OnePlus teases purple model for worldwide release



[ad_1]

THE ONEPLUS 6T is official, and given the number of leaks and rumours, it’s probably exactly what you were expecting. 

The “T”-suffixed flagship is the first OnePlus device to come with an in-display fingerprint scanner, up to 256GB built-in storage, and – no doubt much to the dismay of many – it’s also the to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack in favour of audio over USB-C. 

We’ve rounded up everything we know about the OnePlus 6T below. You can also check out our full OnePlus 6T review.

Release date
Following its unveiling on 29 October, the OnePlus 6T arrived in Blighty on 6 November.

Price
The OnePlus 6T is available in three variations; 6GB + 128GB, 8GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB. Pricing will start at £499, going up to £579 for the highest-spec model. 

The handset can be ordered from EE, with tariffs starting from £39 per month with a £50 upfront fee offering unlimited UK minutes, unlimited texts and a 1GB data allowance.

Over at O2, the OnePlus 6T can be ordered with prices starting at £36.31 per month with 1GB monthly data. 

Vodafone is taking orders too, with contracts for the OnePlus 6T starting at £42 per month with a £29 upfront cost, including 16GB data. 

Here in Blighty, the OnePlus 6T can also be picked up from Amazon, Carphone Warehouse, John Lewis and OnePlus. 

The OnePlus 6T is available in the US for the first time too, exclusively through the T-Mobile network. 

Latest news 
12/11/18: 
OnePlus has teased the Thunder Purple variant of the 6T for worldwide release, despite earlier stating that it wouldn’t be launched outside of China. It’s as-yet-unclear which regions will get their mitts on the violet-model, but in a post from its main Twitter account (below), the company confirmed that “it’s coming”. 

Elegance infused with the brilliance of thunderstorms. #ThunderPurple is coming. pic.twitter.com/x0OHtmKVwZ

— OnePlus (@oneplus) November 11, 2018


9/11/18: 
The OnePlus 6T has undergone a thorough teardown, revealing the guts behind its in-display fingerprint scanner. The disbadembly, carried out by JerryRigEverything, reveals that the novel sensor takes the form of a small camera that can capture an image of your fingerprint, with a sensor attached to create the image and authenticate your access to the phone.

The teardown also reveals that the flagship comes kitted out with watertight seals, despite its lack of IP certification, with a circuit board coating that protects the electronics against corrosion. 

8/11/18: The ‘Thunder Purple’ variant of the OnePlus 6T won’t see a release in the UK. Speaking to Phone Arena, OnePlus confirmed that the model will be released exclusively in China, with no plans to bring the handset to any other Western markets. 

1/11/18: At launch, OnePlus announced that the 6T will be available in black, and, er, black. However, as early rumours had suggested, it looks like a more colourful variant could be on the way. As spotted by SlashLeaks, Amazon Germany briefly listed the so-called ‘Thunder Purple’ variant on its website for €580, and will reportedly start taking orders on 30 November. 

It remains unclear when OnePlus will officially launch the purple variant, but it earlier this year showed off a red version of the OnePlus 6 two months after the phone itself launched. 

29/10/18: OnePlus has unveiled the OnePlus 6T, and, er, it’s probably exactly what you were expecting. 

Improving on its now-defunct OnePlus 6 predecessor, the OnePlus 6T packs an in-display fingerprint scanner, imaginatively dubbed ‘Screen Unlock’. The optical scanner, which sits towards the bottom of the handset’s 6.4in FHD+ AMOLED scanner, lets users unlock the 6T by pressing their digits on the screen. 

This new tech means the handset is slightly thicker and heavier than the OnePlus 6, but otherwise, the design remains largely unchanged; the 6T comes crafted almost entirely from glbad and it will be available in Mirror Black and Midnight Black colour options. However, OnePlus has made the controversial decision to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack, opting instead for audio over USB-C. 

There’s still no IP certification on offer, but OnePlus tells us that the handset is “water resistant for everyday use”. It’s also the first smartphone to come kitted out with Gorilla Glbad 6, which should make its screen less prone to shattering. 

While the size of the screen on the 6T has increased, albeit slightly, the size of the notch has done the opposite. There’s now a slimmed-down teardrop notch at the top of the display that houses the handsets’ 16MP front-facing camera, giving the handset an 86 per cent screen-to-body ratio.

