After wowing phone lovers over the past decade with flagship mobile devices at mid-range prices, OnePlus, now firmly under the auspices of parent company Oppo, has taken its first plunge into the murky world of Android tablets. Originally shipping with Android 13, the OnePlus Pad has already surpassed many of its rivals with a speedy upgrade to Android 14 and a commitment to a regular upgrade schedule. It's for this reason that it clocks in at a more premium price compared to cheap unbranded equivalents that stay rigidly where they are. 

But is that extra money justified, and is it enough to justify eschewing Samsung and Lenovo, both of whom have made a name for themselves in the premium tablet space?

Our review package consists of the 128GB model, with 8GB of RAM (a 256GB/12GB version is also available in some territories, with the matching magnetic keyboard folio and stylus. All the accessories are sold separately, so the £449 RRP quickly becomes £707 when looking at the complete suite. In common with many manufacturers, a wall charger is also an add-on, and though you'll want the speed of OnePlus's proprietary Warp 67W charger (another £28), as you'll see, the battery life means you could manage without.

OnePlus Pad: Design

In terms of looks, the OnePlus Pad is slim and gorgeous, with an 11.6in screen, crammed into a frame measuring 258 x 189.4 x 6.5 mm. That slimline spec and 552g weight make it incredibly comfortable to hold without a case, and exceedingly practical when packed inside the keyboard folio case. The rounded edges add to the ergonomic comfort, but mean that the modest bezels belie the 84.6 screen ratio, brought down by bulges rather than black bars. 

Round the back is the bold choice of a "Halo Green" metallic finish – rather more of a "forest" or "sage" color to non-advertising executives, but an odd choice for the only colorway currently available. The rear camera sits in a neat circular array with minimal bulge. With the tablet in its native horizontal form, the top edge holds the volume keys and microphone, with power to the left and a USB-C socket to the right. There are two speakers on each side too, which are muffled when covered with a hand, which can be a bit frustrating, and a reminder that this is a device that is happiest in its folio. This rationale is backed up by the fact that, despite those bezels, it is very easy to make accidental inputs with a rogue finger holding the tablet. The top edge is also magnetized to grip the optional stylus which charges it on contact, while the bottom edge has contacts for attaching to the folio. The 2,000 x 2,800 display is clear, crisp, and bright, with the 144Hz refresh rate tameable thanks to the addition of app-specific refresh rate selection in Android 14, meaning you can squeeze even more out of the battery for low-lift apps. 

OnePlus Pad: Specs and performance 

Under the hood, there's a Mediatek Dimensity 9000 4nm chipset, consisting of 1x3.05 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.85 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 and a Mali G710 MC10 GPU, all of which meant that no matter what we threw at it, there was a lag-free experience, even with our "lesser" 8GB RAM review unit. The 128GB RAM is enough for most use cases, but we'd have liked to have seen a memory slot, which would make it more appealing as a laptop replacement. 

Connectivity is impressive – with WiFI 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and GPS all present and correct, and the USB port includes OTG for any wired accessories you may be craving. There's none of the more phone-specific nice-to-haves – no fingerprint sensor is fair enough, but we did miss the option of NFC a few times as it finally carves out a niche for itself in our daily lives. 

The cameras are ample for day-to-day use, with an 8MP selfie camera hidden in the bezel, capable of 1080p 30fps video, which is more than enough to look good on Zoom. Round the back, the main camera clocks in at 13MP with LED flash, though again, the frame rate is maxed out at 30fps. 

Docking the tablet in its folio keyboard creates a genuinely practical laptop alternative that is refreshingly sturdy enough to actually be used on your lap (which is how we're writing this review). The docking position is fixed, however, and although we didn't have any major issues with using it this way, your experience may differ – but we'd rather have sturdy and fixed, not flexible and wobbly anyway. The keyboard itself is a joy to type on, with a comfortable action and elegant key spacing, while the touchpad is responsive without being intrusive for those rogue palms. 

The stylus is very much a nice-to-have and is certainly accurate enough to capture handwriting and fine brush strokes that exceed expectations but fall below what we'd class as graphic design level. That said, the touch display is so responsive, that we barely missed the stylus for the vast majority of functionality. 

When we were preparing this review, we were using Oxygen 13.1, based on Android 13. Still, to our delight, Android 14 became available in December 2023, making it one of the first devices to get the update, and forcing a hasty rewrite of our performance benchmarking. Having said that, most of the Android 14 enhancements are under the hood, so don't expect too much change to the user experience. This isn't a problem though as the OxygenOS implementation of Android has always been a joy to use. 

Those benchmarks are fairly pleasing for a first effort. In terms of our GeekBench 6 testing, the OnePlus Pad clocked a single-core score of 1113 and multi-core of 2974. This compares favorably with the Lenovo P11 Pro that mustered 824/2893.

Where the OnePlus Pad really shines, however, is in its battery life. Once upgraded to Android 14, in our continuous video test, the 9125mAH-clad device clocked up a very hefty 14hr 53min, which compares favorably to almost every device in its class, with over an hour more stamina than the current iPad Pro and current Lenovo Tab P11 Pro – though the latter's first iteration was capable of over 17hrs. 

As we've mentioned already, Oxygen 14 is the operating system of choice here, which augments stock Android without smothering it, offering buttery smooth transitions and an extremely usable multi-task experience, made all the more pleasing with an effectively executed split window or even floating window capability. 

The slogan of Oxygen 14 is "Evolved to Succeed" which feels appropriate given that the visual and feature changes are fairly minimal compared to the out-of-the-box Oxygen 13.1 experience, to the point that we actually had to double-check if the update had worked. However, it's fairly clear after a few minutes of use that a lot of work has gone into making the animations even smoother, the RAM use more efficient, and the battery life even longer, so we can't really complain that it's evolution, rather than revolution. 

OnePlus Pad Is it worth it? 

Is the OnePlus Pad perfect? No. For the price, we'd hope that some of the niggles in this review would have been straightened out, particularly surrounding accidental touches to the screen, and the auto-rotate, which appears to have a life of its own, which could be down to a software bug or a false accelerometer. 

Nevertheless, notwithstanding it's a first stab, it's an excellent tablet, and with the accessories bundle, it's a more than passable laptop replacement for those on-the-go days and working on the sofa. It's not powerful enough to be your only machine, and regardless of the version, Android simply isn't a replacement for a desktop operating system, though each iteration has brought it closer to being a passable rival for PadOS. The lack of LTE support reduces its holy grail status somewhat, but it's also a fraction of the price of a Samsung Galaxy S9, yet offers the ongoing support that off-brand tablets simply don't give, making it a good long-term purchase. We like. We don't adore. But we very much like. 

OnePlus Pad specifications 

The UK’s OnePlus aficionados may have thought they were getting the company’s latest handsets earlier than expected when the 10 and 10 Pro were unveiled in January - but so far the devices have only gone on sale in its native China.

What’s more, while the larger of the two new handsets - the 10 Pro - has been on display at MWC 2022, the standard model was missing from the company’s booth. It appears that only the Pro version is coming to Europe, and indeed the UK, when it's released in March.

OnePlus 10 Pro hands-on review: Design

When users do get their hands on the OnePlus 10 Pro, they may feel like we did at MWC because the device is far more impressive in person than it has been in its advertising. The camera assembly, which looks like a small sheet of black metal, has a lovely glow under certain lighting and the Hasselblad logo is less prominent than it was on the 9 Pro. The device also comes in green and black shades, with a matte finish that has a slight rubbery texture.

We can’t say the design has improved all that much over the 9 Pro, which was already a big hit at IT Pro, but the 10 Pro is still a very attractive device. The corners and sides are smooth and neatly rounded, the display has super thin bezels and also features a tiny cutout for the selfie camera. There’s also the company’s squared logo, which only really shows when it gets a nice bit of light to reflect.

OnePlus 10 Pro hands-on review: Display

While the design has some significant changes, the screen appears to be exactly the same; a 6.7in AMOLED panel with a 3,216 x 1,440 resolution. This isn’t a bad thing as the 9 Pro showcased a strong grasp of the sRGB colour space, and it’s also kept the LTPO technology that allows the display to adjust its refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz. This is an awesome feature that gives you that smooth scroll for social media, but not for certain video content where it's not needed as much.

While it's hard to tell with the naked eye whether there are any improvements compared to the 9 Pro, the display looked very sharp in person. It also looked bright and we expect a strong score here as it again has HDR+ capabilities.

OnePlus 10 Pro hands-on review: Specs and battery

There are new things on the inside, with the OnePlus 10 Pro switching to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, which is matched with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The 8 Gen 1 chip is similar to Qualcomm’s 888 processor found in the 9 Pro, in that both are 4nm chips. We fully expect a super score for multi-threaded performance here - maybe not on the same level as the iPhone 13, but it could well be one of the fastest Android devices of the year.

Power-wise, the OnePlus 10 Pro has a chance of lasting a little longer than the 9 Pro, as it has swapped out the 4,500mAh battery for a 5,000mAh one. Though the 9 Pro managed over 17hrs in our intensive video test, other smartphones in the premium bracket lasted much longer, such as the S21 Ultra which went beyond 22hrs.

Whatever length the battery does last, users can be reassured with OnePlus’ trusty charging cable and plug which gives 80W of fast charging. The 65W charger on the 9 Pro was an absolute monster, taking its battery from less than 5% to full in just over 30 minutes. Plus there’s also 50W of wireless charging, which is the same as the 9 Pro.

OnePlus 10 Pro hands-on review: Features

Featurewise, the OnePlus 10 Pro is still rocking the OxygenOS flavour of Android, with the red and white “Never Settle” mantra displayed proudly on the screen. It may not be as fun and quirky as what we find on the Google Pixel, but OnePlus does at least have a user interface that’s easily identifiable as OnePlus; you can spot it from a mile off, which you can’t say for devices from some of the other Chinese manufacturers, such as Realme, Honor and even Huawei.

The 10 Pro also supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and a fingerprint reader under the display. It wasn’t activated on the units we got our hands on, and we didn’t particularly want to lock it for everyone else, but this was one of the best features on the 9 Pro. It was super snappy and came with a choice of magical effects for when your finger hits it.

