The summary of ‘OnePlus 12 Review – Phone of the Year ALREADY?’

00:00:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker highlights the newly announced OnePlus 12, describing it as a strong contender for the top three smartphones of the year despite being released in mid-January 2024. The OnePlus 12 comes with notable features: a proper box with a 100W charging brick and a pre-applied screen protector, which adds value for its $799 price tag. The phone excels in the six core pillars of a great smartphone: design, battery, screen, software, speed, and camera.

The design features a chrome rail, a matte marble texture on the back, and a glossy marble texture on the cameras, creating a premium look. It retains the OnePlus traditional curved and comfortable build with an alert slider. The OnePlus 12 introduces “Aqua Touch,” a new technology that better differentiates between genuine touch inputs and water interference, improving usability in wet conditions.

However, the speaker critiques the front design, pointing out the screen’s curves make the top corners look like ears and the oversized bottom bezel that other competitors have moved away from.

00:03:00

In this part of the video, the focus is on the battery life and charging capabilities of the OnePlus 12. The phone is praised for its 5,400 mAh battery, offering both 50W wireless charging and 100W wired charging, which can fully charge the battery in under an hour and 26 minutes respectively. It also features reverse wireless charging. To address battery health, OnePlus included a power management chip and 14 temperature sensors to optimize charging speed and reduce heat, which helps prolong battery life. After four years of daily use, the phone is expected to maintain a 4,350 mAh capacity, performing almost like new. Additionally, the phone’s screen is highlighted for its 120Hz QHD+ resolution with a new pixel structure and improved longevity, breaking multiple smartphone display records.

00:06:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the OnePlus 12’s display technology and its remarkable features. The phone can reach an astonishing max brightness of 4,500 nits, the highest ever seen, though this level is practical primarily for high dynamic range content in extremely bright outdoor conditions. Additionally, the OnePlus 12 employs advanced dimming techniques to maintain color accuracy and reduce eye strain. At high brightness levels, it uses DC dimming, and at lower levels, it switches to PWM dimming at 2160 Hz, significantly higher than typical displays, minimizing the risk of headaches and eye strain from screen flicker. The device also incorporates a blue light filter and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

00:09:00

In this part of the video, the reviewer discusses the software experience on the OnePlus 12, specifically focusing on Oxygen OS 4. While acknowledging some minor aesthetic complaints, such as the choice of square icons and the overall design feeling more like an Oppo phone post-merger, the reviewer highlights several impressive features. These include the ability to add front camera footage to screen recordings, convenient one-handed navigation by swiping up, and the quick launch function from the fingerprint scanner for faster access to apps. The software also intelligently adjusts notification settings based on usage, answers calls when the phone is lifted to the ear, and automatically switches from speaker to earpiece. Additional useful features include Fluid Cloud for managing notifications and controlling background app behavior to save battery life. The customization options in Oxygen OS 4 are extensive, offering detailed control over various phone functions without the need for additional apps.

00:12:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker discusses a few innovative features on the OnePlus 12. Firstly, there is an anti-peeping notification feature that uses the front camera to detect if someone else is looking at your phone and alters notification displays accordingly. However, the speaker expresses skepticism about its practicality due to battery drain and the ease of manually noticing onlookers.

The major highlight is the integration of a powerful new vibration motor that enhances the tactile feedback of the device, making interactions like typing or deleting a photo more satisfying. Additionally, the speaker is particularly impressed with the software speed, attributed to the OnePlus 12 being powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and supported by minimum 256 GB of ultra-fast storage and 12 GB of RAM.

The focus then shifts to the ‘Trinity Engine,’ OnePlus’s effort to ensure seamless communication between the hardware and software layers, thereby optimizing performance. This approach aims to make different components work together more efficiently, improving speed and battery life. The speaker concludes by mentioning that this phone might be the fastest Android device they have experienced.

00:15:00

In this part of the video, the presenter discusses the remarkable speed and seamless performance of a particular phone, emphasizing how it handles tasks with ease, especially within the Google Play Store and gaming. A key feature highlighted is the phone’s secondary co-processor, the Pixel Works X7, which enhances game resolution, frame rates, and dynamic range without developer input. The phone can run any game at 120 frames per second and utilizes “hyper boost” technology to optimize performance dynamically based on game demands, effectively managing power and cooling through an advanced system involving the largest vapor chamber in the industry and aerospace-grade thermal gel. Additionally, the phone features Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and 360° antennas for uninterrupted connectivity.

00:18:00

In this segment of the video, the speaker critiques the camera performance of the OnePlus phone, noting its subpar front camera quality, which appears washed out and overexposed indoors. The lack of real-time processing impacts the overall photo and video quality, causing users to take multiple shots to ensure a decent one. The video recording also suffers, especially with exposure changes and electronic image stabilization issues. The absence of a laser focus mechanism, unlike Samsung, further detracts from its performance. The speaker laments that OnePlus relies on its Hasselblad partnership rather than addressing these shortcomings. Despite these criticisms, the speaker acknowledges that the phone has a robust camera hardware system comparable to the OnePlus Open, including upgrades such as a 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 64-megapixel telephoto lens. However, expectations were higher for the previous OnePlus Open due to its premium price, whereas the OnePlus 12 offers good overall value beyond its camera capabilities.

00:21:00

In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the camera quality of the OnePlus 12, emphasizing its value at $799. The camera offers quick capture, natural background blur due to its wide aperture, and consistent color reproduction thanks to a hidden color temperature sensor that collects 13 channels of color info. The speaker mentions an occasional slight imperfection in skin tones but praises the 64-megapixel three-time zoom lens for producing professional-looking shots, even of mundane subjects, due to OnePlus’s color tuning. The speaker concludes by advising that while the OnePlus 12 has solid camera performance, those highly prioritizing camera quality might prefer Vivo, Samsung, or iPhone models. The OnePlus 12 is deemed a great all-around phone, especially for its price, despite lacking some advanced AI features found in other brands.