Until now the Samsung Galaxy S20 range contained the best phones of 2020, but the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro have been announced, and they might have Samsung’s latest and greatest beat.
That’s because for the first time ever, OnePlus has launched a truly no-compromise handset in the form of the OnePlus 8 Pro, a phone which has the two features fans have been crying out for in recent years – namely wireless charging and an IP68 certification (meaning it’s water and dust resistant).
The absence of those features are two key ways that OnePlus usually does compromise, but the OnePlus 8 Pro also goes above and beyond in other areas, such as with its screen, which is a 6.78-inch 1440 x 3168 Fluid AMOLED display with 513 pixels per inch. So it’s large and high resolution, and it’s also curved.
But the best thing about the screen is its 120Hz refresh rate – that makes everything silky smooth, and while the Samsung Galaxy S20 range can match it, those phones can only manage that refresh rate coupled with a FHD+ resolution – up it to a resolution that rivals the OnePlus 8 Pro and the refresh rate plummets down to 60Hz.
With the OnePlus 8 Pro you also get top-end power, thanks to a Snapdragon 865 chipset (which is the best you’ll find in any Android phone) and up to 12GB of RAM.
Plus it has a quad-lens camera, with a powerful 48MP main sensor, a 16MP ultra-wide one, an 8MP telephoto one (with 3x optical zoom), and a 5MP depth sensor, so it rivals other flagships for photography too.
And there’s a big 4,510mAh battery, an in-screen fingerprint scanner, and a premium design, all for a £799 SIM-free price that’s high – but not quite as high as most comparable handsets.
The standard OnePlus 8 meanwhile is slightly less exciting but at £599 SIM-free it’s a lot cheaper, so it’s just as good value. It has the same top-end chipset and up to 12GB of RAM, along with a similarly premium design and an in-screen fingerprint scanner of its own, but many of the other specs differ a bit.
The screen is a 6.55-inch 1080 x 2400 one with a still-impressive 90Hz refresh rate, for example, while the camera is a triple-lens one with 48MP main, 16MP ultra-wide, and 2MP macro sensors. The battery is also a little smaller at 4,300mAh.
Whichever of these handsets you opt for though you’ll be getting one of the more powerful and feature-packed phones available, and you’ll be getting it at a good price. Oh, and did we mention they are also 5G Phones?
