This is a phone that I should never really have come to own. At the beginning of this year I had an Oppo Find x8 Pro, which is essentially the same phone, from the same parent company just with a Dimensity 9400 instead of a Snapdragon 8 Elite. There is very little in the way of differences between the two devices, at least nothing meaningful in day to day usage. However we are where we are.
Everything I wrote about the Oppo Find x8 Pro stands for this phone, they even run essentially the same operating system just with a different name (OxygenOS for Oneplus and ColorOS for Oppo).
What stands especially true is that this is a very difficult device to protect. Not helped by the fact that for the most part the well known case/screen protector companies have failed to make anything for this device. That leaves your only option to be direct from China. I have tried at least 5 different brands and types of screen protectors for this phone and own 5 cases for it.
The curved edges of the screen are the main problem here. Some screen protectors fail to adhere to the edges of the screen, some have borders obstructing the edges of the screen, others ruin the sensitivity of the fingerprint reader. Then there are issues with the cases; some offer no camera protection, others leave the curved edges of the screen exposed when face down and worst of all some cases will foul the screen protector causing it to detach from the screen.
For anyone in this same conundrum I have finally found a combination that works. The SKIG UV glue glass covers the screen well, and still allows for even the most intrusive cases to not interfere with it’s edges. The case is from a company called “YCADEN”, and is a rubber case, with felt inner lining, magnets and camera cut-outs. The reason I didn’t like any of the official cases was that they have holes around each button, which lets dust in, they also don’t do a good job of protecting the camera and I hate the loss of clarity when using a glass camera protector. Initially with the SKIG screen protectors I had an issue that the fingerprint would register fine on setup and then proceed never to unlock the phone again. Strangely though after a day or so the fingerprint begins to improve and is now working reliably again. I’ve stocked up on these in future for reasons I’ll delve into.
About 2 months into the ownership of this phone I was pretty frustrated with not being able to find adequate protection for it. I gave up and began to use the phone “naked” which means no case or screen protector. As I’ve previously alluded to I think I have mild autism and ADHD, and on this particular day, sat outside on my lunch break I had an intrusive thought. I wondered how tough this device was, and if I threw it down onto the rough concrete floor, would it survive? For whatever reason I gave into that thought and gave the phone an impromptu drop test. Needless to say it did not survive. The screen shattered and the housing took some damage. The screen still functioned so I put one of the SKIG UV protectors on which allowed me to use the phone normally.
I priced up a replacement screen from Oneplus themselves, however they wanted £280 + postage, which is frankly ridiculous and almost put me off repairing the phone at all. Thankfully I found an original replacement with frame on Aliexpress for £130, which while still annoyingly expensive was easier to stomach.
The adventure didn’t end there though, and is still ongoing. Once the screen arrived I promptly discovered how Oneplus achieved their impressive IP69 rating, and that was through using a phenomenal amount of adhesive to hold it together. That combined with the frosted glass on the back rendered it nearly impossible to disassemble. Suckers would not stick, and the tolerances were so tight that I couldn’t insert a pick.
Eventually using a combination of heat, and levering a small screwdriver through the slim slot to push on the glass from the other side I managed to remove it, amazingly without breaking it. However when I was cleaning the old adhesive off the back glass to reuse it, it completely shattered. In a rage I threw the entire phone in the bin. Only to remove it 5 minutes later and continue with the swap the following day. Because the screen came pre-bonded to a frame it meant rather than swapping the screen the job was essentially swapping the motherboard and components into a completely new housing. Fortunately I’ve performed this task on iPhones in the past, compared to that this was a breeze.
A replacement back has been ordered for the phone, however after the experience with the glass back I’ve opted for the plastic back from the blue variant. In a knock on effect, this will destroy any resale value of the phone because it will be a Frankenstein that was never sold; a black frame with a blue back and silver camera surround. My justification for this is that if I ever need to go back inside for another job like a battery replacement, it should make my life a lot easier being plastic. It may also reduce the weight of the device slightly too.
So what does the future hold for this device? Given my track record, who knows. At least I can’t really sell it now. It’s already been destroyed and brought back so there’s really nothing else to do other than protect it adequately and keep using it. My partner is currently using a Pixel 7 Pro, if that fails or she needs a replacement for whatever reason maybe I’ll give her the Oneplus 13. Until then though she’s perfectly happy with her devices and hates the stress of changing phones unless it’s necessary.
I’ve already pre-ordered the Unihertz Titan 2, although I did that more to support the market of phones with physical keyboards than intending to buy it to replace the Oneplus 13. I have my doubts on whether it’ll be suitable as a “main phone” replacement however it’ll be a nice gadget to have a play with.