INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Not too long ago, we were confused about companies releasing new top-of-the-line smartphones every six months
Sony was for a while the most prominent company to do this, and we feared that buyers would feel a little short-changed when their expensive
phones wound up looking second-best so quickly
How times have changed, though! The six-month cycle is now practically obligatory in the Android world, and if sellers aren't constantly
offering up the latest and greatest, they might as well not bother.OnePlus seems to have embraced this philosophy whole-heartedly
It was just in November last year that the OnePlus 5T (Review) was released with the sole purpose of having an 18:9 screen, because that
had become the defining look for smartphones and the OnePlus 5 (Review) wasn't going to cut it anymore
There was practically nothing else new or different about that phone
Now, the OnePus 5T is already out of stock and has vanished from the company's website.What we have in its place is the new OnePlus 6, which
brings a lot more than just a cosmetic update or minor bump in specifications
It has a new processor, new type of screen, and new design, and a few other tweaks and improvements
Surprisingly, it doesn't cost a lot more than the model it replaces
At launch time, OnePlus is selling this phone with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage at Rs
34,999, with the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant priced at Rs
There's also a Marvel Avengers edition with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but it will most likely not be available for long. If you're
thinking of buying the OnePlus 6 right away, read on. OnePlus 6 DesignAs it has grown, OnePlus has become increasingly sophisticated in
terms of its designs and manufacturing capabilities
The OnePlus 6 has a glass rear panel, and three distinct versions of the smartphone (plus the Marvel Avengers edition) will be available to
The most common one will be the Mirror Black finish, which is also your only option if you choose the lower-priced Rs
This is very much like what we've seen before from other companies
It's slick and has a high sheen
It's also a little slippery, and very reflective, which means it will pick up smudges as soon as you touch it
This is the one that we have for review today
The Marvel Avengers edition has the same shiny finish with a carbon fibre pattern.The Midnight Black option doesn't even really look like
OnePlus calls the finish "corroded", and that's pretty accurate
It has a matte finish and looks quite stealthy
Everyone who sees it will want to touch it
If you hold it up to the light, you can see a refracted pattern in the glass
Then there's the Silk White finish, which will be available two weeks after the black options
This one has a contrasting rose gold frame, fingerprint sensor, and accents around the camera module
The glass back has a soft, smooth texture that OnePlus says was achieved by using actual pearl dust
Both Midnight Black and Silk White will only be available with the Rs
39,999 configuration.OnePlus has used Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and rear of all OnePlus 6 variants
The three primary options look and feel different, and that's surprising for a company that relies so heavily on hands-off online retail
Buyers should definitely try to make their way to a physical shop or OnePlus popup event near them to check all options out for themselves
You won't be able to show your phone off if you're using a cover (you get a basic plastic one in the box), which is a pity. The thing you
should notice first about the front of the OnePlus 6 is the notch, but unfortunately there's a pre-applied adhesive screen protector that in
our opinion completely ruins the look of this phone
The screen is supposed to look nearly borderless, but instead there's a clearly defined line running around it; all the more noticeable
because of the cutout at the top
It shouldn't even be necessary with Gorilla Glass 5.OnePlus is quick to point out that pushing all the electronics above the screen into a
notch hasn't meant ditching a notifications LED, because fans apparently really love this feature
The alert slider is also still very much there, but it's now on the right instead of the left
The behaviour of this control has changed, so it switches between Ring, Vibrate, and Silent rather than being linked to Android's Do Not
Disturb feature.The camera module at the back is now in the centre again, and has a rough, scratchy rim
This is a problem that the OnePlus 5 had but it was fixed with the 5T, so we're surprised to see it return
The vertical arrangement of the two cameras means that the fingerprint sensor is a bit too low for our liking
At least the power and volume buttons are within easy reach
There's a dual-SIM tray on the left
On the bottom, you'll find a single mono speaker, a USB Type-C (2.0) port, and a 3.5mm headphones socket which is sure to be a relief to
many buyers.This phone is comfortable to hold, thanks to the curved glass rear, but in addition to our Mirror Black unit being slippery, we
found it hard to reach all corners of the newly enlarged screen
At 177g, it's on the the heavier side too
The overall construction quality is excellent, and while OnePlus does use the term "water resistant", there's no official IPxx rating for