OnePlus 10 Pro hands-on review: Cameras

For the second year running, OnePlus has collaborated with the Swedish camera brand Hasselblad. This appears to be mostly with the camera software and also includes the company’s signature orange shutter button, but it was something that worked well last time around. The 9 Pro was not exactly perfect in this department, but it was a noticeable leap compared to older OnePlus offerings.

In its rear camera array, the OnePlus 10 Pro has a 48MP wide lens, a 8MP 3 x optical zoom telephoto lens and a 50MP main camera which is ultrawide with a 150-degree view. There’s also a 32MP selfie camera. The wider scope of the main camera is the only real change from the 9 Pro, and it might not deliver a great deal more quality. You may also be questioning the fourth hole on the camera array, but that is a ring flash.

We can vouch for the quality of the OnePlus 9 Pro’s cameras, but they weren’t in the same league as what we’ve seen on the iPhone 13, the S21 and the Google Pixel 6 Pro. And, unless Hasselblad has made some major improvements to the software, that sadly might be the case again here.

OnePlus 10 Pro hands-on review: Early verdict

We like the OnePlus 10 Pro but what we have here is a minor update and a complete lack of clarity. According to the company’s blog, only the Pro will be coming to India, North America and Europe for the time being and although that’s slated for sometime in March, an exact date is still unknown. There’s also no regional pricing for Europe, but going by its recent offerings it could be upwards of £800.

If it’s OnePlus you’re after, the 9 and 9 Pro might serve you and your wallet better. However, if you do want the 10 Pro, there are a lot of plus points, such as its 80W fast charger and crisp display. Our first impression of the OnePlus 10 Pro is good, but it is lacking that wow factor this time around.

The past twelve months have brought challenges for almost all businesses, but they’ve also brought some terrific products. New generations of servers and appliances have arrived, offering levels of horsepower and capacity that would have seemed outlandish just a few years ago. At the same time, value has continued to climb, bringing new possibilities within reach of an SMB budget.

There’s been plenty of exciting developments for end users too. Stunning laptops, tablets and phones have turned our heads, along with powerful printers, scanners and screens. And while threats like phishing and ransomware haven’t gone away, the latest generation of security software is here to keep us safe.

As always, there’s no such thing as a perfect product – every business and every individual will have their own needs and preferences. But we’ve put together our selection of the greatest releases of the past twelve months, to reveal the standout products across a wide range of categories, and to celebrate the manufacturers who’ve driven innovation forward in 2021.

Best laptop 2021

WINNER: LG Gram 17

Weighing just 1.35kg, the Gram 17 is barely heavier than many 14in laptops – yet it has a huge, bright 17in display that’s fantastic for productivity and on-the-go presentations.

There’s plenty of horsepower here too, with an 11th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM on board. With nearly 13 hours of battery life it won’t conk out half-way through the day, and a spacious keyboard and trackpad mean it’s also a pleasure to work on for extended periods. Throw in Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6 and you have an excellent do-it-all, go-anywhere computer for a very reasonable £1,599 exc VAT.

Read our full LG Gram 17 review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Razer Book 13

Razer made its name with gaming laptops, but the company’s first business-friendly model is a big hit. It looks stylish yet serious, with a superb screen that challenges the MacBook Pro for brightness and colour quality. Performance is top-notch too, thanks to an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, and there’s a great selection of ports, including full-sized USB and HDMI connectors. At 1.4kg it’s a little weighty for a 13in laptop, but overall it’s a great, capable choice for an everyday working companion.

Read our full Razer Book 13 review

Best Chromebook 2021

WINNER: Acer Chromebook Spin 713

There are plenty of sub-£500 Chromebooks on the market, but Acer’s Chromebook Spin 713 feels like something much more expensive. Its 13.5in QHD screen has a comfortable 3:2 aspect ratio, and it flips all the way around so you can work in laptop, stand or tablet mode. Unusually, there’s an HDMI output too, giving you additional working options.

Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 round out the feature set, and with a total weight of just 1.2kg the Spin 713 is deliciously portable too. It would have been nice if Acer had given that beautiful screen an anti-glare coating, but when the rest of the package is this good we can live with a few reflections.

Read our full Acer Chromebook Spin review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5

The Flex 5 is another Chromebook with a 360º-rotating screen, though its 16:9 aspect ratio is best suited to conventional laptop-style usage. It’s slimmer and lighter than the Acer Spin 713, and its bright display is less reflective. Connectivity is well covered with both USB Type-A and Type-C ports, along with Wi-Fi 6; if you’re looking for a no-nonsense Chrome OS workhorse, you won’t be disappointed.

Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 review

Best tablet 2021

WINNER: Apple iPad Pro 12.9in

With Apple’s mighty M1 processor, the iPad Pro is fully as powerful as a MacBook Pro. And it has several advantages over the laptop: at 680g it’s less than half the weight, and the touchscreen makes for a slick, tactile experience. The 120Hz mini-LED display is stunning, and a battery life of around 13 and a half hours means you can keep working all through the day and beyond.

No doubt, the 12.9in format is bulky for a tablet, while the optional keyboard pushes up the weight – and the price, which is already steep at £916 exc VAT for the base model. Even so, this is unquestionably the best tablet on the market: it doesn’t just excel at tablet tasks, it redefines what a tablet can do.

Read our full Apple iPad Pro 12.9in review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Nokia T20

It’s short on flashy gimmicks, but Nokia’s T20 feels like a professional tablet. The aluminium build is strong and sturdy, performance and features are up to par, and while we felt the 10.4in screen looked a little cold, its 5:3 aspect ratio is very comfortable to work on. The most impressive part is the price – just £150 exc VAT for the Wi-Fi 5 edition, or £167 exc VAT for the LTE model.

Read our full Nokia T20 review

Best smartphone 2021

WINNER: Apple iPhone 13

The iPhone 13 improves on last year’s iPhone 12 models with better cameras and a bigger battery, adding nearly two hours of daily performance in our tests. You get more storage in the standard model too, up from 64GB to 128GB, and the latest Apple A15 Bionic CPU for true Android-smashing performance.

All the usual iPhone strengths are here, including an excellent screen and a vast library of high-quality apps for work or play. It’s hardly an adventurous update from the iPhone 12, but if you’re choosing a new smartphone today – and aren’t already enmeshed in the Android ecosystem – then the iPhone 13 is the obvious choice.

Read our full Apple iPhone 13 review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: OnePlus 9 Pro

Standing 163mm tall, the OnePlus 9 Pro is large, but it’s perhaps the most beautiful Android smartphone we’ve seen, with a tiny bezel and beautifully textured case. Its 120Hz AMOLED display is a joy to behold, and a collaboration with Hasselblad ensures excellent photo and video quality. Performance is very strong too, courtesy of a top-tier Snapdragon 888 processor; at £829 exc VAT it’s not a budget option, but you get what you pay for.

Read our full OnePlus 9 Pro review

Best desktop server 2021

WINNER: HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus

The MicroServer Gen10 Plus really can fit happily on a desktop, as its square chassis measures a mere 245mm along each side. Yet it’s powerful enough to run a wide range of business services, with your choice of a dual-core 3.8GHz Pentium Gold G5420 CPU or a quad-core 3.4GHz Xeon E-2224. Four integrated LFF SATA drive bays allow for plenty of storage.

The small size means there’s not much scope for internal expansion, but you do get a single PCI-E x16 slot, and remote management can be added via the cheap iLO5 enablement kit. With the entry-level diskless system starting at just £395 exc VAT, it’s an excellent SMB-friendly deal.

Read our full HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10 Plus review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Dell EMC PowerEdge T550

The T550 is a real “tower of power” – we tested it with a 12-core 2.1GHz Xeon Silver 4310 CPU, but if you need more grunt it can handle twin CPUs with up to 32 cores each. It also supports up to 24 SFF or eight LFF drives, and a maximum of 1TB of DDR4 RAM. Dell’s comprehensive iDRAC9 remote management platform comes as standard, making this an ideal answer to demanding workloads.

Read our full Dell EMC PowerEdge T550 review

Best 1U server 2021

WINNER: Dell EMC PowerEdge R650

Dell’s latest PowerEdge R650 design crams an amazing amount of potential into a 1U chassis. It supports Xeon Scalable CPUs with up to 40 cores and a massive 4TB of memory, with space inside for up to ten SFF drives and 16 Intel Optane modules to accelerate performance.

If that’s not enough, you also get three PCI-E Gen4 x16 slots and an OCP 3.0 edge slot, plus Dell’s BOSS card for fast booting from SSD media. And as usual with Dell, the iDRAC9 controller provides terrific remote management. It’s not a budget option – our review unit came to £15,417 exc VAT – but the PowerEdge R650 is an incredibly powerful and space-efficient server.

Read our full Dell EMC PowerEdge R650 review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Broadberry CyberServe Xeon

This low-profile server offers a solid chunk of power for just under £1,000. That gets you a quad-core Intel Xeon E-2224 CPU with 16GB of RAM – upgradeable to 128GB – and you’re free to fit your own drives in the four SFF bays and twin M.2 SSD slots. The single PCI-E Gen3 x16 slot can be used to add 10GbE networking, and the Asus motherboard supports web-based management, including full OS remote control and virtual media services as standard.

Read our full Broadberry CyberServe Xeon E-RS100-E10 review

Best 2U server 2021

WINNER: Broadberry CyberServe SP2 208-8I G3

The CyberServe SP2 208-8I G3 is designed for a hardcore server role. The system we tested came with a pair of 36-core Xeon Scalable Platinum CPUs, 512GB of DDR4 RAM, five 960GB SATA SSDs and eight 128GB Intel Optane PMEM 200 modules. This allows for insanely fast storage access – and to help you make the most of it, the system comes with not one but two dual-port Intel 100GbE network cards.

You can upgrade even further by going up to 26 SFF drives in total, plus eight NVMe drives, and the spacious 2U design allows for six free PCI-E Gen4 slots. It’s a magnificent hardware package, and while the £21,895 price tag won’t be within everyone’s budget, it’s superb value for what you get.