Around the back, you’ll find the same 16MP + 20MP dual-lens setup as on the OnePlus 6. There have been some improvements on the software side, though, with OnePlus equipping the handset with souped-up AI features, an enhanced Portrait Mode and better low-light shooting capabilities. 

And underneath, you’ll find Qualcomm’s 10nm Snapdragon 845 processor, paired with either 6GB or 8GB RAM. There’s also a bigger 3,700mAh battery under the hood, 20 per cent larger than the 3,300mAh battery inside the OnePlus 6. 

The OnePlus 6T will ship with Google’s Android Pie OS out of the box, which will come with the firm’s barely-there OxygenOS skin on top. 

29/10/18: We’re just hours away from the official unveiling of the OnePlus 6T, and, er, we’re not sure what’s left for OnePlus to tell us. Over the weekend, Twitter user @IshanAgarwal24 posted what he claimed to be a full spec sheet (below) for the soon-to-be-launched flagship, along with a handful of official press pics.

So here is the Big OnePlus leak excusively by me! Full specs of OnePlus 6T (earlier ones were wrong) and Product images detailing new features!Great, right?!More in this thread itself. Brand new display and 20MP Front Camera! Its one hell of a T upgrade! Your thoughts?#OnePlus6T pic.twitter.com/5YjdLkiKgM

— Ishan Agarwal (@IshanAgarwal24) October 25, 2018

The leak doesn’t tell us much we don’t already know, but ‘confirms’ the handset’s 6.4in OLED screen, unchanged 16MP + 20MP dual camera setup, Android Pie OS and 3,700mAh battery.

26/10/18: UK retailer MobileFun has given INQ the skinny on how much the OnePlus 6T will cost here in Blighty. Confirming it’ll be the firm’s most-expensive phone yet, an ‘entry-level’ model, which will arrive kitted out with 128GB storage and 6GB RAM, will be priced at £499 SIM-free, compared to the £469 starting price of the OnePlus 6.

A model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage will be priced at £529, according to the retailer, with a 256GB model set to fetch £579. 

25/10/18: Retail behemoth Amazon will offer the OnePlus 6T in the UK when it goes on sale on 6 November. The move, while big for OnePlus, isn’t a huge surprise, as Amazon started taking pre-orders for the OnePlus 6 earlier this month.

Still, Carl Pei, OnePlus co-founder, swooned: “We have always seen a high demand in the UK for OnePlus products, so we’re pleased to be working with Amazon.co.uk – a partner who holds the same vision as us – to offer people more quality choice.”

24/10/18: Thanks to a listing on Geekbench, we now know how the OnePlus 6T – with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor paired with 8GB RAM – will perform. The as-yet-unreleased handset has earned a single-core score of 2,387 and a multi-core score of 8,925. This puts it largely on par with the Pixel 3 XL, which hit 8,393 in the multi-core test and raked in 2,376 for its single-core score.

23/10/18: German retailer Otto, in a now-deleted listing, accidentally outed everything there is to know about the OnePlus 6T, including its full specs and how much it will cost.

The listing revealed that the OnePlus 6T will sport a 6.4in AMOLED screen, 2.8GHz Snapdragon 845 processor with 6GB or 8GB RAM, a dual-lens camera system and a choice of 128GB and 256GB storage. And it confirms that, when it goes on sale on 6 November, 6T pricing will start at €579 (around £510)

22/10/18: OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has shared the first official OnePlus 6T camera sample (below).

Just days after announcing the handset’s rescheduled launch, Lau shared a night shot of downtown Shenzhen saying what roughly translates to “bring your own filter”. The 13MP image doesn’t reveal much about the 6T’s camera in terms of specs, but does suggest the handset will feature a dedicated night shooting model, similar to that found on the Pixel 3 XL.  

20/10/18: The OnePlus 6T will now launch on 29 October, the firm has announced, to avoid clashing with Apple’s 30 October iPad and MacBook event. In a surprisingly-honest post on the company forum, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau explains that if the firm stuck to its original plans, and launched the OnePlus 6T on 30 October, “we would be overshadowed by Apple.”

While this is good news for us tech journalists, it hasn’t gone down well with OnePlus fans who had bought tickets to the New York launch event and, in some cases, flights and hotels. However, the firm has pledged to cover all costs.

