Yes, The OnePlus 7 Is The Younger Sibling Of OnePlus 7 Pro That Has It All

OnePlus most definitely has gained the reputation of being one of the most loved smartphone brands in India today. It was the original flagship killer- a term that defines a smartphone to be as good as a flagship with a considerably affordable price tag. And this trend has been followed by every OnePlus device.

However, this year, this trend shuffled a little, with the brand launching two distinct variants of smartphones together- a premium, over-the-top and downright gorgeous OnePlus 7 Pro and a feature-loaded, yet humble OnePlus 7.

OnePlus 7

The OnePlus 7 Pro, with its ¡®Pro¡¯ moniker, starts at a hefty-yet-competitive Rs 57,999, whereas the standard OnePlus 7 starts at a rather affordable Rs 32,999. With a considerable difference in the pricing, is the smaller sibling able to provide the flagship experience with its features or is it filled with compromises? Let¡¯s find out.

OnePlus 7 Design - Don't fix what isn't broken

When you first take a look at the OnePlus 7, you¡¯ll notice that it looks a lot like the OnePlus 6T. From the minimal bezels at the edges to the tear-drop notch on the top, it looks very similar to its predecessor and there is nothing wrong with that. OnePlus 6T was a beautiful smartphone and with the OnePlus 7, they¡¯ve chosen to retain the design language (including the omission of a headphone jack). However, it isn¡¯t EXACTLY identical to the 6T.

OnePlus 7

For starters, the earpiece grille is now larger, as it now also houses a speaker, making this smartphone one of the few devices to have a stereo speaker setup (which is really clear and loud). The buttons have now gone slightly smaller, including the alert slider, which adds to a more minimal look.

We got our hands on the red colour variant and in my opinion, it looks quite stunning. The back gets a glossy Gorilla Glass 5, with a slight tweak to the camera module design. Unlike the OnePlus 6 and the 6T, the flash is now incorporated in the raised camera module (with the annoying camera bump), which is inspired from the triple-camera setup on the OnePlus 7 Pro. The chrome accent lines highlighting the lenses is a neat touch.

The glossy-red treatment is also followed to the aluminium frame which adds to the overall aesthetics. You also get a Mirror Grey colour variant which looks pretty subtle and is perfect if you¡¯re looking for something more discreet.

OnePlus 7

OnePlus 7 Display - Handy and perfect

One of the main differences between the OnePlus 7 and the 7 Pro is with its display. While the 7 Pro gets a ginormous curved 6.67-inch Fluid AMOLED display (with a resolution of 3120x1440 pixels at 516ppi), the OnePlus 7 gets a relatively smaller, flat, 6.41-inch Optic AMOLED display (with a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels at 402ppi)- identical to the one on OnePlus 6T. Another thing that the display lacks is the smooth 90Hz refresh rate that the 7 Pro boasts of. It instead gets the standard 60Hz refresh rate. Is that a bad thing? Not really.

The display on the OnePlus 7 is still class-leading with vibrant colours, crisp imagery and great outdoor visibility. The tear-drop notch holds the front-camera, so you can instantly shoot selfies. The relatively-smaller screen size also helps in making the OnePlus 7 easier to use single-handedly, something that gets a bit tricky with the 7 Pro. What the OnePlus 7 lacks in smoothness and the curviness of the display, it very well compensates for it by making the screen more durable. The 60hz refresh rate and lower screen resolution only adds to the device¡¯s performance and battery life, making it last longer, even with a smaller battery than the OnePlus 7 Pro. More on that later.

OnePlus 7 Cameras - Nothing to disappoint here

Another considerable difference between the OnePlus 7 and the 7 Pro is with its camera arrangement. Let¡¯s start with the rear cameras. Instead of a triple-camera setup, the OnePlus 7 holds two camera sensors- a 48-megapixel f/1.7 primary shooter (similar to the one on the OnePlus 7 Pro) and a secondary 5-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor for those bokeh-licious portraits. The device lacks the telephoto and the wide-angle lenses from the 7 Pro.

OnePlus 7

Now if this seems disappointing to you, what one needs to consider is the fact that the primary camera on the OnePlus 7 is still the same as the 7 Pro, holding the exact same Sony sensor, which takes some really cool and vibrant shots, in the day time as well as low light conditions.

Sure, a secondary telephoto or wide-angle lens would have been great, but it still isn¡¯t a bad deal by any means.

The front gets a non-popping 16-megapixel sensor with F/2.0, which is perfect to get some sharp and impressive selfies, without worrying about dropping your phone and damaging the protruding lens. The front camera does a considerable amount of skin-smoothening, even with the beauty-mode off. Some people like it, I don¡¯t.

OnePlus 7

I did notice some irregularities in the colour-balance, especially when shooting in daylight. But it wasn¡¯t very drastic and hopefully, can easily be fixed with a software update.

Both the front and the rear cameras are using the same OnePlus UltraShot software awesomeness to deliver crisp and detailed images, especially in extreme low-light conditions. The performance wasn¡¯t Pixel-like, but the end result is totally subjective to what kind of images you prefer. And what¡¯s even more amazing is that the cameras keep getting better with every update that it gets, so fingers crossed for that.

OnePlus 7 Performance - Truly flagship grade

This is a place where OnePlus has made no compromises. OnePlus 7 gets the latest and top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor with Adreno 640 GPU. You get 6GB RAM/128GB and 8GB RAM/256GB storage variants. Our test unit was the latter one.

OnePlus 7

As expected, the smartphone was butter smooth switching between several apps that were running simultaneously in the background. Oxygen OS, in my opinion, is the best flavour of Android and strikes the perfect balance between customisation and stock-android features. Even while gaming, I experienced a smooth gameplay- whether it was Asphalt 9, or the power-hungry PUBG.

The OnePlus 7 gets a 3700mAh battery, 300mAh smaller than the 7 Pro, and yet the device is able to offer phenomenal battery performance. The lower refresh rate doesn¡¯t put load on the battery, making it last longer. My usage included constantly surfing the web and social media and watching some Netflix while commuting, and I was easily able to get a day and a half¡¯s battery on a single charge.

On days when I was gaming willy-nilly, I had OnePlus¡¯s Dash Charging to my rescue to give me a quick juice-up. It lacks the faster Warp charging like the 7 Pro, but is still loads faster in reaching 100 perfect of battery than any smartphone in its competition.

OnePlus 7 - The smartphone that retains its 'flagship killer' status

OnePlus introduced the world to flagship-grade smartphones that people could own without worrying about a hefty price-tag. A phone that gives the best and doesn¡¯t compromise on the basis of its pricing. It has been doing that for so many years now and while it might have deflected from its path in the past few iterations, the OnePlus 7 truly retains the flagship-killer status. And at a price point starting at Rs 32,999 (for 6GB/128GB) it doesn¡¯t get better than this.

OnePlus 7

Talking about the inclusion of the Pro sibling, by branching out the device line-up OnePlus is sending a message to its competitors that it is ready to enter the true-flagship category and stand against the iPhones and the Galaxies. With phones like OnePlus 7, it is sure to cater to audiences with varied budgets, by offering the best at a competitive price-point, truly supporting the brands notion to ¡®Never Settle¡¯.