Read our full Broadberry CyberServe SP2 208-8I G3 review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Dell EMC PowerEdge R750

Dell’s PowerEdge R750 comes in three versions – the R750xa is built for GPU-based workloads, while the R750xs is a cost-optimised version aimed at specific roles. The standard R750 is a great all-rounder though: the configuration we tested offered two 28-core 2GHz Xeon Scalable Gold 6330 CPUs and 1TB of RAM, upgradeable to a whopping 8TB using 256GB DIMMs. For storage you can choose between a 12-bay LFF backplane or a 16-bay SFF one, and add up to 24 NVMe SSDs. In short, there’s enough power and flexibility here for any business.

Read our full Dell EMC PowerEdge R750 review

Best storage array 2021

WINNER: HPE MSA 2060 Storage

With numerous hardware upgrades over the last generation, this is HPE’s fastest dedicated storage array ever. It’s also laden with powerful features: thin provisioning, snapshots and volume copies are all supported, along with striped SSD caches, RAID10, 5 and 6 options and HPE’s own MSA-DP+ array format, designed for improved performance and faster rebuild times.

The MSA 2060 even offers zero-configuration data tiering, automatically shunting data between regular SAS drives, fast solid-state storage and low-priority ML-SAS volumes according to usage. And it’s all configured and managed from a simple web portal, so there’s no need to be a storage expert to get the best from it.

Read our full HPE MSA 2060 Storage review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Qnap TS-h2490FU QuTS Hero Edition

When performance is a priority, pure NVMe storage is the way to go. This impressive appliance can take up to 24 hot-plug U.2 drives, while Qnap’s 128-bit ZFS-based OS provides enterprise-class data integrity, with compression and deduplication options provided as standard. It’s all based on a powerful AMD EPYC processor, and it comes with a pair of dual-port 25GbE network cards, to ensure you can get the full performance from your storage.

Read our full Qnap TS-h2490FU QuTS Hero Edition review

Best NAS drive 2021

WINNER: Qnap TS-h973AX

Though it looks unassuming, Qnap’s TS-h973AX runs the company’s advanced QuTS hero OS, which offers an impressive range of native storage features. Those include fast, near-unlimited snapshots, transparent self-healing of data corruption and inline data deduplication and compression to make the most efficient use of your storage. Five LFF SATA bays plus four SFF bays provide plenty of room for expansion, while 10GbE and twin 2.5GbE network ports provide high-speed connections to the outside world.

In our tests the TS-h973AX provided fast read and write speeds, and there’s a whole library of apps to expand its capabilities, including backup and virtualisation tools. Costing just over £1,000 exc VAT for the diskless enclosure, it’s well within reach of smaller businesses.

Read our full Qnap TS-h973AX review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Qnap TS-873A

Looking for a simple storage solution? The eight-bay TS-873A makes a great platform for Qnap’s lightweight, simple to manage QTS OS. Alternatively, for more advanced data-protection functions you can install the full QuTS hero OS and make use of all the same features as the TS-h973AX, above. Either way, it’ll run the full range of Qnap apps, and dual 2.5GbE ports help keep data flowing swiftly in and out.

Read our full Qnap TS-873A review

Best printer 2021

WINNER: Epson EcoTank ET-5880

Forget about overpriced cartridges – this A4 MFP uses bottled ink that works out to just 0.2p per mono page and 0.8p for colour. That alone will make it attractive to busy offices, but the ET-5880 has other strengths too, including a swish 10.9cm touchscreen, 802.11n wireless connectivity and excellent colour output. It comes with a pair of 250-sheet paper cassettes, so you won’t be continually restocking it, and the integrated scanner has its own 50-page duplex ADF.

The one caveat is a print speed of 25ppm in standard quality mode: that’s not exactly slow, but it’s unexceptional for a modern office printer. Even so, the Epson’s user-friendliness and phenomenally low running costs make it our top choice for 2021.

Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-5880 review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Kyocera Ecosys

This freestanding laser MFP won’t suit the smallest offices, but it offers a 35ppm print speed and a wide range of downloadable apps to extend its printing and scanning functions. It’s easy to operate, with a big 7in touchscreen, a range of mobile apps and a clear web-based management console. The clincher is the price: the basic model with wired networking and a single 250-page sheet feeder costs just £696 exc VAT, and low-cost consumables work out to a very reasonable 1p per mono page.

Read our full Kyocera Ecosys M6235cidn review

Best scanner 2021

WINNER: Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600

This desktop scanner has a great set of features, including integrated Wi-Fi, a 50-sheet ADF, double-sided scanning and a 4.3in colour touchscreen. It’s fast too: we were impressed to see it rip through our pile of test documents at 43ppm, creating 200dpi scans that were perfectly clear and clean enough for OCR and archival.

Even better, this hardware is partnered by one of the best software suites around. You can scan to a huge range of applications and cloud services, send scans directly to an email address or beam them to a mobile device. For anyone who needs to scan and share documents in a digital or cloud-first environment, the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 is a terrific choice.

Read our full Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Canon imageFormula DR-S130

With its output tray folded away the DR-S130 takes up barely any more desk space than a sheet of A4. Yet it scans at a swift 30ppm, and thanks to Canon’s CaptureOnTouch V4 Pro software it can perform all the same scan functions as much pricier, bulkier models. You can set up profiles for different job types, run single- and double-sided scans, perform OCR and save the output in your choice of format and location. The only thing it can’t do is scan directly to cloud services, but for most individuals and SMBs it’ll fit the bill admirably.

Read our full Canon imageFormula DR-S130 review

Best monitor 2021

WINNER: Dell UltraSharp 25 USB-C

We don’t see a lot of 25in monitors, but the format works well for desktop productivity, and the Dell UltraSharp lives up to its name with a crisp 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. It also delivers excellent coverage of both the sRGB and DCI-P3 colour spaces, with an HDR400 certification for extended-range colour.

The final trump card is connectivity: the USB Type-C connector can handle both incoming video and outgoing power, so you can hook your laptop up to the big screen and charge it at the same time. It’s also possible to daisy-chain a second display via the DisplayPort connector, or to swivel the panel round through 90º and work in portrait mode. In short, it’s one of the cleverest monitors we’ve seen.

Read our full Dell UltraSharp 25 USB-C review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Acer ConceptD CP5271UV

The CP5271UV is an exceptionally versatile monitor. It offers custom display modes for print editing, video and games, and also supports high-end features including HDR600 for deep-colour content, dynamic refresh rates up to 170Hz and an incandescent peak brightness of 480cd/m2. It makes a great office monitor too, with integrated gigabit Ethernet and four USB 3.1 ports. At £667 exc VAT it’s considerably more expensive than your typical desktop display, but if you're in the market for a high-end screen it’s a steal.

Read our full Acer ConceptD CP5271UV review

Best endpoint security suite 2021

WINNER: Sophos Intercept X Advanced

There’s a lot of hype around artificial intelligence, but it does have real applications: Sophos’ Intercept X suite uses machine-learning techniques to recognise malware and neutralise zero-day threats. It also includes a full range of traditional protections, defeating ransomware by intercepting encryption attacks and silently restoring the original file, and preventing data leaks by blocking the transmission of certain types of information.

The Advanced subscription adds an analysis centre, where you can forensically review attempted attacks, allowing you to identify and plug the gaps in your armour. It’s easy to deploy and manage too: a central web console lets you email out installer links to all clients, and then administer policies and settings for the whole site.

Read our full Sophos Intercept X Advanced review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud Plus

Kaspersky’s highly flexible licensing lets you protect workstations, laptops, servers and mobile devices all within a single subscription. As well as blocking viruses and intrusion attempts, the software can watch over your network for suspicious activity, and manage Windows Updates from a central portal. The premium Plus subscription adds the Security for Microsoft 365 component, which integrates into Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint Online and Teams, providing monitoring and protection for your services as well as your endpoints.

Read our full Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud Plus review

Best antivirus suite 2021

WINNER: Kaspersky Internet Security

Kaspersky is no stranger to our awards, and this latest version of its security suite shows why – in multiple independent tests it scored perfect 100% protection scores without a single false positive. Other notable features include browser protection, ransomware blocking, defences against webcam hijacking and even a fully featured firewall.

Do you need to pay for this type of protection? It’s true that Windows’ built-in security modules are nowadays very effective on their own. However, Kaspersky is much easier to configure, especially when it comes to customising firewall rules. It also has less of an impact on system performance, which makes the modest £15/yr subscription fee easy to swallow.

Read our full Kaspersky Internet Security review

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Avast Antivirus Free

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OnePlus enjoys an almost cult-like status in the UK, with its critically acclaimed smartphones not necessarily achieving mega sales figures. As such, the Chinese firm has never managed to break into the upper echelons of the market, as Huawei did in 2019.

This year, the firm is hoping to attract more fans with the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, with the latter having an extra camera and a bigger display for around £200 more. The big talking point this year, however, is an exclusive partnership with Swedish photography brand Hasselblad. But is this collaboration able to elevate the niche into the mainstream?

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Design

The first place to look is the design and, without veering into hyperbole, the OnePlus 9 Pro is one of the prettiest devices we've ever held. at 163mm tall and 8.7mm thick it's a larger phone than most, but it's more manageable than the 227g S21 Ultra at just 197g. It might not feel totally fresh to those that had the OnePlus 8T - the only real change is the Hasselblad-clad camera module on the back - but that shimmering signature sits proudly amongst an arsenal of lenses and is arguably more than enough to create a distinctive design.

What's more, it comes in three rather saucy shades: 'Morning Mist', 'Stellar Black' and 'Pine Green'. The names on their own don't quite do it justice; our Morning Mist review unit is mirrored in a way that picks up all sorts of colours and reflections to create a really engaging design.

In many ways, it's similar to efforts from Xiaomi, which also has shiny handsets, such as the Note 10 Pro, but there's a more polished feel about the OnePlus 9 Pro. The screen has a hole punch camera and a slight curve at the edges. The aluminium chassis is smooth and contrasts nicely with the back cover - and the Hasselblad and OnePlus logos just look straight up cool.