“We will cover any costs you might incur to change your plans. If you need to pay to move your flight, we’ve got your back. Same goes for those of you who booked a hotel or made other arrangements. Our team will be getting in touch with all ticket owners individually to help you out.”

18/10/18: Thanks to MySmartPrice, there’s now not much that we don’t know about the OnePlus 6T, thanks to its new report that sheds light on the handset’s pricing and storage configurations. 

According to the leak, the OnePlus 6T will be available in three versions: 6GB + 128GB, 8GB + 128GB and 8GB and 256GB. The base model will fetch ₹37,999 (around £395), MySmartPrice claims, although earlier rumours had suggested the flagship will be more expensive than its OnePlus 6 predecessor thanks to its in-display fingerprint sensor. 

While the handset is expected to be more expensive, its bundled USB Type-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter will cost €8.95, making it one of the cheapest first-party headphone adapters in the market.

16/10/18: OnePlus, in a bid to continue building hype ahead of the official launch of the OnePlus 6T, has teased a new user interface for its incoming flagship.

In a post on the OnePlus forum, the company teases some interesting new stuff on the software front, including a “whole new UI that you will have to experience for yourself to really understand.”

While the OnePlus 6 will continue to run the firm’s custom OxygenOS, the firm – without revealing specifics – confirms that its updated skin will provide “a fast, smooth & burden-less experience with no gimmicks.” It notes that there will be faster Navigation Gestures, according to the post, and some tweaks to the camera UI. 

“We’ve put a lot of work into improving the camera behind the scenes, so you can expect to take even better pictures,” OnePlus teases.

15/10/18: The OnePlus 6T has cropped up on Geekbench just weeks ahead of its official debut. The listing, spotted by WinFuture, confirms – albeit unsurprisingly – that the flagship will pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip with a max clockspeed of 2.2GHz, 8GB RAM and Google’s Android 9.0 Pie operating system.

11/10/18: OnePlus has shared some more details about the in-display fingerprint sensor set to debut on the OnePlus 6T, confirming it’ll be optical rather than ultrasonic. The company confirmed the detail in a post on Weibo, spotted by GSMArena, which notes that the decision might not be a good one for consumers. The website, which has used optical sensors on the likes of the Vivo Nex S, notes that the scanners can often be slow and unreliable, whereas ultrasonic sensors are both speedier and more accurate. 

4/10/18: Tickets have gone on sale for the launch of the OnePlus 6T at Pier 36 in New York City. A secondary event will be happening in India. OnePlus has confirmed that the device won’t be on sale at the event, but we would get to see and play with it, plus get a release date and price. 

3/10/18: OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has confirmed that the OnePlus 6T will be more expensive than its predecessor, and the handsets’ in-display fingerprint scanner is to blame. Speaking to CNET, Lau revealed that the tech, known officially as Screen Unlock, will bump up the overall cost of the phone. He didn’t reveal the exact price of the OnePlus 6T, but rumours claim it’ll be around £20 more expensive than the OnePlus 6.

Lau also had some more bad news, confirming that the 6T won’t feature wireless charging. He said: “When we get to the day that the wireless charging can get up to speed without the implication of heat that we expect, then I believe we can integrate the technology.”

2/10/18: Official images (below) of the OnePlus 6T have surfaced online, confirming the smartphone’s teeny-tiny teardrop notch and its glossy and matte black colour options. Published by WinFuture, the high-res images also give us a good look at the 6T’s dual-camera sensor, debunking early speculation that it’ll pack a P20 Pro-rivaling triple-camera set-up. 

1/10/18: OnePlus has pushed out yet another official teaser (below) for its incoming OnePlus 6T, confirming the handset’s much-hyped in-display fingerprint scanner and its edge-to-edge display. The short video doesn’t give much else away, but earlier rumours point to a 6.4in AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 845 internals and a vertically-mounted dual camera setup. 

A key innovation lies just beneath the surface. Prepare for the #OnePlus6T. pic.twitter.com/uWuTsp7Lcb

— OnePlus (@oneplus) September 30, 2018

27/9/18: A new OnePlus 6T mega-leak, courtesy of @OnLeaks, shows off the incoming handset from all angles. 

