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I wish there was a way to know you're in
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the good old days before you've actually
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left them. Andrew Bernard from The
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Office. That's a quote I referenced to
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stay mindful of all the good things in
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life. And as trivial as that might
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sound, I think it applies to this phone.
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I'd argue that you need to buy one of
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these things before they stop making
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them because it feels like this company
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is making moves to counteract all the
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good it's done down the years. This is a
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phone I didn't get on with at launch and
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I've since come to enjoy. It's certainly
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not perfect, but it's a bloody good
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option. It's the OnePlus 13. Please like
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and subscribe, by the way. Trying to hit
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150K by the end of the year would really
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appreciate it. OnePlus phones are known
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for a few things at this point. Speed,
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battery life, even cameras, but the two
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main staples I feel are the super fast
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charging indicated by the iconic bright
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red cable that's been around for years
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at this point, and the alert slider on
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the side of it. I'm a massive fan of
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this alert slider because it's not just
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like a very usable one sort of similar
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to what we had on the iPhone for years,
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but it's actually better than what's on
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the iPhone because it lets you pick
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silent, vibrate, and loud. It's three
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stages instead of two. And I use it all
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the time on my OnePlus 12. Use it mostly
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when filming these videos. And then, you
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know, when I need to hear from my misses
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or whatever, I'll stick it on loud. I
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love the alert slider. And when Apple
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decided to get rid of it and replace it
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with a button, I basically said,
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"Please, OnePlus, don't copy Apple." And
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then the news came out that OnePlus is
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going to be replacing the alert slider
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with a button that can be customized,
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but it's a button. I know the
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functionality is basically the same, but
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it's sort of not. You know, I know
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without looking at this phone, just in
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my pocket, what profile my phone is on,
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and that's great. That's part of what
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makes the alert slider fantastic. I do
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not know that with a button. It feels
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like OnePlus saw what Apple was doing
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and went, "Yeah, let's go and do that."
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And I know this isn't a big deal to lots
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of people. And actually, one of
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OnePlus's co-founders, Carl Pay, came
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out on Twitter and said, "Yeah, no one
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uses this thing, which is a massive
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shame because a phone with an alert
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slider immediately gets shortlisted for
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my personal smartphone." And this is one
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of the key reasons why I'll be holding
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on to my OnePlus 12 for as long as I
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can. But this video is about the 13. And
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honestly, the more I use this phone, the
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more I ignore its pitfalls and really
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just appreciate the good stuff. The
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mostly flat display is not necessarily
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something I say wow to on a daily basis.
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But it falls into the category of things
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you just don't have to think about. You
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can go outside into the sun into a
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really bright environment and this
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display is going to be absolutely fine.
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The the performance is very much the
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same. the battery life, the cameras,
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it's all extremely good. And I actually
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made a video on Android Police not long
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ago talking about since the 13 released,
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other phones have come in to try and
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dethrone the 13 and have just failed. I
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don't know if OnePlus knew they held
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gold dust here or if they just stumbled
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upon an incredible format with the 12
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and then iterated on it. But whilst this
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isn't necessarily the absolute pinnacle
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in every individual thing, it's a good
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eight out of 10 pretty much everywhere
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with some nines and that in my opinion
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is more valuable and makes it a great
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option for so many people. I think if I
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had the blue skew instead of this black
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one, I would feel a little bit
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differently about the ergonomics, the
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general chassis because it looks unreal.
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This one, not so much. I I do use the
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first party case on this thing just cuz
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I don't like the feeling in the hand.
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And the case, the first party one has a
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really nice texture to it. And though I
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wasn't sold on the 13's cameras when the
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phone released in Europe at the top of
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the year, because the colors just
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weren't quite the same of what I had out
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of the 12 and and the longrange shooter
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wasn't quite as sharp as what I had in
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the 12, there were some clear issues
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with jutdder in video as well. It just
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wasn't an amazing camera package when it
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came out. But OnePlus has delivered a
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couple of updates now regarding the
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camera and I have to say that yeah, you
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can tell it's an improvement. Images
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just seem to look that bit more natural
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in my opinion. I'd love to hear your
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thoughts on this in the comments because
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I always value your opinions on these
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things. But what do you make of the
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OnePlus 13's cameras? I think anyone
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saying this is just another OnePlus
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camera just has absolutely no idea. This
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is probably one of the best camera
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systems that you can buy in a smartphone
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in the US in my opinion because I know
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we get the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the Vivu
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X200 Pro, the Honor Magic 7 Pro in
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Europe, but the US doesn't I believe.
