Tee off with the flagship slayer. The OnePlus 6T gets a thoughtful upgrade, by adding features that actually help.
Its only been 5 months since the launch of the OnePlus 6 and now the upgraded 6T is out. This ‘two flagship launch policy in a year’ is also the reason why OnePlus has managed to dethrone Apple and Samsung as India’s number one smartphone firm. We find out what’s new about the 6T.
The biggest display by OnePlus
The OnePlus 6T now comes with a taller edge-to-edge 6.4-inch AMOLED screen with a slightly improved resolution of 2340 x 1080. But if you take a closer look, you will notice that the bezels in the 6T are a lot slimmer than the 6, especially the bottom part of the phone. What stands out is the new smart teardrop notch, like the Oppo R17. It is so small that I didn’t even have to opt for the hide the notch area option. For all those who are anti-notch, you can disable it completely.
Screen unlock
OnePlus have done away with the physical fingerprint scanner which was previously on the back panel below the rear cameras. The biometric optical sensor is now underneath the screen. Pick up the phone and a virtual scanner pops up. After registering your fingerprint of course, you simply press the scanner. It isn’t as fast as the physical sensor, but as compared to other phones like the Vivo 11 Pro and Oppo R17 Pro, the 6T unlocks faster. We thought it was quite intuitive as we didn’t face any issues unlocking the phone.
Hit the road jack
The 3.5mm jack has joined the endangered list in the premium smartphone segment, and in case of the 6T, we can now say that another jack bites the dust. According to OnePlus, they had to make room for the fingerprint-on-display scanner, therefore, they were forced to sacrifice it. The good thing is that you aren’t forced to buy a Bluetooth enabled or USB Type-C headset as the company provides a USB Type-C to 3.5mm headphone port dongle in the box.
Low-light photography
The 6T retains the dual rear cameras— a 16 and 20-megapixel lens with a wide f/1.7 aperture — and a 20-MP front-facing lens. What’s new is the Nightscape mode that has improved its low-light photography capabilities. It lowers the ISO and slows down the shutter speed while the AI takes care of the stabilization part. It combines multiple buffer shots together to get the best shot. We tried this mode and noticed that the 6T managed to reduce the noise and captured more lights without overly highlighting the image.
Sample low-light shot
Worth the upgrade?
The 6T continues to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, which lets you multi-task easily. The 6T runs on the Android 9.0 Pie with a layer of OxygenOS. The 6T also comes with a bigger 3,700mAh battery that easily lasts for a day. There is no doubt that the competition is catching up to OnePlus, but starting at Rs. 37,999, it’s still a flagship phone worth buying, especially since it’s also one of the first manufacturers to receive Android OS updates. As for OnePlus 6 owners, hang in there, the 6T is just an update, not a new generation phone.
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