OnePlus just released the OnePlus 7 with some pretty impressive specs, but most importantly,
it has a hidden internal mechanical front facing camera.
Today we're going to delve deep inside the OnePlus 7, find that camera, and see how the
robotic contraption functions from the inside.
And we'll see what a totally transparent OnePlus 7 would look like.
This video is sponsored by Audible.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Not gonna lie, I kind of like this Nebula Blue colored back glass.
It's got that frosty matte finish on top which will probably cloud the internal components
a bit when we remove the coloring from the glass, but we'll have to see.
The back glass comes off like most modern smartphones.
A lot of heat softens the adhesive, and then my thin pry tools can slip in and slice through
the black sticky stuff holding everything down.
OnePlus doesn't have a specific IP rating for the OnePlus 7.
We'll have to delve into that a bit more during the full tear down.
Right now I'm just being super gentle with the glass, because glass is glass, and glass
can break.
I'm also being super gentle with my fingers around that razor blade because fingers are
fingers, and fingers can take...take apart cellphones.
This is a bit harder than it looks, so I should probably definitely suggest not attempting
this on your own.
I'll slide off the back panel, the final top line of adhesive stretching loose, and we
get our first look at the battery.
It's, you know, still not red, but the pull tab is.
I've been asking OnePlus to bring back the epic red battery ever since the last one appeared
on the OnePlus 2.
[Flashback 2015] “And this is the best looking phone I've ever been inside.”
[Flashback 2016] “The biggest disappointment of this phone is that the battery is not red.”
[Flashback 2017] “We get our first glimpse at the non-red battery.
I guess OnePlus didn't get the memo that internal beauty is just as important as external beauty.”
[Flashback 2017] “This also exposes the totally not red battery.
Kind of disappointing.”
[Flashback 2018] “It's not red.”
[Flashback 2018] “Finally lifting open the OnePlus 6T reveals no red battery.”
I've been doing this for a really long time, but I do believe that the squeaky wheel gets
the grease, and we'll have a red battery again soon.
This time around the battery is black, and with the red pull tab, I still think it looks
pretty aesthetic, so I think I'll leave it alone for this OnePlus 7 clear edition.
The motorized camera is up here at the top, hidden underneath the black plastics, so we'll
have to unbury that component still.
Unfortunately it looks like in my excitement to take apart the 7, I forgot about the wire
cable attached to the rear sensors and LED flash, and I kind of decapitated the Lego-style
connector.
(Nobody tell OnePlus.)
I'll use a bit of heat and my razor to pop off the camera lens housing.
This is it's own separate unit which I think is a bit better design than LG's idea of using
the entire back panel as a camera lens on the G8.
Big pieces of glass have more of a chance of breaking than smaller pieces of glass.
The OnePlus 7 Pro has 10 Philips head screws holding down the top plastics.
Then the black plastic panel can come off.
It looks like the NCF coil's positioned right above the motorized front camera.
This camera looks very similar to the one we saw inside the Vevo Nex S. It also had
a motorized pop up camera.
Let's see how it operates.
I can turn the phone on at this point.
Even in it's undressed state, it will still function.
I'll make sure not to touch the exposed circuits.
The camera looks like it's operating on a stepper motor system, spinning it's threaded
shaft to raise and lower the camera in and out of the phone.
The camera itself has a flexible ribbon that moves up and down alongside the camera when
the selfie taking is activated.
Eventually, if the OnePlus 7 Pro camera is constantly moving, a warning will pop up saying
to protect the front camera, we need to not activate it so frequently.
Probably because the electric motors generate heat, and if the constant raising and lowering
loads heat the motor up too much, it will burn itself out sooner.
Where was I?
Oh yeah.
Raising and lowering the camera too much.
OnePlus said that in their own testing, this camera is capable of raising and lowering
300,000 which is rather impressive.
Manually pressing down on top of the camera when it's in the open position does engage
a safety mechanism that pulls the camera in automatically.
Mechanical moving parts inside of a cellphone are pretty much my favorite hardware feature
of all time.
One of my favorite software features though, that OnePlus has added to the top pull down
menu, is Zen Mode, which allows you to put your phone in a notification free totally
locked down mode for 20 minutes.
