The OnePlus 6T doesn’t reinvent the wheel, instead it repositions it, sheds a few pounds and then adds a little software traction for even higher speeds.
Yes, Apple did manage to bury the entire launch of the OnePlus 6T, which saw the brand take a massive U-turn and announce the device a day early — so thanks for that Apple. The announcement of new iPads and MacBooks would be enough to upstage even some of the best Android devices, but the OnePlus 6T probably deserves a few more headlines for what has been achieved.
Yes, there isn’t a massive amount new, so why the high praise? The main reason are the massive strides the Oppo-offshoot has made in its just 5 years since launch, and we’ll take a look at some of those in this review. That said, like any brand initially focused on the enthusiast market, OnePlus has had to shift here and there to reach a brand new target market.
No single feature is particularly groundbreaking or even device-selling alone on the OnePlus 6T. Instead, you get a culmination of years of incremental change for an exceptional experience and device feel at a great price.
Being hypercritical, the OnePlus 6T has some reasonably minor aesthetic changes over the OnePlus 6. If you have the OnePlus 6, then this new model is unlikely to be the hardware leap that you are looking for. The design remains relatively similar and true to the look we’ve come to know and love.
The two phones per year schedule doesn’t really allow for massive wholesale changes, but that’s not a bad thing as the OnePlus 6 was a great looking smartphone. OnePlus claims that they will only release a T device when they consider that their own technology has progressed enough to warrant a release. Although, oddly, that seems to have been the case since 2016.
This points us to the main criticism of this device we had before going hands-on: is there enough to justify a T model? In all honesty, you could argue either way. The internal hardware within the OnePlus 6T remains almost identical to the 6. So, you get the Snapdragon 845,6GB or 8GB RAM, and 128GB or 256GB of non-expandable storage.
Now, the changes. The increased battery from 3300mAh to 3700mAh comes with a cost. OnePlus has told us directly that the removal of the headphone port has allowed for increased battery size and therefore a bigger capacity battery. This is the end of the headphone port on OnePlus devices, unfortunately. However, you will find a USB Type-C to headphone jack dongle in the box to aid the transition.
The lack of wireless charging is another minor sore point, as the OnePlus 6T still lacks the feature. With the now renamed Dash Charge still being one of the fastest charging methods on any device, you can sort of forgive the lack of wireless charge inclusion. I mean, when you can gain 50% battery in less than 30 minutes, I don’t think it matters all that much. But don’t confuse that with me being an apologist for OnePlus, wireless charging should really be added with the release of the OnePlus 7 for sure.
Yes, the physical fingerprint reader at the back has disappeared and we get an in-display fingerprint reader instead. I can deal with that as a compromise and the in-display reader is reasonably fast. My only experience with these was the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. This reader compares well with the Mate 20 Pro and even has a much nicer animation. Don’t expect it to be as fast as the reader on the OnePlus 6, but it’s very neat and tidy.
One of the only other major hardware changes is the decreased notch size. That does increase the screen-to-body ratio from 84% to 86%, which doesn’t seem like much, but it’s noticeable enough when jumping between the 6 to the 6T. Whilst the notch wasn’t exactly massive on the OnePlus 6, the teardrop on the OnePlus 6T feels like the best implementation of the hardware feature so far.
The notch just doesn’t eat into the 1080p OLED display very much, it simply becomes almost unnoticed when in use. As for the display itself, it doesn’t disappoint despite not being a 2K panel. That isn’t a pass for OnePlus, we desperately want the company to include a higher resolution display. It’s something we have criticized Apple for with their flagship devices, but I find it much harder to argue when the OnePlus 6T costs under $550.
One area I am frustrated is the lack of HDR support on yet another OnePlus device, the colors are good though. The 6T does officially support the full DCI-P3 wide color gamut and should you wish, you’re able to choose from an array of color spaces including sRGB, a monochrome reading mode and night-style warm display color.
As with any AMOLED worth its salt, the inky blacks and solid contrast does make this display a joy to look at. Viewing angles are also more than acceptable, but one thing I did notice was that the OnePlus 6T does seem to get a tiny bit brighter at full brightness in the default calibration mode than the 6. I could only see this when viewing the devices directly side-by-side.
One annoyance, at least for me, is the removal of the notification LED. OnePlus has tried to say that the lift to wake (or ‘Lift up display’) feature should be more than adequate. I adore a notification LED, it pains me to see the function be removed from the OnePlus 6T. Being able to see and organize notifications by color is lost, meaning I now need to lift my phone every time it buzzes to see who, what and where it has come from.
Back to the notch though, don’t expect any 3D face scanning features. This is strictly a standard housing to a front-facing camera. That means you get the basic face unlocking feature, which is still really fast. It actually sometimes renders the in-display reader pointless when the phone unlocks using your face before your finger can be scanned. Either way, it blends into the aesthetic just that little bit more.
If you had questions over the quality of the OnePlus 6T’s hardware, then they are unfounded. The device is incredibly well put together, it has a reassuring chunky feel and that alone makes me prefer holding it over the OnePlus 6. The soft curves on the back plate feel just a little more pronounced and therefore more comfortable to hold.
Oxygen OS is still one of the very best OEM skins to grace the Android space. That is all thanks to a series of ultra lightweight changes and enough additions to differentiate Oxygen OS from Stock Android. I’d argue that there is no bloat to speak of with the fork of Android 9.0 Pie on the OnePlus 6T.
Whilst the gesture style navigations are nothing new, they do feel a little smoother than in the previous Android Pie beta downloads on the OnePlus 6. You can revert to the pre-Pie navigation bar if you wish, which isn’t possible on the Pixel 3 devices. Props to OnePlus for allowing you to do this, as, for some, the on-screen navbar is much better in day-to-day usage. It’s another little tweak that makes all the difference over Stock Android to those that prefer the older navigation method.
One pretty big tweak to the way Oxygen OS operates is the new Smart Boost mode and is one of the few reasons beyond device longevity why I would recommend picking up the 8GB RAM variant. Smart Boost uses device memory to improve boot times, which in turn is supposed to result in faster app launch times. The device does feel fast, but I can’t hand on heart say that I noticed if Smart Boost was really providing major benefits to my recently launched applications.
For the notch, if you’re not a fan you can even disable it and have a darkened notification area reserved for notification icon reminders. It does eat into your display, but at least the option is still there. That said, the notch isn’t very intrusive for the most part, so I’m not sure why anyone would bother reducing overall display real estate in favor of hiding the teardrop notch.
Those familiar with Oxygen OS or Stock Android will feel right at home, I do love the ability to have darkened menus and change menu accents.
