OnePlus 7: A budget friendly beast that doesn't hold back

The ability of OnePlus to surprise its fans is still intact. At its launch event, the Chinese smartphone major unveiled a true flagship smartphone that will force iPhones, Galaxy S series and Pixel phone makers to listen to their customers and then try and beat their expectations. OnePlus did that successfully with OnePlus 7 Pro and brought in flagship specs, 90Hz 'Fluid AMOLED' display with Quad HD+ resolution and HDR 10+ technology at an incredible price of Rs 48,999.

OnePlus spoke at length and more than half the time of the launch event was devoted to OnePlus 7 Pro. However, there was one more OnePlus smartphone that nobody is talking about, the budget-friendly powerhouse - OnePlus 7! First and foremost, OnePlus 7 is not part of OnePlus' US strategy. There will be no OnePlus 7 device in the US where it's offering the more premium OnePlus 7 Pro. The OnePlus 7 is meant for other, non-US markets, especially India.

OnePlus 7 is cheaper, a little smaller and doesn't come with the bells and whistles of its Pro sibling. It is the OnePlus device that OnePlus would have made if it had 'settled' and just bumped up the specs. There is no pop-up camera to impress your friend and instead the phone has a usual tear-drop notch. The design of OnePlus 7 is almost similar to the OnePlus 6T. There's a glass back (no wireless charging) with two rear cameras, a fixed front camera, and an in-screen fingerprint reader.

And yet OnePlus 7 is a beast, at least in the specs department. There is the powerful Snapdragon 855 SoC coupled with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and fast UFS 3.0 storage. As far as the optics are concerned, the OnePlus 7 comes with a same 48-MP Sony IMX586 primary camera, that boasts of optical image stabilization (OIS) and a secondary 5-MP depth sensor. Glass on both front and back are Gorilla Glass for superior damage resistance. OnePlus 7 comes with the same stereo speakers and even has a faster fingerprint scanner. The face-unlock is also faster when compared to OnePlus 7 pro and as the camera doesn't have to pop-up every time.

So, in case you are not at the bleeding edge of technology and do not care about the 90Hz display, liquid cooling, wide-angle or telephoto and Pop-up motorised cameras, then OnePlus 7 is for you.

Despite missing out on the US shores, OnePlus 7 has better chances of succeeding. The phone will be released in China, India, Hong Kong, and most of Europe.

Edited By: Udit Verma

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