2023 was a vital year for OnePlus. After a somewhat confusing period where the lines between OPPO and OnePlus were blurred, They launched the two best mobile phones in their categories. The OnePlus 11 was not only stable in terms of performance, but also had good cameras, a solid design and a very interesting balance. OnePlus Open is a candidate to be the best foldable device of the moment, both in terms of its advantages in this field and its cameras.

It’s been a decade since the company coined the term ‘flagship killer’. To commemorate this, OnePlus held a party and Xataka attended the event only in Spain. Most interesting? we can do spend almost an hour with him OnePlus 12 for some first impressions that left a very good taste in our mouth.

OnePlus 12 technical page

Design inspired by nature. Whatever. The truth is it feels great in your hand

Firstly, It must be said that the circumstances of these first impressions of the OnePlus 12 are somewhat unique.. When we tested it, we found that the handset was introduced in China only three days ago, so some elements such as software needed to be improved for its launch in the West.

This is because in China, OnePlus has installed the ColorOS 14 layer with OPPO software, while in the West, it has OxygenOS 14. But that’s something we can’t talk about because, besides, it’s not the final version.

We have to wait for the analysis to know our opinion on these parts of the OnePlus 12. What I can talk to you about is design and I can say that I love it.Although I have a “but” to comment.

As is clear, the OnePlus 12 is a phone that follows the design lines of the previous generation almost exactly, but polishes some details and adds little things to the camera module. The essence is very similar to what we have in OnePlus 11It has a camera module that comes out from the side and combines three cameras in a circular system.

The camera module is what has changed the most. Not radically because the design is practically the same, but because of the details. For example, we no longer have a large ‘Hasselblad’, but it has the letter ‘H’ on one side, once again showing the collaboration between both companies. On the inside of the perimeter we have texture as if they were the mounting threads of the camera lenses, as well as details of each camera.

We can see the lens apertures of each camera, f/1.6, f/2.2 and f/2.6, as well as 23 mm, 14 mm and 70 mm.These are the focal lengths that the mobile phone naturally has. It’s a detail that contributes very little, but I liked it because it shows that there is photographic ambition in this model. Moreover, there is something that can be seen in the photos we will leave you throughout the article, that the bottom camera is not round but rectangular because it is now a periscopic system.

That camera module is thick and the phone is thick overall, which is my biggest initial drawback. It has a 9.15mm profile, which is something more than what we saw on the OnePlus 11, and the camera module is also slightly more protruding. This makes sense as the sensors are larger in size as this means the lenses are arranged differently, but be aware that this is not a lightweight mobile. Moreover, it weighs 220 grams and it shows.

There’s the always useful Alert-Slider. The touch is still cruel

The ending looked amazing to me. It has a high-quality glass back, the curve of the back and aluminum edges that fit perfectly with the screen. This depends on taste, but my favorite color is green. It has a smoother texture and that grained finish is beautiful when you have it in person. The texture of the black model is more traditional, it has a frosted glass texture, and we could not see the white model at the event.

In the upper area we find an IR emitter and after all, although it is a large mobile phone, it was very, very comfortable in my hand and, above all, looked premium. We have to wait to see the sensations after a week of use for our analysis, but the impression from this first contact was unbeatable.

Taking another step towards the screen and, above all, the cameras

Beyond the design, I can tell you a little more after my first test of the OnePlus 12, which shows you photos of the terminal and my feelings about it. Again, we’ll do the analysis once we’ve tested it well, but until then, I’ll have to stick to the promising ones. How does this phone look to me?

As I said, We liked the previous one, but there were some details that did not convince us. Especially for a handset that is expected to struggle with peak range due to the lack of a Pro model. We don’t currently have a OnePlus 12 Pro this year either, but it might not make much sense.

The thing is, OnePlus 12 has Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and a large vapor chamber for heat dissipation. The OnePlus 11 was already big and worked great, providing very, very good sustained performance. The battery is 5,400mAh with 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.In addition to 10W wireless reverse charging, it also has 12, 16 and 24GB RAM options.

We have OxygenOS 14 for the system and The company confirmed that it offers four years of Android updates and five years of software updates.. Same support as OnePlus Open and OnePlus 11. Speaking of Open, we will look at the cameras, because this is where the biggest leap is expected compared to the previous generation.

The main sensor of OnePlus 12 is Sony LYT-808. It is very similar to OnePlus Open’s LUT-800, which we love so much, and according to Sony (those in charge) it is a 50-megapixel mass sensor with a size of 1/1.4 inches. inch sensors. It has a focal length of 23 millimeters and optical stabilization.

Wide angle and telephoto are inherited from OnePlus Open: 48 Mpx Sony IMX581 wide angle and Periscopic 3x telephoto with 64-megapixel OV64B sensor. Software is a vital part of mobile photography, and the company confirmed to us that their collaboration with Hasselblad has been expanded and they continue to share the technology to achieve more attractive results.

The screen, one of the most discussed points of the previous model, has also evolved. We really liked it, but it fell short in terms of brightness. Now, 4,500 nits peak on BOE X1 OLED panel (not from Samsung) 6.82 inches, 2K resolution and LTPO 3.0 refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz.

OnePlus’ idea is this: We offer a balanced, premium mobile phone at an attractive price. This is of course something everyone desires, but considering the great work done with both OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Open, I think they have found this way. We have to wait to see if they deliver on our OnePlus 12 review and, above all, how well these cameras perform on a day-to-day basis.

Photos | Xataka

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