The upgrade of the telephoto camera on the OnePlus 12 for crop zooming and cropping hysteresis with AI services
Unfortunately, there’s no sign of the 24GB RAM and 1TB storage variant of the OnePlus 12 that the company announced for the Chinese market; in the US and EU, its RAM tops out at 16GB, and storage tops out at 512GB.
The top tier processing power starts with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor in the OnePlus 12. OnePlus isn’t pushing any proprietary AI features, like generative AI photo editing or automatic language translation on phone calls, but thanks to that chipset it’ll be ready for whatever AI services Google eventually bundles and sells with a Google One subscription. You know, probably.
The jump from a 2x to 3x telephoto lens doesn’t sound like much on paper, but the upgraded telephoto camera on the OnePlus 12 makes a real difference. It provides a flattering angle for portrait subjects and you get just a little closer to the details on distant subjects. The resolution is enough for crop zoom thanks to the 50-megapixel sensor and optical image stabilization that comes with the telephoto.
How Many Times Have You to Sign a Wireless earbuds Contract? An Empirical Comparison of the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 Ultra
Finally, OnePlus is also releasing a third-generation pair of true wireless earbuds: the OnePlus Buds 3. The earbuds come with active noise cancellation and they can be used to adjust their ANC by analyzing the shape of the ear canal. The battery life from earbuds with ANC on or 10 hours with it turned off jumps to 28 and 44 hours when coupled with the case.
The 12 is going to get OS and security updates for four years, so it will be around for a long time. Recently, though, Google and Samsung have upped the ante by offering seven years of OS upgrades, including seven years of security updates for their flagship phones. Seven years looks pretty good, if you want to squeeze the most out of your investment. Five years is probably enough for a lot of people.
The new S24 Ultra had more hot spots and was slightly cooler to the touch than the new OnePlus 12 but it was still marginally better at spreading the heat across the device. Outside of this graphically demanding game, the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 Ultra were nearly identical in performance. Phones are really fast and responsive nowadays, so most day-to-day tasks aren’t going to feel too different when comparing devices sharing a processor, CPU-Vitalization or not.
The fully featured, attractive and well-rounded phone in the model of the OnePlus 12 was made through a partnership with chipmaker Qualcomm, and is not less than what’s included in the other models. In a world where the term “AI” is thrown around to hype everything, it’s refreshing to test a phone that just works.
Every smart device has a set of contracts that you have to agree to before you can use it. We can never read or analyze every single one of these agreements. Most people don’t read these types of agreements and can’t negotiate, so we started counting how many times you have to agree to use devices when we review them.
The OnePlus 12 is a big upgrade from the OnePlus 11. Source: refreshingly basic. A review of the 12 and OnePlus 11
One of the main attractions of the 12 is the screen. It’s not as fantastically bright as the specs suggest, but it’s a good all-around panel. The people want big phones and it is big. I know my place despite being an exception to the rule. If you want a 6.8-inch panel that looks good, you won’t find one at this price.
In low light, the telephoto will struggle to keep shutter speeds fast enough for moving subjects, but that’s a problem no phone maker has really cracked. But with plenty of light, the 3x turns in lots of detail. At 6x, the typical flaws of a tiny mobile camera lens are amplified and details can look smudgy, but only if you really go looking. All in all, it’s a big upgrade from the OnePlus 11.
Source: OnePlus 12 review: refreshingly basic
The Oxygen OS 12: Not a Color-Obscured, a Clean, Dustproof Spectrometer for Writers
If you disliked the color-OS-ification of Oxygen OS, you will probably dislike this one as well. I find it inoffensive. I choose not to use the “shelf” which is a page in the systemUI for things that can be accessed by touching down on the homescreen, and instead open the notification shade with a downward-swiped finger. I am enjoying Zen Mode more and more. It is a good place to start when I want to be listening to spa music while I am writing. It helps to the writing process by keeping you out of certain apps. This is just a note of gratitude, so do not buy a phone from the OnePlus company.
The OnePlus 12 runs Oxygen OS 14, which looks a lot like Oxygen OS 13. The new fluid cloud status indicator doesn’t work with rides or food deliveries but does work with a few apps. We are moving toward a future in which every phone has its own Dynamic Island, and I am for it. If there is a good feature to crib from Apple, this is it, it is a handy way to check time-sensitive stuff regardless of what you are doing.
OnePlus claims this screen has a peak brightness of 4,500 nits — that’s frankly bonkers bright. Most other flagships claim somewhere between 2,000 and 2,400 nits at their brightest, and that’s enough to keep the screen comfortable to use in direct sunlight. On a bright day I didn’t have any problem with using the phone, but I also didn’t see anything that looked close to 2000 nits of brightness. Phone Arena has a good explanation of why that may be, but they have to measure the screen brightness. In practice, I didn’t have any trouble using it on a bright day, but don’t expect the eye-searing brightness the specs suggest.
The alert design has mostly been used for the 12. The rear camera “bump” is now see-through with a little sparkle that catches the light. The back glass panel uses a smooth matte finish that’s actually more slippery in your hand than a glossy panel. The whole thing is water resistant and dustproof, which makes it an excellent choice for rainy days. Jumping up from IP64 means it’s better protected against water spray, so it should handle even the worst splashes and downpours fine. Just don’t expect to take it for a dip without consequences.
Source: OnePlus 12 review: refreshingly basic
Why is the Android Wearable Galaxy And Pixel the Most Wanted Smartphone? The Joy of a Full Day onboard a Slow Qi Charger
But really, I’m just thrilled I can drop it on the same slow Qi charger that I use with every other phone and wake up to a fully charged device. There’s no Qi2 here, so if you were hoping for MagSafe-style accessories, you’ll have to settle for a third-party magnet case and “MagSafe-compatible.”
OnePlus tells us that it worked directly with Qualcomm to squeeze out an extra 30 minutes of battery life on top of what the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is capable of out of the box. That’s kind of impossible to test, however, I can say that I got through a full day of travel, including a two-hour flight delay, without a problem. My seatmate mentioned that her phone was close to dying as she scrounged for a source of power, while I was on board. I kept scrolling through Threads and was just as happy as can be. There was always on display and screen resolution at the highest setting, not the default set of1080p.
These are not the kinds of new, innovative features that you will see in ads for new phones from both companies. But at this stage, AI on mobile devices hasn’t exactly proven itself to be indispensable. Sure, a Galaxy or Pixel phone holds some additional appeal beyond AI if you’re entrenched in their ecosystems — or if you’re hooked on a Galaxy Watch or the Pixel Recorder app (it’s me).