The OnePlus 6’s launch tagline – “The Speed You Need” – got me worried the first time I heard it. It sounded almost apologetic – as if OnePlus wasn’t going to give us “All the Speed Available”, but only what it deemed was strictly necessary. Luckily, that hasn’t proven to be the case because inside the OnePlus 6 is, indeed, the fastest chip on the market: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845.
In this respect, the OnePlus 6 treads a similar path to OnePlus handsets of times gone by, squeezing in as much high-end hardware as possible while keeping the price down to a reasonable level.
Pros -
Significantly cheaper than its rivals
The camera is better than ever
Excellent performance
Cons -
Shorter battery life than the OnePlus 5T
In reality, this is OnePlus’ beefiest smartphone to date. As the first OnePlus phone to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest (and fastest) Snapdragon 845 processor – the same chipset found inside the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Sony Xperia XZ2 – the OnePlus 6 reprises a familiar role. Once more, this is a mid-range phone with flagship DNA at its core. This time around, however, there have been a few changes.
Design:
So, what’s new with the OnePlus 6? Is this a phone you’d want to upgrade to from your six-month-old OnePlus 5T? Well, the first thing you’ll notice, especially if you place both phones next to each other, is that the 6’s screen has grown from 6in to 6.3in, which has necessitated a slight increase in the phone’s size. This might not sound like a drastic difference, but when you factor in the phone’s increased thickness and weight you’re looking at a smartphone that isn’t as pocketable as last year’s model.
The 6 also joins the ranks of all-metal-and-glass smartphones, with the front and back of the phone sandwiched between a layer of Gorilla Glass 5. This provides added protection from drops, but the OnePlus 6 isn’t IP-rated for dust- or water-resistance. Instead, OnePlus says that the phone is “water-resistant for everyday use”, so you can expect protection from light splashes of rain, but not much else.
Elsewhere, the OnePlus 6’s layout largely remains the same. There’s a volume rocker and dual-SIM slot on the left side of the phone with a three-position “alert-slider” and power button on the right. On the bottom, you’ll find the USB-C port with Dash Charge support, a 3.5mm headphone jack (hooray!) and the solitary speaker grille.
Display:
As for the display, we’re looking at a massive 6.3in 2,280 x 1,080 resolution AMOLED screen, with a 19:9 aspect ratio. It fills most of the front of the phone, as you’d expect, and there’s even an iPhone X-like notch at the top, although it isn’t as wide as Apple’s equivalent.
Because this is an AMOLED panel, contrast ratios and colour reproduction are practically perfect. The screen covers 100% of the sRGB colour gamut space on the “Default” display mode according to our display colourimeter, with an average Delta E of 1.91, which means you can expect excellent-looking colours across the entire palette.
Peak brightness, on the other hand, isn’t quite as impressive, reaching only 411cd/m2 even with auto-brightness enabled. In really bright conditions it’ll be very tricky to read what’s on screen without shading the phone with your hand.
Performance and battery life:
The OnePlus 6’s performance didn’t come as a surprise, either. Equipped with the same processor as the Sony Xperia XZ2 – Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 – the OnePlus 6 is just as fast, reaching a speedy score of 2,422 in the Geekbench 4 single-core test, and 8,783 in multi-core. This, without question, is a phone that’s perfectly poised to sit at the top of the class.
And it’s a similar story with GPU performance. Running GFX Bench’s on-screen and off-screen Car Chase test, the OnePlus 6 achieved average frame rates of 32fps and 35fps at native resolution.
Camera:
Where I also expected a change, was in the OnePlus 6’s photo capabilities. You might not believe me looking at the headline specs – both dual-cameras look pretty much identical – but the main f.1.7, 16-megapixel camera has a 19% larger sensor than last year’s phone. What this means is that the sensor is capable of capturing more light, which should make for better low-light pictures – especially with optical image stabilisation (OIS) engaged.
Stills quality is noticeably better this year, and it’s clear that the OnePlus 6 is far more capable at capturing images in a wide-range of environments. The camera picks up more of the finer details than ever, especially as the light dims, and there’s little evidence of visual noise no matter the lighting conditions. Simply put, the OnePlus 6’s camera is among the best in the business.
Software:
The OnePlus 6 runs Google’s latest version of its mobile operating system on launch – Android 8.1 Oreo – with OnePlus’ own OxygenOS launcher layered over the top. This isn’t a stock Android experience like the most recent Nokia phones or Google’s own Pixel 2, so there are a few subtle differences to be aware of.
The first is OnePlus’ new Gaming Mode, which adds a bunch of different gaming optimisations, such as performance improvements and framerate restrictions, and allows you to block notifications when playing specific games. There’s a new addition to the three-switch alert slider, too, which displays which alert setting – either ring, vibrate or silent – you have selected on-screen.
Verdict:
The OnePlus 6 offers significant improvements over last year’s OnePlus 5T. While several of those aren't glaringly obvious, the decision to add a Snapdragon 845 processor to a phone that costs a good Rs. 30'000 less than its similarly-equipped competition is a seriously smart move.
Throw in a handful of camera upgrades, a refreshing new design and Android 8.1 Oreo straight out the box, and the OnePlus 6 begins to paint a familiarly appealing picture. This is a smartphone that’s just as meaty as its rivals, with a not-so-outrageous price tag attached. That was always going to work in the OnePlus 6’s favour, wasn’t it?
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