Home Tech Reviews OnePlus 5T Review – 2017’s Best Flagship Yet?

OnePlus 5T Review – 2017’s Best Flagship Yet?

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What’s up, Manila? This is Caesar, and what I have here is a freshly-released 18:9 version of the most budget-friendly flagship – the OnePlus 5T. Before we get into the specifics, what does make the OnePlus 5T different from the OnePlus 5 that was released back in June other than its 18:9 display?

SPECS OnePlus 5T
Display [1080×2160] 6.01″ Optic AMOLED, ~401ppi
Size 156.1 x 75 x 7.3 mm , 162g
Design Metal frame, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Colors Midnight Black, Lava Red (China only)
Chipset Snapdragon 835
Processor Octa-core (4×2.45 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo)
Graphics Adreno 540
Rear Camera Dual: 16 MP (f/1.7, 27mm, 1/2.8″, 1.12 µm, gyro EIS) + 20 MP (f/1.7, 27mm, 1/2.8″, 1 µm), phase detection autofocus, dual-LED flash

Video Recording:
Up to 4K@30

Front Camera 16 MP (f/2.0, 20mm, 1.0 µm), gyro EIS, Auto HDR

Video Recording:
Up to 1080p@30

Memory 6/8GB RAM, 64/128GB internal
Connectivity GSM/HSPA/LTE-A Cat. 12, WiFi ac, dual-band, DLNA, Bt 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, USB 3.1 Type-C 1.0, OTG
OS Android 7.1
Software Oxygen OS 4.7.4
Battery Non-removable 3300mAh Li-Po battery
Official Price PhP 24,990
Availability date Q4 2017
Where to buy OnePlus Website

Design

T-versions of OnePlus phones are nothing new, of course, and the OnePlus 5T isn’t any different. What’s striking at a glance is its gigantic 6-inch display that we’ll get to in detail later. Nothing much has changed in front except for the fact that the solid-state home button is now gone.

Buttons and tray position are still where they were on the OnePlus 5 along with the alert slider on a really thin side frame which is all part of the unibody construction that tapers off the back. We still get the same 16 + 20MP dual camera assortment on top, and there’s a new addition right below – a circular fingerprint scanner. It is recessed and colored darker for identification even in total darkness. It works as fast as how the fingerprint scanner did on the OnePlus 5, but there’s a faster way of unlocking your phone which I will discuss later.

Display

The 6-inch display is equipped with the same Optic AMOLED panel but with the vertical resolution at 2160 to fit the 18:9 category. Colors are vibrant without being over-saturated. Even with most flagships coming in with a QHD display, FHD+ is more than sufficient for anything that the OnePlus 5T can do.

It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and comes with a pre-installed screen protector for those nasty micro-scratches.

Screen calibration options are still the same with sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts for professional use. And in case you’re wondering how the Optic AMOLED panel is installed, it’s not inverted as opposed to the OnePlus 5 that produced a lot of jelly scrolling issues. So far, having spent over a day with the OnePlus 5T, I can confidently say that the unit that I got has no jelly scrolling. The same hopefully goes for the rest of 5T owners since this was the major drawback that the OnePlus 5 had when this issue surfaced.

User Experience

Sadly, Oxygen OS 4.7 is not built on top of Oreo for the Open Beta for the Oreo version is still ongoing. Even so, Oxygen OS is arguably the fastest and most responsive of Android ROM’s I have used thus far. Being built around performance, this didn’t surprise me anymore.

Going back, I did mention a much faster option for accessing your phone and I am pretty sure that you have heard of this before – Face Unlock. It’s ridiculously fast to the point that it astounded me the first couple of times I used it. And, get this – it works even with half of my face covered! I do not have information regarding what algorithms OnePlus uses for their Face Unlock, but this is definitely a treat despite not being as complex as Apple’s FaceID. I would use this over the fingerprint scanner 8 out of 10 times, easy.

Compared to Oxygen OS 4.5, there isn’t much to go on other than the logos on the Camera app replaced by text.

Camera

And speaking of cameras, it’s still the same trifecta producing similar results. What irked me a bit is that they removed EIS for OxygenOS 4.7 which was probably the best addition that they had for the OnePlus 5 around August. Shots under daylight are never affected, but in scenes with less-than-ample lighting, here’s where the OnePlus 5T shows its weakness. Portrait Mode isn’t perfect either but it does work better than most in terms of subject selection and bokeh application. Hopefully, once the Oreo update is out, OnePlus will put EIS back in since it makes a whole world of difference in both photography and videography.

Selfies are actually great since the OnePlus 5T always tries to have the flattest output in terms of contrast but with amazing detailing.

Videos are sufficiently-detailed, to say the least, but as I’ve mentioned, the lack of EIS held the OnePlus 5T back – big time.

Performance

Our review unit is the 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant. The scores that we got with the OnePlus 5T through our usual benchmarking tools are exceedingly high for its price. OnePlus 5T simply continues what the OnePlus 5’s price-to-performance ratio is with its flagship specs and performance-optimized ROM. And in terms of storage, it is still non-expandable.

Benchmark OnePlus 5
AnTuTu 180944
GeekBench SC: 1956
MC: 6703
Androbench Seq. Read: 742.21MB/s
Seq. Write: 203.29MB/s
Rand. Read: 148.7MB/s
Rand. Write: 14.1MB/s
PCMark Work 2.0 6748

Battery

Unlike the move from OnePlus 3 to OnePlus 3T, the move from OnePlus 5 to OnePlus 5T didn’t bump the battery up despite the slight increase in form factor. The OnePlus 5T still comes with a 3300mAh Li-Po pack and it does not do well in terms of lasting a day of heavy usage but bounces back in the charging time, thanks to its included 20W Dash Charger.

Battery OnePlus 5T
Battery 3300mAh Li-Po
ManilaShaker Battery Rating 34h 22m
Charging Time (0-100%) 1h 28m

Audio

The bottom-mounted speakers are not excessively loud at max volume but do well in the way of clarity. Mids overpower highs for the most part, but rarely was the bass frequencies overlapped.

And if you’re a fellow audiophile, the OnePlus 5T may not come with a DAC, but it has its own built-in tuner with a couple of profiles for OnePlus in-ears and a 7-band EQ that also comes with a number of presets. It’s not the greatest there is, but flagship smartphones with a 3.5mm audio jack are starting to get rare.

Verdict

So, for the verdict. It essentially is the OnePlus 5 without EIS that is being offered for the same price. If you’re in the market for the fastest Android phone right now, the OnePlus 5T is definitely the best option there is. Press like if you liked the video and hit that dislike button if you find my findings aggravating. As always, don’t forget to subscribe for more content like this, and happily returning, this has been Caesar of ManilaShaker, and thank you for watching. ‘Til then!

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