We all know that OnePlus provides an attractive price with flagship features. Being the seventh smartphone to be announced by the Shenzen-based smartphone manufacturer, the OnePlus 5T becomes a highly-anticipated handset.
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| OnePlus 5T Review: Still A Flagship Killer |
OnePlus 5T was announced very quickly, only a few months after its predecessor, the OnePlus 5, was unveiled back in June 2017. It is the first smartphone from OnePlus to have an 18:9 display, and facial recognition. However, other specs remain intact as from the previous model, such as the camera setup and the processor used. Will it managed to be a decisive upgrade?
PHYSICAL
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| OnePlus 5T Retail Package |
The retail packaging of the OnePlus 5T comes in a rather red/white plain box and the accessories are located inside. There's a charging adapted rated at 5V 4A with Dash Charge support, a red long USB cable for data transferring and charging, a free silicon case, SIM ejector tool, paper documentations (Quick Start Guide and Safety Information), and a sticker of OnePlus. Sadly, there's no free earphone, so you'll have to buy it separately or use whatever you have at hand.
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| Front |
The front of the OnePlus 5T is dominated by the 6.01-inch display with a nearly bezel-less screen and housed in a body that is made entirely out of aluminum. It is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and there's a pre-applied screen protector. Holding the phone is pleasantly okay and very comfortable in our hands, perhaps due to its narrower display. The Optic AMOLED display helps the device to be readable even under the sunlight, so there is no issue using it even outdoors, not to mention viewing angles are good too.
On-screen navigation buttons are found on the bottom of the screen. Talking about the screen, it can recognize up to 10 fingers simultaneously and the multi-touch responds on time. Viewing angles are on the very good level.
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| Dual Rear Cameras |
Moving to the back, you will find the dual camera setup along with its dual-LED flash, the secondary microphone in between them, and the fingerprint sensor that delivers a fast response when unlocking the phone.
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| Right Side |
The right side houses the power button and the dual-SIM slot.
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| Left Side |
The volume rocker and the alert slider reside on the left side of the phone.
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| Bottom |
At the bottom, there's a single-firing speaker, a USB Type-C port, the primary microphone and the 3.5mm audio jack.
The OnePlus 5T's design is somewhat generic, and most of the time won't induce lookers to take a second glance. Nonetheless, it still has a great build quality, has a nice physical attribute, and really feels premium to touch.
SOFTWARE
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| Software |
OnePlus ships the 5T with Google's Android 7.1.1 Nougat with OnePlus' nearly stock-Android user interface, via Oxygen OS 4.7. There's no app drawer, but if you swipe up the home screen, it'll reveal all the applications installed on the phone. The Android security patches were dated December 1, 2017, which is still up-to-date. The company promised an update to Android 8.0 "Oreo", but there's no specific time for release date. An app called "Community" helps the users to create some cool features, with the help of developers. Also, facial recognition is now available, but, the fingerprint scanner remains faster in unlocking the phone and it's more secure.
Swiping left gives out the "Shelf" to quickly access the apps and contacts. It can be turned off in the settings. Swiping down the screen shows the notification panel, with brightness slider. Another swipe displays all the toggles.
See Also: TeknoGadyet Editors' Choice Awards 2017 Winners
PERFORMANCE
The high-end ARM-cortex-based 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset is found inside the OnePlus 5T, that integrates Kryo 280 cores (running up to 2.45Ghz), accompanied by 6GB or 8GB RAM with either 64GB or 128GB of non-expandable storage. The graphics card used is the Adreno 540. We never experienced any lags or crashing an application, while opening the browser and some pre-installed apps are blazingly fast.
Here are the benchmark scores:
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| Benchmark Results |
AnTuTu - 178,102
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme - Max
3DMark OpenGL ES 3.1 - 3,219
3DMark Vulkan - 2,425
Geekbench Single-Core - 1,943
Geekbench Multi-Core - 6,676
Geekbench Renderscript - 7,753
Vellamo Multicore - 3,630
Vellamo Metal - 2,750
Thanks to premium graphics unit, the Adreno 540 offers a superior quality of gaming performance. Some of the high graphics and 3D games run very smooth, even in their highest settings.
