OnePlus 7T Pro review

Oxygen 10 with Android 10

With every passing iteration of OnePlus phones, the Oxygen experience somehow gets snappier and more fluid. We saw the most significant change with the 90Hz display, but the change is even slightly more apparent with the latest version of the Oxygen launcher.

With the 7T series, OnePlus brings Android 10 out of the box overlaid with its Oxygen OS skin. In the past few updates, Oxygen has been known for minimally customizing the stock-Android formula, while adding useful software features without going overboard.

We've covered some of those features in our OnePlus 7 Pro review which have remained mostly unchanged. However, there are slight differences for Android 10: Android permissions are revamped, and gesture controls work a bit differently now. Meanwhile, the stock gallery app has been updated with new features, and OnePlus' Zen Mode gets more customizable.

With Android 10, OnePlus' navigation gestures have been replaced with Google's. You can now switch between the two most recent apps in a single move, and there is a much easier way to switch between most recent apps with a single move.

If you've ever used gesture navigation on a Huawei or Xiaomi device, the behavior is basically the same: 1.) Swipe up from the bottom to go home 2.) swipe up and hold for recent apps 3.) the "Back" gesture is now a swipe in from either the left or right edge of the screen 4.) you can switch between most recently used apps by sliding the gesture bar to the left or right.

Gesture controls

Swiping in from either lower corner will summon Google Assistant, but if you'd rather do it the way that Apple does with Siri, you can set a 0.5s short-press of the Power key to do the same. You'll have to press and hold the power key for 3 seconds when you want to reach the power menu. For those who prefer OnePlus' old bottom gestures, that option is no longer available. You can only choose between the new Google gesture navigation or the OG three-button navbar.

You can always use OnePlus' OG gesture controls that work with the screen off - these are called Quick Gestures. Double-tap to wake is also available, as well as music controls with the screen off.

More gesture settings

You have two options for security: face unlock and fingerprint. Face unlock doesn't use any 3D scanning, so it's going to be less secure than using a fingerprint. You can also customize the unlock animation for the in-display scanner, but it isn't like you'll even see this animation for very long, since the scanner is quite fast.

We are beyond happy to report the fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 7T Pro is the fastest of its kind and definitely the best we've seen to date. It is equal in speed and accuracy to the best conventional sensors we've met, and we've finally reached the catch-up day. Yay!

Face unlock • Fingerprint setup • Fingerprint animations

With the latest version of Oxygen OS, a handful of changes have been introduced to the look and feel of the UI. There is now a customization menu that lets you change the look and feel of the homescreens and app drawer.

Customization menu 1 • menu 2 • Wallpaper chooser • Clock style

You can set the shape of the app icons, the shape of toggles, the accent colors, the font, the icon packs, and you can choose from a few clocks to set on the Ambient display.

Select tone • Toggle shape • Choose theme • Dark theme

Likewise, Ambient display is now smarter and shows you more relevant information. It can show you media titles, the weather, Do Not Disturb status and upcoming calendar events. Of course, this along with the time, date, and notification icons. It's not a real Always-On display in the sense that it only lights up when you pick up the phone or when you tap on the screen.

Ambient display

Something unique to OnePlus is what it calls the "Shelf". It's a page that you can set up with app-specific shortcuts like creating a contact or taking a selfie. It has a nifty parking feature that you can mark where you parked and keep an eye on your parking duration, as well as a list of recent apps.

Home screen • App drawer • OnePlus Shelf • Shelf settings • Notifications • Task switcher

OnePlus introduced Zen Mode with the OnePlus 7 and it has been updated with the 7T with some more customizations. For instance, you can set Zen mode to last from 20 to 60 minutes in 20-minute intervals. You can also set Zen mode reminders daily at whatever time you go to bed, for instance.

Once you start Zen Mode, there is no way to disable it, even if you restart the device. You'll only be able to use the camera or answer incoming calls when in Zen Mode. Otherwise, you can only place emergency calls - so make sure you update your emergency contacts in the lock-screen settings.

Zen Mode • • Settings • FAQ

Digital Wellbeing is a new addition to Oxygen OS, and it isn't any different from Android's original implementation. You can check your device usage and the number of times unlocked. You can also set a Wind Down to automatically start so you can mentally prepare to disconnect for bed.

Digital Wellbeing: Main screen • Dashboard • Wind Down • Do Not Disturb

The Screen Recorder feature is baked into Oxygen OS. You activate it by tapping on its tile in the quick settings. You can record anything you do on your screen and you can choose whether to record the phone's audio or input from the microphone, or both.

Screen recorder settings

Additional pre-installed apps include a voice recorder, file manager, notes app, and OnePlus Switch. The notes app is very simple - it saves memos, but you're better off using any of the endless note-taking apps that sync to a cloud service for convenience. Finally, OnePlus Switch is an app for moving data over from an old device.

