Phones OnePlus 3T

[epicrayban]

Soft Gold 3T to launch Jan 6th: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Soft-Gold-OnePlus-3T-release-date_id89620

But only in 64GB version. Silly move.

Even so, I may consider it. It's hard not to at half the price of the Pixel XL. And Sine the Nougat update on the 3T, people are saying it really diminishes the advantage of the Pixel XL. It's also slightly smaller than the Pixel XL.

Only the camera remains the question...

How is the camera, folks?

 

[nviz22]

Soft Gold 3T to launch Jan 6th: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Soft-Gold-OnePlus-3T-release-date_id89620

But only in 64GB version. Silly move.

Even so, I may consider it. It's hard not to at half the price of the Pixel XL. And Sine the Nougat update on the 3T, people are saying it really diminishes the advantage of the Pixel XL. It's also slightly smaller than the Pixel XL.

Only the camera remains the question...

How is the camera, folks?

Color exclusives are so frustrating for consumers. Even if it's a partial exclusivity with a memory capacity, it still is a bummer.

 

[epicrayban]

After a lot of research, I'm giving the 3T a shot, which could mean I return the Pixel.

Getting that nougat update out so fast did wonders. It's comparable to the Pixel in almost every way, but at nearly half the cost. Better design too.

One question, how are they at handling monthly security updates?

 

[MRU]

After a lot of research, I'm giving the 3T a shot, which could mean I return the Pixel.

Getting that nougat update out so fast did wonders. It's comparable to the Pixel in almost every way, but at nearly half the cost. Better design too.

One question, how are they at handling monthly security updates?

Monthly updates .... It's OnePlus and software updates are going to be the trade-off. You have to ask are the monthly updates that important ? Most manufacturers at best are doing between one every couple of months (Samsung) to one every three - four months as a general update (most other oem's).

Whilst it's nice to have latest patch, the reality is the vast majority don't get them and they are doing alright ...

Given the massive price difference between the OP3T and the XL, it may be worth the trade-off for slower updates and the hop-scotch 'security' patches.

 

[epicrayban]

Monthly updates .... It's OnePlus and software updates are going to be the trade-off. You have to ask are the monthly updates that important ? Most manufacturers at best are doing between one every couple of months (Samsung) to one every three - four months as a general update (most other oem's).

Whilst it's nice to have latest patch, the reality is the vast majority don't get them and they are doing alright ...

Given the massive price difference between the OP3T and the XL, it may be worth the trade-off for slower updates and the hop-scotch 'security' patches.

I agree with you. I can live without the monthly security updates.

I'm excited about the extra little customization options of the 3T too.

 

[c0ppo]

Well...

http://www.androidauthority.com/best-of-android/

And I couldn't agree more. I have owned OPO, OP2, OPX, OP3, and now OP3T. Basically every device that they have put out there. OPO was great, but no where near the flagships imho. OP2 was a complete fail, from screen to just about anything else. OP X was with older specs, but a great, great phone. Still own it as a backup device, and will own it for as long as it works. OP3 on the other hand is the best android device ever. IMHO of course. And yes, better then the Note series.

Don't get me wrong, I love stylus on Note, and I am in love with extra functions S Pen brings to the table. But everything is laggy and cluttered. This is even more obvious when compared to the OP3(T). And I am the one that always criticized OnePlus for their buggy software, lack of updates, invitation system, etc.

Well, this time around only thing that I find negative is waiting times for this device. They need to get their logistics in order if they want to compete with the top dogs. I have waited for almost 4 weeks to receive my OP3T. Too long. Worth it? Sure. But still too long.

To summarise, for almost half the price of Pixel device you get:
* way faster device
* just like nexus/pixel, this device comes with no bloatware
* incredible memory management coupled with 6gb of ram
* better build quality
* nicer looking phone
* incredible community support with custom tips&tricks + custom software (Pixel will be strong here as well)
* excellent battery life and excellent idle times where phone uses almost no battery at all, almost like iPhone
* best and fastest fast charging on the market
* freaking fast finger print reader
* a lot of really well thought of customisations inside Oxygen OS that everyone can appreciate
* and a lot more

But a few minuses would be:
* waiting times to get the device
* one of the worst vibrations on phones. And this is the biggest flaw for me. Simply put, vibration on this phone is useless
* updates are fast, but nowhere near Nexus/Pixel. But this is the case with every Android maker out there.


