OnePlus 6 Gets a Notch and a Nod from Us
The OnePlus phones always get a nod from smartphone enthusiasts given its sky high specification but even more so for it’s low price tag. The company that prides itself as the smartphone killer is back again this time with OnePlus 6.
The company has even gone the way of the notch, introducing an edge-to-edge full display that incorporates a cut-out to house the front facing selfie camera sensor and receiver. Here is everything you need to know about OnePlus’s 6th generation.
1. Design: It has a new design language. With the introduction of the notch and edge-to-edge full display, it is inching closer to the look of the iPhone X but so is other smartphone makers LG, Huawei, Honor, Asus, Oppo and Vivo. It did a good job too although the bottom bezel is a little bigger. Precision crafted, the phone is made from two solid 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5, both front and back with a subtle curvature when it meets the aluminium frame for that uninterrupted body look.
Ports and buttons are located in sensible places, tactile and beautifully crafted. Build quality is nothing short of astounding with smoothly rounded corners and gently curved glass. However, those hoping for wireless charging with the inclusion of the glass backplate will be disappointed as the phone does not come with one. What OnePlus does offer is a silicone case to help protect your new phone.
2. Display: It has a beautify Optic AMOLED display measuring 6.28-inch. Actual diagonal measurement accounting for the rounded corners are smaller at 6.12-inch. The 6.28-inch measurement denotes the size of the rectangle that the screen falls into. It also uses a different aspect ratio at 19:9 and pushes 2280 x 1080 pixels, that’s Full HD+ resolution. While this may be lower than Quad HD resolution it is only marginally lower than the iPhone X’s 2436 x 1125-pixel resolution. To optimise the display, OnePlus includes different preset modes such as Adaptive, Reading, Night and Lift Up to suit. The display also supports sRGB and DCI-P3 calibration for better colour accuracy. As it is OnePlus’ only device, they always only come up with one, they have to be sure that the notch is not going to alienate it’s fan base. The company has included a screen setting to limit the size of the display so it does not use the left or right side of the notch.
3. Super Fast: Powered by Qualcomm’s mobile processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa-core processor with ample memory up to 8GB RAM and fast UFS2.1 2-LANE storage, available at 64GB, 128GB or 256GB. The Octa-core processor can clock up to 2.8GHz, paired with Adreno 630 GPU for gaming and X20 LTE modem for fast browsing. The seriously fast performance really shows when using the device, loading and switching between apps.
4. Water Resistant: Finally, right up to OnePlus 5T, the company has been dodging the water resistant and splash proof subject purely on saving cost. Not so with OnePlus 6, the phone is now water resistant using special foam to seal the gap between glass and metal as well as using waterproof materials in the headphone jack and fingerprint scanner. It just falls short of getting any certification, so no IP67 or 68 rating for the phone so don’t go dunking the phone in water. Remember, it’s only splash and rain resistant.
5. Cost: As expected the phone is significantly cheaper than compared to other rivals in some cases, less than half the price. The only phone that come close in terms of price with the same level of performance is the LG G7 ThinQ. So if you are considering the OnePlus 6, take a look at the LG G7 ThinQ, also with a notch, Full View 6.1-inch display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. That said, OnePlus 6 is offers great value and is an amazing purchase if you are after a deal.
6. Colours and Finish: Going the way of the glass just like most premium flagships these days, OnePlus 6 applied solid Gorilla Glass 5 to both front and back of the phone held together by an aluminium frame. The phone is available in three different colours, the midnight black, mirror black and silk white. Our favourite is silk white; a white back plate with aluminium frame finished in subtle gold. Mirror black version is coated with a mirror sheen while the midnight black offers a clean matte look. The mirror black finish is a fingerprint magnet so if you can’t stand the sight of oily finger stains then go for either the silk white or midnight black version. Remember that being made mostly of glass, it may feel slippery in the hand, by all means, get a case or use the silicone case for the phone to protect your investment.
7. Dash/Fast Charge & Battery: The company claims its super fast charger lets you enjoy your phone all day with a quick 30 minute charge. It does this via the Type-C port and accompanying OnePlus Fast Charge Type-C cable as well as OnePlus Fast Charge power adapter. The 3300 mAh capacity battery will last well over a day and can be quickly topped up again as it can take up to 4A current from the Fast Charger.
8. Cheaper Upgrades: at the point of purchase, one can consider buying the entry level 6GB RAM with 64GB Storage or 8GB RAM with 128GB storage or the chart topping 8GB RAM with 256GB storage. Remember, there are no SD card slot so you won’t be able to add more storage. That said, the price jumps between the three different configuration are surprisingly small, not like other manufacturers that tend to overcharge for bigger storage and/or memory with seemingly huge increases in price.
9. Rear Cameras: all optics are provided by Sony. While they may look familiar like those found on the OnePlus 5T, it uses a bigger sensor with pixel size at 1.22 µm for the main rear 16MP camera. A secondary 20MP camera completes the dual rear camera pair aligned to the middle of the back plate just above the Dual LED flash and fingerprint sensor.
The biggest feature for the rear facing camera is undoubtedly the Super Slow Motion video capture. The phone captures 1080p Full HD video at 240 fps and 720p video at 480 fps. It also supports 4K high definition video capture at 30 or 60 fps. Other video modes include time-lapse and pro-style video editing with on-board software. Use it to manually add slow motion, apply reverse and loop effects and more.
For photography, rear camera features portrait, pro mode, panorama, HDR, HQ, Dynamic Denoise, Clear Image and Raw Image. Both lenses have larger aperture at f/1.7 and Optical Image Stabilisation for steady and sharp shots.
10. Front Cameras: The front facing camera uses a 16MP Sony sensor with fixed focus. The aperture size is smaller at f/2.0. It will be great for video calls and the occasional video recording at Full HD 1080p or HD 720p at 30 fps. Photography features include portrait, HDR, screen flash, smile capture and face beautification. The front camera is also used for Face Unlock, facial recognition to unlock your smartphone. The speed at which it does this is pretty quick and works great even in low lighting conditions. And, if you are not one for staring at your phone to unlock it, you can always fall back to the fingerprint sensor at the back of the phone.
Both front and back cameras’ portrait mode applies depth-of-field effect to the photos you shoot and you can even customise the background blur after shooting for that professional touch.
What Else Is There
Unlike some flagships, the OnePlus 6 retains the headphone jack and even though the phone supports facial unlocking, you can still find the trustly fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone. The sensor however is a pill shape instead of round which can be difficult for those with big fingers. The phone comes preinstalled with Oxygen OS based on Android 8.0 Oreo.
The cheaper entry model may be slightly more expensive than the outgoing OnePlus 5T but is still moderately priced. You may even compare it to some mid-range price tags but what you are getting really is top shelf components and performance. There is nothing like paying less and getting more. With OnePlus, that’s what you get, no overblown prices. The top spec OnePlus 6 still costs less than half the top spec iPhone X.
Specifications
– 6.2in 2280×1080 Full Optic AMOLED 19:9 display
– Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
– 64GB, 128GB or 256GB storage
– Dual 16MP (f/1.7) and 20MP cameras with OIS, Advanced HDR
– 16MP front-facing camera with ‘Portrait Mode’
– Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
– Android 8.1 Oreo with OxygenOS
– USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
– Cat 16 LTE support
– Midnight Black, Mirror Black, Silk White colour options