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Display

The 9 Pro's 6.7in AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate, a 1,440 x 3,216 resolution and support for HDR10+. It's also backed up with an LTPO-panel, which is a technology we've already seen on Samsung's S21 Ultra. This was originally developed by Apple as a way for displays to switch between refresh rates and save battery life.

OnePlus calls it a 'smart' refresh rate, as it changes depending on what content you view; it drops down to as low as 1Hz for images and also matches video for frames per second. The stuff that needs the top refresh rate is social media, where you get a mixture of ever-changing content on a never-ending scroll. So you'll get a wonderfully smooth experience on Twitter and Instagram, but that also takes up lots of battery power.

You can also switch to 60Hz and keep that on all the time, as well as enable various colour modes. With our calibrator under the 'vivid mode' the 9 Pro hit a near-perfect score of 99.7% for gamut coverage and 138% gamut volume. You're looking at the iPhone 12 and the Samsung S21 Ultra for decent comparisons, which really does underline the quality of this screen. This included brightness, which peaked at 483cd/m2 under the normal settings but shot up to a blinding 1,151cd/m2 during HDR video playback.

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Specs and Performance

The software behind the display is powered by a top-tier Qualcomm chip in the form of the Snapdragon 888, which can be matched with either 8GB of RAM on the 128GB model or 12GB on the 256GB model. This is a high-powered CPU developed with a 5nm process that also features in the US version of the S21 and the Xiaomi Mi 11.

In GeekBench 5 the Pro came out extremely well, notching single-core scores of 1,132 and 3,557 for multi-threaded performance. Those are slightly better than the S21 Ultra, which, again, tells us that the 9 Pro is a super-fast handset.

However, these scores actually don't do justice to how it felt to use; everything is seamless and fast. The in-screen fingerprint sensor, for example, couldn't be snappier - and it also includes a choice of pretty effects when you press it. We've hit this phone with gaming, streaming and some actual work, and it was flawlessly responsive in every way.

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Battery

Just two years ago, a flagship smartphone would be expected to hit the 20-hour mark in our battery tests, but more and more are using power-hungry refresh rates that can quickly chip away at that. As mentioned previously, the 9 Pro's adaptive refresh rate means that the screen was running at the same rate as our test file (roughly 25fps), and combined with the 4,500mAh battery it lasted 17hrs 32mins in our looped video test.

While it's not as impressive as the 22hrs 12mins of the S21 Ultra, over 17hrs is a good result; that's over an hour or more than recent offerings from Xiaomi, such as the Note 10 Pro and the Mi 11, and also the Oppo Find.

Theoretically, the faster refresh rate should also be more of an issue in day to day use, particularly if you're heavily into social media and gaming. Surprisingly, however, we found it actually coped well with both, generally making it through to the end of the day. With a little less heavy usage, it even starts to creep into the next day.

Unlike a lot of the bigger manufacturers, OnePlus has included a 65W fast charger in the box (as well as 50W wireless charging) and it does exactly what it sets out to do; from less than 5%, we found its 'warp' charge can hit 90% and above in under 30 minutes. So if the battery does die sooner than expected then you can at least quickly top it up.

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Features

There's a lot to love on the OnePlus 9 Pro, such as its intuitive OxygenOS Android 11 skin, or the dedicated ringer switch that appears on all the company's devices. This has three settings - loud, vibrate and silent - and it's so easy to use it makes us wonder why no other flagship phones have it. And on top of that, we have the now standard fare of facial recognition, 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and IP68 dust and water resistance.

The OxygenOS is particularly good and may even be our favourite customisation of Android, as it's easy to use and not riddled with bloatware. Now, while we would usually avoid writing for extended periods on a smartphone, that actually felt plausible with the OnePlus 9 Pro, thanks to the fact that its virtual keyboard is so good. The only issue we found was the closeness of the space-bar to the navigation icons at the bottom; we kept hitting the home button and accidentally exiting apps.

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Camera(s)

Camera technology on OnePlus phones hasn't always been as strong as rivals and could be the reason the firm has remained niche. Coincidentally, Huawei's 2019 success can easily be attributed to its fantastic Leica partnership. Both of these factors could well be the thinking behind OnePlus's collaboration with Hasselblad, which has brought its DSLR-quality software to the 9 Pro.

Compared to the 8T, the only change with the lenses is a slightly larger pixel range for the ultrawide lens, which has gone from 48MP to 50MP. Everything else that's new is down to Hasselblad and includes an orange shutter button, colour tuning and the interface for the pro mode. The quad-lens setup also features a 48MP wide-angle lens, an 8MP telephoto lens and a 2MP monochrome sensor, plus a 16MP selfie camera.

As with Samsung's S21, the iPhone 12 and Huawei's P40, the 9 Pro has a night mode - dubbed 'Nightscape' - which takes dark photos and uses software to add more light. It works like a charm, illuminating images with very little noise. However, this mode always seems to be 'on' and we found it creates a lot of slightly overexposed pictures. That isn't a huge issue, and it doesn't affect the pro setting, but it isn't something we found on the S21 or the iPhone 12 - both of which are admittedly more expensive.

The 9 Pro does manage to match both the S21 and iPhone 12 with video, presenting a few options, including shooting in 8K with 30 fps or 4k with 60fps, both with optical and electronic image stabilisation. You can also shoot in 4K at 120fps, but this footage will be unstabilised. Again, there's lots of Hasselblad design here with more orange buttons, but we can't dispute the quality.

OnePlus 9 Pro review: Verdict

The cult following that OnePlus has might not like the price of the 9 Pro; it's £829, and Xiaomi phones are undercutting that somewhat. However, this is an Android handset that presents a genuinely worthy alternative to Samsung's S21 - if you're willing to accept slightly less camera quality - and there's still a big difference in price between the two (over £150).

This is, without doubt, the best smartphone OnePlus has ever produced and, taking into account value for money, it could well be the best Android phone currently available. With Huawei's mobile business going south, the OnePlus 9 Pro could finally be that long-awaited mainstream hit.

OnePlus 9 Pro Specifications

The OnePlus 7, much like the OnePlus 6 and 6T before it, is designed for those who don’t fancy coughing up for the Chinese company's latest top-end flagship.

That's not to say the handset is lacking in features when compared to its Pro-suffixed sibling. Though it's missing the fancy pop-up selfie camera and 90Hz display, the cheaper OnePlus 7 still offer a decent 6.4in AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 855 processor and under-display fingerprint scanner.

OnePlus has carved out a name for itself as a shrewd manufacturer, undercutting the likes of Apple and Samsung with top specs and cheaper prices, but is that still the case with the OnePlus 7?

OnePlus 7 review: Design

OnePlus doesn't tend to drastically change its design scheme every year. Aside from the odd major change, such as the OnePlus 5's capacitive home button or the 6T's in-display fingerprint reader, each phone tends to look broadly similar to the one before. More generally, just looking at the OnePlus 7's screen, it's hardly any different from all the other current smartphones, which is common among bezel-less edge-to-edge displays. There's little left for manufacturers to customise, save for the notch around the front-facing camera. Rival Chinese firm Oppo recently unveiled an under-screen camera and the OnePlus 7 Pro has a quirky periscope-style pop-up camera, but the smaller model has stuck with the teardrop notch seen on the previous generation.

The back cover is like a smooth pebble made of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and feels oddly wide in the hand. This is despite it only being 74.8mm in width (the 6 was 75.4mm) but there is something about this standard sized model that feels larger somehow. At 157.7mm, it's almost as tall as Huawei's P30 Pro. The curved design also makes it look slimmer, but it's actually thicker on paper - 8.2mm compared to the 6 at 7.75mm. The 'Mirror Grey' finish also adds to the illusion, which might help people forget that, so far, that's the only colour it comes in - no beautiful 'Nebula Blue' as seen on the OnePlus 7 Pro.

OnePlus 7 review: Display

Although it's a tad larger, the OnePlus 7's AMOLED 6.41in display has a 1,080 x 2,340 resolution, which you'll notice is virtually the same specs as the 6 and 6T. While it doesn't sound too impressive, it actually highlights how good OnePlus screens have been. Images and video are crisp and bright, even in direct sunlight, and there aren't many flagships that can outdo it for quality - certainly not for the same price.

In our review of the Samsung Galaxy S10, we said its AMOLED screen was as good you could get on a smartphone, but the OnePlus 7 actually matches it for colour accuracy with a near-flawless 99% coverage of the sRGB colour gamut. The display is also highly customisable, with a number of different colour profiles to choose from for those who aren't satisfied with the display's default settings.

OnePlus 7 review: Specs and Performance

As with all recent OnePlus phones, there's a Qualcomm chip powering it. For the 7, as well as the Pro, it's the Snapdragon 855 - matched with 8GB of RAM on our review model. When it comes to processing, no smartphone in the last couple of years has had any issues with power - and the OnePlus 7 is no exception. For instance, our GeekBench 4 tests returned single-threaded scores of 3,531, with 1,1214 for multi-threaded tasks. Both these scores dwarf the 6T which hit 2,326 for single and 8,815 for multi, but, despite some minor improvements, you can't really say it does a whole lot more in day-to-day use.

It's a snappy device, for sure, but so was the 6T and you can't really notice the difference in that respect. Likewise, Samsung's Galaxy S10 had higher marks for single-core tasks at 4,462, but slightly less for multi-core at 10,299, but the 7 is almost 200 cheaper, while the 6T is nearly half the price of the S10. It's often said that smartphones have more power than the rockets that put man on the moon, but these current models are the equivalent of using Apollo 11 to nip to the shops.

OnePlus 7 review: Features

To go with all that juice, the phone has all the features which you would expect from a modern flagship - so there are no real surprises. The in-display fingerprint sensor is fast enough, perhaps not quite as good as the Galaxy S10 or the Huawei P30, but not far off. The facial recognition is up to scratch and is almost effortless to operate. They accompany a few other, more quirky gestures for quick access, such as double tapping to wake the device - saving you from clicking the lock button. Better still, drawing a circle on the same black screen opens up the camera. While we're all for innovations that reduce physical button use, there is a rather nice, old fashioned switch on the side for turning the device to silent, ring and vibrate modes - although it can snag on trouser pockets, so be careful when going into meetings.

