The OnePlus 5T is now official. After weeks of teasers, leaks, and rumors, the new flagship from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer “OnePlus” has arrived. There is not much difference from its predecessor, the OnePlus 5; still, there have been some new upgrades and improvements. Let’s take a look at them.
The OnePlus 5T almost looks and feels like the OnePlus 5; it has the same exquisite Anodized aluminum build with a sandblasted back sporting a lush black back with an ergonomically curved back that makes it look thinner than it is. But the displays give it all. The OnePlus 5T features a massive 6.01-inch AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio compared to the OnePlus 5’s 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. The new 6.01-inch screen having 1080 x 2160 pixels resolution and 401 ppi takes up to 80.5% of the front side. The display also supports various modes, like sRGB standard mode for balanced colors, DCI-P3 for more vibrant colors, and Sunlight mode for outdoor use. It has thinner bezels on the top and bottom and is almost invisible on the edge. The device gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection and comfortably fits in hand. As predicted, the fingerprint sensor has moved to the back due to the massive display.
Most of the specs inside the hood are the same. It is powered by the same octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 clocked at 2.45 GHz along with Adreno 540 GPU coupled with 6 GB or 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM, which is an upgrade from the One Plus 5’s LPDDR4 RAM. Similarly, there are two variants of internal storage: 64 GB and 128 GB. OnePlus claims the new optimizations on the new handset load apps and games faster than any other smartphone. The smartphone is unnoticeably bigger than its predecessor, measuring 156.1 x 75 x 7.3 mm, and weighs 162 g.
The optics department got an upgrade, too. There is a dual (16 MP +20 MP ) rear camera setup on the rear, but there is no telephoto lens now. OnePlus has opted for a new secondary lens with an f/1.7 aperture and 27.22 mm focal length, which enables better low-light photos. It also has the new capacity to combine 4 pixels into 1 to reduce noise in low light. The cameras come with improved portrait mode, low-light photography, and video stabilization compared to its predecessor, the company claims. A 16 MP camera on the front supports Face Unlocking capabilities. The new feature scans your face and looks for some 100 identifiers. It’s not as great as the iPhone X’s Face ID, but it’s a step forward for the fingerprint sensor.
The OnePlus 5T will initially run on Oxygen OS on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat, but they confirmed an Android 8.0 Oreo update in January 2018. The device is backed by the same non-removable 3300 mAh battery with Dash Charge and no wireless charging. Regular connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, USB Type-C, 3.5 mm audio jack, Dual SIM, and many more. There are sensors like Accelerometer, G-sensor, Electronic Compass, Gyroscope, Proximity, Ambient Light. There are new minor improvements like Parallel Apps(multiple accounts), New Gallery (location), and more customization options along with previous features like dark mode, night mode, and do not disturb mode.
The OnePlus will be available in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, and India from November 21 in Midnight Black, Slate Gray, and Soft Gold colors. In India, it will be exclusively available in Amazon and OnePlus stores. The device is priced at $449 and $559 in the US for the 6 GB and 8 GB variants, respectively. The price has increased slightly, but in India, it costs Rs 32,999 and Rs 37,999 for the 6 GB and 8 GB variants, which are the same as the OnePlus 5. The company will have some offers and discounts on accessories on launch day.