Chinese smartphone brands are having fun in the Indian market. Starting with the major giants such as Xiaomi, OnePlus and ending with the Vivo and other minor ones, all are having a good time and success with all of their smartphones. Every manufacturer releases the slew of smartphones these days to stay in the contention in every segment- entry-level, mid-range, and flagship level.
Even Xiaomi releases their smartphones in every segment. But one smartphone brand that stands out with their products is OnePlus, which launched their first smartphone a little couple of years ago. Following the footprints of Apple, OnePlus also releases just one flagship phone per year.
In the same process, we had the OnePlus 3 released back in June 2016 and cut to just five months, we have the successor to it- the OnePlus 3T with minor upgrades to the processor, camera, and importantly battery. And, it has the same design, display, RAM, and every other bit.
We had the OnePlus 3T rolling in our hands for quite some time. Does the new OnePlus 3T justify the ‘upgrade’ tag? Let’s find out in our review.
[Review] OnePlus 3T Hardware: Snapdragon 821 is Faster, To be Precise, 14 Percent Faster, but Not in Real Life
The major upgrade of OnePlus 3T over its predecessor is the usage of Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC, which is touted to be 14 percent faster than the usual Snapdragon 820 seen on the OnePlus 3. The RAM remains the same at 6GB, but we now get the phone in two storage options0 64GB and 128GB, which incidentally happens to be another upgrade over the OnePlus 3. Also, the new 128GB storage variant comes in a new color: Gunmetal, which also is not a huge change.
When coming into the real life scenario, we pitted the OnePlus 3T against OnePlus 3 to notice the difference and yeah, both the phones are running Oxygen OS 4.0 based on Android Nougat. The app load times, gaming performance, etc. were almost similar, and we did not notice any notice between the two. But the OnePlus 3T is way faster than the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge running with Snapdragon 820 SoC.
Sometimes we noticed a second difference in both the phones while opening apps such as Twitter, etc. But, it happened just twice over the course of our entire review period. That said, the OnePlus 3T technically uses the latest flagship chip, but it does not justify in the real life scenario.
OnePlus 3T Camera Review: Betting Big on Selfie Camera
Another major upgrade seen over the OnePlus 3 in the 3T is the presence of 16MP front-facing camera. Having said that, the rear camera remains the same, which captures images with much details and high color accuracy. OnePlus joins the selfie camera bandwagon with the OnePlus 3T offering a 16MP front-facing camera on the phone. That said, the selfie camera captures some good looking shots with a lot of details, and the smile mode is helpful at times.
However, the details vanish with the reduce in light. Yes, the OnePlus 3T also struggles to capture beautiful shots under the low light scenario. But, we feel that this 16MP camera shows the company’s intention towards the selfie-centric phones. Having said that, the 16MP rear camera remains the same as the OnePlus 3.
OnePlus 3T Review Battery: The major letdown of OnePlus 3 is now solved
The OnePlus 3T comes with a 3400mAh battery, which is nearly 14 percent more capacity than its predecessor, I never liked the battery life of OnePlus 3, but the 3T lasted me for one complete day with moderate usage.
The battery life degrades if you use the phone with 4G turned on. I got above four hours of screen-on while using the device with full 4G turned on. Oxygen OS still needs some retouch to make it more battery efficient.
In our usage period, the phone picked up an Android update, which bought the device to Android Nougat and Oxygen OS 4.0. The battery life was terrible with the first update, but later on, the company released two more updates which fixed all the battery woes.
However, there’s a terrible Wi-Fi bug, which is killing the entire juice of the phone in standby. An update will be rolled out by the company in coming weeks to make the device offer more battery life.
[Review] OnePlus 3T Verdict: A worthy upgrade
Under just six months after announcing their premium flagship phone, the OnePlus 3, the company announced its successor, the 3T, which fixed all the flaws faced by the users of OnePlus.
Furthermore, the company has launched a new 128GB Gunmetal variant, which is priced at Rs. 34,999 and it’s completely acceptable. The 64GB variant costs Rs. 29,999, which is Rs. 2,000 more than the OnePlus 3, but I believe that the OnePlus 3T is a complete package offering flagship-level specs at an affordable price tag. Go for the OnePlus 3T if you’re looking for an Android all-rounder.
Here’s the complete gallery of the OnePlus 3T:
