The OnePlus 3T is finally official, less than half a year after OnePlus released the OnePlus 3. It seems as though that the company is following the foot steps of other Chinese OEM’s, launching more than one flagship in the same year, such as Xiaomi with the Mi 5 and Mi 5S. Although the OnePlus 3 is a highly regarded flagship handset, OnePlus seemed keen to go the extra mile within the year, and the end product is the OnePlus 3T. The newly improved flagship might anger some OnePlus 3 users, especially those who have just purchased the device, but let’s find out what stays and what has improved.
The design and look of the OnePlus 3 is being retained with the OnePlus 3T. Not only that, its dimensions and weight remain unchanged from its predecessor as well. Its display is still the same 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED panel at the same 1080p resolution instead of the rumored LCD panel. Underneath the hood, we see the already revealed and largely teased Snapdragon 821 processor which is also seen powering the Google Pixel. Alongside that is the same 6GB of RAM, and OnePlus has added a larger storage option of 128GB on top of the 64GB variant. Storage still remains unexpandable with no sight of a micro SD card slot.
The rear camera of the OnePlus 3T is the same one from the OnePlus 3, but has been equipped with a better electronice image stabilization (EIS) to improve video shooting, which was a slight drawback which disappointed some OnePlus 3 users. The front facing selfie camera on the other hand has been bumped up to a whopping 16 megapixels from the 8MP front facing shooter on the latter device, to provide better low light performance. The battery of the OnePlus 3T has also been bumped up to 3,400mAh, increased by more than 10 percent. According to OnePlus, this particular improvement is based on customer feedback regarding the OnePlus 3’s battery life. Dash Charge is here to stay as well, claimed to provide a day’s worth of power in half an hour.
Software unfortunately still remains Marshmallow despite rumors suggesting that the OnePlus 3T will come with Android Nougat out of the box. Having said that, OnePlus has promised that the Nougat updates are coming soon, and both the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will be getting the software update at the same time. The OnePlus 3T begins at $439 (RM1,905.55) for the 64GB model while the 128GB will set you back $479 (RM2,079.17). The latest flagship will be available in Soft Gold and a new Gunmetal Dark Gray replacing the Graphite color of the OnePlus 3. It will be available in the US beginning November 22 and in Europe beginning November 28.
What are your thoughts on OnePlus improving on its own handset in under six months instead of the conventional annual refresh. And also, what do you think of the OnePlus 3T?