The OnePlus 6T has one thing no different cellphone has. Its cool under-display fingerprint sensor could be the tip of the notch development. However much more importantly, the cellphone has one thing no OnePlus cellphone has ever had: a provider associate. The $579 6T can be offered in T-Cell shops across the nation, and it will be offered with a month-to-month cost plan. The 8GB/128GB mannequin is $23.34 on a two-year plan, placing it in the identical vary as Apple’s iPhone XR on a three-year plan ($20.81). T-Cell will additional low cost it with a trade-in deal reducing the worth to $11.67/month, or $280 whole – a ridiculous worth.
There’s going to be a theme on this assessment. As I examined the OnePlus 6T, it usually got here in just a bit bit behind way more costly telephones just like the Google Pixel Three and the Samsung Galaxy Notice 9 on varied measurements. However that is the factor: It is just a bit bit behind, typically not sufficient to note in actual life, and it prices lots much less. That unbeatable worth makes it an Editors’ Alternative.
Pricing, Plans, and Gross sales
Flagship telephones have been getting costlier this 12 months. Final 12 months’s success of the iPhone X made everybody else suppose they’ll promote giant telephones for $1,000, and so right here we’re, with $1,000 telephones. In that context, the bottom mannequin $549 OnePlus 6T is as radically cheap because the $299 OnePlus One was again when flagships value $650.
The cellphone is available in 4 fashions and two finishes. A 6GB/128GB (108GB obtainable), unlocked, dual-SIM mannequin prices $549. An 8GB/128GB mannequin, for $579, comes each in a dual-SIM mannequin offered independently, and a single-SIM mannequin offered by T-Cell. Lastly, an 8GB/256GB mannequin prices $629. The cellphone would not have a microSD card slot for expandable reminiscence, however 128GB needs to be a lot. As for colours, you may have any colour you need so long as it is black, however at the least there are matte and shiny choices.
The unlocked cellphone will work on AT&T, T-Cell, and, for the primary time, Verizon. You’ll be able to’t simply pop a Verizon SIM in—it’s a must to ask customer support to activate the cellphone—however each Verizon and OnePlus promise, formally, it’s going to work. Verizon compatibility makes it an amazing substitute cellphone for folk who do not need to get connected to a brand new 24-month cost plan. The overwhelming majority of 6Ts within the US, although, will doubtless be offered on cost plans by T-Cell.
Bodily Kind
The 6T, like most telephones right this moment, is a flat, black slab. At 6.18 by 2.94 by zero.32 inches (HWD) and 6.42 ounces, it is a little bit bit wider than I desire, however narrower than the Google Pixel Three XL, the iPhone XR, or the Galaxy Notice 9. It is actually the smallest cellphone I can consider that sports activities a 6.41-inch display.
The AMOLED display is shiny and well-balanced. At 2,340 by 1,zero80 pixels and 402ppi, it is lower-resolution than a few of its rivals, however not a lot that you simply discover (It is nonetheless larger density than the iPhone XR, if you happen to’re retaining rating). Maybe responding to critiques of OLED colour saturation, it asks you to arrange a colour house while you first begin up the cellphone—sRGB, DCI-P3, adaptive, or customized. The display has a small notch on the high, as a result of no person’s discovered methods to put a front-facing digicam beneath a show but.
From high: The OnePlus 6T, with its mini notch, and the OnePlus 6
We’re all going to mourn the consumer-unfriendly lack of the headphone jack. Sure, that is changing into a mainstream factor now, however no, I do not know anybody who likes it. OnePlus stated that eliminating the jack let it get the fingerprint scanner into its place, together with a bigger Three,700mAh battery.
As with earlier telephones, the 6T has neither wi-fi charging neither is it waterproof. Wi-fi charging, I can take or depart wi-fi charging, however OnePlus ought to actually get on board with waterproofing telephones like everybody else is doing.
Unboxing the cellphone is unusually pleasant. There are numerous little surprises. I do not normally see telephones include a “handwritten” letter from the CEO within the field, or with a case. The 6T additionally comes with a particular Sprint Charger and a USB-C-to-Three.5mm dongle. Solely a pair of USB-C headphones would have made the expertise good; these promote for $20 further.
Fingerprint Sensor
The blockbuster characteristic right here, in fact, is the in-display optical fingerprint sensor, the primary we have seen on a US cellphone. OnePlus stated it isn’t utilizing the identical know-how as Vivo did in its NEX S—though the sensor continues to be optical relatively than infrared, it is quicker than the Vivo’s with a zero.35-second seize time.