Disconnected from social media notifications and the Internet, and you can't access anything
for those 20 minutes.
Only phone calls and the camera app will work when Zen Mode is enabled.
It physically restricts yourself from accessing the distractions on your smartphone.
This goes hand in hand with a recent audio book I've been listening to on Audible.
And thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video.
It's called The Shallows – What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr.
He talks about neuroscience and the plasticity of our brain, and the way our brains are adapting
to receive information.
He says that the little “hits” that social media and news headlines blips give us are
actually changing our ability to concentrate on larger projects, and inhibit our ability
to develop those longer term connections in our brain.
It's a super interesting listen.
You can get this or any other audio book for free, plus two Audible Originals when you
try Audible for 30 days.
Visit audible.com/jerryrig or text the word “jerryrig” to 500-500.
Normally I like to bump up the speaking speed a bit when I'm listening.
The Audible Originals are exclusive audio titles created by story tellers that sound
way more like an immersive production instead of just a narration.
It's pretty interesting.
Audible is one of the many ways to develop those longer term brain connections, and enable
better concentration abilities...you know...the important stuff.
Grab your free audio book at audible.com/jerryrig or by texting “jerryrig” to 500-500.
The free books are always yours to keep, even if you cancel your membership.
I've personally been limiting my own social media intake, and it's good to see OnePlus
providing a built in option for their users with Zen Mode.
I think every phone should do this.
Let's get back to making a clear OnePlus 7.
The color on glass smartphones isn't dyed into the glass like on a stained glass window.
It's coated on the underside of the glass, and shines through the glass to give the phone
color.
Sometimes it's a powder coat, sometimes it's a weird paint, but more often than not, it's
just a laminate layer that's adhered to the glass.
And that's the case with this Nebula Blue OnePlus 7 Pro.
I can use my heat gun once again to soften the adhesive layer, and then peel it up in
one large chunk.
It's a tedious process since the adhesive layer is pretty strong, and I don't want to
flex the glass too much or it might shatter into a million pieces.
But it is rather satisfying to see the blue coloring come up in one massive piece.
Thumbs up for that.
The logo and text are still etched into the glass itself, so honestly, it really wouldn't
be hard for OnePlus to make a clear version of the phone themselves.
Just saying.
It's already ready.
The glass itself is clouded, so from a distance it kind of blurs out objects, but closer up
things are clear, just with a little matte finish.
It's not totally transparent, but should still look pretty cool when finished.
Since the NFC coil on the black plastics will be blocking our view, I'm going to unwrap
it from the panel and set it off to the side.
The NFC won't work anymore of course, but I'm willing to make some sacrifices for the
cooler hardware.
And then with a couple of carefully planned snips from my scissors, we can keep the rest
of the plastics, which have some integrated antennas and shielding for the motherboard,
but still provide us with a window to the insides of the phone.
I'll screw everything else back into place so it's as close to stock as possible.
And then I can clean off the underside of the rear glass panel to get rid of any fingerprints
and minor adhesive residue.
The laminate coloring did come off pretty clean.
The rest of the install is pretty simple.
I'll add some thin strong double-sided tape all around the 4 sides.
I'll link this tape in the description, and I'll put some on the back of the camera lens,
making sure it's surrounding the entirety of the edge so that dust won't ever start
to seep in.
Not too shabby.
And that's what the OnePlus 7 looks like totally naked.
No coloring, hardware exposed, with a see-through glass panel and a tiny window in the corner
for the coolest part.
The motorized front facing camera is visible.
If OnePlus has gone through all the effort of adding cool hardware, I think they should
at least want to show it off with a clear addition, right?
What do you think about about it?
Should I have changed the battery to red, or do you like the stealthy black?
Should I add the red battery when we delve deeper into the 10 layer thermal heat pipe
OnePlus has been talking about?
Let me know down in the comments.
Come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter.
I only post a few times a week...you know...keeping the healthy balance with social media and
real life.
And make sure to grab your free audio book with the Audible link in the description.
And thanks a ton for watching.
I'll see you around.