OnePlus 5T Review: Has The Perfection Of OnePlus 5 Been Improved Even Further?

OnePlus 5 was a perfect smartphone with all the features but 2017 is the year of smartphones with 18:9 ratio and OnePlus 5 was missing that. Watching its competitors launching smartphones with bezel-less display was hurting OnePlus and they responded with OnePlus 5T just after five months of the launch of earlier flagship.

The good thing that OnePlus did is by not increasing the price of new flagship smartphone; OnePlus 5T is priced exactly the same as its predecessor. The 64GB variant comes at Rs 32,999 and 128GB variant at Rs 37,999.

The major changes in OnePlus 5T over its predecessor are- larger display with 18:9 aspect ratio, rear-mounted finger, new 20-megapixel camera sensor, and new Oxygen OS.

Design and Display 

OnePlus 5T looks almost similar to its sibling- OnePlus 5T. Now the fingerprint sensor has moved at the rear side. The dual cameras are at the same position just like the OnePlus 5T.

OnePlus 5T has lesser bezels which mean there is no physical home button on the front and the fingerprint sensor has now moved on the rear side. Change in the location of fingerprint sensor doesn’t feel bad, in fact, it is placed at the right spot and unlocks the phone in 0.2 seconds.

The front is occupied by the huge display with selfie camera and earpiece is placed at the top.

There’s a 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom of OnePlus 5T which is a big relief for smartphone users as many brands are ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack from their smartphones. The USB Type- C charging port and speaker grille are also placed at the bottom of the phone.

The major highlight of OnePlus 5T is its 18:9 display, it features a 6.01-inch full HD (2160x1080) AMOLED display with an 18:9 ratio, 2.5D curved glass and Corning Glass 5 for protection.

Even though the display is larger, the phone doesn’t feel big or bulky to hold. The bezels of the smartphone are very thin which makes room for larger display at almost similar size.

The buttons for home, back, and recent apps are integrated into the screen now.

Now the display of OnePlus 5T is similar to that of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel 2 XL. The display is great and offers extra space for you to use the phone.

The volume rockers are placed on the left side and above them is the Alert slider with which you can change your phone to silent mode or DND mode. The right side have power button and SIM tray.

If your phone accidently falls into water or you are somehow stuck in rain then your phone might get damaged as there isn’t any certified water and dust resistance.

Performance

OnePlus 5T runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat with company’s OxygenOS 4.7 on top; it will soon be getting Android 8.0 Oreo update. Oxygen OS is pretty good to use, it is almost similar to stock Android and brings a few more features that enhances the user experience.

Now you can click pictures by long pressing the fingerprint sensor which comes handy while taking selfies. Also by swiping down on the fingerprint sensor you can check the notifications and by swiping it up, the notification panel will be closed.

Users can take screenshots by swiping on the screen with three fingers. There also are screen off gestures which you can use without waking up the screen like Draw ‘O’ to open camera or Draw ‘V’ to open flashlight.

Users can also pause or play music by Drawing ‘II’ with two fingers. To play previous or next track, draw < and > on the screen.

If you have more than one Facebook, Twitter or Whatsapp account, you can use both accounts by using Parallel Apps. The other features of Oxygen OS are- Gaming Do Not Disturb, Reading Mode, Dark Theme, App locker, and screen calibration.

OnePlus has added a new facial recognition feature with which you can unlock your phone by looking at it. Even though it is not secure enough to make transactions but is very useful.

This is how it works- you have to wake the screen first either by tapping on the display or by pressing the power button. After the screen is awake then you have to directly look into the camera and your phone will be unlocked. It looks like a long procedure while reading but all of this happens within a second.

OnePlus 5T is powered by a 2.45 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with 6GB/8GB RAM. The processor is same as the OnePlus 5 which was launched five months ago but Snapdragon 835 is still the best processor in the market.

Multitasking, switching between apps or playing games, everything works smoothly without lagging. The smartphone is available in two RAM and storage configurations of 6GB RAM+64GB storage and 8GB RAM+128GB. There is no MicroSD card slot in the smartphone and storage cannot be expanded.

Camera

OnePlus 5T sports a dual camera on the rear with 16-megapixel+20-megapixel sensors and dual LED Flash. The 16-megapixel wide-angle sensor is same just like its predecessor’s. OnePlus has ditched the secondary 20-MP telephoto lens, instead the company has equipped a new 20-megapixel telephoto IMX 376K sensor which has f/1.7 aperture and excels in low-light photography.

According to the company, when light drops below 10 lux, OnePlus 5T switches to the secondary 20-megapixel camera which clicks better images in low light conditions. Thanks to the new 20-megapixel camera, OnePlus 5T captures better photos in low-light conditions when compared to OnePlus 5.

Apart from low-light photography, images clicked with OnePlus 5T are almost similar to OnePlus 5. Also, images clicked with Portrait mode don’t get cropped out as focal length of both 16-MP and 20-MP sensors is same i.e. 27.22mm.

On the front is the same 16-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture and Screen Flash.

The primary camera can capture 4K videos 30 fps, 1080p at 60 fps, Slow motion 720p videos at 120fps. Video quality is very smooth and clear. The camera still has Pro mode for more editing option and Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) to prevent shakiness while making videos.

Battery 

The smartphone is backed by a non-removable 3300mAh battery which supports Dash Charge. If you think that larger display of OnePlus 5T consumes more energy and reduces battery backup then you should change your perception. Battery backup was never an issue while using this phone, you will easily squeeze a day after single charge with some battery still left.

Connectivity

Connectivity options of OnePlus 5T includes- Wi-Fi 2x2 MIMO, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm audio-jack, NFC, USB 2.0, Type-C, GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou. The smartphone measures 156.1 x 75.7 x 7.3mm and weighs 162 grams. The handset has dedicated slots for dual-SIM (nano+nano) configuration.

Verdict

While I am writing this review, OnePlus 5 is still available in the Indian market at the same price. When asked about the future of OnePlus 5 in India, Vikas Agarwal, General Manager, OnePlus India, said, “The price of OnePlus 5 won’t be decreased in India, after all of the units are sold out only then we will discontinue the device.”

So why would someone buy OnePlus 5 instead of OnePlus 5T? He replied, “There are many smartphone users who don’t prefer rear mounted fingerprint sensor so OnePlus 5 will serve those users who like fingerprint sensor embedded on home button”.

OnePlus 5 users won’t find anything new in the phone but buyers who are interested in smartphones around the price range of 35 grands, won’t regret buying OnePlus 5T. This smartphone easily stands out among its competitors.