The in-display fingerprint sensor is not really linked to creating the notch smaller, as it could be on an iPhone. A lot of the iPhone’s notch measurement comes from its infrared structured-light sensor, used for Face ID. An in-display fingerprint sensor, the pondering goes, would let Apple do away with that digicam and shrink its notch. However the OnePlus 6’s notch was simply the front-facing digicam and proximity sensor, which have been squeezed into the smaller 6T notch. On this case, the fingerprint sensor simply lets OnePlus say that it is on the leading edge—in addition to letting you get up the cellphone along with your fingerprint with out flipping it over.
If you get up the cellphone, both by tapping on it or twisting it, a inexperienced fingerprint seems on the display. That is the sensor space. You need to press the pad of your finger onto the zone, and maintain it there for a little bit little bit of time. Moist thumbs do not work, and the sensor feels extra finicky than a bodily sensor as a result of it would not have the bodily lip to information your finger; it is simpler to mis-press the sensor or press it off-center, leading to a failed authentication.
Here is the factor, although: The sensor will get higher with time. In line with OnePlus, it learns as you press it an increasing number of typically, and turns into extra correct.
The cellphone additionally has face unlock, which helps pace issues up additional. With each of them turned on, the fingerprint sensor turns into extra for making purchases and authenticating accounts, conditions the place you are extra prone to be doing a considerate, deliberate press on the sensor anyway.
Networking and Name High quality
The 6T, just like the OnePlus 6, helps gigabit LTE on all of AT&T’s, T-Cell’s, and Verizon’s frequency bands (It really contains all of Dash’s bands as effectively, nevertheless it will not authenticate onto Dash’s community). The cellphone’s Qualcomm X20 modem is tuned for Cat 16, gigabit speeds, versus the 1.2Gbps Cat 18 speeds within the Samsung Galaxy Notice 9. The cellphone helps 5x provider aggregation and 4×4 MIMO, state-of-the-art options that may have extra of an impact on the standard of a mean day’s reception than peak speeds will (The principle distinction between Cat 16 and Cat 18 is whether or not 4×4 MIMO may be utilized to 2 or three bands of spectrum directly).
The cellphone is licensed on Verizon’s community, and will work with Verizon after a name to tech assist. From what I perceive, OnePlus would not intend to promote numerous telephones to Verizon shoppers—it is utilizing the 6T as a solution to study Verizon’s certification processes, with the intent to attempt to get a 5G cellphone offered by the provider subsequent 12 months.
I made a decision to check the unlocked, dual-SIM OnePlus 6T on T-Cell-based digital provider Ting. Ting’s setup course of went decently, though I hit a roadblock once I needed to enter arcane APN settings myself, one thing that does not occur with bigger carriers.
I am testing the 6T’s sign reception now, however I believe it is going to be on par with different Snapdragon 845-based units—in different phrases, good. Different networking stats are cutting-edge, in fact. There’s 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, GPS, and NFC.
Utilizing Ting over T-Cell’s community in Manhattan, I acquired excellent speeds on the 6T. They weren’t fairly as much as these of the Pixel utilizing a T-Cell SIM, however they had been a lot ok. The 6T on Ting scored between 49 to 62Mbps in a very good sign location in Midtown and 10Mbps in a troublesome sign location, the place the Pixel on T-Cell acquired 64 to 80Mbps and 17Mbps respectively.
Name high quality is rock-solid. The 6T, like different Snapdragon 845-based units, helps the EVS codec for the best potential voice high quality on T-Cell and Verizon. The earpiece will get fairly loud with out distorting. The cellphone helps voice-over-LTE on T-Cell and Verizon, however not AT&T, as a result of AT&T reserves that characteristic for its branded telephones.
The 6T has a single, bottom-ported speaker, in contrast to the twin audio system on costlier rivals just like the Pixel Three XL and Galaxy Notice 9. Unsurprisingly, it sounds tinnier, nevertheless it’s completely loud and ok for convention calls.
Software program and Efficiency
The OnePlus 6T runs Android 9.zero Pie with OnePlus’ easy, tasteful OxygenOS extensions. OnePlus has been fairly good with Android updates; it is promising Android 9 for telephones all the way in which again to the OnePlus Three, so it is best to anticipate to get Android 10 and even Android 11 on this gadget ultimately.
OxygenOS would not have an always-on show mode; it exhibits the time and notifications while you transfer the cellphone or faucet the display, to save lots of battery. Different good, hidden touches embody an “app locker” to place particular apps behind a password, and “parallel apps” to allow you to spawn a number of social media identities for apps that do not usually permit them.
