OnePlus 8 Pro Review

September 24, 2020 | Amy Davies | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Introduction

Launched on to the market back in April 2020, the OnePlus 8 Pro is the latest flagship smartphone from OnePlus.

It has a similar camera setup to last year’s OnePlus 7 Pro model, but with an upgraded ultra-wide camera. It has a quad-camera setup. The main camera is a 48 megapixel sensor with a 25mm (equivalent) f/1.8 lens.

It is joined by a telephoto lens offering 3x zoom, f/2.4 aperture and backed by an 8 megapixel sensor, plus an ultra-wide (14mm equivalent) f/2.2 aperture lens with a 48 megapixel Quad-Bayer sensor.

The final camera is a 5 megapixel f/2.4 lens offering, but it is a “colour filter” camera, and is therefore not one you can actually select when shooting.

Other interesting specifications of the OnePlus 8 Pro include 4K video recording at either 60 or 30fps, super slow-mo capture, a pro mode which includes the ability to capture images in raw, a 16 megapixel front-facing camera and a Dual LED flash. The screen is a 6.78-inch “Fluid” AMOLED with 3D Corning Gorilla Glass.

The OnePlus 8 Pro uses the Android 10 operating system, with an Oxygen OS “skin” over the top of it.

Available in a choice of three colours (Glacial Green, Ultramarine Blue and Onyx Black), you can get the OnePlus 8 Pro either with 8GB of RAM + 128GB storage, which at the time of writing will set you back £799 / $899, or with 12GB of RAM + 256GB storage, for £899 / $999.

Ease of Use

OnePlus 8 Pro
Front of the OnePlus 8 Pro

We’ve been using the “Glacial Green” colour way of the OnePlus 8 Pro, which is more like a turquoise colour. The matte finish and the rounded edges give the device a very stylish look and feel.

The phone is quite long, but not too wide, so it’s still comfortable to hold one-handed. Those with smaller hands may struggle to reach the outer corners of the phone, but while typing messages and so on, you’ll mainly be using the bottom half of the screen so it may not be too much of an issue for you.

On the back of the OnePlus 8 Pro, the camera module protrudes from the back of the phone., but other than that, the design is very sleek.

When you want to take a picture, you can launch the native camera application directly from the lock screen by swiping up from the bottom right hand corner of the screen. As we’ve seen before, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a pleasingly well-functioned native camera, with lots of different shooting modes to choose from.

OnePlus 8 Pro
Rear of the OnePlus 8 Pro

By default, the app launches in the standard “Photo” mode, which is what you’ll probably find yourself using in the majority of situations. Along the bottom of the screen you’ll see the different zoom options.

The lenses are represented by trees to show how wide the lens is - for example three trees for the super wide angle lens, two for the standard lens, and one for the telephoto lens. As soon as you tap on them, it will show as “0.5x”, “1x” or “3x”.

Along the top of the OnePlus 8 Pro's screen, there’s a number of different options to choose from. Going from left to right, you have a timer icon which gives you access to a self-timer, a flash icon which allows you to switch the flash on, off or se tot auto.

There’s an icon to tap between 12 megapixel shooting and 48 megapixel shooting (the latter is only available with the standard lens and the ultra-wide-angle lens).

OnePlus 8 Pro
Photo Mode

A small flower icon is used to indicate macro shooting, which the camera should automatically detect if you get very close to a subject - at which point you can also choose to switch it off if you like.

Finally there is an icon which you can tap to add a digital filter to your images, which includes “Photocrom”, a mode which takes advantage of the colour filter camera to produce an infrared type image.

You can tap around the screen to select a focus point. Once you tap on the screen, you’ll also see a brightness icon. If you move your finger up and down the screen you’ll be able to adjust the brightness of the scene. A lock icon will also appear so you can lock AF/AE, then recompose your image.

Once you’re ready to take a shot, you can either use the virtual (on screen) shutter release button, or you can use one of OnePlus 8 Pro’s volume buttons as a physical shutter release button.

