OnePlus 6: Everything You Need to Know About the New OnePlus Smartphone

Finally.

The mighty, the refreshing, the trend-setter, the trend-breaker, the flagship killer (yes it has as many titles as Daenerys Targaryen) is finally back. I am talking about the OnePlus 6. Did you not wake up all night yesterday to watch the launch-event? Never Mind. We will tell you all about the phone here.

Back in 2014, OnePlus, a relatively unknown company then, released a phone called OnePlus 1. Weird name, I thought when I first heard of it. New companies came to the market every day, but what was so special about this phone was that the performance to price ratio this phone offered was absolutely crazy. It offered flagship level processor, way more RAM than any other phone on the market in half the price of the then flagship, the Galaxy S5. There was nothing like it on the market at the time. And it was only a matter of time before it got its rightful name as the flagship killer. Like Jaime got his name as a King Slayer (Another Game of Thrones Reference). And OnePlus has been continuously working over the years to do right by their name. Their phones offer flagship grade performance and astoundingly powerful specs at a price significantly less than any other big players on the market.

Continuing the trend of the best bang for your bucks, OnePlus has launched the OnePlus 6 this year. And are we excited for that?

The phones in 2018 have been following the trend of maximizing their screen-to-body ratio. Lots of them have ended with a notch in the process. Full disclosure: OnePlus 6 ended right there too. Whether you like it or not, it will depend upon your preference. But OnePlus has done a great job in blending it into the aesthetics of the phone by making it as smaller as possible and we kinda like it. If you don’t you can just click a button in the settings and the notch will be gone leaving you with a black bar on top. It is as simple as that.

With the topic of notch out of the way; the OnePlus 6 is a typical OnePlus phone on the inside. It has the latest and greatest Snapdragon 845 processor from Qualcomm, RAM option of 6 or 8 GB and storage options of 64, 128 or 256 GB. OnePlus doesn’t skimp on the specs. It is as powerful a phone can get in 2018. But OnePlus has made a couple of changes that make the OnePlus experience even better.

The first change is in the camera. It’s still a dual camera setup on the back: 16MP and 20 MP f/1.7 shooters. But now the primary 16MP sensor has OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). This has been one feature that OnePlus users have been asking for since the days of OnePlus 3 and OnePlus finally delivered. OIS helps in recording steady videos and clicking better low light photos than the EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) that was present in the OnePlus 5T.

The orientation of the cameras is vertical now, as every manufacturer seems to be doing this year. The fingerprint sensor is located below the cameras and it now has an oval shape instead of the perfect circle on the 5T. But it is as fast and as responsive in the 5T. So, we have no complaints there.

Talking about other changes, the back of the phone is glass now. Yeah, it will be more fragile than the metal back but people seem to like the feel of a glass back phone, and basically, every other phone have glass backs nowadays. But for most companies, the main reason to switch to a glass back is to add wireless charging to their phones, which is weirdly missing from the OnePlus 6. But you continue to get Dash Charging which is the fastest wired charging on any smartphone. And if you were wondering, and we know you were, Congratulations, the headphone jack still lives on this phone. Thank you, OnePlus. You are a beacon of hope for us mortals who still use freaking wired headphones!!!

Phew, I thought my veins would explode right there. I am alright now. Moving on. The speakers on this phone are still mono and bottom firing which is kind of a bummer. Using the earpiece to deliver the highs would have been a welcomed touch. But the bottom firing speakers were pretty loud on the OnePlus 5T, and if it is the same on the OnePlus 6, you’ll be fine. We still got the headphone jack. Yes, we do.

The phone now supports Bluetooth 5.0, which is a great feature because 5.0 is better than 4.0. Duh! If you want to know more about the fascinating technology of Bluetooth 5.0, click this link that will take you to an article that will satiate your curiosity. If you are more of a YouTube person, click this link that will take you to a video by Marques Brownlee on the topic.

The Screen on the phone is still 1080P AMOLED. The colors pop, texts look sharp, blacks are very deep, the screen is as good as it was on the 5T. And it now covers 83.8% on the front which is great. Oxygen OS is as fluid as it always was. It’s fast, it’s smooth, it adds nifty little useful features on top of Android without hindering the vanilla Android experience that most users love. This is one of the best overlays on top of Android. The battery is still 3300mAh. We won’t know how long it lasts until full reviews come out, but if 5T’s battery life was any indication, the battery life on the OnePlus 6 would be awesome.

Overall

So, yeah, this was the OnePlus 6. Not radically different from the phones from other manufacturers but we like the subtle touches OnePlus has made to its phone. The phone has a distinctly modern feel to it; it is still a unique OnePlus phone. The performance is top notch, it has a top-notch, and it would probably the fastest phone around for quite some time before the Pixel 3 comes out, which you won’t be able to buy in Nepal. So, it would be the fastest Android phone in Nepal when it will be launched here.

As the phone hasn’t launched in Nepal yet, we don’t know how it would be priced here, yet. But the phone costs around 529$ in the US for the 6GB/64GB variant and will available for sale starting on May 22. Only the two color variant – the midnight black (matte glass black, looks super cool) and the mirror black finish will be available on May 22. The other color option, the limited-edition Silk white OnePlus 6 will go on sale from June 1. It will be some time till we see these phone in Nepal. Till then keep on geeking out about OnePlus 6. And don’t forget to check out TechLekh as we continue to update you with news regarding this phone.