Just my honest opinion, one can agree or disagree. We all have our wishes and priorities when it comes to anything, and OP3T ticks just in the right places in my priorities department. One thing I would wish for is a 4,5" - 5,1" device with the same specs. Hopefully in the next 2-3 years OnePlus will grow enough so they can produce at least two devices at the same time, and make my wish come true

 

[epicrayban]

Love some of these extra little software features:



Here are a few of our favorite software features:

• App locker – Lock specific apps behind a password or fingerprint
• Screen calibration – Adjust the color temperature of the display (or switch to sRGB mode)
• Light or dark themes available in the Settings app
• Proximity wake – Wake device by waving hand over the display
• Customize LED notification light
• Choose between on-screen or touch buttons
• Customize button actions – Choose actions when double tapping or long pressing the navigation buttons
• Gestures – Double tap to wake, draw shapes to turn on camera or flashlight, three-finger screenshot, and more
• Manage high power usage apps – Auto-close apps that are consuming the most battery in the background
• Customize app clearing – choose between normal, or deep clearing which closes the app and all background processes

 

[Aneres11]

Just to chime in, I remember a lot of the above software features from when I had a One Plus X.

It was a great little phone and I really appreciated those neat little touches which set it apart from a lot of the other Android devices out there.

I also think this phone looks amazing, with the X before it I think that OnePlus are really nailing the look of their devices.

I'd give this a go if I wasn't so smitten with my Xperia XZ.
Although the camera doesn't seem to be a particularly strong point of the device (not that it's bad by any means) which is what I look for these days above most other things.

 

[tbayrgs]

Just to chime in, I remember a lot of the above software features from when I had a One Plus X.

It was a great little phone and I really appreciated those neat little touches which set it apart from a lot of the other Android devices out there.

I also think this phone looks amazing, with the X before it I think that OnePlus are really nailing the look of their devices.

I'd give this a go if I wasn't so smitten with my Xperia XZ.
Although the camera doesn't seem to be a particularly strong point of the device (not that it's bad by any means) which is what I look for these days above most other things.

Yup, from the little I've read, the camera seems to be the biggest sticking point, at least when compared to the Pixel.

I stumbled on a 'What gear's in my bag' sort of article from Alex Dobie over at Android Central and he carries both phones with the Pixel XL as his primary and the 3T as a backup. He specifically states, the 3T would likely be his primary daily driver if it was for the camera. Even with the price difference, he said he'd still take the Pixel XL because camera performance is that significantly different.

Of course, we all weigh our preferences differently and the added features/customization of the 3T may supercede the difference in camera performance. I'd certainly be curious to now see one in person since it now has Nougat.

 

[Osaka23]

Oneplus 3T is a brilliant phone for the price. It's basically Pixel XL that's half the price. I think the design is a lot nicer than the Pixel. The phone gives you the ability to customise everything. You can have on screen navigation bar or use the captive buttons. Plenty of support if you enjoy rooting. Rooting doesn't void you warranty. It is super quick. Dash charge is brilliant.
That being said, I returned it and went back to S6 Edge. Why? Because I couldn't get a decent photo every photo was blurry or unclear unless I was in perfect lighting conditions. Also another factor was the screen. It's still beats iPhone but the 1080p was a noticeable downgrade. All in all I would rate it 8/10. Oneplus can win me over if they improved the camera and screen.

 

[epicrayban]

@Aneres11 @tbayrgs

I'm concerned about the camera, too, but it seems like it's at least close to the the heavy hitters. Having had the Pixel for the past month, I honestly don't even find the Pixel's camera that impressive. I find I have to retake due to blurry stills (lack of OIS really hurts, IMO, especially in low light). In the Nexus thread, there's a lengthy camera comparison between the 3T and the Pixel XL, and in many of the still samples, the Pixel XL looks terrible. The Pixel XL really needs HDR mode on to be impressive, I find. Other reviews and samples show the 3T faring well, too. I think at that price point, it's acceptable.

We shall see. I'm going to still give the 3T a shot since it's free return shipping on devices anyway. It helps that I can hang onto the Pixel to compare due to the holiday return period. I will definitely post my impressions.