OnePlus 8 Pro
Camera Settings

Other shooting modes are displayed along the bottom of the camera app interface. To the left of the standard Photo mode you have Time-lapse, Panorama, Slow Motion and Video - all fairly self-explanatory modes.

It’s worth pointing out that when shooting in the OnePlus 8 Pro's video mode, you can select a range of different frame rates and resolutions, including 4K, Full HD and 30p and 60p.

To the right of the standard Photo mode you have Portrait - which allows you to create shallow depth of field effects, whether shooting human subjects or otherwise, Nightscape, which is for shooting in low light conditions (i.e. at night). The final mode you’ll come to is the Pro mode, which is likely to be appealing to enthusiasts.

In Portrait Mode, you can choose between a wide option and a telephoto option.

OnePlus 8 Pro
Pro Mode

The first option is good if you have more than one person you want to include in the frame, or if you want to include a bit more of the subject’s background environment.

The second is good for single-person portraits or for where you want the main focus of the image to be the subject entirely.

With Pro mode, you have the option to adjust a number of key parameters. Along the bottom of the screen, you’ll see options to change ISO, white balance, shutter speed, AF type and exposure compensation. To make changes, tap on each parameter and move your finger along the dial that appears at the bottom of the screen.

You’ll also see that at the top of the screen there’s a few extra options. There is a timer, the option to save custom presets - which is pretty useful if you’re often using the same settings or shooting the same type of scenarios - plus the option to shoot in raw format.

OnePlus 8 Pro
Rear of the OnePlus 8 Pro

You can also elect to switch on 48 megapixel JPEGs - though you can’t shoot raw and 48 megapixel JPEGs at the same time.

If you have opened the camera app from the lock screen, you won’t be able to make deeper settings changes. If you unlock the phone first, you’ll see that a small rectangle with “Settings” appears in the top right hand corner of the screen.

In this deeper settings menu, you’ll find a range of different options - including different settings for the various shooting modes. For example, you’ll be able to switch on a Histogram for shooting in Pro mode, or adjust aspect ratio in the standard Photo mode.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 12 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

We’ve been impressed with the quality of the on board camera in OnePlus phones before, and the OnePlus 8 Pro is no different. It builds on the previous excellent work of older phones, providing high-quality images in a range of different conditions.

On the whole, images are vibrant and well-saturated, while images have an overall impression of good detail, especially if you are mainly only looking at images on the phone screen, rather than examining them closely on a computer screen. That said, there is a good degree of detail when shooting in good light, especially of course if you shoot in the 48 megapixel mode.

The close-up/macro option provides good results, but sometimes it can fail to focus correctly (focusing on the background instead of the foreground, for example) - you just need to keep on eye on sharpness when taking your shot to make sure the correct part of the subject is in focus.

On the whole, all of the lenses perform well. The ultra-wide angle lens can make the subject appear a little distorted, depending on how you shoot, so it works better in some situations than others. It’s great for landscapes and the like where you want to get as much of the scene in as possible. The telephoto lens is the least impressive but it’s still a good option when you want to get closer to the subject.

Other things worth mentioning is the Nightscape mode, which works well to create nicely detailed low-light shots that look especially good on a phone screen or via social networks such as Instagram.

The Photocrom filter, which gives an infrared-type appearance, is also worth experimenting with if you like that sort of thing - it’s a bit gimmicky but it’s also quite fun, and great that it’s built directly into the native camera app.

Noise

ISO sensitivity can be set between ISO 100 and ISO 3200 in full-stop increments. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and RAW on the right.