CAMERA
The phone's rear dual-camera system is composed of the main 16MP telephoto lens with Sony IMX398 sensor and a f/1.7 aperture and the secondary 20MP wide-angle lens with Sony IMX376K sensor and an improved f/1.7 aperture too. The resulting images are really impressive with a good amount of details, nice dynamic range and acceptable color reproduction for the price. The autofocus is fast to capture an object and the performs very well in low-light conditions. The video recording offers a variety of resolutions, 2160p (4K), 1080p (both 60fps and the standard 30fps) and 720p with slow motion capable up to 120fps. Swiping the camera up reveals many camera functions including the Pro mode that can capture RAW file.
On one hand, the front camera sports another 16MP selfie snapper with Sony IMX371 sensor and a f/2.0 aperture. Time-lapse is also supported here using the 1080p video recording at 30 fps.
Main Camera Sample Photos:
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| Ayala Avenue corner Buendia Avenue (Outdoor) |
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| Overcast Sky (Outdoor) |
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| Chandelier (Indoor) |
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| Hallway (Indoor, Low Light) |
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| Salad (Foodie) |
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| Burger (Foodie) |
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| Happy Dreams (Close-up) |
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| Moon (via reflector telescope) |
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| Night (Auto Mode) |
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| Night (Pro Mode, S - 2 seconds, ISO400) |
Front Camera Sample Photos:
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| Selfie |
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| Group Selfie with Beautification |
CONNECTIVITY
The OnePlus 5T connects to mobile data at up to 600 Mbps via LTE Category 12. Because of many LTE frequency bands supported (TDD-LTE: Band 34/38/39/40/41; FDD-LTE: Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/66), it can be used worldwide with good reception. Besides, OnePlus uses the MIMO technology for Wi-Fi reception to have a much faster internet speed, with the help of AC network that supports 2.4GHz, as well as 5.0GHz.
For location, the phone can spot via the GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and BDS satellite positioning. Other supported connectivity includes NFC for wireless connection between the device and another.
BATTERY
The OnePlus 5T has a similar 3,300mAh non-removable battery to that of the OnePlus 5. Even the battery doesn't change, it surprised us that it has longer battery life compared to the previous model. If you want to extend the battery runtime, then there's a power-saving mode to activate. We didn't test the PCMark benchmark as it keeps crashing.
The charging time is very fast, thanks to Dash Charge, in just 80-85 minutes, the phone recharged to full 100%. Wireless charging is still not supported.
CONCLUSION
The OnePlus 5T is one of the cheapest flagship phones in the market, and although there is a subtle improvement over its predecessor, it is still a solid device for us. With many advantages, such as the plentiful amount of storage and RAM, smooth or lag-less performance, good speakers and audio quality, vivid display, fine cameras and wide LTE range, it is a great premium smartphone that can compete with many smartphones in the upper price segment of the spectrum.
Though some quibbles, like the absence of a MicroSD card tray and lack of water & dust resistant capability, the OnePlus 5T is undoubtedly a worth-buying device.
OnePlus 5T Specs:
- Dual Nano-SIM, dual standby, supports LTE (Category 12) connectivity
- 6.01-inch 18:9 Optic AMOLED capacitive FHD+ (2160 x 1080) touchscreen display, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
- Dimensions: 156.1mm x 75mm x 7.3mm
- Weight: 162 grams
- Android 7.1.1 Nougat, Oxygen OS 4.7
- 64-bit 2.45GHz octa-core Kryo 280 CPU, Adreno 540 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset
- 6GB of RAM
- 64GB / 128GB internal storage
- 16MP f/1.7 + 20MP f/1.7 main cameras, phase detection auto-focus with dual-LED flash, 2160p video recording
- 16MP f/2.0 secondary camera, gyro EIS, 1080p video recording
- Multimedia player
- 3.5 mm audio jack
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS and GALILEO
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- USB 2.0 Type-C 1.0 with OTG capable
- Bluetooth v5.0
- Sensor: fingerprint (rear), accelerometer, proximity, compass, gyroscope
- Battery: 3300 mAh lithium-polymer, non-removable
- Price: PHP26,990 (64GB) / PHP30,990 (128GB)
- Color: Black