Anyone even vaguely interested knew it was coming: the inevitable ‘T’ refresh to a phone that already had everything going for it. With 40 per cent market share, OnePlus says its device is the most popular ‘premium’ phone right now in India. Now, it’s upping its game.
Launched in New York on October 29 and in India on the 30th at the KDJW Stadium in New Delhi, the OnePlus 6T, thankfully still keeps the signature OnePlus look intact while adding interesting and useful features and increasing storage on the base model which now begins at 128GB, and not 64GB.
Price factor
The new phone has also crept up the price scale with the company’s ‘Never Settle’ perhaps no longer referring to the price tag and its contrast with flagships from Apple, Samsung, and Google, even though the OnePlus app 6T is still half the price of those. These are the new prices: 6GB RAM with 128GB storage in ‘Mirror Black is for ₹37,999; 8GB RAM with 128GB storage in Mirror Black and Midnight Black for ₹41,999 and the 8GB RAM with 256GB storage is also in both colours for ₹45,999. These are ₹2,000-3,000 more expensive than before but do give more capabilities for what is still a good price.
The new OnePlus 6T a tiny fraction larger than the OnePlus 6 at 6.41 inches, but not so one would notice unless one compared them side by side or tried to use an older case only to find a bit of extra gap between it and the phone making it difficult to plug in a charger.
The other change, also expected, is the minimisation of the notorious notch top centre on the screen. It’s now a water drop notch allowing for more screens pace and notification info. The ‘chin’ on the bottom of the phone has also been reduced maximising space some more. The display is again an AMOLED and now uses Gorilla Glass 6 protection.
The slightly larger form of the 6T now houses a 3,700 battery while retaining the same charging time.
In-display fingerprint
The fingerprint sensor on the back of the OnePlus 6 and previous versions is now invisible and below the display. No surprises there as this was probably the first thing leaked about the upgraded phone. OnePlus says they have been working on an in-display sensor for several years but have not, until now, found it to be fast and fine-tuned enough. Now, on the display, just above where you would have had a home button, you register your fingerprint as guided with on-screen instructions. OnePlus says it takes 0.34 seconds to unlock this way. The specified area on the display lights up and reads the fingerprint. OnePlus also says the company has worked at ensuring that this method is as secure as the physical button style sensor. And has worked on its authentication with Google’s standards.
Users can also use the faster face unlock in so that one press on the power button will unlock.
Camera enhancements
Some improvements have also been made to the OnePlus camera set. The dual rear camera (16 plus 20 megapixels with f/1.7 aperture) uses a new feature the company refers to as ‘Studio Lighting’ to even out and compensate for dark portions such as a shadow on a subject’s face. OnePlus has also enhanced low light photography specifically with a feature called Nightscape, which takes a quick 2-second exposure and shot and processes it to reduce noise and brighten the scene. This is based on HDR algorithms and stitching 10 frames together for more detail.
Stronger software
The OnePlus 6T now comes with the newest version of Android, 9 Pie along with OnePlus’ own OxygenOS 9.0.4. The chipset it works with is still Snapdragon 845 but OnePlus has been partnering with Qualcomm to enhance performance and now has a ‘Smart Boost’ which makes gaming apps load faster by 5 to 20 percent. This should be welcomed by the tech savvy customer base that OnePlus counts as part of its community. They may not welcome the dropping of the 3.5mm jack as much but there is an adaptor dongle provided in the box that will allow the plugging in of a 3.5mm into the USB Type C slot. Also banished is the notification LED light which is now not needed as lifting the device very quickly wakes the phone to show notifications.
The OnePlus 6T is available from Amazon and oneplus.in and offline as well from OnePlus stores, Reliance Digital, and Croma. Currently, there are many discounts and cashback schemes from different vendors.