Ports-wise, it feels pointless bringing up the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, but that's been a hard sell for consumers. With 5G on the way and all the room that's going to be needed in devices for extra antenna and things, we should really just let that one go. There's a USB 3.1 Type-C port on the 7 and it does both charging and audio - although you'll need to buy an adapter for that, as it's not included in the box. As an interesting aside, you can also use it to mirror your screen on an external monitor.

OnePlus 7 review: Battery life

Speaking of charge, there's a super 3,700mAh battery under the hood of this handset and in our looped video test, it held out for 21hrs 11mins. The 7's battery is a tad bigger than the 3,400mAh inside the S10 and offered up over three hours more battery life. Impressively, the Pro only managed 29 mins more and the P30 Pro only gave out 11mins more - in short, this is battery life you ought to pay more for.

OnePlus 7 review: Camera

When you get to the cameras, you'll not find too much to shout about with the 7. There's a new 48MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.7 that's coupled with a 5MP, f/2.4 depth sensor. Add to that a 16MP f/2.0 wide selfie cam and you have a fairly decent set of snappers, but these are very low-key when compared with other smartphones. Huawei and Google have little to worry about when it comes to rival cameras and that is certainly the case for the OnePlus 7.

The quality of images captured with the main camera is generally very good in automatic mode. Colour can be a touch oversaturated in some cases and there's a little noise around the edges in some close-up photos, but otherwise images have a high amount of detail, without the overzealous noise reduction and oversharpening that can be present in some devices.

Sadly, the same isn't true of the so-called 'Pro mode'. The OnePlus 7 technically features a 48MP sensor, but in order to capture images at this resolution (rather than the 12MPshots taken in automatic mode), you'll need to use the manual mode and specifically select the 48MP option. Unfortunately, the noise reduction algorithm that it uses is so extreme that it makes the resulting photos look like an impressionist painting. Photos come out with excessive smearing, and any fine detail is completely lost in a Monet-esque haze.

Video capabilities are good however, particularly when shooting at 60fps where footage looks silky smooth. The stabilisation features aren't quite as adept at smoothing out shaky videos as the iPhone Xs - especially when shooting using the zoom functionality - but that's a relatively minor gripe. The front-facing selfie camera is also pretty capable; aside from a little noise and some slightly washed-out skin tones, it's perfectly suitable for snapping a few casual selfies.

OnePlus 7 review: Verdict

With the OnePlus 7, you won't be getting the pop-up camera found on the OnePlus 7 Pro, nor the triple-camera set up or 90Hz screen. However, despite its modest price of £499 (exc VAT), the OnePlus 7 offers almost everything else you'd expect from a leading smartphone, from its punchy AMOLED screen to its flagship-matching internals.

Samsung's Galaxy range might be sparklier, but this is a match everywhere else. The iPhone is more iconic, but this isn't going to cost you over a grand. Huawei's P30 range may be more technically advanced, but this isn't likely to stop receiving Android patches from Google in the near future... we could go on.

With smartphone prices forever increasing, it's reassuring that a manufacturer is still offering this much quality so cheaply (cheap for mobile phones, at least). After all, both the OnePlus 6 and 6T received strong reviews so a price hike wouldn't be unexpected. But that wouldn't be very OnePlus, because it's the champion of 'cheap and cheerful'.

Verdict

All the important specs are here, quality display, snappy processor and long battery life, but as always, OnePlus is the champion of cheap and cheerful and its 7th-generation phone offers an unparalleled value for money.

Two-tier smartphone families are now pretty much the default option for manufacturers, with one basic version being released alongside a second model that's much larger, fancier, and more expensive. Whether it's 'Plus', 'Max' or 'XL', it seems the done thing is to make two versions of your device - and OnePlus hasn't ignored this trend.

For the first time in its history, the Chinese firm has launched a new generation of smartphones with two separate tiers - the OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 7 Pro. Boasting more bells and whistles than its stablemate, the 7 Pro is OnePlus' answer to the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S10+.

It's going all-out too, outfitting the device with just about every cutting-edge technological capability possible. However, given OnePlus' well-earned reputation for producing flag-ship grade devices without the associated price tag, the new handset will have to convince us that the extra glitz makes it a worthier purchase than the OnePlus 7.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Design

The OnePlus 7 Pro is definitely the most 'premium' device OnePlus has ever made. The curved, edge-to-edge display (a first for the Chinese company) is very impressive and is reminiscent of the likes of the Galaxy S10. And, when we say edge-to-edge, we mean it - unlike other devices, this phone has no notch, strap or any other interruptions to the spread of the screen. Instead, the front camera is hidden within the device itself when not in use, popping out like a periscope via a motorised mechanism when needed.

The OnePlus 7 Pro isn’t the first to feature this kind of mechanism, but it’s certainly one of the better implementations. It’s quite clever and quirky, but we’re not entirely convinced that it’s necessary, let alone an improvement over the traditional setup.

OnePlus says it has tested the mechanism and that it can be closed and opened over 300,000 times without deteriorating or failing – roughly 150 times a day for five and a half years. The camera also features a sensor that causes it to automatically retract if you put the phone in a pocket or if the device is dropped.

However, there’s no denying the fact that having an extra mechanical function creates an additional point of failure. This is a moving part, and so will be prone to the types of breaks and malfunctions that you wouldn’t normally encounter with a fixed camera.

Potential camera issues aside, the phone looks as good as you might expect from a £650 flagship device. The Gorilla Glass 5 backing comes with three attractive reflective finishes – our review model was the ‘Mirror Grey’ version, but you can also get cream-coloured ‘Almond’ and ‘Nebula Blue’ versions, the latter of which is particularly impressive.

Compared to OnePlus’ previous devices, the 7 Pro is only marginally thicker and heavier than both the OnePlus 6T and 7. Unfortunately, this is just enough for the device to feel a little unwieldy, something which is not entirely unique to this device, rather a problem facing most 6.5in+ edge-to-edge phones. In fact, the OnePlus 7 Pro is one of the largest phones we’ve reviewed, measuring almost 6.7in from corner to corner.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Display

You can't argue that all that space isn't put to good use, however. The OnePlus 7 Pro has a great quality display and technically-speaking, it's right up there with the rest of the Android champions. The screen (which, like the rear, is built from Gorilla Glass 5) has a 1,440 x 3,120 resolution, which makes it the most pixel-rich OnePlus phone yet. It also uses an AMOLED display, so contrast is basically perfect, and the 412cd/m2 brightness is good, if not as blazing as some rivals.

Colour reproduction is good too; the display's 'Nature' mode - one of multiple different calibration options you can choose from - offers an 89% coverage of the sRGB colour gamut. Oddly enough, that's actually marginally higher than the 84.3% coverage we recorded for the dedicated 'sRGB mode'. It's also got a separate Display P3 setting, covering a creditable 98% of that particular gamut.

One of the biggest headline features is the 90Hz refresh rate. This is most useful for those who want super-smooth 3D gaming (although most mobile games don't support framerates this high yet) but it also results in a smoother feel when scrolling through menus and apps. You may not consciously notice it, but it makes the general experience of using the phone subtly more pleasant.

Unfortunately, not everything is quite so rosy. For some reason, although the phone is certified to the HDR10+ standard, some apps that supposedly benefit from the technology look weirdly murky and hard to make out. The most notable example is Netflix, where some scenes are so dark that they're nigh-unwatchable. It's not enough of a problem to substantially colour our opinion of the device but it's a strange quirk, and hopefully one that'll be fixed in a future software update.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Specs and hardware

In-keeping with its premium status, the OnePlus 7 Pro features the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor and either 6GB, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, depending on configuration. Suffice to say, this is more than enough to power day-to-day use in even the most demanding of business environments, and keeps pace with the likes of the P30 Pro and Galaxy S10+. Processing power hasn't been a material issue for flagship phones for at least two years, so that's really all you need to know.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Battery life

Battery life is more of a critical concern, however, and it's here that the OnePlus 7 Pro starts to fall behind the competition a little. While 2019 flagships have been breaking the 20-hour mark by taking advantage of the greater power-efficiency of the latest silicon, the OnePlus 7 Pro managed only 18hrs 31mins in our battery tests. That's more than two and a half hours shorter than both the S10+ and the P30 Pro. Although both of those devices benefit from slightly larger batteries than the 7 Pro's 4,000mAh cell, the gulf between them and the OnePlus is disproportionate.

That's on the default setting, which automatically switches between QHD+ and FHD+ resolutions depending on what you're doing; you may squeeze some extra longevity by restricting it to FHD+, but then you're limiting the impact of that lovely screen. Thankfully, the inclusion of OnePlus' 'Warp Charge 30' fast-charging technology means that refueling takes no time at all - although there's still no wireless charging option.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Camera

As with all modern flagships, the OnePlus 7 Pro is selling itself largely on the strength of its camera - in this case, a triple-lens setup with a 48MP f/1.8 Sony module, a 16MP f/2/2 ultra-wide-angle lens and a 3x zoom telephoto lens with an 8MP resolution. On paper, this should be an excellent setup that results in cracking photos. In reality, for the most part, it is - but not entirely.

Let's start with the telephoto lens; while it's listed as a 3x zoom, that's not actually a 3x optical zoom - it's a 12MP lens with 2.2x optical zoom that uses cropping to bring it up to 3x zoom at 8MP. This is a little misleading, especially if you're planning on purchasing it on the strength of the camera.

On top of that, the advertised 48MP camera doesn't actually take pictures at that resolution by default - the automatic mode shoots at 12MP. To actually get 48MP pictures, you'll have to not only use the manual 'Pro' mode, but also specifically select the 48MP option. Once you do, however, you'll be left with pictures that are so bizarrely oversharpened that it's not worth bothering in the first place.

