OnePlus launches a new Explorer backpack with the OnePlus 6T

Last summer, OnePlus released the excellent Travel Backpack with its flagship smartphone OnePlus 5. This fall, the company should do the same with the upcoming launch of the new OnePlus 6T and OnePlus Explorer backpack. I just received the Explorer 18L for review, and this is a major change from the existing OnePlus bag. Smoother, smaller and more elegant, Explorer is obviously an effort to appeal to a population more concerned about the image. I would say that OnePlus is also looking to move to a higher price range, but the company does not yet reveal the prices, which makes the evaluation of the bag itself impossible.

Yet here is what I know from a few days of use.

The explorer focuses on his side access pockets. There is one on the front, where you can store big enough items like a charger, a pencil case, your phone and headphones. Then there is the laptop compartment at the back, which is also accessible from the side, and next door, a mini side pocket designed to hide your passport, your wallet or even your phone. You can access the main compartment by lifting the flap and opening a zipper that exposes the top and an L-shaped side. Then you'll find a vented pocket at the front, designed for an umbrella or a bag sweaty gym t-shirt.

I have an immediate problem with this bag, which is linked to the Fidlock Snap closure that keeps the top flap in place. It's magnetic, like the one on the Wandering Boundary Backpack, and it's just as frustrating. If you do not fill the bag with material, which gives it a more inflated shape, it is almost impossible to make sure that the snap clasp works properly the first time. The only quality that redeems me, I suppose, is that I do not need to open much more the main space with this bag, because the large front pocket and the rear laptop compartment are both directly accessible.

Photo: OnePlus

The Explorer backpack will be available in a nominally green color with gray appearance (top photo, with an orange accent on the zipper at the front) or base black. Its exterior is water repellent Cordura and the zipper exposed to the weather is also equipped with a water resistant seal. We should know the full price and details of the release date around the same time that OnePlus launches the OnePlus 6T.