Comparing The OpenPlus Open Comparison With Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 5

Tom's Guide

OnePlus' phones have long been hailed as flagship killers, but they've often come up short. With the OnePlus Open, it's a brand new opportunity to see how the company's first foldable phone stacks up against its main rivals to see if can earn the title of the best foldable phone. Armed with a hefty looking Hasselblad triple camera system, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and a unique multitasking experience with Open Canvas, it may have enough to earn that title. In my OnePlus Open vs Google Pixel Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 comparison, you'll see how it ranks in key areas such as performance, camera, battery life, and much more. I honestly didn't expect it to be this good.

Transcript

00:00 Hey guys, it's Jon V here.

00:02 Today, I'm going to compare the Open

00:03 to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Pixel Fold

00:06 to see how it stacks up.

00:08 Common complaints about notebook style unfoldables

00:14 are that they're bulky and big.

00:16 So I have to give OnePlus credit here

00:18 because the Open turns out to have one of the best designs

00:21 in a foldable I've seen.

00:23 It's incredibly lightweight and just look at how skinny it is

00:26 versus the Pixel Fold 5.

00:28 It feels nice, the hinge especially,

00:30 the mechanism that they use here, it just feels solid.

00:33 It has that nice snappy feel.

00:35 And when you look closer with the display,

00:38 I don't see the crease as badly compared to the Pixel Fold

00:42 or the Z Fold 5.

00:43 It's less pronounced and that just shows

00:45 that they really spent a lot of time with the hinge.

00:48 However, it's not without its own drawbacks

00:50 because if you look at the back,

00:52 there's the hump with the giant size camera.

00:54 It's what OnePlus has done in the past.

00:57 But here, when I'm holding the phone,

00:59 it kind of gets in the way,

01:00 especially when I place it down on a flat surface,

01:03 it just makes it almost impossible to use

01:05 if you're typing on it.

01:06 The OnePlus Open sticks to its partnership

01:08 with Hasselblad, meaning you get a triple camera system

01:12 that consists of a 48 megapixel camera,

01:14 48 megapixel ultra wide, and a 64 megapixel telephoto

01:18 with a three times optical zoom.

01:20 Now, I've always thought the Hasselblad cameras

01:22 were underwhelming with previous OnePlus phones I've tested,

01:25 but it's really interesting this time.

01:28 The main camera holds up nicely against the Z Fold 5.

01:31 Details are plentiful,

01:32 it handles dynamic range really well,

01:34 and I do like the punchier color tones it produces.

01:37 It might only have a three times optical zoom camera,

01:39 but wow, it almost matches the pixel fold in the shot.

01:42 I can still make out a little bit more detail

01:44 with the pixel fold when I punch into the shot,

01:47 but the OnePlus Open doesn't disappoint either.

01:49 It's consistently good with portrait and macro photography,

01:52 but it fell behind in one particular area,

01:54 and that's low light photography.

01:56 I did use the dedicated night mode in the shot,

01:58 but you can see how it's clearly underexposed,

02:01 so I can't see the details of the tree.

02:03 The pixel fold does better,

02:04 while it's clear that the Z Fold 5 is the best.

02:08 However, there's no problem shooting video

02:10 when there's sufficient lighting around.

02:11 I'm actually surprised again by how well the camera works

02:14 against the pixel fold.

02:15 They almost look identical.

02:17 Using the phone outside, it's quite obvious

02:19 that the external display doesn't stack up

02:21 with the pixel fold.

02:23 OnePlus chose to go in the direction of Samsung

02:26 by giving the inner display the extra brightness,

02:28 which does mean you have to unfold your phone

02:30 to use it in direct sunlight.

02:32 I was honestly surprised

02:35 by how OnePlus handles multitasking with Open Canvas.

02:39 At first, I wasn't a fan of it,

02:40 but I soon realized how it's the best implementation

02:44 and affordable to date.

02:45 I just love the dynamic look of the canvas

02:48 whenever I'm moving around from one app to another,

02:50 and everyone else should really copy it.

02:53 Beyond that, the experience is exactly like other foldables.

02:57 I like how I can use the outer display to take selfies

02:59 with the better main cameras,

03:01 or have the camera app adjust when it's in flex mode.

03:03 The test results are good and bad.

03:06 It posts a better multi-core test in Geekbench

03:08 than the pixel fold,

03:09 but its single core performance is lagging.

03:12 It actually beats the pixel fold and the Z Fold 5

03:15 in the graphics processing department with its 84.8 FPS.

03:19 Numbers aside, I played several graphically demanding games

03:22 on it, and it handles them nicely.

03:24 All right, so I have the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 here,

03:27 and one of the cool things I like about it

03:29 is the ability to connect it via USB-C

03:31 to an external monitor.

03:33 So it kind of acts like a desktop,

03:35 but the thing that differentiates this phone

03:38 is that you have Samsung DeX.

03:39 Okay, so here's DeX,

03:41 and DeX gives you pretty much a desktop experience.

03:44 So it's just like having a desktop PC, but in your phone.

03:48 So connect the mouse, keyboard,

03:50 and you get the full desktop experience.

03:53 Connect it via USB-C, let's see what happens.

03:56 If it has a video out function, which I hope it does,

04:00 it looks like we have just screen mirroring,

04:03 which is nice, it's useful.

04:04 So if you're gonna do presentations, great, you have that.

04:08 But it kind of doesn't have that richer experience

04:11 you get with Samsung DeX.

04:12 OnePlus phones have always been great with battery life,

04:15 and the Open is no exception.

04:16 It's 4805 milliampere battery delivers a massive 12 hours

04:20 and seven minutes on our battery benchmark test,

04:23 which is the longest for affordable so far.

04:26 But what's really crazy is how ridiculously fast

04:29 it can charge with the included power adapter.

04:31 I'm talking about zero to almost full recharge

04:34 in 30 minutes.

04:35 However, it still lacks wireless charging,

04:38 despite what OnePlus users have been asking for.

04:41 Come on, OnePlus, this is long overdue,

04:43 and you know everyone wants it,

04:45 especially when you're paying for a phone this much.

04:48 Pricing for the OnePlus Open is a strange affair.

04:51 It costs $1,700, which is just $100 less

04:54 than what Samsung and Google sells

04:55 their foldable phones for.

04:57 However, you could actually get a $200 trading credit

05:00 for any phone in any condition.

05:03 That effectively makes it $1,500,

05:05 which I think is a pretty damn good deal.

05:08 It's also sweet that a case is included with the purchase,

05:11 along with that 80 watt charger.

05:13 This is a convincing phone that undercuts the competition.

05:16 I guess that's the OnePlus philosophy.

05:18 What do you guys think?

05:19 If you want to learn more about what I talk about in this

05:21 video, check out our website, Tom's Guide.com.

05:24 Don't forget to follow us on social @Tom's Guide,

05:26 Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

05:29 And you can also find me @JohnCVelosco,

05:32 and I'll see you guys in my next video.

05:34 (upbeat music)

05:36 (upbeat music)

05:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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