OnePlus' latest top smartphone can't shake the feeling of being left behind by its rivals.
The OnePlus 12 has a sleek look, fast software, and long battery life, but it lacks the much-touted AI tools built into devices from the likes of Samsung and Google. It feels more like a 2020 cell phone than a new era of artificial intelligence.
This may appeal to those looking for a pared-down, relatively clean experience. Its price of £849 (€969/$799) is also less than its £1,000 full-featured rival. But by modern standards, it feels lacking.
The curved glass and aluminum sides make the phone narrower than its competitors, but the OnePlus 12 is still a very large phone. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The design is very similar to last year's OnePlus 11 (which cost £120 less at launch), a sleek metal and glass sandwich that feels as slick as it looks. The huge 6.82-inch OLED screen is crystal clear, smooth, and very bright. The large circular camera bump on the back is a standout design element, along with the fan-favorite alert slider on the side.
Inside the OnePlus is Qualcomm's latest top Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which is 30% faster and 20% more power efficient than its predecessor. This is a very powerful chip that is only found in a small number of new cell phones.
The OnePlus certainly feels fast and smooth in normal operation, but to get maximum performance, i.e. running at full tilt, you'll need to enable the “High Performance” mode embedded in the settings, or when playing games. must be used in mode. The phone is therefore tuned more for power efficiency than raw performance, resulting in extremely long battery life.
It lasts 52-55 hours between charges, and the default settings provide over 9 hours of active screen use. This is significantly longer than last year’s model, making it the best in the industry. OnePlus also charges very fast, reaching 100% within 30 minutes using his included 100W charger.
The aluminum frame has curved corners, but the top and edges of the phone are flat. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
specification
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screen: 6.82 inch 120Hz QHD+ OLED (510ppi)
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Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 3rd generation
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Ram: 12 or 16GB
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storage: 256 or 512GB
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operating system: OxygenOS 14 (Android 14)
sustainability
Oxygen OS 14
OxygenOS is generally smooth to use with a reasonable amount of customization, but it is noticeably lacking in advanced smart features. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The phone runs OxygenOS 14, a modified version of the latest Android 14 software. Overall it's very polished, with plenty of customization options covering everything from gestures, the look and feel of the software, and various multitasking tools. But it lacks the AI tools and smart systems that have become the mainstay of rivals in both the Android camp and his iPhone camp.
Source: www.theguardian.com
