OnePlus 7 Unboxing, Quick Review: Trimmed Down but Packs Heat

OnePlus 7 Unboxing, Quick Review: Trimmed Down but Packs Heat

We Unbox the OnePlus 7!

A couple of months back, we gave you guys a quick look at the OnePlus 7 Pro. The device was decked to the nines with an amazing spec sheet that includes one of the best processors in the market, a great 90Hz display that just made everything look so smooth, and a sweet set of cameras as well.

However, one of the major issues with that device is its price tag. After all, OnePlus was the brand you turned to when you were looking for “THE flagship killer” and its SRP didn’t reflect that; not to mention the fact that Xiaomi pretty much wrecked the curve for everyone.

So strip away some of the things that made the 7 Pro a Pro device and you’ve got the device that we’re showing you today but first, let’s take it out of the packaging.

What’s Inside the Box?

The box of the OnePlus 7 is pretty much what you would expect from the brand. It’s a nice clean white cardboard box with red accents. The unboxing experience is straightforward but it is well put together. The phone comes with the usual stuff.

You’ve got the device itself and our review unit came in a very eye-catching red color way. It also comes with your standard jelly case, documentation, the classic red cable that we’ve come to know and love from OnePlus, and the Dash Charger.

Yup. No warp charging here but it will still do the job as it always has.

Trimmed Down but Still Packing Heat

In terms of looks, there isn’t much of a difference between the Pro and its base variant, which is expected I suppose. As I mentioned and clearly see in the photos, we got the very stunning red color variant of the device but if you want something a little low key, it will be offered in black too.

It has a glass back and metal frame, which gives the phone a good amount of heft. It sits well in the hand since it does have all the right curves. We do , however, wish that they offered it with a matte finish to make it less of a fingerprint magnet and less slippery as well.

You’re definitely doing to want to use the included case or a better one to help you get a better grip on the device and to lay it flat on the table because it does have a rather sizeable camera bump.

Time for the obligatory tour of the device.

On the right side, you’ve got the signature OnePlus notification slider and the power button.

Access to the SIM tray and the volume rocker is found on the left.

The top is pretty much empty save for a microphone, which leaves the USB-C port and speaker grilles on the bottom. RIP, headphone jack.

The base model 7 is slightly smaller than its Pro sibling; due to the fact that the display measures in at 6.41-inches. The resolution tops out at Full HD+, which is pretty much the sweet spot for mobile phones in my opinion and you have an Optic AMOLED panel to go along with it so it’s definitely a treat for the consuming content.

The AMOLED panel also gives you access to an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is nice and accurate.

As expected, they also scaled back the refresh rate from 90Hz to 60Hz. I kinda miss the super zippy the screen of the Pro but this one’s no slouch either. No curved display here either but that’s no biggie.

What might turn off some of you is the tear drop notch. Since there’s no pop up module on the OnePlus 7, they had to do with this aesthetic but it’s 2019 and we should be a little more tolerable toward it.

The notch houses essentially the same front camera as the OnePlus 7 Pro at 16-megapixel with an aperture of f/2.0. While we’re at it, we might as well swing over to rear to check out the shooters there.

You’ve got one less on the back of the device with dual camera setup comprised of a 48-megapixel main camera at f/1.7 plus a 5-megapixel depth sensor. The main shooter on this phone is backed by a Sony IMX 586 sensor that should help produce great images but more about that when we release our full review.

OnePlus really bared down on the feature set of the 7 but at least you’ve still got a kick ass processing package. At the heart of it is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. Unfortunately, you can’t expand upon the storage but that is a lot of room for apps and media even at the 128GB variant.

If there’s one downside to this phone that I’m seeing already,  it’s in the battery department. 4000mAh has pretty much been the norm, especially for the amount of muscle this device has and to see the OnePlus 7 go below par made me wince a little. You still have a 3700mAh battery to play with, which should get you by for an entire day, I just wish they had bumped it up a little bit.

On the upside though you do have Android Pie with OxygenOS, which means you’ve got one of the cleanest UI overlays in the market plus you get to enjoy regular updates to tweak all the issues that you may run into in the software department.

They really did a lot to really trim down the OnePlus 7 and, while I do miss some of the awesome features of the Pro version, this is somewhat reminiscent of what the brand used to offer and the price tag we’re used to seeing on their devices too; a calling back to their “Flagship Killer” roots maybe. They might not hold the title anymore but it’s nice to see them give this option to loyal fans who believe in the brand and this device still packs a lot of heat. Of course, this is just our initial take on things so let’s see what it can do when we spend more time with it.

The OnePlus 7’s starting price is Php 26,990 and should be available at Digital Walker and the official OnePlus Lazada and Shopee pages as well. The folks over at Digital Walker are also offering Easy-to-Own Installment Plans for up to 24 months at Php 1,241 per month.

OnePlus 7 Specs

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor
  • Adreno 640 GPU
  • 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X RAM
  • 128GB/256GB of UFS 3.0 storage
  • 6.28-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut
  • Dual rear cameras: 48-megapixel Sony IMX 586 f/1.7 main camera with OIS, 5-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor, PDAF, LED Flash
  • 16-megapixel f/2.0 front camera with AI
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE Cat. 16/13 4CA
  • Wi-Fi,4×4 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
  • GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
  • USB Type-C, in-display Fingerprint sensor, Face unlock, Stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos
  • 3700mAh battery with 20W Warp Charge
  • Android 9.0 Pie

 

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