OnePlus 6T Test



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Over the last few years, OnePlus has become the company of choice for people looking for a fast, reliable, no-messy and more affordable phone than the flagship brands of Samsung and Apple. The latest OnePlus 6T continues to perfect this formula. True to the company's tradition of releasing a new phone every six months, the 6T aims to provide incremental improvements in the form of a slightly larger screen, a less annoying notch, a few new camera laps and, most importantly, a new fingerprint scanner on the screen.

But also, the OnePlus 6T goes against what its own community wants: it removes the fingerprint scanner that more than 90% of users surveyed by OnePlus approve. And frankly, this year, the 6T does not feel like a big improvement on the OnePlus 6.

So … should you buy it? And can the OnePlus 6T still provide that spark that ignites the fire for Android enthusiasts? In addition, is the OnePlus 6T always the best value for money? You were really curious to find out, but take a look at …

What's in the box?

  • OnePlus 6T
  • Silicone hull
  • Fast charger
  • USB-C to USB standard cable
  • 3.5mm USB-C audio key
  • OnePlus Stickers
  • SIM tool
  • Letter from the CEO of OnePlus

Design

Stylish looks very familiar, it still lacks some features

The release of OnePlus 6 a few months ago was a big step forward for the company in terms of design. It was really a matter of beauty and style, with its glass construction, its elegant curves and its unique mute switch on the side that differentiated it from other Android phones. And the 6T is about the same, with just a few differences that deserve to be mentioned: first, the smaller, drop-shaped notch that looks much better and somehow … organic; second, the larger screen and even thinner glasses, so you get a lot less of this ugly "chin"; and third, the fingerprint reader, of course, which is now on the screen (more in one second).

The new OnePlus 6T is available in the same two colors as the 6: a "Midnight Black" model with a matte appearance and a soft and soft feel, and a glossy "Mirror Black" model that is shiny, but also a magnet fingerprint. You also have a new third color option with the bold and gorgeous "Thunder Purple" model that features a very nice color gradient on the back.

What has not changed is that there is still no complete waterproofing on the 6T. OnePlus indicated that the 6T was splash-proof and that the charging port and the speaker were protected from water, but that the phone was not fully protected from water and was that you absolutely should not use it under water. This is not a case in itself, but when so many other flagship projects of 2018 offer full IP68 water protection, the 6T still feels that it is late . There is also no wireless charge, another small practical feature that you can get on other phones. What we like is that OnePlus continues to pay attention to small details and that the physical buttons of the 6T are very nice and rattling. We also like the OnePlus silent cursor signature. It's on the right side of the phone, where it's much easier to reach it. You have three positions for the slider: ring, vibration, and silent mode. All are simple and convenient, and you get a small pop-up window that instantly tells you which mode you are going to each time. We like it! At the bottom of the phone, you have the USB-C port for charging and a speaker. The headphone jack was not found, and you should use a clumsy dongle if you are using a wired headset.

It is worth mentioning here the excellent OnePlus Bullets Wireless helmets. Sold separately for $ 70, these headphones are two times cheaper than Apple's AirPods. They are easily paired via Bluetooth, they intelligently interconnect and last 8 hours on a single charge. Another interesting detail: they are resistant to sweat and water. We therefore strongly recommend them if you want to switch to wireless audio on the OnePlus 6T.

Fingerprint scanner on the screen

Futuristic? Yes. Fast and accurate? Not enough.

The most important new feature of the 6T is undoubtedly the new integrated fingerprint scanner on the screen.

What OnePlus uses in the 6T is actually called optical fingerprint scanning technology. It boils down to having a small fingerprint sensor located under the screen that reads the specific shapes and ridges of your finger. However, a good read is necessary to read well, and you will easily notice the brightness of the underside of your finger for every attempt to scan the fingerprints at night. It becomes annoying when you use your phone in the dark because it all lights up on your face. Nor are we fond of electric stormy animation with every sweep (sure, you can choose between three different animations).

Let's be clear: Although a finger scan on the screen seems undeniably cool, it is actually not as fast and accurate as the traditional fingerprint reader. First, you need to press a little longer and more firmly on the screen for the phone to read your fingerprint. Second, the fingerprint reader sometimes requires two or three attempts to work. This does not happen every time, but it happens often enough to be boring.

One important thing to note here is that you must be careful when registering your fingerprint the very first time. Make sure to hold the phone in a natural way and press firmly to get a good reading. This will greatly improve the accuracy of fingerprints. The first time we recorded our fingerprint, we did it in a hurry and the fingerprint scanner worked so exasperating, but once we reviewed the configuration, the accuracy of the 39 is improved.

Overall, we have become used to this new fingerprint reader to the point of not considering it as a demonstration, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Display

You might be angry at the OnePlus 6T for killing the headphone jack, but you'll enjoy the bigger screen and even thinner frames on this phone. The 6T is equipped with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, a little larger than its predecessor thanks to the unobstructed space around the notch and chin.

We do not fear that it's a Full HD screen and not a Quad HD panel with higher resolution. It seems clear enough not to notice pixelation in its daily use and sticking to this resolution allows OnePlus to benefit from a better battery life.

