It’s a battle between a superb camera and an impressively low price tag.
If you’re in the market for a premium phone right now, know that there’s more than just the latest iPhone versus Samsung’s Galaxy S9 to consider. This year, two other contenders, the Pixel 3 and OnePlus 6T, also deliver a top-tier Android experience with the latest-and-greatest in processing speeds, cameras and software features.
Starting at $899 (£869, AU$1,349) the Pixel 3 (and its larger counterpart the Pixel 3 XL) has an exceptional camera that takes the most consistent photos in any lighting scenario. Its call blocking feature, which runs on AI straight from Google, also gives it an edge over other great phones this year.
But at the same time, the OnePlus 6T is the most affordable, top-notch Android phone you can get. It starts at only $549 (£499, converts to AU$775), is equipped with a solid camera and an in-screen fingerprint scanner. Best yet for American buyers, the OnePlus 6T now sells through T-Mobile (though you can also pick it up directly from OnePlus’ website), and it works on Verizon’s network too.
These two terrific options go head to head in design, camera, software and performance. See which one comes out on top.
OnePlus 6T wins bragging rights as the first in the US to have a fingerprint-on-display scanner (or FOD). That means you can scan your fingerprint on the front of the display to unlock your screen and the phone has really thin bezels all around. During my time with it, the FOD worked fast enough the majority of the time, but it didn’t work as quickly as the dedicated fingerprint scanner did on the previous OnePlus 6.
Because of the space the FOD takes inside the phone, OnePlus lopped off the 6T’s headphone jack (though the Pixel 3 doesn’t have one either). If you don’t already own wireless headphones to listen to music and calls, OnePlus included a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter dongle in the box. You can also buy the brand’s USB Type-C earbuds for an extra $20 (£16, converts to AU$30). The Pixel 3, on the other hand, comes bundled with its own Pixel Buds for free.
The Pixel 3 looks similar to last year’ Pixel 2, but subtle design tweaks like thinner bezels and a glossy lining around the phone add more polish this time around. I’m also a big fan of the Pixel’s new color variant « Not Pink. »
If you’re eyeing the bigger Pixel 3 XL though, you’ll notice that it has one of the thickest on-screen notches we’ve seen. Even though you can hide it, it’s not very flattering compared to the OnePlus 6T’s teardrop-shaped notch (which you can also mask with black bars). Just be glad that Google fixed the bug that made two notches appear on the display.
But whether you get the Pixel 3 XL with the notch, know that both size models have wireless charging, and they can juice up on any Qi-compatible charging mat. ( Fast-charging, however, only works on Google’s own Pixel Stand charger.) The Pixel is also rated IPX8, meaning it can survive in about 3 feet underwater (1m) for 30 minutes.
At hundreds of dollars less than its competitor, the OnePlus 6T took impressive pictures that were either on par or better at times than the Pixel 3’s camera (on auto mode). For example, there were times when the OnePlus 6T had a wider dynamic range than the Pixel 3 when the Pixel was in its HDR+ mode. The 6T brightened and punched up colors a bit more. But when I switched to the Pixel’s HDR+ enhanced mode, it noticeably outperformed the OnePlus 6T.
Another instance was low-light photography. Both can take excellent shots in dim lighting — brightening up objects and capturing as much information and focus as possible. In the 6T’s Nightscape shooting mode, it retained the same, if not slightly more, details than the Pixel 3. However, Google plans to roll out its own night mode called Night Sight on the Pixel soon. We had a chance to test a non-finalized version of this feature and already it looks very, very promising. So much so that I anticipate that the Pixel 3’s Night Sight will exceed the 6T’s Nightscape.
As for taking photos of people, the bokeh effect on the OnePlus 6T and Pixel 3 looked great, but they did have a few sharp patches amongst the softly blurred background. If I had to choose though, I liked how the Pixel retained more foreground detail. Plus, Google’s phone renders the effect using only one camera, as opposed to the OnePlus 6T’s dual-camera setup.
Finally, I preferred the selfies I took on the Pixel. The OnePlus didn’t capture as much detail in my face and hair, and it made my skin look much paler. The Pixel also has a second front-facing camera for wide-angle shots.
The Pixel 3 and OnePlus 6T run Google’s latest Android Pie out of the box. They both incorporate many of Pie’s updates including gesture navigation, adaptive battery (in which the phone learns what apps you don’t use often and limits system resources to them) and more options to tweak your phone’s settings when it’s in Do Not Disturb mode.
Other than that though, OnePlus doesn’t add much else to the OS. This isn’t bad necessarily; one of my favorite things about OnePlus phones is its minimalistic take on Android and lack of bloatware. Unlike other phones that sometimes slather superfluous amounts of software, OnePlus keeps things refreshingly simple.
On that note though, while the Pixel 3 adds more to the OS than the OnePlus, these features end up being pretty useful. Call Screen, for example, answers calls on your behalf, and you can read a transcript of the conversation in real time to decide whether or not to block a call or answer it. The Pixel’s Digital Wellbeing feature also shows you how you’re spending your time on the phone and lets you limit app usage accordingly. The phone will receive prompt software updates once they’re available and Pixel owners get unlimited cloud storage for photos as well.
Equipped with Snapdragon 845 chipsets, the Pixel 3 and OnePlus 6T are zippy and responsive. Between them, I don’t really notice any differences in speed with day-to-day tasks like launching apps or firing the camera shutter. But if we were to split hairs, the OnePlus 6T does have the slight edge over the Pixel 3 on benchmark tests. Check out both scores below:
As for battery life, both phones scored excellent marks and lasted over 16 hours on our test for continuous video playback on Airplane Mode. More specifically, the Pixel 3 XL, which has a bigger 3,430mAh battery than its smaller Pixel 3 counterpart’s 2,915mAh battery, clocked in 16 hours and 49 minutes.
