OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition first look: Revving up all gears

OnePlus has only wrapped up the major success of OnePlus 7T and it has already given fans something more exciting to talk about. At the launch of OnePlus 7T in India, everyone was puzzled whether a "Pro" variant was in the offing and the grand event in London on October 10 had an answer to that.

OnePlus unveiled the Pro variant of the OnePlus 7T, the OnePlus 7T Pro, but the excitement didn't end there. OnePlus also announced the special OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition, building on the success of OnePlus 6T McLaren edition.

OnePlus has always brought some interesting collaborations in its products like Star Wars, Avengers and McLaren and each time the innovation levels have gone far beyond expectations. OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition is the result of working with the popular supercar brand McLaren and the smartphone maker has pushed some extra hours into the new design.

We had the chance to play around with the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition a bit and it looks like the beast has gotten better. Here are our first impressions of the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition.

Design

OnePlus 7 Pro's design was praiseworthy and the company didn't feel like bringing any change to the "T" upgrade. All the design changes were made in the OnePlus 7T, leaving OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition shining in the makeover department.

The subtle touches of McLaren in OnePlus 7T Pro are both imminent and non-interfering with the overall design. The biggest difference we noticed in the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition as compared to the 6T McLaren is actually easy to miss. The graphics under the rear glass, surrounding the rear triple camera is beautifully done.

At first it looked like it had some significance to the McLaren branding, but it looks like random art. When light shines on that particular portion of the phone from different sides, there's a unique effect, which is sure to catch attention.

Besides that, we see the McLaren branding at the bottom along the orange-hued border and an orange outline for the camera module and finally an orange Alert Slider. On the software front, the McLaren theme adds a nice touch to the overall scheme of things. OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition is the perfected version of OnePlus 6T McLaren edition.

The handset also gets its own unique McLaren theme black hard case with carbon fiber finish and velvet material. The special case hides the rear design, but keeps the phone's glass back safe and has McLaren logo alongside OnePlus logo on it.

Kudos to the amount of detailing OnePlus has done for this special edition. And it goes beyond the phone. The packaging of the phone itself has black and orange colour combination on a long box like we saw in the 7T. At a time when companies are focused only on phone designs, it is interesting to see a company care about how the phone's packaging looks.

Camera

OnePlus has improved many things over the years, but its recent efforts in the camera are commendable. OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition is exactly the same as the OnePlus 7T Pro except for those design customizations, so the camera performance remains the same on both phones.

OnePlus 7T Pro features a 48MP IMX586 primary sensor with f/1.6 aperture and OIS paired with 16MP 117-degree ultra-wide-angle lens and 8MP telephoto lens with 3X optical zoom with OIS. Features like Macro Mode, Nightscape, smooth video stabilisation, remains the same. Moreover, there's a 16MP selfie camera to complete the camera setup in the 7T Pro.

But what good is it if the specs sound too good on paper but fail to perform in the real world. OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition does a good job in the optics and it is not just living up to the hype of the specs. The nightscape shots are brilliant and photos taken during the day capture light, contrast, HDR in the perfect mix. The shadows are black and highlights well balanced. Overall, the images taken with the OnePlus 7T Pro are ready to share even without editing.

The portrait appears to still be a bit of problem in low-light situations, but the rest of the features, including wide-angle lens, work flawlessly. We will be testing the cameras to discover more and those results will be shared in our final review. For now, you can treat your eyes to some shots taken with OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren edition in London.

Display

Again, one of the strongest USPs of the OnePlus 7T Pro is the display - as was the case with OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7 Pro. The 90Hz display is indeed addictive and OnePlus makes it hard to switch back to a 60Hz panel. In fact, the curved display with large screen real estate of 6.67 inches can get tricky to handle at times but makes more than up for it by being a real pleasure to view multimedia or even browse the social media.

The touch response, colour accuracy and smoothness of the OnePlus 7T Pro is incomparable.

The rest of the features

OnePlus 7T Pro doesn't compromise on other features, which include a Snapdragon 855+, 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, Android 10-based OxygenOS 10, in-display fingerprint scanner and face unlock, and 4,085mAh battery with Warp Charge 30T. The Android 10 gestures appeared to work on the 7T Pro more flawlessly than the 7T. Stay tuned for the full review of the OnePlus 7T Pro.