OnePlus 8T: Everything you need to know

The OnePlus 8T series is here! Contrary to leaks leading up to the launch, the OnePlus 8T Ultra was not announced—instead, only the OnePlus 8T has been unveiled. Of course, a couple of key specs have already been leaked over the past couple of weeks, but now, we have the complete information on the new flagship smartphone from OnePlus.

All caught up? Let’s get into it.

Price and availability

The OnePlus 8T is available in two colours: Aquamarine Green and Lunar Silver. Pre-orders in the U.S. and Europe begin today, with with official sales to begin in Europe on the 20th of October 2020, and the 23rd of October in the U.S.

Official pricing in Europe is as follows:

OnePlus 8T – 8GB RAM, 128GB storage – EUR 599 (~RM2,918)
OnePlus 8T – 12GB RAM, 256GB storage – EUR 699 (~RM3,406)

Malaysian availability details have yet to be confirmed for now, but we do expect to receive word soon.

OnePlus 8T specs

OnePlus says that a lot of work has gone into the look and finish of the OnePlus 8T, with a weight of 188g and a thickness of 8.4mm designed to improve the in-hand feel of the smartphone. The finish of the phone’s back should feel similar to the Silk White version of the iconic OnePlus One, and the company promises that the surface should also be resistant to fingerprints.

This is also the first smartphone—besides the new Google Pixel—to ship with Android 11 out of the box via OxygenOS 11. That makes sense, with its predecessor, the OnePlus 8, already receiving the stable OS update recently.

Up front, the OnePlus 8T features a 6.55″ Fluid AMOLED Display pushing a resolution of 2400×1080 pixels (402 ppi) and a refresh rate of 120Hz. Additionally, this is a flat display, and is rated for max brightness of 1,100 nits, while HDR10+ is also supported. According to the company, the display is a customised to be flexible—resulting in a thinner, lighter screen with wide viewing angles.

If you’re the sort of user that depends on auto-brightness on your smartphone, OnePlus says that new high-precision light sensors and AI combine to offer more accurate brightness levels. Meanwhile, you also get dual stereo speakers which support Dolby Atmos.

And for gamers? Fortnite still runs at 90 fps. They’ve also added improvements to the gaming mode on the phone, with a new Fnatic mode that will “supercharge” your experience. Plus, the vapour chamber on the 8T has now been increased by 285 percent (over the OnePlus 8), so heat dissipation should theoretically improve significantly.

Under the hood, the OnePlus 8T is powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor, mated with up to 12GB of RAM; you also get fast UFS3.1 storage of up to 256GB. To charge the 4,500mAh battery, OnePlus is including a Warp Charge 65 charger in the box—this charger also supports Power-Delivery charging speeds of up to 45W.

For photography, you’re looking at a 48MP main shooter with a Sony IMX586 sensor, a 16MP ultra-wide angle lens with a 123-degree field of view, a 5MP macro lens and a 2MP monochrome lens. Something new on the OnePlus 8T is the new nightscape video feature—which should work in a similar way to the photography version of the feature on the phone. And for selfies, you get a 16MP camera housed in a single hole-punch cutout on the display.

A few more things to note. Yes, of course, 5G is available on the OnePlus 8T. No, there isn’t a 3.5mm headphone jack, which shouldn’t come as a surprise anymore. And yes, WiFi 6 is supported on OnePlus’ latest flagship smartphone.

So, what do you think? Is this worth a buy? Let us know in the comments section below.