OnePlus has gotten a little complex with their naming scheme lately. Just like everyone else
who makes phones. But I'm pretty sure this OnePlus 7T lies right between the OnePlus
7 and the OnePlus 7 Pro. It' kind of the middle ground between the other two versions. It's
good of course to have options, but only if they're durable. This video is sponsored by
Audible.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
You can tell if a phone manufacturer takes care of their customers or not by what they
happen to include in their box. OnePlus has once again gone above and beyond the norm
by including a pretty beefy clear plastic case in the box with a massive cutout in the
center for what I assume is the rear camera. As well as a bright red USB-C charging cable,
and the best thing, in my opinion, is this charging brick. This beast can supply 30 watts
of fast charging warp power to the OnePlus 7T. Thumbs up for that. For comparison, Samsung
includes a 25 watt charger with the Galaxy S10, and Apply includes a painfully antiquated
5 watt charger with the new iPhone 11. The higher the watts, the faster your phone will
charge.
This is the Glacier Blue OnePlus 7T. It has a massive circular camera cutout in the glass
that reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. That circular camera
cutout is the most distinguishing feature of the OnePlus 7T, along with the teardrop
notch in the top of the screen.
If you remember, the 7 Pro managed to get rid of that notch by motorizing the front
camera. OnePlus does include a plastic screen protector on the phone, which once again is
very kind of them.
It's time we start with the scratch test. Luckily, the large camera circle on the back
is dead center on the phone so it's not rocking back and forth all over the place when we
touch the screen. Screens can be made from a few different materials. Plastic, like we
saw on the Galaxy Fold. Glass, which we normally see on most smartphones. Or super scratch
resistant sapphire crystal which exists on some of the more premium phones we've tested
in the past. This time around, OnePlus is using Gorilla Glass and we start seeing scratches
at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. This means that the normal car keys, coins,
and razor blades won't do any damage to the surface of the glass. The 16 megapixel front
facing camera is also protected under the same piece of glass. And the long top stereo
speaker is covered by a thin plastic grill that's pretty securely glued into place.
The sides of the OnePlus 7T are made from anodized aluminum. You can see the glint of
silver shining through under that anodizing. That volume rocker is also made from metal.
Up at the top of the phone there is once again no headphone jack. OnePlus decided to sink
that ship right about the same time they came out with their Bullets Wireless earbuds, which,
you know, I'm sure was just a coincidence.
Over on the right side of the phone, there's a feature that I wish every phone had – this
is a triple sliding mute switch. I know it sounds lame, but unlocking my phone just to
put it on silent gets pretty annoying. Having a physical slider on the outside that can
toggle between the different sound settings is super appealing. But I'm also a huge fan
of features. So when the phone is missing important tools like the expandable memory
card slot, it makes my decision to upgrade much harder. Everyone's different though,
and there are plenty of phones out there to choose from. OnePlus is calling this back
panel a matte frosted glass. And you can hear by the sound of my razor blade that the frosting,
or the etching, is on the back side of the panel. But it's not near as aggressive as
what we saw in the newer iPhones, or the older Pixel 3. The surface doesn't grind off much
of my quarter. Nor does it take any metal off of this screw. It's a much more subtle
texture that won't be sanding down other objects in your pocket or purse.
Now one thing I really do like about the 7T is the triple camera set up. The more features
a phone has, the more I'm going to like it. And the less features a phone has, well, the
less I'm going to like it. It's a pretty simple philosophy. There is a 16 megapixel wide angle
lens on the left, with a 48 megapixel main sensor in the center. And a 12 megapixel 2x
optical zoom lens on the right, with the dual LED flash down at the bottom. The coolest
part though is that this phone has the ability to take macro close up pictures of something
that's just 2.5 centimeters away, which is impossible for most other phones on the market
right now.
OnePlus says it's done with some kind of specialized zooming hardware inside the camera unit. So
it'll be interesting to see what that looks like from the inside? Technology is super
amazing.
Remember the show MythBusters with Adam Savage? Well he has a new Audible Original talking
about the future of technology on earth and beyond that I think is pretty interesting.
Huge thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video. His audio book is called What Happens
Next – Conversations from Mars. Adam Savage interviews scientists and astronauts about
the future and their responses are pretty fascinating. You can get your first audio
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Audible is definitely one of my favorite apps. And Adam Savage's story is worth a listen.
OnePlus is pushing the boundaries with that macro photography, but also with their display
technology. This is a 6.5 inch 90 Hertz 1080p fluid AMOLED display. The 90 Hertz means that
the screen can refresh or display images much faster than the average smartphone. The 7T
does have a lot going for it, especially at this price. The thin OLED display even allows
for an underscreen fingerprint scanner. It's also cheaper and has more features than the
more expensive recently announces Pixel 4.
The OnePlus 7T lasted about 25 seconds under the heat from my lighter, and then mostly
recovered. There's still a faint burn mark, so starting your phone on fire probably isn't
the best idea. OnePlus has never failed my durability test before. Usually they are a
solid device for the price. But this time, with the first bend, something new happens.
The back glass has cracked. Now obviously I subject my phones to more abuse than they
would normally receive in every day life. That's kind of the point. The majority of
phones I test though usually survive being bent. This OnePlus 7T cracked in the center
of the phone along the edge and spread upwards towards the massive camera cutout. It's hard
to say whether the flexible frame or the tight glass tolerance, or the large hole cut in
the glass contributed more to the glass cracking. But we can tell that the glass phone back
is definitely busted. The phone itself survived and the screen still works, so I won't write
it off as a total fail. But still, the OnePlus 7T should definitely be wearing a case. The
large hole in the back might very well be contributing to a more fragile glass panel
overall. The more of a substance you remove, the more fragile it gets.
We'll definitely have to see how the 7T holds up over time. But personally, I think removing
that much of the rear glass panel for the camera lens was a bad idea.
Let me know what you think down in the comments. And come hang out with me over on Instagram
and Twitter. And grab your free audio book with the link in the description. Thanks a
ton for watching, and I'll see you around.