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Software
- The first phone to come with Android 10 out of the box.
- Still the slickest Android skin in the market.
- New gestures make navigation easier.
The OnePlus 7T is the first phone to come with Android 10 out of the box. It's running the new OxygenOS version 10.0 on top of Google's latest operating system. This skin, as we have known it, is cosmetically different from stock Android, but follows the same principles. It's light, clean, and pleasing to the eye.
It's our favorite custom Android skin across all brands. That's because of the fluidity it offers while navigating around the interface. The company has consistently emphasized heavily on optimizing the scrolling, animations, and transitions within the interface for a smoother experience, and it shows.
With Android 10, it also gets swipe gestures from the left or right edge of the screen to go back and a bottom navigation bar to allow switching between recent apps. Although we're not accustomed to using these gestures on Android, it did seem to fasten navigation after a point.
New customization feature allows you to select the shape of icons between round, square, teardrop, and rectangle. Also, there's a setting under Messages which lets you input specific keywords to block spam SMSs.
What we like about the OxygenOS is that it is void of unnecessary clutter, but still allows enough customizations to keep the feel of Android alive.
There are some other small but meaningful additions to the UI, and we're told that it will soon receive the pre-announced India-specific features like OnePlus roaming, Cricket score at a glance, work-life balance.
It is also slated to receive a new Gallery app, Smart albums and a couple of updates in the wellbeing feature. We'll update this review as these features are rolled out for the OnePlus 7T.
Verdict
With the OnePlus 7T, the company has effectively made the OnePlus 7 Pro more accessible to consumers. It is the best 'T' upgrade to any OnePlus phone to date and an attractive proposition for those who find the OnePlus 7 Pro too bulky.
The display is excellent, and performance is every bit as good as that of the 7 Pro – and the fast-charging speed is even faster. The only tradeoff compared with the 7 Pro is that you miss out on that stunning curved QHD+ display and the pop-up selfie camera.
At ₹37,999 ($599 in the US), the 7T does not face a lot of competition with the overall package it offers. Meanwhile, users in India can consider the ROG Phone II 8GB variant at exactly the same price.
Who is it for?
As we mentioned, it's a perfect fit for those who want the smarts of the OnePlus 7 Pro at a much lesser price or in a slightly compact form factor. If the curved display and pop-up don't matter much, the 7T is a perfect fit.
For customers in India who are willing to compromise the camera performance in favor of better gaming performance and display, the ROG Phone II is a better deal.
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