As for virtually everything else, the 3T is comparable at nearly half the price (especially when compared to the XL!). With the slew of flagships about to come out for the new year, I think financially that's the best strategy to take.
[doublepost=1483644172][/doublepost]

Just to chime in, I remember a lot of the above software features from when I had a One Plus X.

I forget that the OnePlus had the "alt-tab" to switch between two apps quickly long before Google implemented it in Nougat. LOVE that feature.

 

[epicrayban]

Timely:

It seems the camera is only ever criticized when compared to the big players. Hm. I'll have to be the judge, I guess.

 

[epicrayban]

Woah, the 3T soft gold sale went live! Isn't it a full day early? Weird.

Placed my order! Shall see how it fares with my regular Pixel.

No tax too. Makes the price difference of the pixel even greater.

 

[Wildo6882]

Now if only they would get some 128gb in stock...

 

[epicrayban]

Now if only they would get some 128gb in stock...

Agreed. An additional $40 dollars for double the storage to 128GB is a steal. I would have easily chosen that option for the Soft Gold 3T if it were available.

64GB will do, but dat value... Shame.

 

[Wildo6882]

Agreed. An additional $40 dollars for double the storage to 128GB is a steal. I would have easily chosen that option for the Soft Gold 3T if it were available.

64GB will do, but dat value... Shame.

Yeah, I've been waiting on the 128 for what seems like forever. I think that's well worth the $40.

 

[spriter]

Timely:

It seems the camera is only ever criticized when compared to the big players. Hm. I'll have to be the judge, I guess.

Interested to hear what you make of the screen as well after so many Samsung devices.

The last few steps for the OnePlus 4 are QHD screen if they persist with Amoled and better camera (sensor and processing).

Should be 4-5 months out!

 

[epicrayban]

Interested to hear what you make of the screen as well after so many Samsung devices.

The last few steps for the OnePlus 4 are QHD screen if they persist with Amoled and better camera (sensor and processing).

Should be 4-5 months out!

I'll be sure to post my impressions.

As for the OnePlus 4, you think that soon? Maybe. I wonder though if OnePlus is positioning their annual flagship release around when the 3T was released. Like that's their new date.

And perhaps the smaller OnePlus X will come earlier in year. Wonder when they'll update that...

 

[spriter]

I'll be sure to post my impressions.

As for the OnePlus 4, you think that soon? Maybe. I wonder though if OnePlus is positioning their annual flagship release around when the 3T was released. Like that's their new date.

And perhaps the smaller OnePlus X will come earlier in year. Wonder when they'll update that...

I guess it depends on their schedule - it's been June for the 1 and 3, and slightly earlier in China.

I could see them going similar if not earlier if the 835 is widely available. Xiaomi look set for the Mi6 in March/April with 835 already confirmed-210k Antutu benchmarks. No doubt LG and HTC will be early Q2 as well.

I'd be first in line for an updated X, even with an 821. Not sure if Pei said that wasn't going to happen though.

 

[Tsepz]

Monthly updates .... It's OnePlus and software updates are going to be the trade-off. You have to ask are the monthly updates that important ? Most manufacturers at best are doing between one every couple of months (Samsung) to one every three - four months as a general update (most other oem's).

Whilst it's nice to have latest patch, the reality is the vast majority don't get them and they are doing alright ...

Given the massive price difference between the OP3T and the XL, it may be worth the trade-off for slower updates and the hop-scotch 'security' patches.

Both my Note 4 and S7 Edge are getting Security Patch updates monthly, not every couple of months, but every single month. My Note 4 is on a German FW and my S7 EDGE is on a Branded South African FW, but both every single month get an update.

 

[epicrayban]

Got my OnePlus 3T early this morning and have been playing with it almost literally the entire day (slow work day). Here are my early impressions:


OxygenOS is shaping up to be the best iteration of Android that I've used to date. It really is like stock Android plus some extra features. Nothing overwhelming, just an added layer of customization for users' preferences, and a lot of them are great. The software is blazingly fast and responsive. And so far very stable. Unfortunately, no Nougat out of the box, but I'm expecting that update to hit soon (I'm really looking forward to the display scaling option).

