OnePlus is becoming one of those companies that is getting better with age. As they get older they definitely matured with less antics and still giving great value for the price of picking up their phones. They have built a killer fanbase that I saw first hand at the launch of the OnePlus 6 about a month and half ago. With a starting price of $529 continues to show its coming for the competition but is the OnePlus 6 worth its asking dollar amount?
Style
OnePlus has decided to ditch metal and aluminum and got for a full glass unibody look and feel. It’s all glass design features Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and is smooth to the touch. OnePlus has provided me with the Mirror Black version which lives up to its name with its smoky grayish black tint and realistically gives you a mirrored reflection. I have seen Midnight Black in person that looks great as well and doesnt have such a mirror look to it. This version while looking nice is a fingerprint magnet and can be a bit slippery not so in my hand but depending on what surface you place it on.
Besides that it has a USB Type C port, headphone jack, status slider, power button, volume rocker, and mono speaker. Sound on the speaker is okay but would of been nice to see OnePlus opt for stereo speakers. Not really much has changed from the OnePlus 5T with these features.
Display
Another thing that hasn’t changed with OnePlus is the display quality. While it’s slightly larger coming in at 6.28” it’s still a Full Optic AMOLED 19:9 1080p display. It also has a notch at the top which some may or may not like. OnePlus does give you the option though to put a full top bar at the top if you so choose. I did at first but I eventually decided to leave the visual of the notch.
Even with the OnePlus 6 being a 1080p display it does still look great for playing games and looking at content. Understandably this does keep the cost down and also doesn’t put as much strain on the battery life. It would be nice to see OnePlus veer into the 2K/4K range at some point or at least give the option for customers seeing as they make their phones with different storage sizes and also colors.
Hardware
Of course this is where OnePlus continues to shine year after after and that’s what’s underneath all that glass. They are rocking Qualcomm’s latest and greatest processor with a Snapdragon 845 processor, providing options on RAM with either 6-8GB and storage capacity ranging from 64GB to a whopping 256GB. On the GPU side we are getting a Adreno 630 chipset. They continue to provide tremendous value with their phones and it works out in the long run. Battery capacity comes in at 3,330mAh and while i felt it didn’t last as long as I wanted, luckily their Dash Charge is still one of the fastest way to charge a phone I seen. I have literally been able to almost bring this phone back from about 5% to 100% in a little over an hour.
Only thing as usual you have to make sure this charger is within reach. Sadly OnePlus even though making this a glass device hasn’t implemented wireless charging on the OnePlus. It’s not a necessary feature but a welcome one. Fingerprint sensor continues to be on the back which is great but its now a oval shape and I feel isn’t as recessed into the phone as before. It’s still snappy when using though especially with a case on.
OnePlus 6 is GSM unlocked as well so you can use it with the likes of T-Mobile and AT&T but unfortunately not with Verizon or Sprint as of yet. I have tried to pop in a Verizon sim just for shits and giggles no good. Using with T-Mobile thanks to its support of the newest LTE frequencies this thing is a beast on the networks and I have been able to pick up good signal and fast downloads. It also has Dual-Sim capabilities and Bluetooth 5.0.
Software
Besides their update to date hardware specs inside they are also awesome at keeping the software side of things on point as well. Its rocking the latest version of Android OS with Oreo 8.0 and they have even worked with Android to be apart of their beta program if you want to try their Android P software before it fully launches. I haven’t sank my teeth into Android P yet but I been thinking about it. But besides that OnePlus keeps its phones pretty much updated using their Oxygen OS platform and with that comes a long list of gestures and the ability to use icon packs which is still one of my favorite features going all the way back to the first device. Face Unlock is still available and faster than ever if you decide to not use the fingerprint sensor all the time. I have used it in not well lit areas and even look down at the phone from an angle and works great.
There are so many features chilling in settings you will be able to customize your OnePlus 6 in various ways. I never find much issue with the software as it runs swift and does not supply any lag even while gaming which OnePlus has a “Gaming Mode” on this device too.
Camera
Like its predecessor the OnePlus 5T, the 6 is rocking dual Sony IMX sensors with a main 16MP lens and a secondary 20MP lens alongside it while recording up to 4K at 60fps. The OnePlus 6 is able to take some great shots of course in daylight and in low light conditions it’s not bad as well. I think you can have some fun with this camera and will enjoy it. Its up there in terms of photo quality but probably under say the Galaxy S9 or the Pixel 2. But also those phones are $200+ more which works in OnePlus’ favor. The front lens gives you 16MP selfie shots and shoots up to 1080p in video. OnePlus also has super slow motion that can be used up to 1080p as well and isn’t bad.
Verdict
I been using the OnePlus 6 for probably about a month and half its turned into one of my favorite phones of the year. You are getting tremendous value for your dollar with its killer updated hardware and software to accompany it. Of course I’d like to see maybe stereo speakers and a slightly better display but there are phones in a higher price bracket for that. I can easily recommend this phone to folks that are looking for a killer device and not spending so much to reach that. If you are interested in the OnePlus 6 you can check out their site with prices starting at $529.
