Overnight in New York OnePlus announced the much-anticipated and much-leaked OnePlus 7 Pro. Even with the bulk of the specs and features being leaked beforehand OnePlus did not disappoint with their first device of 2019.
The OnePlus 7 Pro signifies OnePlus’ coming of age as they step into the truly premium smartphone market and attempt to play with the big dogs. They have shown in some areas that they can hold their own but the OnePlus 7 Pro is their first attempt to do that with nearly every hardware and software feature.
OnePlus 7 Pro – their first true premium smartphone
As expected and unsurprisingly, the OnePlus 7 Pro was the phone everyone came to see.
With a new 6.67-inch QHD+ (3120 x 1440 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display capable of 90Hz refresh rate there is barely a bezel in sight – there is certainly no notch anywhere to be seen. The bezels are so small that the resultant screen to body ratio is a very high 93.22%.
Underneath the DisplayMate A+ rated display is the fingerprint sensor – a second generation in-display fingerprint sensor which has a 38% larger area and is faster than the first generation scanner. It can unlock the phone in just 0.21 seconds.
We constantly challenge ourselves to give people the best experience possible. A great user experience should enhance your life instead of distracting you from it.
I’m so proud of what we’ve built with the OnePlus 7 Pro, and can’t wait for others to try out the display.Pete Lau, founder and CEO of OnePlus.
Even with such a large display the phone is not overly big coming in at 162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8 mm and 210 grams. It’s amazing what companies can do when they have a solution for the notch.
The notch housing the front facing camera has been replaced with a pop-up selfie camera of 16MP which takes just 0.53 seconds to slide out. For those worried about its durability OnePlus have tested it 300,000 times and it is capable of holding a 49lb weigh without breaking. For drops it has free fall detection where it will retract the lens if it sense it being dropped.
The rear facing camera is a triple camera setup this time featuring a 48MP main lens, a 16MP wide-angled (117deg FOV) lens and an 8MP 78mm telephoto lens capable of 3x optical zoom.
A general indication of how good a smartphone camera is is its DxOMark score. The OnePlus 7 Pro scored a massive 111. That puts it just 1 solitary point behind the Huawei P30 Pro. It will be interesting to see if it gets the same recognition when IRL tests are in.
OnePlus promise that the device will be faster than ever thanks not only to their software optimisation but the Snapdragon 855 paired with 6GB, 8GB or 12GB of RAM. This is backed up with UFS3.0 onboard storage options in either 128GB or 256GB. For those worried about the heat created by such a powerful system OnePlus have upgraded their cooling system to liquid cooling.
The battery is a decent 4000mAh battery capable of charging at 30W speeds, hence the Warp Charge 30 proprietary charging name. Warp Charge 30 is able to charge the OnePlus 7 Pro’s battery from empty to half in just 20 minutes. There will be support for Bluetooth 5.0, W-Fi AC, USB 3.1 Type C. Add in stereo Dolby Atmos speakers and you have a premium phone.
The software features are of course powered by Android 9.0 Pie and a new version of OxygenOS – version 9.5. The new features coming to the OnePlus 7 Pro include Zen mode (a type of Digital Wellbeing to help you get on with life), 90Hz app support, a screen recorder and navigation gestures. OnePlus are promising two years of regular software updates (Android versions) and three years of security updates.
The lowest specced version (6GB/128GB) will be available in Mirror Grey for
US$669 (~AU$1015) while the middle of the range (8GB/256GB) will be available in Mirror Gray and Nebula Blue colours for US$699 (~AU$1060). The super version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage is only available in Nebula Blue for US$749 (~AU$1138). Almond coloured versions (with gold piping) will be available in June.
The OnePlus 7 Pro is available for sale NOW from the T-Mobile Times Square Signature store and from various pop-ups around the world.
Bullets Wireless 2
In amongst all the phone announcements OnePlus also announced their new Bullets Wireless 2. They are in-ear buds connected by a neck band that allows them to sit comfortably in the ears without being weighed down by the hardware required for high quality sound.
OnePlus has placed two Knowles armature drivers in combination with one GoerTek dynamic driver in the Bullets Wireless 2 to deliver an amazing sound. This combined with aptX HD and Bluetooth 5.0 support result in the highest quality sound with a great consistency that OnePlus have ever produced.
The earphones also support Warp Charging with 10 minutes of charging giving 10 hours of playback. With a full charge the Bullets Wireless 2 promise to give 14 hours of continuous playback.
Bullets Wireless 2 are retailing for US$99 and have Google Assistant built in.
Will they be coming here?
Unfortunately at this stage it is not officially coming here but with it sold in more and more regions each time the OnePlus flagship is not all that difficult to obtain.
At this stage it will be available in pop-up stores tomorrow in various locations in the US, UK, Europe and India. Check out the popup website for more information.
If you are interested in purchasing this phone locally continue to keep hitting OnePlus up on their social media channels. They are hearing our voices, we just need to make a loud enough noise such that it can no longer be ignored.
Otherwise jump onto your favourite grey market importer or your third party shipper and grab one now.
The OnePlus One was the most awesome phone – high spec, value price, open OS.
Now they’re only 1 out of 3, and no Australian warranty.
Wasn’t the Pro going to be 5G? Or is that another model coming down the line?
No official import, no official warranty, no parts, not buying it!
uggghhhh 1k+ for a phone which isnt officially sold in australia… ummm no thanks would rather buy a competitors device knowing that if there is a problem i can just send it to them to have it fixed…
“Otherwise jump onto your favourite grey market importer or your third party shipper and grab one now”
I would not recommend anyone buy an imported phone based on my warranty “experience”. If anything goes wrong with the repair process, you’re at the mercy of the seller and without protections of consumer affairs. It’s an expensive device, so you want the best outcome in case of a warranty claim.
What do you mean “without protections of consumer affairs” you are not nor are you ever without the protection if you purchase from a local business. They need to provide the required legal protection should they import into this country.
You presume, chris, that the etailer you would be able to purchase from, is an Australian company. The majority are not, so they can safely ignore Australian law.
I find it strange that OnePlus didn’t mention the regular OnePlus 7 during the launch.