OnePlus 6T Snapdragon 845 20 MP Smartphone Review

OnePlus 6T Review
bluetooth 23 Dec 2018

Qoo10 SG $699

Lazada SG S$999

Amazon USA USD 699

We reviewed the OnePlus 6 4 months ago. OnePlus introduced another variant of the original OnePlus 6 with OnePlus 6T. As you have probably read and find out, the differences between the two are quite minor. The OnePlus 6T included some changes to the original by moving the Fingerprint scanner to the front and packed it with  a bigger screen and larger   battery capacity.

As we can see from the chart, the differences are quite minor, with a larger display and battery. There are no changes to the Front and back camera except for the introduction of a night mode. It comes pre built with Android 9 Pie which the OnePlus 6 has already been updated to the latest version by now. The storage is upped to a base memory of 128 GB while the original OnePlus 6 comes with a 64 GB base with 128 GB and 256 GB options.

The rest of the specifications are the same as OnePlus 6.

[nextpage title=”Performance in PCMark, AnTuTu, Speedtest”]

Benchmark results

AnTuTu Benchmark results

The results are not a surprise to us as it is based on the Snapdragon 845. The difference between the various devices powered by the same mobile processor didn’t differ by a lot.

The noticeable change in AnTuTu is that Huawei Mate 20 Pro based on Kirin 980 is slightly higher in scores.

PCMark results of OnePlus 6T

In PCMark test, the devie scored 8657 which is in the mid range of the devices tested. in line with the Xiaomi Black Shark.

[nextpage title=”Speedtest results”]

Using Circles.Life Flex plan 1 GB SIM, we did a test against the automatically detected server and the results are impressive. at 223 Mbps.

[nextpage title=”Camera Options”]

The OnePlus 6T camera options are similar to the OnePlus 6. It now include a night mode.

The camera takes very detail and excellent pictures in auto mode.  In the Photo mode, you can choose options like flash/no flash, 1:1, 19:9 or 4:3 ratio and a timer of 3, 5 or 10secs.

In the video mode, you can choose recording in 4K 60fps, 4K, 1080P 60fps, 1080p and 720p. There is also a portrait mode which takes bokeh images with background blur.

Other modes include Slow Motion, Time Laspe, Google Lens and Panorama.

When you click on Pro mode (professional mode), the screen below pops up. In Professional mode, you can set a lot of parameters including RAW image. You can adjust the Exposure compensation from -2 to +2, Macro, auto or manual focus, ISO 100 to 3200, White Balance and shutter speed from 1/8000 sec to 30 secs. With a low ISO and a slow shutter speed, you can easily take photos like light trials with a tripod or steady hands.

One interesting fact about the OnePlus 6T is that Google Cam (modified) can run on it without any issues.

On the next page, we will take a look at some sample night shots taken in night using the OnePlus 6T original camera software in normal, night mode and gcam in normal and night sight mode.

[nextpage title=”Sample pictures taken by OnePlus 6T”]

Here are some Sample pictures taken using the OnePlus 6T default camera. The pictures are resized into 1024×768 to reduce loading speed

[nextpage title=”Normal vs Night mode vs GCAM normal vs Night Sight”]

Being a Snapdragon 845 opens up the device to many 3rd party mod apps which makes improvements to default app. One such app is the Camera App GCAM which comes preinstalled with the Google Pixel series of smartphones. The GCAM is well known for it’s computational photography and improve many pictures with it’s algorithms.

Here are some samples of images taken using the original camera app vs night followed by the modded gcam vs it’s night light mode.

In the above picture, the night mode did brighten up the environment by a bit as we can see the shades of the tree and the skyline.

In contrast, the modded GCAM performs equally well as compared to the original camera app but brings out  more details in night sight mode.

The second of pictures uses the same setup as the first set. First we took the original photo with the original camera app. Both apps gave similar results. When night mode was used, the OnePlus 6T original cam brightens up the background more than the GCAM.

As for almost darkness, there is room for improvement for the OnePlus 6T camera app as it is unable to capture the details of the object. The GCAM did a better job.

More pictures can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/ocworkbench

[nextpage title=”Sample video taken by OnePlus 6T shot in 4K”]

[nextpage title=”Conclusion”]

Conclusion

If you are looking for a instagram phone which AI enhance your pictures beyond recognition, OnePlus 6T is not the upgrade you want.

OnePlus 6T didn’t disappoint with it’s f/1.7 camera just like the original OnePlus 6. In fact, it carries on the good of the original OnePlus 6 and comes with an upgraded battery and memory foot print. With a bigger capacity of battery, the phone lasts longer without a recharge and more pictures can be stored on the phone.

With the Dash Charger, a full charge from 0 % to 100 % took around 90 minutes to complete which is pretty fast. It only took 25 to 30 minutes to charge up to 50%. The performance of the phone is consistent with other Snapdragon 845 out there and performs smoothly. Some brands have crippled carrier aggregation on it’s phone which results in hampered 4G speeds. Speedtest with 4G+ gets over 220 Mbps proves that 4G+ is working correctly on the OnePlus 6T.

We saw the OnePlus 6 took detail and good shots in our preview review. In the OnePlus 6T, the camera night mode is a plus for the phone which brightens up the environment by increasing the exposure. If you have shaky hands, you might end up with trials in the picture. When compared to the GCAM, we feel that the night mode of the camera has room for improvement as it couldn’t take objects that is almost in 90% darkness.

In Conclusion, the OnePlus 6T is definitely a contender for the best smartphone camera in 2018. The image quality is superb and is comparable to those taken using the Pixel 3 XL. The images taken are not artificially enhanced and looks natural. If you already have a OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T is just a minor upgrade, I would say you might want to wait for a OnePlus 7. Perhaps they will finally include a wide angle camera on it.

Pricing

Qoo10 SG $699

Lazada SG S$999

Amazon USA USD 699

Pros :

• Natural photography
• Performance
• Affordable
• Right hand slide up button Silent, Vibrate or Mute
• Dash charger
• Bigger 3700 mAh battery

Cons:

• MicroSD slot
• No IP rating for water resistance
• No Wide angle lens, macro

Ratings

• Performance 9
• Design 10
• Features 8
• Usability 10
• Value for money 9

Score : 9.2 / 10