The build quality is excellent. It's excellent for any price range. Also, in my opinion, this is the epitome of aluminum design (sorry Apple, sorry HTC). Sleek, thin, comfortably ergonomic for a phablet, minimum bezels, well-crafted, and generally gorgeous details all around. The Soft Gold is understated and beautiful. The fact that the 3T is also smaller than the Pixel XL and the iPhone Plus should embarrass both Google and Apple. In fact, when placed on top of each other, it's not much larger than my regular Pixel! And that fingerprint sensor... faster than anything I've ever used before. Now that I've had experiences with both front and back fingerprint readers, I can conclude that I am in the front camp.

The big question was the camera and so far it's good. It seems to be holding up well against the Pixel (I've said in the Nexus/Pixel thread that I actually don't find the Pixel camera to be worth its hype honestly). I will still need further testing in more situations but so far the 3T's camera is promising and doesn't appear to be the immediate dealbreaker I feared it might be. I took a few front facing shots, too, just to try out the hyped 16MP front shooter. It rocks.

I have to hand it to OnePlus; everything about the 3T feels well thought out and executed so far. Even shortcomings have worthy tradeoffs. For example, the 1080P display may fall behind the screens of the S7E and Pixel XL, but it still looks great and should play a big role for the battery life. I've always knocked OEMs like Sony for updating their hardware too frequently or early in their cycle, but in this case, the 3T update seems to make a lot of sense. The larger battery in the same design, the improved front camera, even pushing Nougat out so early... all sensible decisions that are made even better by its incredible price point.

At this rate, if it keeps impressing, the Pixel doesn't stand a good chance at staying. And with so much to look forward to in terms of this year's flagships, saving money now feels like a wise move to allow me more play later. It's terrific that I can still have a flagship experience while saving money.


Other tidbits:

-Even the packaging is superb, especially for something at this price.

-Comes with a screen protector already applied. OnePlus pulling out all the stops. However, I'll likely remove it as I've grown to really love completely naked phones.

-While I miss certain things about the Pixel launcher (like the slide-up app drawer), OxygenOS more than makes up for it with plenty of its own useful gestures and added features.

-Dash charging really is fast. I had about 35% out of the box and plugged in the Dash charger and the next time I looked at it, it was at 60+%.

-I don't know if I'm just used to the Pixel launcher's smaller icons, but the icons on OxygenOS look absurdly large. That's why I'm looking forward to the display scaling option when the Nougat update hits.

-Volume rocker is great especially since the Pixel doesn't have ANY sort of ring/vibration toggle (absolutely idiotic that I have to literally change my volume a little in order to access more sound settings on the Pixel).

-I think I'm a phablet person now. I actually miss the larger screen. Easier to see, easier to type on, yet without being overly large in footprint.

-Three-finger gesture to take a screen shot >>> hardware power/volume buttons. So much easier. Again, it's these little sensible added features that really make the software experience.

-App Locker is another excellent feature. Allows you to protect any app you want with your fingerprint.

 

[c0ppo]

@epicrayban

Try out some custom Nougat roms. Or update it yourself, it takes minutes to do so. I used custom roms, but camera is lousy on those since OP still hasn't released camera blobs. Another solution to getting pixel drawer is using Nova launcher.

I use Nova on almost all of my devices, and Pixel launcher on Nova really rocks. And you get to customise icons as well. Win-Win situation. And test out memory management. It's freaking unbelievable

AA sait OP3T is phone of the year. Couldn't agree more.

 

[epicrayban]

App Locker is another excellent feature. Allows you to protect any app you want with your fingerprint.

 

[HaliZ]

Nice write up @epicrayban!

Btw it's easy to get the Nougat update right now, just install an app to change VPN settings (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opera.vpn for example) and change it to Canada or Germany, then check for update...

 

[epicrayban]

Nice write up @epicrayban!

Btw it's easy to get the Nougat update right now, just install an app to change VPN settings (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opera.vpn for example) and change it to Canada or Germany, then check for update...

Holy cow. That worked. Thanks!

And then after I install Nougat, do I change the VPN back to USA? Downloading Nougat now.
[doublepost=1484001997][/doublepost]Another tidbit:

-Double tap to wake the device is so much more reliable on the 3T than the Pixel. I don't know why.