File Manager • Notes • OnePlus Switch

Performance and benchmarks

The OnePlus 7T Pro runs on Snapdragon 855+ chip - the most current Qualcomm chip, but a minor upgrade over the 7 Pro's S855. The Plus version is essentially a factory overclocked Snapdragon 855 with a bit faster clocks for the processor and GPU.

Snapdragon 855+ powers the OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro

The Snapdragon 855+ is an octa-core chipset with four low-power cores and four high-power cores, the prime core of that cluster is clocked at 2.96GHz (up from the 855's 2.84GHz). The other high-power cores are clocked at 2.42GHz and the four low-power cores clock in at 1.8GHz, the latter two of which remain unchanged from the 855 (non-plus).

Still, the processor wouldn't be reaching its peak clock speeds under everyday use, so the overclocked prime core would only shine its spec bump when playing games. Meanwhile, the Adreno 640 on the 855+ is slightly overclocked by about 100 MHz.

Otherwise, both S855 chips use the same Qualcomm's X24 modem.

The OnePlus 7T Pro gets a bump in base RAM to 8GB from the 7 Pro's 6GB, even though you could still opt for up to 8GB on the 7 Pro. Speaking of which, the storage standard for OnePlus is now UFS 3.0 2-lane for super-fast read and write speeds. This really helps with app performance and system fluidity and with internal storage, this fast, having a microSD slot would only slow things down.

Now let's look at exactly how much more raw performance we can get out of the updated chipset.

The difference in the single-core CPU performance is indeed there and the scores confirm the S855+ fastest core does more work than its counterpart in the S855. It still can't exactly match the custom Mongoose M4 core by Samsung, though it is getting close.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  837
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  822
• OnePlus 7T
  788
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  780
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  779
• Sony Xperia 5
  751
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  744
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  628

The OnePlus 7T Pro and its S855+ processor do great when it comes to combine core performance. The S855+ demonstrates excellent skills and is indeed among the fastest Android CPUs, though the numbers show it is as good as the previous S855 chip in the 7 Pro and Xperia 5.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  2972
• OnePlus 7T
  2932
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  2807
• Sony Xperia 5
  2806
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  2763
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  2514
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  2300
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  2259

The OnePlus 7T Pro's Adreno 640 GPU is well-equipped to handle any mobile game and now it has nearly 100MHz faster clock than the same GPU within the OnePlus 7 Pro. It is indeed the fastest mobile GPU on the market as far as Android smartphones are concerned, and it is indeed slightly better than the regular Adreno 640 GPU inside the Xperia 5 and 7 Pro.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  80
• OnePlus 7T
  79
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  76
• OnePlus 7
  71
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  71
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  69
• Sony Xperia 5
  69
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  68
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  68
• OnePlus 6T
  60
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  59
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  56

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T
  48
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  48
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  43
• OnePlus 7
  42
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  42
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  42
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  41
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  41
• Sony Xperia 5
  40
• OnePlus 6T
  35
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  33
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  28

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  6921
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  6441
• OnePlus 7
  6388
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  6322
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  6282
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  6093
• Sony Xperia 5
  5592
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  5287
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  5269
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  4315

The OnePlus 7T Pro has a high-res 1440p+ display and if a game is running at native resolution (very few are) it will put the 7T Pro behind the 1080p phones. Here are some onscreen tests to put things in perspective.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T
  59
• OnePlus 7
  57
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  57
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  56
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  55
• OnePlus 6T
  53
• Sony Xperia 5
  52
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  50
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  40
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  38
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  34
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  33

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T
  41
• OnePlus 7
  36
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  36
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  34
• Sony Xperia 5
  33
• OnePlus 6T
  31
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  29
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  28
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  24
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  24
• Google Pixel 4 XL
  21
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  19

When you launch a game, a window pops up, offering you to enable the game optimizer called "Fnatic Mode". This mode optimizes all the phone's resources to give you the best possible game performance. It will also drop apps that were suspended in the RAM, so do keep this in mind so you don't accidentally lose an unfinished post.

Fnatic mode also offers options to limit or completely disable alerts and notifications and various other options.

Fnatic mode

Finally, the OnePlus 7T Pro aced the AnTuTu 7 test and posted a chart-topping score.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  395868
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  378950
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  377024
• OnePlus 7
  367812
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  364025
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  344442
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  342208
• Sony Xperia 5
  334809
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  316156
• OnePlus 6T
  293994

The OnePlus 7T Pro is more powerful than the OnePlus 7 Pro, but barely so. And this tiny gap in performance won't make 7 Pro users to jump ship. But having S855+ chip makes the 7T Pro one of the most powerful Android smartphones today, acing gaming with that 90Hz display, and everything else in terms of power punch.

The 7T Pro rocks a rather good passive cooling system as we did not find any hot spots after long test runs, so that's another win by our books.