Aside from these annoying quirks, the OnePlus 7 Pro's camera is actually rather good; photos shot in automatic look great, with good colour reproduction and detail. Video is good too, with 60fps 4K recording on offer, and that fancy front-facing camera also does a good job of capturing skin-tones without washing them out too much.

Overall, it's a good camera for casual snappers looking for nothing more demanding than solid social media pictures - but serious photographers likely won't be impressed.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Features

As you'd expect, the OnePlus 7 Pro is bursting with the usual complement of premium features. The in-display fingerprint reader is larger and faster (although it's still less accurate and convenient than a physical sensor) and facial recognition is back too. The downside is that, due to the fact that the front-facing camera has to pop out before it can start reading your features, it's not as quick as previous devices – or indeed the regular OnePlus 7.

The OnePlus' handy alert slider is also back, letting you easily flick between silent, vibrate and ring settings. Every previous OnePlus device that we've reviewed has come with a case, which we've duly used (because we value safety, and carefully-crafted aesthetics be damned) but the 7 Pro didn't. As a result, we found ourselves repeatedly flicking the switch to ring without meaning to, rather than our preferred vibrate mode.

Elsewhere, there's stereo Dolby Atmos speakers for the first time on a OnePlus device, as well as watercooling to help keep performance up. The 7 Pro's storage (available in either 128GB or 256GB capacities) also uses the UFS 3.0 standard for faster transfer speeds.

One odd quirk that we noticed was that whenever we used the OnePlus for contactless transactions via Google Pay, it opened the audio settings menu for some reason. Not a major inconvenience, admittedly, but another entry to add to the phone's litany of eccentricities.

OnePlus 7 Pro review: Verdict

The OnePlus 7 Pro is arguably the company's first attempt at a properly premium phone, and aims to match the likes of the S10+ blow-for-blow. In order to support that, OnePlus has added fancy features like a pop-up camera and curved display, but while these are initially eye-catching, we can't really say that they feel particularly necessary.

On top of that, there are a number of weird irritations - like the slightly problematic camera and the sensitive alert slider - that make using the 7 Pro a more frustrating experience than usual. The battery life is also a little disappointing given how well its rivals are performing.

On the other hand, aside from these relatively minor issues the OnePlus 7 Pro is a great phone. The camera is great for everyday snaps, most of the features are smart and useful, the screen is gorgeous and the battery life is still easily enough to see you through a working day.

More importantly, the company has still managed to maintain its reputation for undercutting its rivals on price. The OnePlus 7 Pro starts at 649 inc VAT for the entry-level configuration with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The equivalent Galaxy S10+ costs 250 more, as does the Huawei P30 Pro. That's a pretty substantial saving, considering all you have to put up with is a few niggles.

The newest and most capable OnePlus device may not get away with an entirely unblemished record, but its overall quality and appeal combined with its good value make it an easy device to recommend. It may not match the Google Pixel 3a XL for value or the Galaxy S10+ for sheer class, but the OnePlus 7 Pro is an excellent option for those that want a solid all-rounder with an air of polish.

For the first time since it emerged onto the scene a few years ago, Chinese company OnePlus has launched not one, not two, but three phones at simultaneous events in New York, Bangalore and London.

The headline-grabber is the OnePlus 7 Pro, a true flagship designed to rival the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and the Huawei P30 Pro. However, the company also launched a regular, non-Pro follow-up to the OnePlus 6T; the OnePlus 7.

OnePlus 7 hands-on review: Design

Visually-speaking, the OnePlus 7 is functionally identical to its predecessor, the 6T. Because it uses the same front-facing camera configuration as the 6T's teardrop notch rather than the 7 Pro's motorised pop-up module, it can't replicate the Pro's impressive notchless edge-to-edge display. On the other hand, if you're worried about the pop-up motor's potential for failure, this might put your mind at ease.

Sadly, the OnePlus 7 now only comes in one colour: the reflective 'Mirror Grey' finish. The Pro comes in two more colours, one of which the gorgeous Nebula Blue, which we'd have loved to see on the 7.

OnePlus 7 hands-on review: Display

Along with the true edge-to-edge display, another OnePlus 7 Pro feature that the OnePlus 7 lacks is the curved screen. Instead, it's still a regular, flat, 6.4in panel, with a fairly run-of-the-mill 1,080 x 2,340 resolution.

While the display looks good on first glance, there doesn't seem to be anything in particular to write home about, and we won't have a true indication of its quality until we can fully test it.

OnePlus 7 hands-on review: Specs & hardware

As with most two-tier launches, the OnePlus 7 and the 7 Pro both use the same internal hardware: the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, coupled with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM depending on the configuration. Unlike the Pro, there's no 12GB option.

The storage uses the UFS 3.0 standard for faster read write speeds and is available in either 128GB or 256GB versions. As always with OnePlus, there's no support for microSD card expansion. There's also a 3,700mAh battery, with support for OnePlus' Warp Charge 30 fast-charging technology.

OnePlus 7 hands-on review: Camera

As you may have guessed, the camera setup for the OnePlus 7 is effectively a stripped-back version of the one used on the 7 Pro. The main camera is the same; a 48-megapixel, f/1.7 lens with a Sony-built sensor, with a further 20-megapixel sensor that's used purely for depth-sensing duties. It doesn't have the telephoto or wide-angle lenses that the 7 Pro has, unfortunately.

The camera will, however, share features such as optical image stabilisation, as well as software features like the UltraShot photography engine and other enhancements. Initial camera tests certainly seem impressive, but we won't know for sure until we've had a chance to test it more extensively.

OnePlus 7 hands-on review: Early verdict

If the OnePlus 7 Pro is a decided step-change, the 'vanilla' OnePlus 7 is much more of an incremental upgrade. Aside from the camera and the processor, there isn't a whole lot that's radically different compared to the OnePlus 6T.

We're inclined to be charitable about this, however, mostly because the price hasn't changed either. It still starts at 499 for the cheapest configuration, and will go on sale in June. The lack of a price hike buys it a fair amount of goodwill and (although we can't draw any final conclusions until we've done a full review), this phone looks to be just as good as the last OnePlus. Whether it's significantly better, however, remains to be seen.

The once-unknown Chinese firm OnePlus has grown its stock tremendously in recent years with its iterations smartphones increasingly competing against the market's top tier of manufacturers.

The likes of Google, Samsung and Huawei are all established players in the industry but speed by which OnePlus has caught up is frightening. Its first handset, the OnePlus One, was released just four years ago, and the firm has since carved a reputation for producing quality handsets at a budget price.

As the latest breed of smartphones, many of which are 5G-ready or foldable, begin their rollout, there yet remains a handful of perfectly viable previous-gen options for those whose heads haven't yet been turned.

The OnePlus 6 can certainly count itself in a bracket of market-leading handsets for its time, matching up blow-for-blow against the likes of the gorgeous Samsung Galaxy S9 and Apple's impressive iPhone X.

Although a fleet of handsets with minor tweaks and upgrades have since been released, including the OnePlus 6T, the original OnePlus 6 is by no means a busted flush. It continues to impress and benefits from a much lower price point than its rivals. So how does the OnePlus 6 fare against its key competitors?

OnePlus 6 review: Design

OnePlus has never slacked on design and the OnePlus 6 retains that premium look and feel, with a glass-backed rear available in three finishes: Mirror Black, matte midnight black and a limited-edition Silk White finish.

Out of the three options, our favourite is the Midnight Black finish; it doesn't pick up fingerprints as easily as the polished Mirror Black version, and black phones are more understated than their white counterparts. Having said that, however, the Silk White version is far more appealing than any other white smartphone we've seen, which is due to the layer of crushed pearls used in its construction, giving the design a soft, creamy look.

Despite the fact that its dimensions are functionally identical to its predecessor on paper, the OnePlus 6 somehow feels slightly larger than the 5T. This gives it a solid and substantial air though, and while it's fractionally more unwieldy than the previous model, it's not a negative quality.

Elsewhere, there's been a slight change to the phone's physical layout. The alert slider, which is used to switch the ringer and vibrate settings on and off, has been moved to the right-hand side of the device, and the camera has been moved from the corner of the device to the middle. The fingerprint reader has also been squashed down slightly in order to accommodate it.

OnePlus 6: Display

One of the OnePlus 6's most immediately striking - and likely most contentious - features is its 6.3in edge-to-edge display, complete with iPhone X-style notch to house the front-facing camera, speaker and sensors. If, like us, you think the notch is a hideous, distracting blight on the face of your phone, fear not: OnePlus has added an option to hide the notch from view by bringing the notification bar down. This was added just a few weeks before launch, the company tells us, because the OnePlus community overwhelmingly hated the notch.

Otherwise, the screen looks great - the 2280 x 1080p AMOLED display is bright and clear, with vivid, vibrant colours. It certainly looks the business, and content like movies and pictures really pop. This quality is borne out by our testing too; the OnePlus 6's screen is a real gem.

There are a number of different display modes available, including sRGB, DCI-P3 and Adaptive, as well as the default setting. Its sRGB setting had near-perfect coverage of the sRGB colour space, and ditto for the DCI-P3 profile. The Default and Adaptive settings both scored well for coverage too, and colour accuracy was good across the board.

Brightness is also superb. Flick the brightness slider all the way up, and you may be disappointed by the somewhat subpar 415cd/m2 maximum that the screen puts out, but don't be fooled. If you toggle the automatic brightness on, the screen's top brightness shoots up to a blistering 581cd/m2 - more than enough for clear visibility on even the sunniest of days.

OnePlus 6 review: Specs and hardware

Under the hood, the OnePlus 6 packs some powerful specs. It's powered by the Snapdragon 845 - the same processor found in the US version of the Galaxy S9, as well as the Asus ZenFone 5Z and the Sony Xperia XZ2. That's backed up with 8GB of RAM, and there's also a cheaper version with 6GB - although that's only available in the Mirror Black finish.

That's some seriously meaty hardware, and it's no surprise that it delivers meaty performance. The maxed-out 8GB configuration - which the company is expecting to be the most popular option - essentially matched the performance of the Xperia XZ2, according to the Geekbench CPU tests. It was behind the Galaxy S9 in single-core tests, but not by a huge amount - and it matched the S9 for multi-core tasks.