Images (above) and a 360-degree video (below) shared with MySmartPrice confirm the OnePlus 6T’s Oppo-esque water drop notch, which sits atop its  6.4in Optic AMOLED display which boasts a 1080×2340 resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Also confirmed is the smartphone’s vertically-stacked 16MP + 20MP dual camera setup, its lack of 3.5mm headphone jack and, given its lack of physical sensor, its screen-embedded fingerprint scanner. 

The leak, which is the most significant we’ve seen yet, also claims that the handset will measure in at 8.2mm thick (slightly thicker than the OnePlus 6) and pack a 2.8GHz Snapdragon 845 CPU, Adreno 630 GPU and either 6GB or 8GB RAM paired with 64GB and 128GB storage, respectively. 

25/9/18: There’s not much we don’t already know about the OnePlus 6T thanks to the Chinese phone maker’s not-so-subtle hints. However, thanks to a new leak on Weibo, we can finally see what the handset looks like. 

Images posted on the Chinese social network (below) claim to show off the OnePlus 6T in all its glory, complete with a teardrop notch similar to the Oppo R17 and an in-display fingerprint sensor.

However, before you go getting too excited, there’s no snaps of the rear of the smartphone, nor any sign of any OnePlus branding beyond its ‘Never Settle’ wallpaper. And as spotted by Gizmodo, there’s a hole for what seems to be a headphone jack on the bottom right-hand side – despite OnePlus’ confirmation that the device would be its first to ditch the 3.5mm port. 

20/9/18: An official teaser video for the OnePlus 6T has hyped the incoming flagship’s in-display fingerprint scanner. 

The video (below), which stars actor Amitabh Bachchan who is the company’s brand ambbadador in India, references the handset’s in-screen sensor, which OnePlus confirmed would be coming to the 6T earlier this month. 

“We unlock our phones multiple times a day, and Screen Unlock reduces the number of steps to complete the action,” a loose-lipped OnePlus staffer said. 

“By adding this feature as an addition to other display unlocking options such as Face Unlock, users will have options to unlock the display in a way that is most efficient for them.”

The clip also debunks speculation that the OnePlus 6T will follow in the footsteps of Samsung’s newly-announced Galaxy A7 with a triple-lens rear camera setup, instead showing off the handset’s dual rear cameras. 

Not much else is confirmed during the 15-second teaser, but we already know that the OnePlus 6T will feature Snapdragon 845 internals, a bigger battery than its OnePlus 6 predecessor and, er, no headphone jack.

13/9/18: OnePlus has confirmed that OnePlus 6T will be its first smartphone to ditch the headphone jack. 

In an interview with TechRadar, OnePlus founder Carl Pei revealed that the ‘next OnePlus handset’ will do away with the 3.5mm jack in favour of USB-C. 

He says the “controversial” decision was spurred by the fact that almost 60 per cent of current OnePlus owners already own wireless headphones.

“We found 59 per cent of our community already owned wireless headphones earlier this year – and that was before we launched our Bullets Wireless headphones,” he said. 

And Pei claims that, by removing the jack, the firm is freeing up more space to put “more new technology” into the product, noting that the 6T will offer a bigger battery than its OnePlus 6 predecessor. This is also likely a nod to the 6T’s in-display fingerprint sensor, which OnePlus confirmed was coming earlier this month. 

“It [removing the headphone jack] was a very controversial decision. We’re not doing it for the sake of doing it and because everyone else is. We believe now is the right time, as it’ll benefit the majority of our users while keeping the downside low.”

Thankfully, Pei confirmed that OnePlus will feature a 3.5mm to USB-C adapted in the box. And since, the company has let slip that it’ll be launching new Type-C Bullet earphones alongside the OnePlus 6T, which will be priced at £15.99 in the UK.

12/9/18: A dubious website has listed the OnePlus 6T for pre-order ahead of its rumoured October unveiling. 

GizTop, a Chinese e-commerce site linked to the blog GizmoChina, is listing the next-gen OnePlus flagship with a $569 (around £440) price-tag and claims the 6T will start shipping on 16 October.

It also gives us a full run-down of the handset’s specs, so if the listing is accurate, OnePlus is unlikely to have many surprises in store.

The handset will pack a 6.4in 2340×1080 AMOLED screen with a 91.6 per cent screen-to-body ratio, according to GizTop, which will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor paired with an Adreno 630 GPU.

