Since the launch of OnePlus 3 in 2016, Chinese premium smartphone maker OnePlus chose to follow a two-phones-a-year strategy and has been introducing a “T” iteration roughly six months after unveiling a flagship device, with additional upgrade.
OnePlus marked its entry into the US with OnePlus 6T after partnering with mobile services operator T-Mobile in late October. It has now brought the device to India.
However, the 6T is OnePlus’ costliest smartphone so far with a price tag of Rs 37,999 (for the 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage base variant). It is also available in a configuration of 8GB RAM+128GB storage and 8GB RAM+256GB storage for Rs 41,999 and Rs 45,999, respectively.
In terms of design language, the “T” refresh brings one much-talked about improvement – the tiny waterdrop notch – that gives an immersive 6.41-inch Optic AMOLED display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio to the device.
It also means that the dreaded notch we saw in OnePlus 6 is now gone. The company now lets users hide the tiny notch completely in the settings.
At 8.2-mm, the all-glass phone is slightly thicker but feels more ergonomic, thanks to the pronounced rear curves.
OnePlus has tweaked the camera with what it calls the Night Mode, that essentially lights up a shot in very low-lit scenarios but takes some time to optimise the snap to add more details and make them look less grainy.
The 20MP+16MP primary camera took neat and detailed photos in proper lighting conditions and like before, the app itself was easy to use.
The “Auto Nightscape Detection” is worth mentioning that automates the device’s more advanced low-light photography mode the moment it detects it is hard to obtain ambient light. The Bokeh effect in macro shots were particularly pleasing.
The 16MP front-facing camera also packs in some software tweaks that made selfies look better.
OnePlus 6T is fueled by a 3700mAh battery which easily helped sail through the day. The company’s proprietary “Dash Charge” technology is a respite for users. After plugging in, we received about 50 per cent charge in about 35 minutes.
The under-display fingerprint sensor was reasonably fast. Performance was blazing fast, thanks to the Snapdragon 845 chip and 8GB RAM.
What doesn’t work?
Since OnePlus is taking a leap towards perfecting smartphones with flagship-like features at a lower cost, it would have been great to see some IP rating on the device.
There’s no standard 3.5-mm headphone jack this time but that isn’t much of a deal-breaker.
OnePlus has also done away with the notification LED and the tiny notch only accommodates the selfie camera.
Conclusion: OnePlus has brought a slew of meaningful upgrades to the 6T and the phone definitely looks and feels better this time. Topped with a bigger battery and some hardware improvements, OnePlus 6T makes for a highly desirable smartphone in the premium category. (IANS)
