A company which is still bad at math or at least thinks we are bad at it. Whatever it is, I just wanna say NINE.
So both of these phones just got out and it seems like both of them are going to be available globally this time. But boy of boy do they seem expensive or what.
Definitely the pricing in India is way better than in the US. Oneplus 8 starts at INR 42k here and the oneplus 8 pro at INR 55k. Which is darn impressive and way lower than what is in the US. It’s definitely a good feeling that we now get oneplus phones cheaper than in US but then there are apples, pixels and even some Samsungs which anyway and always have costed less in the US. So at least we are winning over 1 brand now. Yaay?
Now let’s see if the 8 pro truly deserve more of your money for the pro tag. Both the phones look and feel the same, so that factor is totally out of the bin.
Or inside the bin. They come with the same processor so the performance is going to be the same. The first major difference is screen resolution and screen refresh rates and a tiny screen size difference. The PPI difference between the 2 is decent enough but if you really don’t care about that and have never pixel peeped on your screen then you won’t be having any trouble with it.
90 or 120 Hz will mostly feel the same and if you are a gamer who wants to game at 120 fps then yeah, go ahead and buy the 8 pro for your ultra-competitive MOBILE gaming and for games which can actually run at 120 fps on the phone? The smaller resolution and 30Hz less refresh rate is also going to help the Oneplus 8 in giving a better battery performance too despite the tiny 300 mah battery difference between the 2.
So for me personally the difference of these Hz(s) and a marginally low resolution won’t matter that much. So put that in the bin too. The speakers I believe sound the same too. But don’t quote me for that. Look at me imagining people quoting me LAWL?
There are other differences like 8 not having any official IP ratings – which does matter if the 8 actually doesn’t have the usual water and dust protections on it. There’s also no wireless charging on the 8, which can be a big deal for some people but to make MAXIMUM use of that you need to buy Oneplus’s own wireless charger. So add that as an extra investment which I personally wouldn’t be making at all. So that wireless feature at least is something which doesn’t favor in investing more for the 8 pro.
The Rear cameras are the real crux. Oneplus 8’s primary camera is the ultra-wide camera on the 8 pro and the 8 pro comes with a newer sony IMX 689 sensor on it as its primary camera. So as already shared by many reviewers the camera of the 8 pro just kills the 8 and is among the best when it comes to taking stills at least. The videos still can’t beat the likes of apple but good to see oneplus finally doing great with respect to other flagships at this price.
There’s also a telephoto lens at the back and a color filter lens which has been already proven to be poop and 3x optical zoom on the 8 pro. The front cameras are exactly the same and oneplus did definitely saved some money here by removing the pop up selfie camera and replacing it with punch hole design.
So clearly the wireless charging, the better rear camera setup, the IP ratings, marginally better screen density there is nothing else the 8 pro offers. And those things are definitely not light upgrades. Even if you don’t care about the wireless charging as you might not want to spend more on buying the charger, and even if you can live with a little less screen resolution, the rear camera setup is definitely noteworthy.
Now the price difference between the 2 in India is similar to what it is in the US so when I assume that you are paying 13000 rupees or 200 us dollars MORE just for the camera then you gotta ask yourself, how much exactly is photography or videography crucial for you?
Are you gonna take a lot of low light pictures? Are you gonna make use of that telephoto lens a lot? Do you love taking ultra-wide pictures that will look better?
You gotta ask those questions to yourself, and iif you are not sure of the answers here, then definitely your extra investment won’t make much sense. I BET you will be happily using the cameras heavily for the first 2 weeks, and then these extra expensive sensors you paid for would be eating dust later on.
And if you mostly use the front camera, then the extra investment makes ZERO sense.
But be sure you know why and where you are investing in. Not many of us put our phones under swimming pools and these IP ratings might not be warranty valid if the phone gets moisture or water inside it anyway.
So which one would I personally buy If I had to?
Hmmmmm. Tough call. Who doesn’t like to save? If the difference really doesn’t matter to you much in the long run then get the 8 pro. The newer cameras will definitely last longer in terms of quality. But if the price difference really matters and you are someone who isn’t even a hobbyist photographer who happily posts pictures constantly on Instagram etc, then go and get the 8 and save some money. And then wire that money to me! 😀
But if you just constantly click a lot of pictures on month basis and videos, then definitely go and invest more for the cameras and other extra things you get for the price difference. So I hope I was able to help you here in some sort of decision making-kinda-sorta thing.
That’s all for today. MuBot out.
