The OnePlus 6 packs a stylish look and flagship-grade specs, but costs considerably less than iPhones and Galaxies. So… is it really as good as those phones?…
How do images turn out?
Quite good actually. We were not particularly impressed with the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T as the camera was one of their weakest points, we feel like the OnePlus 6 has the best camera that OnePlus has ever made. It has well balanced, likable colors, good control over dynamic range with no burned highlights, gets plenty of detail and is overall a solid performer.
We will have more detailed camera comparisons of the OnePlus 6 camera against the big guns – the iPhone X, Galaxy S9+ and Pixel 2 XL – coming soon, but we are definitely happy with what we see in these camera samples below.
The new 480 frames per second slow motion recorded in 720p is another very cool feature. It’s not the 960fps that you get on phones from Sony and Samsung, but we honestly feel that the implementation in the OnePlus 6 is better: instead of being able to record just a few seconds and instead of having to struggle to capture the exact moment, you have much more freedom here as you can record up to a minute and then select which part of the footage to slow down in the editor after you have finished the recordings.
Speaking of slowing video, you get a basic video editor to trim footage and add filters to it, and we found it tremendously useful. Why? Simple: it’s a pain to find a good 4K video editor on Android, and this built-in one works fine and the filters are actually likable.
You have a single bottom-firing loudspeaker on the OnePlus 6 and the sound coming through it gets loud and fairly clear, overall good, but when you compare it with the newest dual speaker systems on phones like the iPhone 8/X series and the newest Samsung Galaxies, you realize that it is definitely not on the same level. It lacks the clear pronunciation and punch of those speakers that have really raised the bar for smartphone audio.
And once again, let us remind you that you do get a headphone jack on this phone so you don’t need clunky adapters to connect to wired headphones.
When it comes to call quality, we have had no issues with the OnePlus 6. Voices in the earpiece are sufficiently loud and clear, easy to recognize with their natural tonality, and the mic output is also crisp and clear, so callers on the other end will not have any problems hearing you.
Dash Charge is here, but there is no wireless charging.
The battery size on the OnePlus 6 has not changed: it’s the same 3,300mAh battery that you had on earlier phones like the OnePlus 5 and 5T.
After using the OnePlus 5 and 5T for quite a while, we can confidently say that the battery life on those phones was one of their strongest feats. Luckily, the 6 builds up on that solid foundation and is another OnePlus phone with excellent battery life. We got around 5 hours of screen-on time, which is more than enough for even the heaviest users, while on those days when you use your phone moderately, you can expect to get up to 2 days of battery life on a single charge. You have a single bottom-firing loudspeaker on the OnePlus 6 and the sound coming through it gets loud and fairly clear, overall good, but when you compare it with the newest dual speaker systems on phones like the iPhone 8/X series and the newest Samsung Galaxies, you realize that it is definitely not on the same level. It lacks the clear pronunciation and punch of those speakers that have really raised the bar for smartphone audio. And once again, let us remind you that you do get a headphone jack on this phone so you don’t need clunky adapters to connect to wired headphones. When it comes to call quality, we have had no issues with the OnePlus 6. Voices in the earpiece are sufficiently loud and clear, easy to recognize with their natural tonality, and the mic output is also crisp and clear, so callers on the other end will not have any problems hearing you. The battery size on the OnePlus 6 has not changed: it’s the same 3,300mAh battery that you had on earlier phones like the OnePlus 5 and 5T. After using the OnePlus 5 and 5T for quite a while, we can confidently say that the battery life on those phones was one of their strongest feats. Luckily, the 6 builds up on that solid foundation and is another OnePlus phone with excellent battery life. We got around 5 hours of screen-on time, which is more than enough for even the heaviest users, while on those days when you use your phone moderately, you can expect to get up to 2 days of battery life on a single charge.
And then, there is Dash Charge (OnePlus seems to no longer call it Dash Charge, but we’ll refer to it this way for simplicity sake). The slogan for this fast charging technology by OnePlus is “a day’s power in half an hour” and it describes it perfectly. It takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to fully charge the OnePlus 6 from zero to 100%, and what is particularly great here is that the fast charging speeds apply even when you are using your phone. In contrast, on many other phones, the phone will fast-charge while it’s sitting idle, but if you pick it up and use it while charging, the actual charging speed drops significantly.
Remember, though, that Dash Charge is a proprietary technology and you need to use the special OnePlus wall charger and the OnePlus red USB-C cable, and it will not work with third-party chargers or cables.
Also, we’re disappointed to see that the OnePlus 6 does not support wireless charging. Wireless charging is a little convenience that we have grown more and more used to with time, and we were surprised that despite being a glass phone — theoretically capable of supporting wireless charging — the 6 does not.
OnePlus has been slowly, but progressively increasing prices for its phones and the new OnePlus 6 now costs nearly twice as much as the original OnePlus One.
Right below you can see exactly how prices of different OnePlus phones have evolved ever since the company launched its first phone in 2014:
OnePlus One: $300 for 16GB, $350 for 64GB OnePlus Two: $330 for 16GB, $390 for 64GB OnePlus 6: $530 for 6GB RAM/64GB storage, $580 for 8/128, $630 for 8/256
The pattern of growing OnePlus phone prices is clear, but here is the thing: while the OnePlus 6 is the most expensive phone the company has ever made, it comes at a time when the other, more established phone makers have hiked their pricing even further, so many 2018 flagships now can easily cost $800 or more!
Compared to all those phones, the OnePlus 6 still looks like an amazing bargain. Just look at the price difference between the OnePlus 6 and the other flagship phones:
Summing it all up, OnePlus has done it again with the OnePlus 6.
This phone continues refining a successful formula by bringing a flagship-grade phone with a focus on a clean interface and speed at a very alluring price point. The 6 is also the company’s best design effort and brings an improved camera, and familiar beloved features like Dash Charge.
But it’s not quite the perfect phone: while the notch did not bother us too much, the more we used the OnePlus 6, the more we lamented the clunky implementation of the new gesture navigation. This is purely a software feature, so we sincerely hope that OnePlus reconsiders its gesture navigation system and improves it with a future update. We’re also disappointed that there is no wireless charging on the OnePlus 6 and that it is still not compatible with CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint.
Those few complaints, while substantial, still feel more like the proverbial fly in the ointment rather than a true deal-breaker, and even after criticizing it for that, we feel that the OnePlus 6 is a beautiful phone that feels fast and that you will simply enjoy using day in and day out. And the reasonable price? Well, that’s the icing on the cake! We will share more detailed impressions and tests about the battery life of this phone soon, but those are our initial impressions. And then, there is Dash Charge (OnePlus seems to no longer call it Dash Charge, but we’ll refer to it this way for simplicity sake). The slogan for this fast charging technology by OnePlus is “a day’s power in half an hour” and it describes it perfectly. It takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to fully charge the OnePlus 6 from zero to 100%, and what is particularly great here is that the fast charging speeds apply even when you are using your phone. In contrast, on many other phones, the phone will fast-charge while it’s sitting idle, but if you pick it up and use it while charging, the actual charging speed drops significantly. Remember, though, that Dash Charge is a proprietary technology and you need to use the special OnePlus wall charger and the OnePlus red USB-C cable, and it will not work with third-party chargers or cables. Also, we’re disappointed to see that the OnePlus 6 does not support wireless charging. Wireless charging is a little convenience that we have grown more and more used to with time, and we were surprised that despite being a glass phone — theoretically capable of supporting wireless charging — the 6 does not.
