OnePlus 6T Review: Does the OG Flagship Killer Still Have It?

OnePlus 6T Review: Does the OG Flagship Killer Still Have It?

Is It Still Worth Getting?

OnePlus has always been known for putting out devices with the latest and greatest processing package available at a much affordable price point than other flagship devices in the market. With that, the company has earned a bit of a reputation for being a bit of a flagship killer; a moniker its held for quite a few years now. With other devices cropping up that offer a lot of muscle at a lower price tag, is their latest device — the OnePlus 6T — still worth considering?

Still Got the Looks Down

In terms of looks and ergonomics, not much has really changed with the 6T when you compare it to its predecessor. It still pretty much uses the same chassis and has pretty much the same dimensions. We think that’s the MO of the brand to retain a sort of signature look for their phones; only changing it to incorporate major updates to its innards. It does feel good in the hand with just the right amount of heft to it as well.

There isn’t that much of a choice when color comes to mind with the OnePlus 6T. You actually only have the one option — Black — but it does come in two finishes: Mirror Black (which is the unit that we have with us) and Midnight Black that employs a bit of matte finish; again very similar to the OnePlus 6. They’re both a bit of fingerprint magnet so do use the included case if you’re not up to wiping up the device ever so often.

One thing that we’re glad OnePlus has retained through their devices is the Alert Slider on the right side of the device. It’s just a quick and nifty way to put your device in Silent Mode when you go to the movies or get pulled into a quick meeting.

Physical vs In-Display Fingerprint Scanner

While there’s a certain familiarity to the chassis of the OnePlus 6T, there are several glaring difference from the OnePlus 6 on the outside. For one, the physical fingerprint scanner is no longer on the back the device in between the camera array and the company logo. In its place, they’ve opted for one of the newest features to come out this year — an In-Display Fingerprint Scanner.

This new feature has seen quite a bit of improvement since we first tried it out earlier in the year and it’s evident in this device. The In-Display Fingerprint Scanner on the 6T unlocks the phone rather quickly and the margin of error has been reduced.

Truth be told though, I personally like having the physical fingerprint scanner since it does work a lot faster than these ones but I’m guessing it’ll progress to that point as well and in the future too.

Smaller Notch on an Excellent Display

As many of you may know, you can’t have an In-Display Fingerprint Scanner without an AMOLED display and that’s exactly what the OnePlus 6T is rocking. You’ve got an Optic AMOLED Panel that measures in at 6.2-inches at Full HD+ resolution. It’s got really deep blacks that allow for colors to pop so if you’re a bit of a YouTube junkie or tend to binge watch shows on your phone, you’ll definitely enjoy the display on this device.

Just like the 6, the 6T does have a notch but it has been greatly reduced, therefore increasing the screen-to-body ratio of the device. If you do find it unsightly, it’s easily hidden behind black bars in the display settings.

For those of you who might be wondering, no. There is no LED notification light but, since it is an AMOLED panel, you have an Always-On Display that doesn’t affect the battery life too much.

Farewell, Headphone Jack

We were hoping that the great display would be complemented by great audio but we found the speaker on the OnePlus 6T a little lacking. It produces a fair bit of noise but it does sound a little tinny. Plugging in your favorite pair of earphones are an excellent solution to remedy this situation but they’ve gotten rid of the headphone jack on this device as well.

They do provide an adapter in the box but bringing extra accessories can be a bit of drag, not to mention, it can be easily misplaced as well.

Not Lacking In Power

You might question some of the decisions OnePlus has made with the 6T but you definitely can’t deny the power this phone is packing. This is what they’re known for and they definitely deliver on this end each and every time.

Under the hood of the OnePlus 6T is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. I don’t think I have to tell you that it is a powerhouse of a device. With the week that I used it as my primary device, I didn’t feel it budge on days where I had to put through a heavy workload and it crushes the usual day-to-day activities as well.

If you’re into gaming, you won’t be disappointed either. We ran NBA 2K19 with all of the settings turned up as high as we could and it still ran buttery smooth with no noticeable frame rate drops whatsoever.

OxygenOS Keeps It Simple and Clean

Another highlight of using any OnePlus device is its UI — Oxygen OS. Out of all the phones that we’ve tried at Unbox, this is probably the closest one to a pure Android experience. There are very little pre-installed apps and the ones that are there don’t get in the way at all.  You also get a tremendous amount of support and during my time with the phone, I’ve gotten multiple updates to improve camera performance and fix bugs in the system as well. That’s always a good sign.

Also, there’s something about the font they use that I find aesthetically pleasing.

The Same Cameras Get a Software Boost

On paper, nothing has changed with the OnePlus 6T’s camera when you compare it to the spec sheet of the OnePlus 6. You’ve still got the 16MP + 20MP rear shooters at an aperture of f/1.7 and the 16-megapixel front camera at an aperture of f/2.0. What it gets, which I touched on above, are several software tweaks that claim to have improved camera performance.

Let’s see some samples, shall we?

The resulting photos from the OnePlus 6T are quite nice with great detail but colors can be a little overly saturated at times (especially with food shots and you know how we all love those). Otherwise, we are quite happy with the rear shooters on this device. The aperture of both rear shooters do help out a lot with low-light situations and there is an included “Night Mode” feature as well. Don’t expect it to operate like the ones on Huawei’s flagship though, as you will still need to keep your hands pretty steady.

The front camera does a decent job but suffers from the tiniest bit of shutter lag that might result in blurry photos when you snap a quick selfie, so remember to take your time.

More Battery Life

The 6T got quite the jump in battery capacity from its predecessor. It went from having a 3300mAh battery on the OnePlus 6 to a 3700mAh battery on the OnePlus 6T. If you’re wondering if that really makes a difference, yes it does. We were able to squeeze out about a day and a half of juice with OnePlus 6T with heavy use and mobile data on for the greater part of the day. Sadly, all attempts at battery benchmarks on the 6T ran into a few hiccups but it gets a thumbs up from me.

Add to the fact that Dash Charge get you up and running pretty quickly when you do have to top it up.

Should You Get a OnePlus 6T?

The OnePlus 6T still checks almost all the boxes that we’ve come to know and love about the devices coming from the brand. It provides an excellent user experience with the best internals available today, one of the cleanest UIs we’ve ever had the pleasure of using, an awesome display, and some added bells and whistles for those looking for the latest features on a smartphone. There’s also the fact that it is still one of the most affordable phones with this amount of raw power in the market today with a sticker price of Php 36,990 for the top specced variant of the OnePlus 6T with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The rise of devices like the Pocophone F1 and Honor Play may have stolen away from this so-called “Flagship Killers” limelight but we think that there’s definitely more than enough reason to give this device a spot on your list of devices to consider for your next purchase. It’s certainly one of the best devices you can get within its price bracket.

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