JPEG RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso100.jpg

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso200.jpg iso200raw.jpg

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso400raw.jpg

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso800.jpg iso800raw.jpg

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso1600raw.jpg

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso3200.jpg iso3200raw.jpg

Night

night.jpg
night.jpg
night.jpg

Flash

Flash Off

Flash Off

Flash On

Flash Off

Flash Off

Flash Off

Flash On

Flash Off

Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode
Portrait Mode
Portrait Mode

Macro

Macro
Macro
Macro

Filters

None

Filters

Matte

Filters

Vivid

Filters

Black and White

Filters

Photochrom

Filters

Panorama

Panorama

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the OnePlus 8 Pro camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The OnePlus Pro 8 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some OnePlus RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 3840x2160 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 16 second movie is 319Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 3840x2160 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 17 second movie is 89.4Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 3840x1644 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 16 second movie is 246Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 3840x1644 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 16 second movie is 85.1Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 16 second movie is 81.7Mb in size.

This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second. Please note that this 17 second movie is 42.4Mb in size.

Product Images

OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro
OnePlus 8 Pro

Conclusion

OnePlus has generally always occupied that middle ground of phone, providing a good set of specifications - particularly the camera - in a device which is more affordable than the type you’d expect from big players such as Samsung, Huawei and Apple.

These days, the flagship phones from OnePlus are creeping towards higher end territory with more expensive pricing. They’re still cheaper than the flagships from Samsung and Apple, but are perhaps more in line with typical Huawei prices, who have taken a battering thanks to its ongoing trade wars with the United States.

If you prefer Android to iOS, then the OnePlus 8 Pro is a great option. The Oxygen OS is a nice and clean operating system, and is certainly preferable to Samsung’s skin. The native camera app is well-featured and gives you a lot of bang for your buck. We like the Pro shooting mode as well as the various other shooting options that the Pro 8 gives you.

Image quality is obviously the most important thing to consider, and on the whole the OnePlus 8 Pro does a fantastic job. Photos are bright and punchy with a good amount of detail.

Having the 48 megapixel mode is useful when you want to photograph something with a lot of fine detail, but generally the images outputted at 12MP do the job just as well without taking up so much room on your phone / hard drive.

The design of the OnePlus 8 Pro is also very attractive. Being sleek and stylish while also offering a large screen and the ability to use the phone one handed.

Overall, if you’re in the market for a top-line Android phone, and your main consideration is the quality of the onboard camera, the OnePlus 8 Pro should be high up on your list of phones to consider.

If you don’t have the budget for a top-range Samsung or iPhone, yet still want something stylish and well-featured that can do a good job in a range of situations, it’s a fantastic option that doesn’t represent too much of a compromise.

4.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4.5
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4.5
Image quality 4
Value for money 4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the OnePlus 8 Pro.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro

Another year, another new flagship phone from Apple, this time introducing a new triple camera system, night mode and improved battery life. Is the iPhone 11 Pro the best smartphone that Apple have ever released, and can it beat the Android competition? Read our iPhone 11 Pro review to find out, complete with full-size sample images and videos.

Apple iPhone 11

The Apple iPhone 11 is the more affordable, more sensible little brother of the flagship Pro model, sharing most of the same camera features with the exception of the Pro's telephoto lens. Read our in-depth iPhone 11 review now, complete with full-size sample images and videos...

Google Pixel 4

The Pixel 4 is Google's new flagship smartphone, available in standard and XL sizes. New for this generation is a second 16-megapixel 2x telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture, along with improved portrait and night modes. Is this the best Pixel phone for keen photographers, and can it compete with its main rivals? Find out now by reading our Pixel 4 review, with full-size sample images and videos...

Honor 20 Pro

The Honor 20 Pro is a mid-range smartphone with flagship pretensions, aiming to take on £$1000 devices at a much lower-price point whilst delivering similar levels of performance, specification and quality. Does it succeed? Find out now by reading our in-depth Honor 20 Pro review, complete with full-size sample images and videos.

Honor 20

Want a great smartphone with a triple-camera setup that doesn't cost the earth? Then you may be interested in the Honor 20, a new mid-range 48 megapixel device with a 6.26” full HD screen, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. Read our Honor 20 review to find out what this new smartphone has to offer keen photographers...