See How We Take a look at Telephones
The software program modifications are tuned for pace, and the 6T benchmarks higher than any cellphone apart from the Pixels or the souped-up Razer Telephone 2. We acquired 8651 on PCMark, as in contrast with 9191 on the Pixel Three XL, however 7947 on the LG V40 and 7662 on the Samsung Galaxy Notice 9. Graphics really feel further snappy due to the 1080p display. Like different 1080p Snapdragon 845-based telephones, the 6T acquired 31fps on the GFXBench Automotive Chase onscreen benchmark; telephones with 2K screens are inclined to get 20 to 22fps.
I hate evaluating speeds right here with telephones which value $300 extra. So what else is round $550 at T-Cell? Effectively, the LG G7 ThinQ and the Samsung Galaxy S8 each value $600. The Galaxy S8 will get 6905 on PCMark and 12fps in that onscreen graphics benchmark. The G7 will get 7983 and 22fps. The OnePlus 6T is considerably quicker than another cellphone in its worth bracket.
8GB of RAM is much more than you get on different $600 telephones—each the LG G7 and Galaxy S8 have 4GB—and which means multitasking is richer and extra responsive, particularly if you happen to’re switching between video games and different apps.
The 6T’s Three,700mAh battery powers the massive display for a good period of time—eight hours, 31 minutes in our check. The battery check outcomes are shorter than the Galaxy Notice 9’s 12-plus hours, however longer than the most recent iPhones. The 6T may be fast-charged utilizing OnePlus’ proprietary 20W Sprint Cost adapter, however solely with that adapter.
The Digicam: Good Sufficient
The Google Pixel Three has the very best smartphone digicam round. However the OnePlus 6T’s digicam can be excellent, and the 6T prices lots much less. That is the theme, proper?
The 6T has a 16-megapixel f/2 front-facing digicam, together with 16-megapixel and 20-megapixel f/1.7 rear-facing cameras. Sadly, the twin rear-facing cameras aren’t used for zoom or large angle like they’re on the iPhone XS or the LG V40; they’re simply mixed to make higher pictures.
The photographs themselves are excellent, however not the very best. I in contrast them with a Pixel Three and an iPhone XR. Outside or in good mild, the OnePlus does a little bit bit extra sharpening than the Pixel does. Meaning better-defined brickwork, as an illustration, however some barely seen artifacts when photographing clouds.
From left: OnePlus 6T, Google Pixel Three
In indoor mild, the 6T’s barely sharper pictures are literally extra pleasing to me—there is a threshold across the stage of living-room-at-night mild the place the Pixel begins to fuzz out a bit with noise, however OnePlus pictures stay clear. In very low mild, the Pixel’s intense concentrate on computational pictures involves the fore, and delivers richer colours than the OnePlus (The Pixel’s lead will doubtless lengthen with its upcoming Night time Sight characteristic). I judged the XR’s images to be the worst of the three in low mild.
From left: iPhone XR, OnePlus 6T, Google Pixel Three
Whereas the 6T’s front-facing digicam is not unhealthy by any means, each the Pixel and the iPhone ship barely hotter pores and skin tones. The Pixel’s front-facing digicam additionally does a lot better than the 6T’s in low mild, with the OnePlus digicam typically getting very noisy because it struggled to maintain up.
From left: OnePlus 6T, Google Pixel Three
The digicam does bokeh with the primary digicam, and software program bokeh with the entrance digicam. It has an evening mode, which I did not discover to make an enormous distinction. It information 4K movies at as much as 60 frames per second, and has super-slow-mo at as much as 240 frames per second.
I like the look of Pixel digicam images. However in testing I used to be by no means frightened the OnePlus was letting me down. It’s extremely a lot a query of what is ok, and the 6T is unquestionably ok.
Conclusions
The OnePlus 6T is the very best worth for the cash within the US cellphone market right this moment. It is simply comparable with the $799, 128GB iPhone XR; the $999, 128GB Google Pixel Three XL; and different telephones within the $900 to $1,000 vary. But it surely begins at solely $549, and even much less with T-Cell’s trade-in deal.
The cellphone delivers barely much less efficiency than the Pixel Three throughout, that is true. However the Pixel Three prices at the least $300 extra, an enormous worth distinction for just a few extra options. After all, it isn’t value upgrading from the OnePlus 6. The OnePlus 6 is six months outdated. However there is a large leap ahead in pace and digicam high quality from the OnePlus 5 and older telephones, that is for certain.
Now that the OnePlus 6T is being offered by T-Cell and it is suitable with Verizon, it is the very best purchase round. It is quick, practical, and an amazing worth. That makes it our Editors’ Alternative.