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And and this does a great job of all of
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that. I shoot a lot of my photos at
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three times, maybe the majority
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actually. And though I still dislike the
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AI zoom, so I just try not to pinch in
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beyond 10 times. Up until that point,
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this thing is very impressive, and I
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would love to see a big sensor, three
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times camera on one of the big three in
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the US. The colors and tones from this
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thing, I just feel are more natural and
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filmic than what we get out of Pixels,
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iPhones, and Galaxies, and that counts
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for something in 2025, where Fujifilm
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cameras are sold out everywhere, and now
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film is back in fashion. There were some
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issues with jutdder when this phone
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first came out in its video, which have
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since been fixed, thankfully. There is
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still an issue sometimes where I load
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the footage onto my computer and then I
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have to actually transcode it before I
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can use it in video editing software,
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but for some reason it just doesn't play
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back smoothly in the editor unless I use
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this transcode. So something to watch
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out for if for some reason you're using
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your OnePlus 13 to make videos. And I'm
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glad that OnePlus has addressed and
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fixed the issues that I had with the 13
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as I was certain that it was a
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processing issue and not a hardware one.
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I'm still salty about the fact that this
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doesn't come with a charger in the box
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in Europe. Though I just use my 100 W
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brick from my OnePlus 12 with this
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thing, so it's not all bad, but having
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to buy a separate charger is annoying no
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matter the cause for it. But charging
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this fast should come with every single
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phone, though. It's crazy how convenient
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it is. Same goes for the 6,000 mAh
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battery, but I've never had a problem
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with the OnePlus 12's 5400, but this
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being 10% larger, it's just an absolute
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beast. It's genuinely hard to kill in a
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day. I've never done it. So, let me know
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in the comments if you have, but I've
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used the Pixel 9 Pro XL, the Galaxy S25
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Ultra, the 16 Pro Max, the Honor Magic 7
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Pro, the latest ROG phone, and the
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OnePlus 13 is just simply the best in my
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opinion. I recommend it to anyone
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looking for a high-end device with all
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the goodies. Sure, it isn't a front
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runner for AI, and that might be one of
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the reasons why I like it so much, quite
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frankly, but it does have a few AI
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features, so it's not totally barren. I
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think this is one of those phones that
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will look back on as a true great. Maybe
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not quite in the same ballpark as like
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the Lumia 1020, the P30 Pro, the HTC1
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M8, the OnePlus 7 Pro, and it might not
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be the ultimate of all time, but I just
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think it since it basically wipes the
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floor with absolutely everything it's
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come across this year. And that's mighty
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impressive for a device that doesn't
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cost four figures. Let's not get it
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twisted. Oppo owned OnePlus isn't an
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underdog by any stretch of the
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imagination. And don't let anyone tell
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you that this is a flagship killer
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because it isn't. The OnePlus main
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smartphones have not been flagship
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killers for years now. This is a
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flagship smartphone competing with the
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best on the market. And seeing how
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people's opinions on mass shifted
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overnight when moving from the meh
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OnePlus 12 to the amazing OnePlus 13
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kind of proves to me that people didn't
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use the OnePlus 12 properly. The 13 is a
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solid step up now thanks to those
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updates and I really much appreciate
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that. But the 12 and maybe even the 11
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were the groundwork for this phone. And
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it's absolutely no surprise to me that
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OnePlus is getting praise for its work.
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But with that alert slider being canned,
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you know, they're moving to Color OS
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back in the day instead of staying with
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the original Oxygen OS, I do wonder if
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people making that decision really know
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their audience. The OnePlus 13 is the
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best Android phone right now. And I
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think we're living in those good times
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that Andy was talking about all those
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years ago.
