 Usually we mock Apple for holding a big event, going up on stage and declaring This is the most powerful, fastest iPhone we've ever made I mean, I should f***ing hope so Who goes out of their way to make the next generation product worse than the last one? Well, as it turns out, OnePlus does, at least here in North America, if the leaks and rumors are to be believed Meet the OnePlus 7T, the notched successor to a notchless design So let's go back in time, friends And see if the sacrifice was worth it in my magic time machine powered by our sponsor, Seasonic Seasonic's Prime Ultra Titanium PSU lineup is 80 plus titanium rated for ultra high efficiency and backed with a 12 year warranty Check it out at the link in the video description OnePlus has been one of my favorite smartphone makers for a long time because they consistently deliver on their mission To build fantastic, quality products at lower prices But these days, the prices aren't much lower anymore, are they? The 7T starts at $600, which for those keeping score at home happens to be the same price as an iPhone XR And I thought Apple was the one with a reputation for being expensive So the 7T is actually a successor though to the OnePlus 7, a phone that I never got to use Because last generation, only the 7 Pro, which I did review and loved, was available in North America So that is why the 7T has the teardrop notch instead of the full bezel-less display and pop-up selfie camera of the 7 Pro Now the teardrop has been made 31.46% smaller, which increases the phone's screen-to-body ratio a bit Without creeping the screen too close to the edges so you don't accidentally activate it That's all appreciated It's just that this phone in September 2019 is not as 2019-y as the 7 Pro from five months ago And if the rumors are to be believed, the markets that got the 7 Pro last time around, that's me, Do not get the rumored 7T Pro this time around Son, I am disappointed But in fairness, most people are probably upgrading from much older phones than one that they bought five months ago So the 7T is still gonna look pretty awesome It's got a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with a 20 by 9 aspect ratio, pretty wide for movies Even if you have to disable the notch because it bothers you It's HDR10+, and it's got a 90Hz refresh rate, a feature that I personally think is wicked But is still absent on flagships from Samsung and Apple Now the upcoming Pixel 4 is rumored to have a 90Hz display, so subscribe so you don't miss our review of that I love 90Hz OLED because it feels like an excellent middle ground between performance and extra smoothness While gaming and just navigating around on the device The thing is, many games, even if you're running top-spec hardware, will have difficulty hitting 120fps at high details anyway Flipping the phone over, we find a frosted glass back available in either glacier blue or frosted silver Along with what might be the worst camera bump that I've seen since the Galaxy camera And that was a camera I mean, this does not exude minimalism and refinement, OnePlus This is huge! Not only that, but the edges are sharp! Like, you can easily catch them on your pocket as you're sliding it in I mean, my guess here is that OnePlus is just banking on everyone using a case So, let us know in the comments below, is that fair? Inside the bump, we find three lenses The main 48MP lens with optical image stabilization, a 12MP telephoto offering 2x optical zoom And a 16MP ultra-wide angle offering a 117 degree field of view Just 3 degrees less than the iPhone 11's 120 degree ultra-wide angle But, aside from the specs, an iPhone 11, this camera is not While I've always praised OnePlus's cameras for capturing the world As it is, with natural color representation, low noise, and sharp image quality Without over-sharpening things And while my initial reaction to the 70's camera was excellent As I took more photos and more scenarios, my overall impression became more lukewarm Comparing the 70's camera to my Samsung Note 10 Plus Which, to be clear, is no iPhone or Pixel The 70 has weak dynamic range compared to a flagship As evidenced by the lack of detail in both the darkest and brightest areas here And I was shocked by how badly it messed up the greens in this picture And failed to capture the sunset glow under the clouds in this shot Both of which are honestly kind of out of character for OnePlus It does still hold its own reasonably well, though This picture of my wife is noisier on the 70 But her skin looks slightly more natural And the color of my couch is much closer to IRL And the selfie camera is actually a strong point Yes, I look weird here, but at least I'm wearing an awesome shirt, LTCStore.com And the image is very sharp with great skin tones And OnePlus managed to strike a great balance between being able to easily fit Yourself and two friends into the frame while keeping distortion minimized Very nice There's also Nightscape mode, which works on both the main and ultra-wide lenses As well as a new macro mode that lets you snap a shot from as little as 2.5cm away in full quality Now, in some situations, it didn't stand out compared to just using a phone with a better camera And then digitally zooming in But in others, like this shot of a spider I'd say that OnePlus's claims that it can capture intricate details that even the human eye struggles to see Do hold up in real life Another feature the OnePlus is emphasizing this year is their Warp Charge 30T battery charging tech Which they say is 23% faster than Warp Charge 30 And can fill the phone's 3800mAh battery from 0 to 70% in just half an hour They also tried to have the battery charge at a more consistent speed throughout this time Rather than slowing down a ton as it gets more full All while keeping the device cool even if you're playing games Now, in the real world, it does heat up while charging But not as much as James's Pixel 3 However, while gaming, the camera bump felt hotter than other areas And it's kind of right there when you're holding the phone in landscape Unless, of course, you have a case So should you buy the OnePlus 7T? Honestly, I'm still annoyed they removed the headphone jack starting with the 6T They still lack an official IP water resistance rating Even if they do have a lot of the seals in there As we saw in our video tour of their facility And the included screen protector this time around just feels poorly thought out Because using their own gesture navigation is a really rough experience in terms of hand feel Because it doesn't go quite to the edges But while I think the camera quality is a bit below the top brands We do still have to remember that this phone is still cheaper than those brands And still hits all the beats we expect from OnePlus The Snapdragon 855 Plus paired with tons of RAM and Oxygen OS is as light and snappy as ever The under-screen fingerprint unlock is still the quickest gun in the West The ringer toggle, which has been a staple for OnePlus forever, is still there and still awesome And the software exposes options that matter Like, I really like that during the setup they help you choose a color profile In a way that's understandable for both normies and tech heads alike So if you're coming from a 6T or earlier The 7T still gets the nod from me Even if it is a bit of a side grade from the OnePlus 7 Pro Or at least it sort of gets the nod Because the thing is, the OnePlus 7 Pro is still going to be available With worse internals, albeit not by much But a full-screen display So like, what is OnePlus doing here? Well, if the rumors are true, it seems that OnePlus has come to the conclusion That people don't need to upgrade their phone every cycle anymore So, if they alternate the availability of their vanilla and their Pro devices Between different regions They can maintain that rapid every six months or so release cadence While avoiding designing quite as many SKUs to cover all the different colors and cellular frequencies And all-screen or notched or whatever else And that's an interesting approach And one that we're going to keep a close eye on when they drop the 8 Or maybe the 8 Pro here in North America Who knows? And who knows how I'm going to segue to our sponsor? 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See you in the next one.