The colors on this screen also look bright and vivid, just as you would like with a quality AMOLED panel. By default, the screen is set to display striking and slightly oversaturated colors, but you can also dim the effects in the display settings.

What worries us though is that the automatic brightness adjustment does not work properly. This problem persists with OnePlus phones and boils down to an automatic brightness that allows the phone's display to appear too dark and darkened in normal use. We also noticed a strange brightness flashing when the phone was flying less and less bright. Of course, it's not too difficult to increase the brightness yourself, but it's still a strange problem to have a 2018 phone.

Interface and functionality

OxygenOS is clean, but gesture navigation is not as intuitive as on other phones.

The OnePlus 6T features the well-known OnePlus OxygenOS interface, distinguished by its sleek, space-saving philosophy. You do not have any software applications or distractions. Above all, OxygenOS is fast. OnePlus revealed to have a separate engineering team that works tirelessly to reduce milliseconds of lag and stuttering. The result is indeed visible since the OnePlus 6T works as well as a Google Pixel phone (or even sometimes it looks smoother).

OnePlus introduced its own gesture navigation system earlier in 2018 with the OnePlus 6 and now that we have spent some time with it, we have a better view of its performance. Gestures all begin with a slide up from the bottom of the screen: swipe from center to home screen, slide and pause to switch to multitasking, and swipe from the edge down to go back. You get used to these gestures after a while, but they never feel quite natural, especially sliding up from the bottom edge to go back in the interface. Another strange omission is that there is no way to launch the Google Assistant in this gesture interface. We really want OnePlus to reconsider gesture navigation and optimize it with a subsequent update. Of course, you also have the traditional Android three-button navigation option in the menu, which may work better for some people.

The interface of OnePlus contains many useful features: the game mode, for example, activates when you start playing a game and prevents notifications from interrupting your game session, even if important calls always pass. The 6T also optimizes performance in games to achieve a very strong frame rate and a pleasant experience.

Other familiar features of the previous OnePlus phones are also present: you have the night mode that filters the blue light, the play mode that turns your screen into grayscale and makes the eyes easier, dark mode for night owls and for better battery conservation, etc.

Processor, performance and memory

Powerful specifications at an affordable price

OnePlus has always maintained the reputation of providing the advanced equipment of a phone that costs a lot less than its competitors with similar equipment. This tradition continues with the OnePlus 6T, which still features the Snapdragon 845 chip with up to 8GB of RAM.

We have already mentioned the many little things that OnePlus does to ensure optimal performance on the 6T. This is actually what you notice when you compare a OnePlus phone to most other Android competitors. There is an impression of refinement and softness in the interface, which facilitates the use of the phone.

Although all versions of OnePlus 6T incorporate the same Snapdragon 845 chip, there are differences in RAM and native storage amount. You have a:

  • Basic model of 6 GB of RAM / 128 GB ($ 550)
  • 8GB of RAM / 128GB of storage ($ 580)
  • 8GB of RAM / 256GB of storage ($ 630)

It is also interesting to note that, traditionally, OnePlus phones do not support microSD cards and that the 6T does not break the rule: the built-in memory can not be expanded, so what you buy is what you get.

Internet and connectivity

OnePlus is coming to the United States!

However, the big news about the OnePlus 6T may not be the specs, the design or the fingerprint reader on the screen. It could simply be because of the fact that, for the first time, a OnePlus phone is officially available in the United States. The 6T is sold in T-Mobile stores. You can also unlock it and bring it to AT & T or Verizon Wireless. Both operators will also benefit, with appropriate support for 4G LTE.

Speaking of LTE, you get advanced LTE connectivity with a LTE grade 16 compatible modem, which means that in theory, the OnePlus 6T supports download speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

For other connectivity options, you also have dual-channel Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC support.

Camera

Not quite a flagship killer.
The OnePlus phones have always been fast, simple and enjoyable to use, but can this new OnePlus 6T be compatible with the best phones in terms of camera performance?

On the OnePlus 6T, you have a dual camera at the back: a 16 megapixel main shooter with f / 1.7 lens, a 25mm focal length and an optical image stabilizer (OIS ), as well as a 20 megapixel secondary camera with slightly smaller sensor. In the camera interface, you have a 2x button that allows you to take photos with a 2x zoom in one click. Unfortunately, the OnePlus 6T does not have a telephoto lens for these shots; it is therefore based on software that can take them.

What is the use of this secondary device then? OnePlus says that it uses this secondary sensor to collect the depth information that it uses to create a better background blur in portraits. At the same time, other companies such as Google are doing portraits with a single camera. So we're wondering if OnePlus could not replace the current setup with something like a telephoto lens or a wide angle camera. been of better use.

Image quality

On the technical side, let's look at the real photos, are we going?

The OnePlus 6T does great work during the day because it captures images with a lot of detail, a wide dynamic range and bright colors. We are quite happy with these pictures.

You have a 16-megapixel camera at the front for your selfies and you can make selfies with a portrait mode to make the background blurry. The quality of the selfies is good, but they lack a little detail and dynamic range compared to the best existing phones.

