OnePlus 5T: What’s New And Is It Worth An Upgrade?

OnePlus 5T, the successor of an infamous yet successful OnePlus 5, has been launched by the company at the same price of its predecessor but with some major hardware changes. The surprise-quotient might be missing here due abundance of pre-launch leaks followed by an unboxing video, but nonetheless, OnePlus 5T is a smartphone worth talking about.

For the unknown, the ‘5’ faced a hell lot of criticism for compromising on some design and hardware features, however, it was and still is one of the best VFM products in the segment, despite being the most expensive smartphone from the company.

As for the OnePlus 5T, we knew that it was going to be a ‘make-amends’ device and since it was to be unveiled just 5 months after the previous flagship, there were some major updates to be catered to.

And Catered To Is What OnePlus Has Done.

From a near bezel-less screen to an improved rear camera for low-light shots, OnePlus 5T has turned out to be a device that the brand’s fans deserve but for those who are already using a OnePlus 5, is it worth an upgrade? Let’s See.

OnePlus 5T Specifications

• 6.01-inch (2106 ×1080) Full HD+ Optic AMOLED 2.5D curved display with 18:9 aspect ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, 80.5% screen-to-body ratio, sRGB, DCI-P3 color coverage, 401 ppi and ‘Sunlight Display’ mode.

• 64-bit Octa-Core Snapdragon 835 10nm Mobile Platform clocked at 2.45GHz coupled with Adreno 540 GPU

• 6GB RAM with 64GB storage (UFS 2.1 ) variant and 8GB RAM with 128GB (UFS 2.1) internal storage variant, no expandable storage.

• Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) with Oxygen OS 4.7 on top, Upgradable to Android 8.0 Oreo

• Dual SIM (nano + nano) and Fingerprint sensor at the rear panel

• 16MP rear camera with Sony IMX398 sensor, f/1.7 aperture, dual LED Flash, 1.12μm pixel size, EIS, and secondary 20MP camera with Sony IMX376K sensor, f/1.7 aperture, 1.0μm pixel size and video recording support of 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 60 fps, 720p slow-mo at 120fps.

• 16MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, Sony IMX371 sensor and 1.0μm pixel size.

• 3 microphones with noise canceling, 3.5mm audio jack and Dirac HD Sound

• 3300mAh battery with Dash Charge (5V 4A) support

• Dimensions: 156.1x75x7.3mm and Weight: 162g

• 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO ), GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, USB 2.0 Type-C and NFC support.

OnePlus 5T Price And Availability

The OnePlus 5T is available in Midnight Black color at Rs. 32,999 ($499) for the 6GB RAM version while the top-end 8GB RAM variant will cost you Rs. 37,999 ($559 in the U.S.).

The smartphone will be available in India exclusively from Amazon from 4:30 PM on 21st November for Prime customers, OnePlus India Online Store as well as OnePlus experience store in Bangalore.

Open sale for the OnePlus 5T will start from November 28th on OnePlus India Online Store, Amazon, and OnePlus Experience Stores.

What’s Different Between OnePlus 5T And OnePlus 5

• While the OnePlus 5 comes with a 5.5-inch (1920 X1080) full HD AMOLED display, the 5T is an almost bezel-less smartphone with a 6.01-inch (2106 ×1080) Full HD+ Optic AMOLED display.

• Due to the bigger display and similar overall dimensions, the fingerprint scanner has been moved to the rear panel.

• OnePlus 5T comes with a ‘Sunlight Display’ mode for easy readability under direct sunlight.

• Apart from the ‘double tap to wake feature’, the new flagship comes with a ‘Face Unlock’ feature for unlocking the device. However, functions like payments or password managers will still require the fingerprint sensor.

• While the OnePlus 5T also comes with a dual-camera setup, the 20MP telephoto lens has been replaced by a normal focal length lens which comes with a 20 MP sensor having a f/1.7 aperture for improved low-light performance.

Conclusion

The OnePlus 5T is indeed a better device than its predecessor and is now a worthy contender to compete with the likes of LG G6, Nokia 8 and even Samsung Galaxy S8. As for the Honor 8 Pro, which is going head-to-head against the OnePlus 5 in the mid-budget segment, the smartphone will need some reinforcements.

In short, OnePlus 5T is arguably the most recommended smartphone under Rs 50,000 in India.

But Should You Really Buy One?

Well, if you have already bought a OnePlus 5, we would advise you to stick to the smartphone as apart from a bigger display, there is no noteworthy update in the OnePlus 5T. However, if you are a OnePlus 3 or 3T user, just go for this new flagship from OnePlus.

P.S With Both OnePlus 5 and 5T bearing the same price tag, who the hell would now but the 5-month old smartphone? Is OnePlus planning a price cut for the ‘5’?

Share your thoughts in the comment sections below.