OnePlus had released the Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition smartphone in China late last year. After a while, we finally managed to get our hands on a unit to try out.
The OnePlus Ace Pro is basically a rebranded OnePlus 10T reserved for the Chinese market. However, the Genshin Impact Edition brings a bit more to the table, so read on to find out.
OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition Specifications
| Model | OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition |
| Dimensions | 163 x 75.4 x 8.8 mm |
| Weight | 204g |
| Processor | Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm) Octa-core (1 x 3.19GHz Cortex-X2, 3 x 2.75GHz Cortex-A710, 4 x 1.80 GHz Cortex-A510) |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 512GB UFS 3.1 |
| Display | 6.7-inch AMOLED 2412 x 1080 (FHD+) 120Hz refresh rate |
| Camera (Front) | 16MP, f/2.4 |
| Camera (Rear) | Main: 50MP, f/1.8 with OIS Macro: 2MP, f/2.4 Ultrawide: 8MP, f/2.2 |
| Operating System | ColorOS 12.1 |
| Battery and Charging | 4800mAh 160W fast charging |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6 Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD NFC USB Type-C 2.0 |
| Biometrics | Fingerprint (under display, optical) Face unlock |
What Is In The Box?
Unlike the standard OnePlus Ace Pro box, the Limited Edition come in a large box full of Genshin Impact themed goodies and merchandise:
- OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition smartphone
- Hu Tao acrylic display
- Boo Tao standee
- Heat dispersing phone case
- Themed 160W fast charger
- Staff of Homa themed sim tray remover
- Hu Tao poster
- Invitation letter to the Traveler
- Hu Tao emote stickers
- Warranty information and user manual
Design
The design of the OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition is inspired heavily by Hu Tao, a fan favourite character from Genshin Impact. The back of the phone has Hu Tao’s ‘Butterfly in Thaw’ motif throughout, such as a butterfly above the OnePlus logo, flames and a Hu Tao character art the the bottom. The volume rockers and lock screen buttons also received the red treatment.
The included hard-shell phone case features a 3D butterfly theming with a red backing material. The case also doubles as a heat dispersion material to help cool the phone down via the heat-absorbent soft backing.
The theming extends to the accessories as well. You get an elaborate Staff of Homa sim tray puller, and a butterfly themed charger.
Display
The OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition comes equipped with a 120Hz FHD+ AMOLED display. Images are sharp and colours are vivid. Coupled with the powerful Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, transitions and animations feel instant to the touch.
However, the 6.7-inch screen does feel a bit too large for my hands, despite the excellent screen-to-body ratio. One Handed Mode is recommended if you prefer so.
User Experience
As it is a smartphone for the Chinese market, the OnePlus Ace Pro has the Chinese version of ColorOS installed. That means no Google apps and Play Store.
Instead, you get Chinese apps like Bilibili, Baidu, Weibo and App Market pre-installed. I had to look up the Mandarin names for each app I need, and sometimes I had to install via APK files as most games are limited to the Chinese server.
You could bypass this by purchasing the phone with global ROM installed via grey imports, but you most likely are not covered by any official warranty.
All my gripes with Chinese ROM aside, I do appreciate the extent OnePlus went with the Hu Tao theming on the software front. You get Hu Tao themed keyboards, ringtones, live wallpapers, and the Always-On Display, which shows a Liyue themed clock.
Performance
The OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition is a flagship tier device for 2022. So you can expect a lot of performance out of the box.
Gaming performance is excellent, as I was able to get a consistent 58-60 fps on Genshin Impact. Other games like Arena of Valor feels silky smooth to play on, and latency is kept to a minimum.
Benchmarking the phone using AnTuTu yielded strong results too, managing to score 1,103,908 and ranking 5th behind a few modern flagship phones in the Chinese market.
Camera
The Ace Pro sports a triple camera array with a 50MP main shooter with OIS, a 2MP macro, and a 8MP ultrawide. While the macro and ultrawide cameras are not great by any means, the 50MP main camera takes good if not stellar pictures. Images are sharp and colours lean towards the warm side.
However, the post processing tends to over-sharpen the photos, especially in low light. In portrait mode, sometimes the bokeh would look patchy, instead of swirls.
With night mode turned on, you would get decent exposure, in exchange for loss of detail. I would prefer taking photos using pro mode at lower shutter speeds, compensating with the decent OIS.
Audio
The OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition has great audio via its dual speakers. The mids and highs sound balanced, with a little bit of sub-bass throughout.
It does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack, but it does support the aptX HD codec via Bluetooth 5.2. Paired with a good pair of TWS earbuds, you can expect good quality audio at low latencies.
Battery Life
The phone features a 4,800mAh battery. The battery life is decent, capable of lasting a whole day with heavy use. I could extend the battery life to two days with a more conservative usage.
The included 160W fast charger could charge the phone from 0 to 100% in under 30 minutes, a feature that hardcore mobile gamers would appreciate. There is no wireless charging, however.
Final Thoughts
The OnePlus Ace Pro Genshin Impact Edition is a testament to how good brand collaborations can be. It does not pull any punches with the elaborate Hu Tao theming and merchandise.
Now, if only there is an official global release with Oxygen OS…
