This year is the 10th anniversary of OnePlus, so they put all their efforts into building this phone: the OnePlus 12. To be honest, I have also reviewed many OnePlus phones, and after having my hands on the OnePlus 12, I think this would be the best OnePlus phone to buy in the past two years. I’m glad they’re back.
Design
I don’t know what you guys think of this camera module design that’s been used for a whole year, but I’m too tired to comment on it anyway. When I first saw the look of this phone, I knew, oh, OnePlus has launched another new phone.
Some early adopters have found a gap between the camera module and the back cover on their OnePlus 12, but we didn’t have that problem with this one, and OnePlus CEO has addressed this issue, saying that it doesn’t affect waterproofing, and that area will be filled with glue on phones made in the future. So, I don’t think it’s a big problem.
Speaking of waterproofing, it’s a shame that the OnePlus 12 only supports IP65. Come on! You’re a flagship phone, why can’t it be IP68? I just can’t understand that.
But the good news is that IP65 is probably the only weakness. The fingerprint area is comfortably placed, USB 3.0 is back, and the alert slider is still there. The vibration motor is also one of the best among Android phones. All in all, as long as you’re not a neat freak who washes the phone with water, then the OnePlus 12 should be the choice to go with.
Display
The screen of the OnePlus 11 looked good back then, but it wasn’t very eye-friendly. This time, the OnePlus 12 solves that problem, it has done an excellent job of displaying and protecting your eyes at the same time. Not to mention that very bluffing 4500nit peak brightness and the full-screen brightness is top notch in all phones.
Adjusting color temperature in Display Setting also becomes more free, something similar to the Ture Tone function is also available. The viewing angle of this panel is only a little worse than TCL’s C8, but far better than the Samsung E6.
As a screen with LTPO, besides the 2160Hz PWM dimming at low brightness, it can also do 360Hz DC-like dimming at high brightness. You can see that the black stripes on the OnePlus 12 are noticeably thinner, which also shows that its flicker control is better. If you value both display and eye protection, the OnePlus 12 should be your best choice.
Benchmark & Gaming
The OnePlus 12 is powered by the flagship chip Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it is so familiar to us, so we won’t go into details, you can just pause and watch the scores. It’s worth noting that the OnePlus 12 doesn’t seem to be fond of an aggressive performance strategy, as it starts downclocking in the fourth minute of the CPU Throttling Test, and will downclock twice.
But the good news is that in gaming, it will take you 20 minutes of continuous play before it starts to downclock, which is kind of normal for non-gaming phones. The frame rate will be locked at 50fps, so it looks like you’ll have to get a gaming phone for long-term gaming.
Camera
All three cameras on the OnePlus 12 are pretty good, none of the sensors are small in size. They don’t have the huge 1-inch sensors like the X100 Pro, but they all take decent photos.
I should be breaking down the pros and cons of the OnePlus 12 cameras with you right now, but it’s hard to know what the OnePlus 12 is really good at without a comparison. So we’re going to make a video comparing the OnePlus 12 to the realme GT5 Pro. In that video, you’ll have everything you need to know about the OnePlus 12 cameras. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Battery & Charging
While the OnePlus 12’s wired charging power hasn’t been upgraded, it’s still 100W. a full charge takes 23 minutes. But it finally has wireless charging, and it’s 50W. The biggest surprise is the battery life. Compared to the K70 Pro, which also has a 2K screen, a 400mAh more capacity gives it a huge advantage in battery life. Good job, OnePlus.
Conclusion
Looking back at the OnePlus 12, you’ll see that it’s a OnePlus phone with the least amount of flaws. Apart from the camera design and IP65 which probably not too many people care about, you’d be hard-pressed to find any other flaws. Even the price is the cheap one when you compare it to other brands’ flagships.
I was going to say that the OnePlus 12 would be the new flagship killer of the year, but it’s hard for me to say that because of that one phone(realme GT5 Pro). But that doesn’t stop the OnePlus 12 from being a very worthwhile phone, cuz it’s almost perfect. I hope you’ll enjoy OnePlus’ 10th-anniversary gift for the fans.
