Hands-On With the OnePlus 7 Pro's New Pop-Up Camera and Bezel-Free Display

[MacRumors]

OnePlus today unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 7 Pro, which offers an impressive feature set at a price that beats out flagship devices from other smartphone manufacturers, including Apple.

We were able to go hands-on with the OnePlus 7 Pro at the OnePlus event this morning, so we thought we'd give MacRumors readers a look at the bezel-free display and pop-up camera, both of which are great smartphone features.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

The OnePlus 7 Pro is all display, with a 6.67-inch OLED screen that takes up the entire front of the device. There are no camera cutouts or notches on the display at all, and that's because OnePlus is using a nifty little front-facing camera that pops out of the back of the phone when you want to use it.

It's a feature that's unique to the OnePlus device, and it allows for an edge-to-edge top-to-bottom bezel-free display without sacrificing the selfie camera. The little pop out camera seems rather durable, though we'll have to see how it holds up over time.

OnePlus uploaded a video demonstrating the camera opening and closing more than 300,000 times (it's 12 hours long!) and another video that demonstrated it lifting up a rock, so it certainly seems to be able to hold up to abuse.

Though it's got a 6.67-inch display, the OnePlus 7 Pro is similar in size to the iPhone XS Max, just because there's no bezels to deal with. The display does curve around the edges of the device, which some may not like, but it looks undeniably good.

OnePlus calls the display a "Fluid AMOLED" display because it has a 90Hz refresh rate, a concept similar to the 120Hz refresh rate on the iPad Pro models. That refresh rate is more noticeable on a smaller device, and scrolling through the OS is super smooth.

Aside from the standout display and the unique pop-up front-facing camera, the OnePlus 7 Pro has some pretty decent specs. There's a triple-lens camera with telephoto, wide-angle, and ultra wide-angle lenses, an under-display fingerprint sensor, a Snapdragon 855 chip, up to 12GB RAM, up to 256GB storage, a 4,000mAh battery, and a fast charging feature.

On the downside, the OnePlus 7 Pro doesn't offer wireless charging like many other smartphones on the market, nor does it have an Ingress Protection rating for water resistance. And of course there's one other major downside for Apple fans -- it runs Android.

OnePlus is charging more for this year's flagship OnePlus smartphone, and the 7 Pro is priced starting at $669. That's still quite a bit cheaper than the iPhone XS and flagship smartphones from other companies like Samsung, even though it's using some pretty high-end hardware.

What do you think of the OnePlus 7 Pro and the pop-up selfie cam? Let us know in the comments. We'll be taking a closer look at the OnePlus 7 Pro and comparing it to the iPhone XS Max in a future video, so keep an eye out for that.

Article Link: Hands-On With the OnePlus 7 Pro's New Pop-Up Camera and Bezel-Free Display

 

[Baymowe335]

Moving parts? No thanks. Oh, and it runs Android? Pass.

 

[TechRemarker]

If it's bezel free why is their a black bezel around the entire thing? Certainly a small bezel though compared to competitors. Though definetly wouldn't want moving parts on a phone.

 

[Swift]

One more thing to break, expensively. Why?

 

[NinjaHERO]

Love the no notch screen. I still wish Apple would have just put a small bezel across the top.
The pop up camera is an interesting idea. Screen looks beautiful. I'm always happy to see competition. Keep pushing Apple higher.

 

[seble]

I actually think it looks really cool but the article mentions 'smooth scrolling', I just hate Android scrolling. I actually think this phone presents a strong anti-iPhone case.

Lack of wireless charging also blows though

 

[buklauu]

I can't wait for high, variable refresh rate screens in more phones, though this is obviously contentious due to it being an additional battery drain. This is the design Apple was trying to get, but I doubt they'd ever introduce a mechanical point of failure like this. They'll only reduce the notch size or remove it completely when they can figure out how to hide all those cameras and sensors under the screen or in the bezel.

 

[dan9700]

this looks like a great phone, apple plz catch up

 

[farewelwilliams]

oneplus is annoying as hell. hate the company.

 

[BootsWalking]

That's a lot of phone for $669. Even more impressive is that for a little more ($749) you get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

 

[Crowbot]

Moving parts? No thanks. Oh, and it runs Android? Pass.

Worse. It's motorized. So there's two things to break. Interesting idea, though.

 

[snowboarder]

That screen is a real innovation, Apple can you please pay attention?
Yeah, we have enough emojis already...

 

[the-bigwig]

Well, moving parts can be durable, look at the mute switch on the iPhone. Never broke on mine iPhones at all. And when i was damn young I had many phones with many many moving parts and well, they were durable as hell, even Nokia 3250 which was...actually a two piece phone and it was rock solid.

 

[Cosmosent]

How much DRAM on the cheapest version ?

RAM Management has become one of the weakest areas of ALL smartphones the past few years, including iPhones, & Android phones have a Rep for being even worse.

 

[hofer]

Does it have a face ID equivalent?

 

[theredensign]

Considering how most Android phones have followed the notch trend, it’s nice to see a company taking a different approach, even if the motorised camera idea is nothing new.

Does the ‘chin’ and resulting lack of symmetry on almost every Android bother anyone else, though?

 

[Sasparilla]

Considering the features to price ratio, Samsung is probably not happy.

One does wonder at the price, considering everyone uses the same main parts in the same factories whether these guys are playing a long - loose everyone out of the market then they get it all game (Apple breaks this to an extent cause of its privacy angle). Happened in the rare earth element market.

 

[Nabru50]

Worse. It's motorized. So there's two things to break. Interesting idea, though.

At least in my case, I'd never use it, so it wouldn't break

 

[ani4ani]

Love the no notch screen. I still wish Apple would have just put a small bezel across the top.
The pop up camera is an interesting idea. Screen looks beautiful. I'm always happy to see competition. Keep pushing Apple higher.

More like dragging Apple up!

 

[B4U]

Someone may need to do a DFMEA on this.
What happens when the phone slips out of hand when taking selfie with the motorized camera stuck out?

 

[Superhappytree]

Meanwhile us iPhone users have two brand new colours to look forward to along with the same notch at the same 1k price tags. Yay!

 

[Michael Scrip]

Someone may need to do a DFMEA on this.
What happens when the phone slips out of hand when taking selfie with the motorized camera stuck out?

The phone has motion sensors and accelerometers that will retract the camera before it hits the ground.

There's a demo of it in MKBHD's video review.

Though I guess it all depends on how high the phone is when it falls. Still it's cool that they though of it!

 

[Khedron]

Cheaper than the XS? It's a lot cheaper than the XR, proving just what overpriced trash that phone is.

 

[badatusernames]

I actually like to notch on my iPhone X.

 

[Khedron]

Considering how most Android phones have followed the notch trend, it’s nice to see a company taking a different approach, even if the motorised camera idea is nothing new.

Does the ‘chin’ and resulting lack of symmetry on almost every Android bother anyone else, though?

No. The chin is much smaller than the digital chin Apple builds into iOS to solve the problem that you need to be able to swipe up from the bottom of the screen.