The OnePlus 6T will also feature three cameras on its rear (20MP, 12MP and TOF 3D), a 25MP front-facing camera, 6GB 8GB RAM, 64GB/128GB/256GB storage, Google’s Android 9.0 Pie OS and a “light-sensitive fingerprint sensor under the display”. 

Of course, we’d advise to take this leak with a hefty pinch of salt.

11/9/18: OnePlus has confirmed that its incoming OnePlus 6T will be the first to feature an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Speaking to CNET, the company said that its implementation of the technology – currently found on the likes of the Vivo Nex and Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS – will be unimaginatively branded ‘Screen Unlock’. 

“We unlock our phones multiple times a day, and Screen Unlock reduces the number of steps to complete the action,” a OnePlus staffer told the website, noting that the tech was originally set to debut on the OnePlus 5T. 

“By adding this feature as an addition to other display unlocking options such as Face Unlock, users will have options to unlock the display in a way that is most efficient for them.”

In order to accommodate the new technology, the design of the OnePlus 6T will be “slightly tweaked” compared to its predecessor, with the incoming flagship set to be slightly thicker with re-arranged internals.  

5/9/18: Far be it from your ever cynical INQ to believe everything we see in a blurry screenshot but this is a bit exciting.

The OnePlus 6T far from being an incremental change as the 5T appears to be flanking a whole new set of features that are likely to really upset anyone who shelled out for the OnePlus 6 just a few months ago.

A picture of what is alleged to be packaging from the forthcoming device, expected next month, suggests that the 6T will boast an in display fingerprint sensor, and a “teardrop” notch designed to take up as little screen real-estate as possible.

The picture, which appeared on Weibo, doesn’t show a photograph, which immediately rings alarm bells, but is intricate enough to suggest that if it’s a fake, it’s a ruddy good one.

After moving the fingerprint reader from front to back to front over the last few iterations, moving it into the screen itself would not only be a big deal for OnePlus, but for the mobile industry at large, after the Galaxy Note 9 and forthcoming iPhone XS lineup both look set not to commit to the technology which has been promised seemingly forever.

We tend to take such revelations with a pinch of the old calcium carbonate, but as this particular Weibo user has previous in getting it right, we’re going to stick our necks out and say this is real. Maybe. Possibly. Ish.

Other specs we can expect include Android 9.0 Pie in the form of its Oxygen OS variant,

Although officially the 6T doesn’t exist yet, we’re actually expecting it a month early, in October this time around, so the date of 15th January mentioned in the posting is mysterious.

It could be that, for the first time, this will be carrier exclusive at first. Previously, O2 has had non-exclusive rights in the UK, but there are rumours that T-Mobile has snagged it for the US, which could be exclusive. More news as we get it. μ

20/8/18: The OnePlus 6T will reportedly launch in October this year as the firm’s first smartphone to be offered through a US network. 

So says CNET, which citing people familiar with the launch plans reports that the Chinese firm’s next ‘T’ edition flagship will be offered via the T-Mobile network in the States. 

T-Mobile would be the exclusive launch carrier for OnePlus in the US, selling the phone through its retail stores and website, CNET reports, while OnePlus will still sell an unlocked version of the 6T via its own site. 

OnePlus has reportedly signed a tentative accord with the US carrier, which will see the firm release a “specific version of the OnePlus 6T optimised for T-Mobile’s network” that will include support for the operator’s Extended Range LTE technology.

The only hiccup could be obtaining the requisite “technical approval” for use on the network, according to CNET‘s sources, which could cause a delay with the carrier launch.

Still, if the rumours are true, this will be a major deal for OnePlus, which has yet to make much of a name for itself in the US due to a lack of carrier backing. A partnership with T-Mobile would ensure greater visibility of its product beyond the direct sales already offered through its own retail channels.

The report doesn’t tell us much else about the OnePlus 6T, but it does note that the handset will cost the same as its OnePlus 6 predecessor. This means you’ll likely be able to pick up a 64GB model for £419, with 128GB and 256GB variants fetching 519 and £569, respectively. 

While CNET has no word on the handset’s specs or features, earlier rumours suggest the OnePlus 6T will be the first smartphone to feature Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon 855 processor, while others claimed it could feature an all-display design, with a pop-up selfie camera like the Vivo Nex. µ

Further reading



[ad_2]
Source link