 4K quality, frame rates 30 and 60 fps, wide-angle video, and 2x optical zoom. There’s also slow-motion video in 720p at 480 fps, in 1080p at 240 fps, and a fast-motion mode.

Gallery of test photos and videos here

In worse lighting conditions, the weak points of the main sensor you’re using are already very noticeable. You can record video in wide-angle mode (you need even more light here for a nice-looking video) and also in the native 2x zoom mode. The transition during video recording is smooth.

The new Oxygen OS 11 will be even more popular

OnePlus won over its fans, mainly thanks to their clean Oxygen OS. They started building their first smartphones on the CyanogenMod look (today’s Lineage OS) and carried that clean look over into their Oxygen as well.

The latest version 11 finally brings the Always-On AMOLED feature after a long time, with a rich selection of watch faces. You can choose a cartoon-style version of your photo with a great animation when you unlock it, regular clock styles, or a special display with a timeline.

This is what the Canvas effect looks like in full glory:

The system is very smooth, clean, and the development team keeps it updated regularly. So you’re truly getting a premium overlay of Android 11. On the OnePlus 8T, we didn’t spot any noticeable drawbacks in terms of the latest system’s stability or its performance. The developers have polished it exceptionally well.

Improved built-in apps, dark mode

The look of the built-in apps is modern and you won’t need to install any third-party apps. They’ve been through a proper redesign. The biggest change is in the Gallery app, but the new design also offers, for example, the Camera.

You can also enable the dark mode—that’s exactly what we went for right away. It’s a system-wide dark mode, and if third-party apps support it too, they’ll automatically switch to dark colors. Oxygen OS 11 also offers a list of supported apps with an option to switch to dark mode.

App drawer and a hidden space

By swiping down from mid-screen, you’ll now activate a customizable widget and weather center (original setting). Previously, it was on the left screen, where Google Discover is now. To access the notification bar, you swipe down from the top, which felt a bit unusual for us personally. However, you can turn this option off—then you won’t be able to get to the so-called “shelf”>, meaning the rack with widgets.

Another great feature is the hidden screen with apps. With a two-finger swipe from the center outward on the home screen, you can activate it, or by swiping right from the list of all apps.

Great customization options

Oxygen OS is also known for its awesome customization options. You can completely change the icon styles or download an icon pack from a third party. Specifically, the OnePlus 8T model also offers the option to display content under the front camera cutout or even through it.

You can fully customize the look of the Always-On display—like we mentioned earlier—the unlock animation with a fingerprint, notification animation, or accent colors.

Great OnePlus Switch app

The final part of this system review is the OnePlus Switch, app, which you can download—though only all Android smartphone owners with Google Play services can. We used this app when switching to a new test model from the old OnePlus 7T Pro, and it really is a great app.

It can transfer all data, including call history, SMS messages, the complete OnePlus launcher data, the gallery, or installed apps. Everything runs over Wi‑Fi and all you need to do during setup is scan a QR code. After that, it will handle the rest automatically based on what the user chooses for transfer and copying.

Even better haptic vibrations, stereo

Haptic vibrations OnePlus has integrated them since the seventh series, but the OnePlus 8T took them to an even better level. We’d say the motor can vibrate at higher frequencies, and over time the user can precisely associate the vibration level with a given notification.

Typing on the keyboard with haptic vibrations feels very pleasant and is a satisfying form of feedback.

Stereo speaker is a nice feature, but several flagships already offer a more advanced top speaker instead of a basic call speaker. That was used in the OnePlus 8T and serves to deliver spatial sound, but it’s nothing groundbreaking.

The bottom speaker is average in terms of maximum loudness, and the lowest possible volume could have been a bit lower. It supports Dolby Atmos®.

From a practical standpoint, we also can’t leave out the famous OnePlus switch, which is located on the right side above the unlock button. That makes it quick and easy to switch the current ringer mode.

5G connectivity and NFC

In terms of connectivity, the OnePlus 8T doesn’t lag behind in any way, and it also includes 5G, which we still can’t use here in Slovakia. It also features NFC for payments or wireless pairing, 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi with 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax standards.

Bluetooth 5.1 supports aptX & aptX HD & LDAC & AAC codecs. Of course, there is USB-C (USB 3.1 GEN1), and it also includes a Dual SIM slot.

Buy the OnePlus 8T at the best price

If you’re really interested in the OnePlus 8T after reading this review, definitely take advantage of the purchase through our global partner Banggood. It currently offers only the 12 + 256 GB version, but at the time of writing, the coupon brings a truly great price and one of the lowest ones.