OnePlus 6T review: Perfect to a T

This is going to sound like a broken record because this is how it has been since the launch of the OnePlus 3: OnePlus has done it again. The OnePlus 6T is a winner. It is a phone that goes head-to-head against pricey iPhone XS, Galaxy S9 and Google Pixel 3 XL and wins some fights while not losing many. And yet again, the OnePlus phone does it despite coming in at a price that is half or one third of what Google, Samsung and Apple charge for their high-end phones.

The OnePlus 6T, which was launched last night and which goes on sale in India from November 1, is a fabulous phone at any price point. The fact that it is expected to cost just Rs 37,999 almost makes it magical.

No, the OnePlus 6T is not the perfect phone. There is no perfect phone. It too has areas where it could have been better. That headline you read on top of this article only alludes to the standing of the OnePlus 6T at its specific price point. It’s not a perfect phone. But it is a perfect Rs 38,000 phone. This sounds hyperbolic but let me explain.

Key specs

Dimensions and weight: 157.5mm x 74.8mm x 8.2mm. 185 grams

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

RAM: Up to 8GB RAM

Storage: Up to 256GB

Battery: 3700 mAh

Screen: 6.4-inch OLED screen with 2340 x 1080 pixels resolution

Software: OxygenOS based on Android 9 Pie

Cameras: 16-megapixel and 20-megapixel cameras on rear. 16-megapixel camera on front

Price: Global price starts at $549. India price expected to start at Rs 37,999

Looks like OnePlus 6

The OnePlus 6T is a T phone. It’s evolutionary and hence not all that different from the OnePlus 6 that was launched in May this year. You put the two phones together and it is difficult to tell them apart. On paper though, there are differences. The OnePlus 6T is marginally taller and thicker (8.2mm vs 7.9mm) than the OnePlus 6. It is also around 8 grams heavier. The differences in dimension and weight neither seem big nor impact the user experience. The OnePlus 6T does feel a bit thicker, but only until you put it in a case, which you will inevitably do because the phone is made of glbad and that is bound to get scratches. In fact, mirrorblack variant of the phone — the one I am reviewing — is so shiny that it shows smudges and greasy fingerprints the minute you start using it. Thankfully, there is a clear plastic cover that OnePlus bundles with the phone in the retail box.

Apart from the dimensions, the OnePlus 6T looks identical to the OnePlus 6. It has the same curved edges, same polished metal frame, and same top clbad workmanship.

The key differences in the design are two: the waterdrop notch and the fingerprint sensor that is embedded under the screen. The notch that houses the front camera in the OnePlus 6T is so small that after using the phone for an hour or two you forget it is there. This time OnePlus has also managed to shave off bezels around the screen, particular at the bottom edge. All Android phones come with a chin, unlike the iPhone XS or the iPhone XR in which Apple has somehow managed to get rid of that thick black strip on the bottom edge of screen. But the chin of the OnePlus 6T is extremely narrow, something I believe OnePlus managed to do because it got rid of the 3.5mm jack.

The extremely narrow chin and the tiny waterdrop notch make the 6.4-inch screen of the OnePlus 6T look expansive. It also helps that the OnePlus 6T display — it’s an OLED panel — is vibrant and bright. Quality wise, it’s as good as the screens I have seen in more expensive phones like the Google Pixel 3 XL. Whether you are watching trailer of Fantastic Beasts or playing Real Racing No Limits, you will see vibrant colours on the OnePlus 6T.

The other big difference is that there is no fingerprint sensor under the rear camera module in the OnePlus 6T. The sensor is under the display, and it lights up every time you pick up the phone. Once the phone is unlocked, the sensor disappears, ensuring on the screen you only see the content. When OnePlus talked of this sensor around a month ago, there were concerns. So far, these in-display sensors, even if they look futuristic, have turned out to be slow. Thankfully, that is not what I find with the OnePlus 6T fingerprint sensor. It’s fast. The rear-mounted sensor in a phone like Pixel 3 XL is faster but I find that the OnePlus 6T sensor provides overall a more pleasant and speedier unlock experience than something like FaceID in the iPhone X.

The sensor does require you to adjust your habits a bit, especially if you are using a phone with rear-mounted sensor. It requires that you place and press the thumb in a way that middle part of the thumb is completely on the display. The limits that usually apply — no wet or dirty fingers — on regular sensors also apply on in-display sensor. But the experience of using the fingerprint sensor in the OnePlus 6T is fabulous. It’s fast and with its cool animations when it is reading your thumbprint it looks futuristic.

It goes without saying that OnePlus 6T doesn’t look that fresh. We have seen this design earlier. But its slick body, Gorilla Glbad 6 on both front and rear, and very high quality manufacturing makes it one of the best made and one of the best-looking smartphones in the market. And while it’s a big phone, the clever way in which OnePlus has reduced its bezels and that 3D curve on the rear cover ensure that most people will be able to use it with single hand.

According to OnePlus there is one more key change in the OnePlus 6T design, but the company stops short of making it official. It says that while OnePlus 6T lacks IP rating just like OnePlus 6, it is more resistant to water damage from splashes or light rain. Again this is a claim that will be best put to test by users when they use OnePlus 6T but I did see the internal design of OnePlus 6T. Compared to the OnePlus 6, it does seem to have thicker plastic edges around the frame that should offer hardier protection against splashes.

