OnePlus 3T review: Design
OnePlus 3T review, If you already own the OnePlus 3, then you’ll know exactly what to expect here. Because the OnePlus 3T is basically identical.
At 5.5-inches it’s again a bit of a handful, although one-handed use is just about possible thanks to a handy shortcut for dragging down the notifications tab. Those rounded edges feel nice against your palm and if you do happen to drop the OnePlus 3T, it’s rugged enough to stand a respectable chance of survival. That metallic surfacing resists scratches and scuffs with the best of them.
That camera lens still sticks out of the rear of the phone, but it’s thankfully now made of sapphire glass, which makes it more resistant to damage. Sadly there’s no water resistance, so don’t get it too moist.
You can pick up the OnePlus 3T in a new ‘soft gold’ finish as well as gunmetal, which is the only real difference compared with the original OnePlus flagship phone. However, the gold model only comes in 64GB; there’s no 128GB option.
OnePlus 3T review: Screen and media
Something else that hasn’t changed compared with the original OnePlus 3 is the 5.5-inch screen.
You once again get a spacious and sharp AMOLED panel, which produces crisp and pleasingly vibrant images. Colours are nice and punchy rather than accurately reproduced, and you’ll struggle to make out any individual pixels. On top brightness you’ll have no trouble seeing, even in bright daylight. And the ability to adjust colour warmth means the OnePlus 3T’s screen is easy on the eye at night.
You now get a choice of 64GB or 128GB of storage space, with the gunmetal grey model. The soft gold version only comes with 64GB. That’s still plenty for your apps and the rest, as long as you don’t go crazy shooting 4K video or RAW images. Sadly there’s still no support for microSD memory card expansion.
OnePlus 3T review: Features and OS
The OnePlus 3T runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, so not quite the latest version of Google’s Android OS. However, OnePlus should be rolling out an update to Android Nougat before the end of 2016, and in the meantime Marshmallow does the job nicely.
You get the Oxygen OS overlay plastered on top of Android, which adds some cool new features and changes up the look and feel – but not to an excessive degree. Android fans will be right at home with the interface, while some of the shortcut tools and gesture support is genuinely useful.
The OnePlus 3T once again packs a fingerprint sensor, and as before it’s one of the best we’ve used. Not only is it pleasingly accurate but it’s also incredibly quick, unlocking your phone pretty much the instant you tap your digit to the surface. It even beats the scanners on the Huawei Mate 9, Galaxy S7 and other premium handsets.
OnePlus 3T review: Performance and battery life
The OnePlus 3T is, simply put, an absolute beast.
You get one of the latest, super-charged SnapDragon 821 chipsets packed inside, backed by a whopping 6GB of RAM. In normal speak, you can expect silky smooth performance at all times, even when playing the latest games or editing video.
Our AnTuTu benchmark test spat out a score of 164523, which is comparable to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and well above other premium Android rivals like the Huawei Mate 9 and Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
As for battery life, the OnePlus 3T’s bigger 3400mAh battery means you can expect over a day of life between charges, even with heavy use. There’s not a massive difference compared with the original OnePlus 3 and rivals such as the Huawei Mate 9 enjoy more impressive longevity.
However, with the mighty Dash Charge tech on board, you can power the phone up to nearly full in just over an hour. The phone stays perfectly cool throughout, which is ridiculously impressive.
OnePlus 3T review: Cameras
OnePlus has also slightly tweaked the original OnePlus 3’s camera tech, so the OnePlus 3T now boasts some refined image stabilisation as well as updated camera software and an all-new 16-megapixel Samsung-made selfie lens.
The results aren’t quite as strong as some of the very best smartphone snappers of 2016, such as photos taken on the Google Pixel phone. However, our OnePlus 3T camera samples were all solid considering this handset’s lower price point and very rarely did we have to discard a shot thanks to quality issues.
You can shoot up to 4K resolution video, as before, while full manual controls are available for photography maestros. You can even shoot RAW images, which are super high-res and easy to tweak on the move.
OnePlus 3T review: Verdict
If you want a best-in-class Android experience for less money than your Galaxy S7s and Pixel phones, the OnePlus 3T won’t disappoint. With seriously strong performance, impressive media chops and dependable camera tech, this phone offers it all for a lot less.
Read our full OnePlus 3T comparison reviews to see how the latest OnePlus phone compares with the very best Android blowers out there: