An incremental upgrade to one of the best Android phones, the OnePlus 3T is fantastic, if a little difficult to get excited about
You might remember the OnePlus 3. It’s the Chinese startup’s flagship phone that launched only six months ago, so it’s a little surprising to see an upgraded version arriving already. Design-wise it’s identical to the now discontinued OnePlus 3, using the same manufacturing techniques employed by Apple to ensure that every handset feels premium and rock-solid. The OnePlus 3T feels like a phone worth several hundred pounds more than they’re charging for it.
So what’s new? The battery life has been upgraded from 3000mAh to 3,400mAh, in part to sustain the more powerful Snapdragon 821 processor. The whole thing feels incrementally slicker than before too, helped along by the addition of an improved front-facing camera and a 128GB storage option.
The Oxygen operating system continues to be a fuss-free and tuned-up version of stock Android, with OnePlus boasting some of the fastest loading times of any handset. It really is noticeable in practice too: apps snap open at lightning-quick speeds.
OnePlus says it wanted to give users an improved experience without having to wait until 2017 to launch an entirely new handset, but it’s tough to see how early adopters of the original OnePlus 3 wouldn’t feel irritated by this slightly upgraded interloper.
Those who’d been holding off, on the other hand, are quids in. The OnePlus 3T is one of the best Android phones you can buy.