Fastest Android phone

For me, the best feature of the OnePlus 6T is not its notch or the futuristic fingerprint sensor. It’s the performance. OnePlus 6T is a very fast phone. It is the fastest Android phone I have used, and this I say two weeks after I reviewed the Google Pixel 3 XL, a phone that too is a total scorcher when it comes to performance. The OnePlus 6T, likely because of its excellent software — OnePlus says there are over 500 optimisations — and good hardware, just feels a wee bit snappier than other Androids out there. I have no doubt that the iPhone XS is still the fastest phone in the market, but the OnePlus 6T comes pretty close. There is no lag here. You can switch between open tabs in Chrome in a jiffy, switch between multiple apps with smooth animations and play a game like Real Racing No Limits limitlessly. The phone doesn’t heat up in any alarming way, frame rate continues to be smooth even 30 minutes after you started racing your virtual car, you can anytime move to some other open app and there is no lag.

Speed is at the core of the OnePlus 6T. The face unlock, which uses front camera and about which I am still not sure as far as its security aspect is concerned, is fast. The photos you click are processed within a second and camera is ready to shoot again, unless you are using the night mode where the camera clicks 10 photos in around two seconds and then processes them.

I think the speed is also due to the clean OxygenOS, and the optimisations OnePlus does for animations and app launch time. In the OnePlus 6T, OxygenOS is based on the Android 9 Pie — bravo, in a good way — and it comes with a host of useful features that we have seen in OnePlus phones. There is reading mode that turns screen monochrome, there is the night mode that cuts the blue light emitted by the display, there is ability to change soft key positions, there is option to set accent colours (very cool), or badign power button to Google Assistant, you can change the colour space of the screen, hide the notch and so on and so forth. While there are tons of customisation options in the OnePlus 6T, its interface is quite close to the stock Android. The result is that users get best of both worlds, unlike say in a Samsung or Xiaomi phone where the unique features come at the cost of the interface.

Rest of the phone is more regular, but regular is relative here. The OnePlus 6T is a high-end phone and even in areas where it doesn’t excels outright it does well. The speaker for example. The OnePlus 6T comes with single speaker — most high-end phones nowadays have stereo speakers — but the sound quality is quite nice for a single speaker phone. The 3.5mm headphone jack is missing, but OnePlus — unlike Apple and Google — ships its phone with a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack. The OnePlus 6T supports two SIM cards and the network performance is good, although when I paired it with a 100mbps Wi-Fi connection it didn’t match the kind of download and upload speed that the iPhone XS or the Galaxy Note 9 manage. But this is something you will only notice on 100mbps or faster connections.

Battery life is one area where the OnePlus 6T excels. It comes with a larger 3700 mAh battery, which is good enough for single day of use, or a bit more if you play it safe by not watching too many videos or by not using a GPS-heavy app like Google Maps. Like other OnePlus phones, the OnePlus 6T also charges fast with the bundled charger. Fast charging is one feature that is not new to OnePlus phones but it is still a kind of feature that will bring a smile to your face every time you use it.

OnePlus 6T camera performance

The hardware is more or less same here compared to the OnePlus 6. The primary rear camera uses the same 16-megapixel sensor paired with F1.7 lens. There is still the same 20-megapixel secondary camera with same F1.7 wide-angle lens. On the front, however, there is a new 20-megapixel camera.

The camera performance is something I found similar to what OnePlus 6 offered: Excellent but not as good as what phones like the Galaxy Note 9 and Pixel 3 XL offer. Don’t let this line mislead you. When I say excellent I mean it, it’s just that the OnePlus 6T doesn’t match Pixel 3 XL. No phone does.

In good light, and particularly in well-focussed macro photos, the OnePlus 6T shows tons of details (see the photo of rusted lock). It also captures vibrant colours and usually exposes the image well. In terms of detail and sharpness in good light and low light I will say that OnePlus 6T is good enough to match the likes of the iPhone XS, though I prefer slightly warmer colours that the Apple phone produces. The front camera clicks fine selfies that have lots of details (see the attached image that an unshaven me clicked on a lazy Sunday).

The OnePlus 6T camera also comes with features like portrait mode and night mode. Both are decent, but not brilliant. In most of the cases, especially in good light, the portrait mode works well even if the edges of the person you are clicking may get occasionally fuzzy. Even in low light it works well (see the portrait photo in image samples). The night mode is a mixed bag. In some extreme low light conditions it can produce usable photos, so it is handy. But at the same time, it also applies very aggressive noise reduction while processing and that robs images of detail (see the names of the books in the example, they are smooth and letters have disappeared).

The OnePlus 6T camera can shoot 4K videos as well as slow-mo footage in 480FPS. These are cool tricks and nice to have.

Overall, I believe that OnePlus 6T has fine cameras (main and selfie) for its price. But this remains one area where I feel OnePlus is yet to match the high-standard set by much expensive Galaxy and Pixel phones.

Should you buy OnePlus 6T?

Of course. This goes without saying. In fact, if you are looking to buy a high-end phone, the OnePlus 6T is the most sensible choice. This is a phone that does well in almost all aspects and even in areas where it could been better, it does better than average.

At a price of Rs 37,999 for the 6GB RAM and 128GB variant, the OnePlus 6T is an excellent choice. It is better than many high-end phones, and is definitely a better value for money than any phone out there, high-end or low-end. In some areas there are specific phones that are better. Like the Pixel 3 XL is a champ when it comes to clicking photos. Or the iPhone XR has the iOS 12 and brilliant speakers, if you like that. But there is no phone, other than the OnePlus 6T, that offers a wholesome smartphone and clean Android experience under Rs 50,000 or even under Rs 60,000. That makes it an automatic choice.