In other words, the OnePlus 6 is for all intents and purposes as fast as the S9 - which is a hell of an achievement, especially when it's considerably cheaper than Samsung's flagship.

Storage allocations vary depending on what finish you go for - the Mirror Black model starts at 64GB and goes up to 128GB, while Midnight Black starts at 128GB and goes up to 256GB. Silk White, meanwhile, is only available with 128GB of storage.

OnePlus 6 review: Battery

One feature that we wish had experienced a bit of an upgrade is the battery capacity. Although it packs in a pretty respectable 3,300mAh battery capacity, all of the OnePlus 6's additional bells and whistles just drain power a lot faster.

It's the same battery included in the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T and although from those devices, we managed to eke out at least 24 hours of uptime, the OnePlus 6 struggles to stay juiced up for much longer than 17 hours.

Although it's still a respectable score, those hoping for less charging time from the upgrade may feel a little deflated that they'll have to charge their device more often than the older model.

But although battery performance is a little lacklustre, at least you can make use of OnePlus' proprietary Dash Charge fast-charging technology that will fill your device up in much less time than a standard charger. Although it's not a technology that has been particularly well-implemented by rival manufacturers, OnePlus has made effective use of it, especially inside the OnePlus 6 which really does benefit from it.

Although some were hopefully that wireless charging would be an option within the most recent OnePlus device, the glass back has unfortunately put a stop to that happening, as has OnePlus's suggestion that it would make the phone more expensive to buy.

OnePlus 6 review: Camera

Just like its predecessor, the OnePlus 6 boasts an excellent camera. It once again uses a dual-camera setup, with a 16MP and 20MP sensor and an f/1.7 aperture for low-light photography. It's also sporting a larger sensor, which also helps in situations with poor lighting.

Sure enough, the OnePlus 6's performance with low-light photography is absolutely superb, and the re-introduction of optical image stabilisation - not seen on a OnePlus device since the 3T - means that low-light shots come out looking sharp, crisp and packed with detail. It's worlds ahead of the OnePlus 5T, and in fact, it's up there with the Pixel 2 and Galaxy S9 in terms of quality.

Daylight shots are similarly impressive; the HDR capabilities have been tuned up and the quality is excellent. It's not quite as impressive as the best of the best, and it lacks any optical zoom, but it's incredibly impressive nonetheless. Bokeh-style portrait mode is offered too. It's not quite as good as we've seen from some rivals - the edges between the subject in the foreground and the blurred background aren't as sharply-defined as the Pixel 2, for example, but this is easily fixed with a software update.

It also features improves slow-motion video capabilities, including the ability to shoot 480fps footage at 720p and 240fps footage at 1080p. It lags behind the 960fps mode offered by rivals like the S9, but the advantage is that you can shoot a full minute of slow-motion footage, picking the parts you want to have in slow-motion afterwards - something that we found more convenient than the fiddly slow-mo modes of other devices.

Aside from that, standard video quality is also excellent, thanks to its use of OIS. The iPhone X remains the most impressive smartphone camera for video, but this is the best Android example we've yet seen.

And, it's set to improve; Since we reviewed the camera, OnePlus have promised an update that will enhance the device's camera and improve picture quality in a number of ways. The Oxygen OS 5.1.9 update, available now, claims to improve clarity, dynamic range, focus speed and accuracy as well as adding a portrait mode to the front camera. The standard portrait mode should also benefit from better focusing and bolder images, OnePlus says, though we're yet to put this to the test (we'll update this review when we do).

The update is based on community feedback, and will also add Google Lens AR functionality to the camera app, which uses image recognition tools for users to find out information on books, buildings and all kinds of objects and landmarks they point the camera at. The feature can provide relevant website links, translate foreign words, scan QR codes and even identify animals.

Google Lens is already available as a separate download, but rolling it into an update is clever and convenient from OnePlus, which is said to also be pushing the Oxygen OS 5.1.9 update to OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T as well.

OnePlus 6 review: Features

OnePlus has shied away from stuffing the 6 with flashy, attention-grabbing but ultimately useless features (we're looking at you, Animojis). Instead, it's opted for a number of sensible features that add genuine value. For example, it's got dual-SIM support, as well as support for CAT16 Gigabit LTE networking. It supports a huge range of different region bands, and it's carrier unlocked by default.

On the subject of unlocking, the OnePlus 6 also features both facial and fingerprint recognition, which the company claims take 0.4 and 0.2 seconds, respectively. We were very impressed with the 5T's facial recognition, and this implementation is just as convenient.

Sadly, the OnePlus 6 is not fully waterproofed. Although the company says it's improved the water resistance, thanks to foam and silicon around the main ingress points, it does not have a proper IP67 or IP68 rating to guarantee it against submersion. According to the company, it should withstand being caught in the rain, and will probably survive a dunk in the toilet (assuming you get it out and leave it to dry immediately), but there are no promises.

As for software, OnePlus once again opts for its proprietary OxygenOS, a customised version of Android that's proved incredibly popular with its fans. While it looks just like a stock version of Android, it's highly customisable, letting users change what buttons do depending on how you press them, the look of the status bar, and offering a range of colour choices - although there's an excellent dark theme available. It's an incredibly slick take on the operating system that runs like a dream on the OnePlus 6, thanks in no small part to the beefy internal hardware.

The haphazard nature of Android updates can be a headache at times, and your experience will vary massively depending on the companies you've used. OnePlus has historically been pretty good at releasing them at a regular pace, and it has recently gone one step further by committing to a Google Pixel style release schedule.

It's new 'Software Maintenance Schedule' commits to two years of major Android updates, which includes the upcoming Android P platform, as well as an additional year of security updates. This applies to the OnePlus 6, but also to the OnePlus 5 and 5T.

What's more, this is in addition to any new feature updates released as part of patches to its OxygenOS.

Given how good OnePlus has been with its updates, this is only going to serve as a nice little bonus to OnePlus fans already sold on the smartphone. Yet for some customers, particularly businesses looking to roll out the smartphone to employees, it may prove to be that last added incentive they needed to make the switch.

OnePlus 6 review: Verdict

OnePlus has carved out an excellent reputation for its devices, and it's one that's well warranted. Its phones have historically offered an excellent combination of power and price, giving the big-name competitors a real run for their money. This has never been truer than with the OnePlus 6.

The most powerful configuration with 8GB of RAM starts at just 449 - 100 cheaper than the Galaxy S9. On top of that, the OnePlus 6 is effectively matching it in terms of power, appearance and camera quality. The OnePlus 6 is an absolutely breathtaking phone in all the areas that count and, along with the Galaxy S9 and Pixel 2, it's absolutely one of the best phones of the year.

It's very slightly behind the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X in terms of technical capability, but that's easy to forgive when it's so much more affordable. Given its great value, it was easily our favourite phone of 2018, and our go-to recommendation for the best smartphone for people to get.

With the next generation of smartphones just around the corner, the OnePlus 6 seems like the perfect stop gap if you're looking to upgrade immediately before shelling out for a refined foldable or 5G handset later down the line.

This review was originally written on 16 May 2018, and has subsequently been updated to reflect new features

OnePlus has officially revealed the existence of the OnePlus 6T, the successor to the critically-acclaimed OnePlus 6, with the handset set to debut 30 October in New York.

The handset will effectively be a refresh of the OnePlus 6, a smartphone that came with the features one would expect on a flagship Android phone, such as the Samsung Galaxy S9, only at a price tag some several hundred pounds cheaper.

This is very much the trend for OnePlus phones as is the incremental update on each generation of the brand's smartphone, denoted by a 'T' after the model number.

Going by the various titbits of information that have been teased by OnePlus or have leaked, the OnePlus 6T will come with a reduced display 'notch' and a fingerprint scanner that has been built into the display rather than sitting around the back of the handset, as is the case with the OnePlus 6.

The OnePlus 6pT is expected to retain the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip its predecessor uses, but there is potential for battery life to be increased and for OnePlus to have carried out a few extra software tweaks to make the already slick OxygenOS run even more smoothly.

Pricing also looks set to stay in the ballpark of the OnePlus 6's launch price of 469, which will ensure the keen pricing OnePlus touts remains in place with the 6T and thus appeals to OnePlus fans and newcomers alike.

06/09/18: OnePlus 6T leak teases in-display fingerprint reader

OnePlus fans may have had their first clue as to what the company's next device has in store, after images supposedly showing the OnePlus 6T's retail packaging were leaked on Chinese social media site Weibo.

First spotted by SlashGear, the leaks add weight to the assumptions that a follow-up to this year's OnePlus 6 is in the works. The company has yet to release any official information, but a Weibo post from OnePlus' official account indicated that the company would be sharing some news on 15 January next year.

Although this leak just involves the 6T's box rather than the device itself it may reveal a couple of interesting details of the forthcoming device. For example, the inside of the box features a line drawing, presumably of the 6T. This includes a fingerprint symbol at the bottom of the display, above the slogan 'unlock the speed'.

This implies that login and authentication will be a major feature of the 6T most likely via an in-display fingerprint reader. Also known as fingerprint-on-display technology (or FOD), this feature is tipped to start arriving on multiple devices next year. There were persistent rumours that the feature would be incorporated into the Samsung Galaxy S9, but the company apparently could not integrate it in time for launch.

The device will also have a slimmed-down 'waterdrop'-style notch, according to the pictures. As with any leak though, take these with a pinch of salt especially as a box is easier to mock up than a handset.

As we've already seen with Apple's iPhone X, and Samsung's Galaxy S8 before it, ultra-slim bezels are this year's standout design craze. It's seemingly the only way that a smartphone is able to truly stand out in the market. The latest to embrace this trend is OnePlus with its 5T smartphone, an updated version of the excellent OnePlus 5, which was released back in June.

The ultra-slim bezel design has so far generally featured on higher-end devices, which unsurprisingly have had premium price tags slapped onto them. However, OnePlus, true to its reputation for quality at a budget price, is offering that same design experience at a much more affordable 449. Not only that, you're getting performance to rival the Galaxy S8, with a battery that lasts twice as long.