Honor View 20

The Honor View 20 is a mid-range smartphone with flagship specs and performance, with a 48 megapixel sensor, a “hole punch” to house the front-facing camera, and dedicated Night, Portrait and Pro shooting modes aimed at photographers. Is this all the smartphone that you really need? Find out now by reading our in-depth Honor View 20 review, complete with full-size sample images and videos.

Huawei P30 Lite

The Huawei P30 Lite is a new mid-range smartphone that offers a lot of features for keen photographers. It has a triple camera setup with a 48 megapixel wide-angle lens, an 8 megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 2 megapixel bokeh lens. Find out if this is all the smartphone camera that you need by reading our in-depth Huawei P30 Lite review, complete with full-size sample images and videos...

OnePlus 7 Pro

The OnePlus 7 Pro is the biggest and most expensive flagship smartphone that OnePlus has ever released. With a 48-megapixel triple-camera setup, 4K/60p video recording, Nightscape and Pro shooting modes and the ability to shoot in Raw, is it also the best ever OnePlus phone? Find out now by reading our in-depth OnePlus 7 Pro review...

Oppo Reno 10x Zoom

Do you want a smartphone with a big zoom lens? Then look no further than the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom, which offers a 6x optical zoom and a 10x hybrid zoom lens to provide an effective focal range of 16-160mm - not too shabby for a smartphone! It also has a unique selfie pop-up camera, 48 megapixel 1/2-inch sensor, 4065mAh battery, 128GB or 256GB memory, 4K video recording and USB-C charging, all at a mid-range price. Read our Oppo Reno 10x Zoom review to find out just what the biggest smartphone manufacturer in China is capable of...

Sony Xperia 1 II

The Sony Xperia 1 II is a new flagship smartphone offering a range of pro image and video features aimed at keen camera enthusiasts. These include 20fps with continuous autofocus focus and autoexposure and real time eye AF for humans and animals, utilising technologies borrowed from the Alpha A9 full-frame mirrorless camera. Read our in-depth Sony Xperia 1 II review, complete with full-size sample images and videos, to find out if this new smartphone hits the mark for serious photography...

Review Roundup

Reviews of the OnePlus 8 Pro from around the web.

techradar.com »

The OnePlus 8 Pro is a proper flagship phone. No more cutting corners. No more 'flagship killer' underdog mantra. OnePlus is now officially mixing it with the biggest names in mobile. It means the 8 Pro is also its most expensive handset to date, but there's plenty of bang for your buck to justify the cost - plus it's still a shade cheaper than rival Samsung, Apple and Huawei smartphones.
Read the full review »

gsmarena.com »

The OnePlus 8 Pro was the company's flagship smartphone for 2020. Starting at a steep $899, the OnePlus 8 Pro is easily the most expensive smartphone OnePlus has ever launched.
Read the full review »

androidauthority.com »