protection from water or dust ingress. OnePlus 6 specifications and softwareThe first phones to feature Qualcomm's new top-end Snapdragon
845 SoC were announced at MWC earlier this year, but OnePlus has beaten them to the punch in terms of actually going on sale in India
This gives the company a huge advantage, even if it's a temporary one
This SoC has eight Kryo 385 cores, integrated Adreno 630 graphics, improved security and image processing subsystems, a faster LTE modem,
and even hardware dedicated to AI processing.Because of the notch and its "ears", the screen now measures 6.28 inches diagonally, up from
6.01 inches on the OnePlus 5T
There's a display setting that lets you mask the notch, and we didn't have trouble with any fullscreen apps
The resolution is 1080x2280, which is well below the QHD resolutions of today's major-brand flagships - but that difference is hardly
perceptible, and you're unlikely to feel like you're losing out on anything. Like we mentioned earlier, you can can choose to buy this
phone with either 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for Rs
34,999, or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for Rs
The Marvel Avengers Limited Edition is the only variant in India with 256GB of storage, which is a pity because it will undoubtedly sell out
quickly.There are two Nano-SIM slots, but no microSD card slot for storage expansion
OnePlus officially supports dual standby for VoLTE using two SIMs, which will disappoint some people
You also get Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, and multiple sensors including a gyroscope
The battery capacity is 3300mAh, and while you do get a huge 5V 4A Dash Charger in the box, wireless charging isn't supported. OxygenOS is
a huge differentiator for OnePlus
It's based on Android 8.1, and we received an OTA update with the latest May 2018 security patch during our review period
OxygenOS is nearly identical to stock Android on the surface but has a number of useful additions such as shortcuts, a dark theme, and a
scrolling screenshot capture tool
There's a lot to discover within the Settings app, including controls for giving the on-screen buttons additional functions, night and
reading modes, a choice of system fonts, and configurable colours for the notification LED.One very interesting feature is an optional
gesture scheme that lets you get rid of the Android navigation buttons altogether
A short swipe up from the bottom-centre takes you to the home screen from within any app, or continuing the swipe upwards takes you into the
To go back, you just have to swipe upwards on either side of the screen
It takes a lot of getting used to, and in our opinion, this feature is more about keeping up with the competition than making any meaningful
It remains to be seen what OnePlus will do once Android P is released with its own gesture scheme.There's also a Gaming Mode that not only
suppresses non-essential notifications, but can also limit background apps' Internet usage, which can make a difference in online games
You can even route calls directly to the loudspeaker so you don't have to stop playing.Of course face recognition is supported, and it's
very quick most of the time
The phone often unlocked itself before the lock screen could even be shown, which was actually annoying when all we wanted to do was glance
at our notifications or swipe open the camera app
Unfortunately, recognition fails in low light and also under very bright sunlight. OnePlus 6 performance and battery lifeOther than gaming,
it's hard to define use cases that will really stress the Snapdragon 845 processor
VR and AR apps aren't mainstream yet, and heavy content creation tasks aren't suited to smartphones anyway
In our real-world experience, we found the OnePlus 6 to be extraordinarily snappy, and we never had to pause for apps to load
With 8GB of RAM at our disposal, it shouldn't be surprising that apps stayed ready to go even after lying unused for a full day
That said, most people would still be perfectly happy with what today's phones at well under half this price are capable of.Benchmarks might
not reflect real-world situations in this case, but they do let us understand how much power there is to tap
AnTuTu gave us a record-breaking score of 268,385, while the single- and multi-threaded Geekbench scores were 2,389 and 9,013 respectively
3DMark Slingshot Extreme managed 4,642 points
GFXBench's Manhattan and Car Chase gaming simulations ran at 54fps and 32fps respectively
Many of these scores exceed those of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus - though graphics tests favour the OnePlus 6 because its lower
resolution screen is easier to fill up.We spent quite a lot of time running some of today's most demanding games
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is growing increasingly popular, so OnePlus fans will be happy to know that it automatically selected the High
quality preset and also allowed us to turn on HDR and antialiasing without breaking a sweat.When it comes to entertainment, you'll be quite
The AMOLED screen is vivid, with punchy colours and great viewing angles
Videos looks great, though the Default screen calibration mode seems to be deliberately oversaturated
You can choose between Default, sRGB, DCI-P3, and Adaptive modes, or even set your own custom colour temperature if you prefer
On the downside, there's only a mono speaker and it's very easy to block when holding the phone in landscape