Display

The standout feature of the 5T is its screen. It's a 6in, 1,080 x 2,160 AMOLED display with a pixel density of 401ppi, which, at least on face value, is beautifully sharp and vibrant. It also uses a default theme that is a mix of sunset oranges, pinks and blues, which produce a pleasing effect that's immediately eye-catching. The effect covers almost the entirety of the front face of the phone, as the display stretches almost entirely to the left and right edges while leaving only half a centimetre of bezel at the top and bottom.

The panel is equally impressive from a technical perspective. It managed to hit 98.4% coverage of the sRGB colour space, which makes it incredibly accurate and a joy to watch video or look at images on. Sadly, its 420cd/m2 maximum brightness isn't quite as impressive as other devices. It's more than capable of handling bright conditions however - especially with it glare-beating polarised layer.

Design

Aside from the screen, the 5T essentially uses the same chassis as the OnePlus 5, only with its physical home button snipped off. The 5T is fractionally taller and wider than the 5, but it features the same rounded edges and same button placements as its younger sibling.

The changes are even more discrete on the back of the device, as the camera, flash, the OnePlus logo, and even the antenna bands are identically placed to those on the OnePlus 5, although the dual camera housing does stick out slightly further. The only obvious difference is the presence of a circular fingerprint scanner just above the OnePlus logo, which was evicted from the front of the phone when OnePlus ditched the physical home button.

OnePlus has also decided to keep the headphone port once again. With the use of USB-C for charging the phone, the temptation is to follow the likes of Apple and ditch the headphone port for an all-in-one slot, yet it's nice to see that giving customers more options is still something OnePlus believes in, at least for this generation.

It's also worth mentioning that OnePlus has opted for a Midnight Black colour for the 5T. Apparently, the back panel of the phone undergoes two lots of sandblasting before receiving an anti-fingerprint layer. Whatever OnePlus had done to create the finish, we wholeheartedly approve of it - the smoothed surface on the back of the phone is a joy to hold, and that anti-fingerprint layer works like a charm.

The only disappointment is the lack of any microSD expansion slots, a hangover from the OnePlus 5 that continues to irritate.

Hardware & Performance

Internally, the OnePlus 5T is essentially the same as the 5. It features the popular Snapdragon 835 processor, found on most of today's market-leading phones, backed up by 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage - although there is a model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage available.

Given that there have been relatively few hardware changes in the 5T, it's unsurprising that it's almost identical to the OnePlus 5 in terms of performance and battery life. That is to say you once again get solid performance with one of the best batteries available on the market.

In our single and multi core benchmark tests the OnePlus 5T performed as well as expected for a Snapdragon 835, with scores of 1903 and 6658 respectively. There's almost an imperceptible difference between other leading phones using the Snapdragon 835.

However, when it comes to the battery, it destroys the competition. It uses the same 3,300mAh battery with 'Dash Charge' support as the OnePlus 5, and promises "enough power for the day". In our benchmark tests, the 5T managed to last 20hrs 52mins - longer than the already impressive score of the OnePlus 5. Translating to nearly a full day between charges, the OnePlus 5T lasted almost twice as long as the HTC U11, and considerably longer than the Galaxy S8.

Software and features

There are a handful of quality of life improvements with the OnePlus 5T, which runs the company's own version of Android, known as OxygenOS. Things like expanded screenshots, dark themes and auto night mode have all made their way over to the 5T from the 5.

Unfortunately, the 5T does not ship with Android Oreo, Google's latest OS version, instead opting for Android 7 Nougat. This is slightly surprising given the number of recently launched devices appearing with Oreo pre-installed, however it's likely that the 5T will receive the update in the near future.

There's also a handful of new additions, most notably a soft-key shortcut bar to replace the physical button and lights of the old bezel. This is hidden by default, creating a pleasing full-screen effect on apps, but can be revealed by swiping up and can even be pinned in place if you prefer.

Another handy feature is the ability to open multiple versions of the same app, which is primarily designed for users who want to have more than one social media account open at once. It's an idea that's already built into services like Google, but it's still great to see for apps like Facebook, Twitter and Skype, particularly when switching between business and personal accounts.

Facial recognition has also made its way to the 5T, which OnePlus claims uses over 100 facial features to create a user's profile, and is one of the fastest examples on the market. We can confirm it's incredibly speedy when it comes to scanning your face and unlocking the phone (OnePlus claims this is under 0.4 seconds), and setting it up through the template is a fast and straight-forward process. Another highlight is that, unlike the iPhone X, the device unlocks straight to the home screen without having to swipe a second time.

It's important to note that facial recognition on the 5T is only deployed as way to unlock the device, and the company confirmed that things like authorising payments are not supported, although this may change in the future.

Camera

Some significant changes have been made when it comes to the dual camera, which has been revamped for use with low light photography. Replacing the telephoto lens of the first phone, you get a main 16-megapixel camera with an aperture of f/1.7, with a 20-megapixel lens as a secondary, which is able to produce some better-looking portrait shots than on the OnePlus 5.

These changes have paid off across the board. The OnePlus 5T's camera is exceptional for the money, producing shots that are only very slightly behind the excellent Google Pixel 2 in terms of quality. Video is excellent too, with 4K capture at 30fps looking smooth and stable.

Verdict

Our initial impressions of the 5T already pegged it as one of the best smartphones to release this year, and our benchmarks have cemented this claim. It performs just as well as the other Snapdragon 835 smartphones on the market, including the excellent Galaxy S8, while giving you the peace of mind that it will last almost a full 24 hours before needing to be charged.

The 5T sticks to what works while introducing a fresh design that reignites that same enthusiasm you felt for the original. What's sure to be a winner among existing fans and new customers, OnePlus has given the 5T the flavour of a high-end smartphone, at a price you can stomach. It's the ideal marriage of design, performance, and longevity, pitched perfectly at the mid-range customer.

Verdict

The OnePlus 5T is everything an upgrade should be. It takes the best bits of its predecessor and adds a modern looking design that rivals the best smartphones on the market. You’ll struggle to find anything else on the market that offers similar value for money.

New leaked images suggest that the launch date for the OnePlus 5T will be 16 November.

An anonymous source provided GizChina.IT with a leaked image of the presentation slides for the new device. On the image it says: "Launch Live Event on 16th November."

Unfortunately, the date of sale is censored out of the image.

The slide also states under the title of the device: "Larger display. Same footprint."

It also appears to be an 'Amazon Exclusive' but this apparently refers to the Indian market, which is what happened to the OnePlus' predecessor too.

This is further backed up by Evan Blass, known for his phone leaks, who wrote on Twitter this week that he has had two reliable confirmations that the device will be released on 20 November.

Furthermore, this date would be similar to the OnePlus 3T launch date which was 15 November last year.

A teaser shot for the new device was spotted earlier this week on Android Authority (see below) which showed one corner of the phone with the rest of it covered in darkness. The image showed an edge-to-edge display with the OnePlus' distinctive 'never settle' branding as well as the same speaker grille that the OnePlus 5 has.

24/10/2017:Fresh OnePlus 5T leak fuels further rumours

Rumours of the OnePlus 5T's imminent arrival continue to circulate after further images of the device were leaked.

After fans allegedly spotted a promo page for the phone on OnePlus' website yesterday, a teaser shot for the new device was leaked to tech blog Android Authority.

The photo, in which all but one corner of the phone is shrouded in darkness, shows an edge-to-edge display, along with OnePlus' distinctive 'never settle' branding and the same speaker grille as seen on the OnePlus 5.

While OnePlus has yet to publicly confirm the photo's authenticity, the teaser has a lot in common with the look and feel of promotional materials for the Chinese company's previous phones. It also chimes with previous leaks regarding the allegedly-forthcoming OnePlus 5T.

Android Authority claims that this latest OnePlus 5T leak has come from "a trusted source", but as with any leaked pre-release image, should be taken with a grain of salt until OnePlus formally announces the OnePlus 5T's existence.

Rumours suggest that the OnePlus 5T will be largely similar to its predecessor, with the primary change being a larger display with narrower bezels and a relocated fingerprint sensor - most likely to the rear. Other minor upgrades that have been mooted include a higher-quality camera and a bigger battery in order to power the larger screen.

Most pundits are expecting the OnePlus 5T to be announced at some point in November, which coincides with when the OnePlus 3T was launched last year. A price increase could also be on the cards, drawing the once-affordable range ever closer to the territory of premium flagships.

23/10/2017:OnePlus 5T leaks show edge-to-edge display

Rumours suggest that OnePlus may be about to launch an updated version of the OnePlus 5, featuring an edge-to edge display, after promotional material was reportedly published on the company's website.

The Chinese phone maker is widely expected to announce the OnePlus 5T, a follow-up to its latest device, in the coming weeks. No official confirmation has been issued by OnePlus, but an eagle-eyed fan on Chinese social network Weibo supposedly spotted a page on its site that was published by mistake.

The page, which was promoting the OnePlus 5T, featured images of the device and bore the slogan "Larger screen. Same footprint". If accurate, the leaks indicate that OnePlus has followed in the footsteps of companies such as Samsung and Apple, developing a device with ultra-slim screen bezels and an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Aside from the larger screen, the OnePlus 5T is unlikely to see many additional upgrades over the OnePlus 5, as it already has a cutting-edge Snapdragon 835 processor and a generous complement of RAM. There may have been improvements to the camera hardware, however, as links leading to a promotional page for the phone's dual camera are also prominently featured in the navigation bar of the leaked page.

The company is also likely to have been forced to relocate or abandon the OnePlus 5's fingerprint reader, as the newly-enlarged screen has no space to accommodate the sensor. The most obvious option is to move it to the rear of the device, as Samsung has done with the Galaxy S8's fingerprint reader, but OnePlus could also have removed it altogether in favour of an alternative biometric security method such as facial or iris recognition.

As always, these leaks should be taken with a substantial grain of salt. If they are accurate, we would expect OnePlus to confirm the details of the OnePlus 5T within the next few weeks, and fans are encouraged to keep their eyes peeled.

Picture: IT Pro