The OnePlus 8 Pro is the most expensive phone OnePlus has ever made, but at $899 it's still cheaper than a number of competing flagships while offering a superior experience in a number of ways. With fast wireless charging, an official IP68 rating, and great battery life, this phone is what the OnePlus 7T Pro should have been.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Dimensions
Height: 165.3 mm Width: 74.3 mm Thickness: 8.5 mm Weight: 199g
Display
Parameters
Size: 6.78 inches(The corners of the screen are within a standard rectangle. Measured diagonally, the screen size is 6.78 inches in the full rectangle and 6.55 inches accounting for the rounded corners.) Resolution: 3168 x 1440 pixels 513 ppi Aspect Ratio: 19.8:9 Type: Fluid AMOLED Support sRGB, Display P3 Cover Glass: 3D Corning® Gorilla® Glass
Features
Adaptive Display Vibrant Color Effect Pro Motion Graphics Smoothing Reading Mode Night Mode
Performance
Operating System: OxygenOS based on Android™ 10 CPU: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 5G Chipset: X55 GPU: Adreno 650 RAM: 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 Storage: 128GB/256GB UFS 3.0 2-LANE Battery: 4510 mAh (non-removable) Warp Charge 30T Fast Charging (5V/6A) 30W Wireless Charging
Camera
Rear camera - Main
Sensor: Sony IMX689 Megapixels: 48 Pixel Size: 1.12 µm/48M; 2.24 µm (4 in 1)/12M Lens Quantity: 7P OIS: Yes EIS: Yes Aperture: f/1.78
Telephoto Lens
Megapixels: 8 Pixel Size: 1.0µm OIS: Yes Aperture: f/2.44
Ultra Wide Angle Lens
Megapixels: 48 Aperture: f/2.2 Field of View: 120°
Color Filter Lens
Megapixels: 5 Aperture: f/2.4
Flash
Dual LED Flash
Zoom
3× hybrid zoom
Autofocus
Multi Autofocus ( All pixel omni-directional PDAF+LAF+CAF)
Video
4K video at 30/60 fps 1080P video at 30/60 fps Super Slow Motion: 720p video at 480 fps, 1080p video at 240fps Time-Lapse: 1080P 30fps, 4k 30fps Video Editor
Features
CINE aspect ratio video recording, Video HDR, Cat&Dog face detect & focus, UltraShot HDR, Nightscape, Super Micro, Portrait, Pro Mode, Panorama, AI Scene Detection, RAW Image, Audio Zoom, Audio 3D
Front Camera
Sensor: Sony IMX471 Megapixels: 16 Pixel Size: 1.0 µm EIS: Yes Autofocus: Fixed Focus Aperture: f/2.45
Video
1080p video at 30fps Time-Lapse
Features
Face Unlock, HDR, Screen Flash, Face Retouching
Connectivity
LTE/LTE-A
4×4 MIMO, Supports up to DL Cat 18 / UL Cat 13(1.2Gbps / 150Mbps), depending on carrier support
Band
GSM:GSM850、GSM900、GSM1800、GSM1900 WCDMA:B1、B2、B4、B5、B8、B9、B19 CDMA:BC0 LTE-FDD:B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 32, 66 LTE-TDD:B34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46 5G:n1, n3, n7, n28, n78 MIMO:LTE: B1, 3, 7, 38, 40, 41 NR: n1, n3, n7, n78 (Note:Actual network and frequency band usage depends on local operator deployment. n1,n3,n7,n28 will be supported later through upgrades)
Wi-Fi
IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2.4G+5G, 2x2 MIMO
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.1, support aptX & aptX HD & LDAC & AAC & SBC
NFC
NFC enabled
Positioning
GPS (L1+L5 Dual Band), GLONASS, Galileo (E1+E5a Dual Band), Beidou, A-GPS
Sensors
In-display Fingerprint Sensor Accelerometer Electronic Compass Gyroscope Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Sensor Core Laser Sensor Flicker-detect sensor Front RGB sensor
Ports
USB 3.1 GEN1 Type-C Support standard Type-C earphone Dual nano-SIM slot
Buttons
Gestures and on-screen navigation support Alert Slider
Audio
Dual Stereo Speakers Noise cancellation support Dolby Atmos® Audio 3D, Audio Zoom
Multimedia
Audio Supported Formats
Playback: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, WAV, FLAC, APE, OGG, MID, M4A, IMY, AC3, EAC3, EAC3-JOC, AC4 Recording: WAV, AAC, AMR
Video Supported Formats
Playback: MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265(HEVC), AVI, WMV, TS, 3GP, FLV, WEBM Recording: MP4
Image Supported Formats
Playback: JPEG、PNG、BMP、GIF、WEB、HEIF、HEIC、RAW Output: JPEG, DNG
In The Box
OnePlus 8 Pro Warp Charge 30 Power Adapter Warp Type-C Cable (Support USB 2.0) Quick Start Guide Welcome Letter Safety Information and Warranty Card LOGO Sticker Case Screen Protector SIM Tray Ejector

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