Where the OnePlus 6T is far from the best camera phones, the brightness is low. The photos of the 6T are certainly decent and usable, but you will notice that you do not quite have the clarity and details you get, for example the iPhone XR / XS or the Pixel 3 series.

There's a new Nightscape mode on the OnePlus 6T, better suited for cityscapes, but it's more of a gadget than something many people would use often. Nightscape boils down to a long exposure shot that requires you to hold your phone still for a few seconds to get more light at night. The results really require a firm hand or a tripod, and during our tests, the Nightscape shots became blurry and left us wanting more.

Taking pictures with the LED flash does not give great results: you get a distinct red-eye effect with people and the flash force often overrides the picture, giving a picture with a lag color and burnt reflections.

Video quality

The OnePlus 6T supports 4K video recording at 60 or 30 fps, the latter being the one that provides adequate video stabilization. Keep in mind that in these two modes, cropping is important, so you get a more accurate view. If you do not pay much attention to this, however, the quality is pretty good when you have good lighting.

Sound quality

You only have one bass speaker on the OnePlus 6T and the sound that passes through it is impressive. He becomes surprisingly strong and powerful and sounds very clear.

The big scandal here is the lack of 3.5mm headphone jack. This is a shame because OnePlus itself has announced this feature for years and conducted many surveys among its users. 90% of them voted in favor of the headphone jack, but nevertheless removed it. This contrasts sharply with society's growing rhetoric about the importance of its community.

Nevertheless, as disturbing as the lack of 3.5 mm headphone jack, we do not think it is a dealbreaker. You get a dongle in the box and OnePlus has made $ 20 USB-C headphones that work great with the 6T. Of course, you can also use wireless headphones.

Quality of call

Regarding the quality of calls, we had no problem with the OnePlus 6T. The voices are clear and strong, with a natural bell. The microphone also produces a clean and clear sound for your interlocutors located at the other end of the line.

Battery life

Long battery life, ultra fast charge.
Removing the headphone jack has allowed OnePlus to get into an even bigger battery in the 6T: the phone comes with a 3,700 mAh cell that really lasts a very long time.

Thanks to our experience with the phone, we could easily go through the longest days and, with moderate use, we could extend the duration of the charger up to two full days.

We performed our exclusive battery test on the OnePlus 6T and, with a score of almost 10 hours, this confirms that the phone has significantly increased its performance since it is one of the most performing in terms of battery in 2018.

And then you have the company's fast charge solution (previously called Dash Charge). It's a proprietary technology that requires OnePlus's charger AND cable to work, but you receive them in the box for free so you do not have to complain. Other chargers will also work with the 6T, of course, but will not charge it at full speed.

With its stock charger, the OnePlus 6T took only one hour and 25 minutes to reach a full charge, which means that instead of charging the phone at night, you can plug it in for half an hour. time during your lunch break and you will have more juice to spend the day.

We are disappointed, however, that the OnePlus 6T still does not support wireless charging. This is a small advantage that more and more phones support nowadays. Not benefiting from it is not a decisive factor, especially with the fast load supported by OnePlus, but we still miss this feature.

Prices and alternatives

OnePlus is slowly but surely increasing the price of its phones and the new OnePlus 6T is a bit more expensive than the 6.

Below you will find a brief history of the price evolution of OnePlus phones over the years:

– OnePlus One: 300 USD for 16GB, 350 USD for 64GB
– OnePlus Two: $ 330 for 16GB, $ 390 for 64GB
– OnePlus 3: $ 400 for 64 GB
– OnePlus 3T: $ 440 for 64 GB, $ 480 for 128 GB

– OnePlus 5: 480 USD for 64 GB, 520 USD for 128 GB
– OnePlus 5T: 500 USD for 64GB, 560 USD for 128GB
– OnePlus 6: 530 USD for 6GB of RAM / 64GB of storage, 580 USD for 8/128, 630 USD for 8/256
– OnePlus 6T: $ 550 for 6GB of RAM / 128GB of storage, $ 580 for 8/128, $ 630 for 8/256

Despite continued growth in prices for OnePlus phones, the costs of some other phones grew even faster, so the 6T remains an excellent value for money compared to other phones with similar performance. Rivals such as Pixel 3 and Note 9 are selling in the North at $ 800, but early 2018 models like the Galaxy S9 come at a price similar to the 6T. These rivals may or may not display better cameras, but compared in terms of performance and battery life, the OnePlus 6T is at least tied.

Conclusion

In summary, the OnePlus 6T represents a huge step forward for OnePlus in the United States and is certainly not a phone not to be missed.

It is one of the fastest and most powerful phones on the market and has a long service life. It seems much more reliable and scalable than many more expensive phones. Still, the 6T is undeniably not the best camera. As cool as the new fingerprint reader may look, it's certainly not as fast or as accurate as the fingerprint reader positioned at the back of the 6. And the removal of the headphone jack shows that, despite its community rhetoric, OnePlus is ready to do it. what the computer thinks to be rather than to conform to what its customers want.

At the end of the day, the OnePlus 6T is not the best phone you can buy in 2018, but it's not really necessary. At $ 550, it is still ahead of its competitors at similar prices.

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