Sound is surprisingly loud and actually has some body to it, but there's distortion at high volumes.Battery life was good when we used the
phone normally, which involved day-to-day use as well as a few hours of gaming and streaming videos
We got through our day with about 20 percent left at the end, which means we didn't have any anxiety about running out of power
One big annoyance is that there's no way to see the battery level percentage in the status bar, most likely thanks to the notch, but you can
swipe down to see it in the quick settings panel.Our HD video loop ran for only 10 hours, 59 minutes which was a surprisingly poor showing
We're giving OnePlus the benefit of the doubt here, because our real-world experience was much better
The huge Dash Charger takes the phone up from zero to just over 50 percent in half an hour, and gives you a full charge in around an hour
and a half. OnePlus 6 camerasOnePlus is boasting of several improvements to its cameras
Most importantly, the primary 16-megapixel rear sensor gets optical image stabilisation, which fans have been demanding for a while
The sensor is also claimed to be 19 percent physically larger, allowing for more light to be captured, which should mean better detail and
The secondary 20-megapixel camera is supposed to be used in low light and for depth effects.Most of our shots came out looking good, but we
Daylight shots had a slightly warm tone, though to be fair most were taken on exceptionally sunny Mumbai summer days
Colours popped nicely and close-up subjects were handled well
Details and textures at a slight distance were not very realistic, and possibly overprocessed in software
The phone even managed to do a decent job when shooting subjects against the light
The portrait mode was slightly disappointing, taking a few seconds to isolate subjects from even simple backgrounds.Low-light performance
Even on an unlit street, we were able to take shots that captured a lot of colour and detail, where lesser phones would have produced noisy
There's a bokeh lens effects mode that distorts points of light into hearts or stars, which can look pretty cool
It only works if you have points of in the background against a dark foreground, so it can be challenging to set up such shots
A software bokeh mode for the front camera is promised for a future OxygenOS update.Tap to see full-size OnePlus 6 photo samples Speaking
of the front camera, it's quite ordinary
You'll be happy enough with the results to share them online
As seems to be the norm these days, the OnePlus 6 ships with a beautification mode that is - thankfully - disabled by default
The camera app has no other filters, effects or stickers, which is a relief to us but will disappoint many people
You also get a pro mode with manual controls and a live histogram
There is also a zoom toggle on the viewfinder, but you don't get true optical zoom
Other phones have secondary cameras with zoom or wide lenses, which give you more creative framing options.Video recording now goes up to
60fps at 4K (with a five-minute time limit), and our video samples did look extremely smooth
4K 30fps clips are capped at ten minutes, and the only time we felt this phone getting hot was when recording 4K video
Even our 1080p video samples looked very good, with no focus hunting or jerky motion
There's a new super-slow-motion mode that lets you take 480fps footage 720p for one minute
Other phones with the Snapdragon 845 and similar processors go up to 960fps, so that's a minor omission.OnePlus 6 in picturesVerdictAs
before, OnePlus offers a huge number of features at prices that make big-name brands look quite out of touch
One of the biggest surprises about this phone is that it's only marginally more expensive than its predecessor, despite the new screen, SoC,
Of course you don't get absolutely everything that the iPhone X (Review), Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Review), and Sony Xperia XZ2 promise
Compared to these current flagships, the OnePlus 6's biggest omissions are wireless charging, an IP-rated weatherproof body, a high-res or
HDR screen, stereo speakers, 3D face or iris recognition, AI enhancements, 960fps slow-motion, and HDR video recording.The question then is
how many of these features really matter enough for you to want to spend up to twice as much on one of those other phones Sure, they'd be
nice, but are you really missing out on something significant The OnePlus 6 is still good-looking, well crafted, extremely powerful, and
fully capable of doing what most people want their phones to do.When compared to other phones at its own price level, the camera performance
on the OnePlus 6 is not exactly groundbreaking, and battery life could of course have been better
Then there's the Mirror Black option at the Rs
34,999 price point, which might be seen as a deliberate move to make the higher priced variant seem more tempting
39,999, this is the only option with a Snapdragon 845 right now
The software is both versatile and up-to-date which are both significant if longevity is important to you
This is also a phone you can show off quite proudly
We think that most people, especially OnePlus fans looking for an upgrade, will be quite satisfied with the OnePlus 6.Is OnePlus 6 an iPhone
X killer at half the price We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or
RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
