OnePlus 5T is finally official! But, is it any better than the current flagship, the OnePlus 5? Let’s find out.
Following a steady stream of leaks and rumors, the Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus has finally launched their latest flagship handset, the OnePlus 5T. The 5T is set to release on November 21 as a late year upgrade to the OnePlus 5, featuring many of the same specs but with a few new enticing upgrades thrown in.
The most interesting feature of the new handset is, of course, the new all-screen front design. Speaking of, the OnePlus 5T comes with the firm’s largest ever display of size 6.01 inches. The display boasts a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels offering about 401 pixels per inch density.
Besides the new design and display changes, the 5T retains the same hardware specifications as its predecessor. That is, the latest handset is powered by the same octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor along with 6/8GB RAM. It is available in two storage options as well, i.e., 64 and 128GB.
To provide more real estate to the display up front, the fingerprint reader on the 5T is located on the rear. Besides the fingerprint sensor, the OP5T packs yet another biometric security option which the Chinese company calls “Face Unlock”. Sure, the Face Unlock feature is certainly not as advanced as the FaceID on the iPhone X. However, it was discovered that the former is way faster than the latter when it comes to unlocking the device.
The Face Unlock feature on the 5T can unlock the device in just 0.4 seconds. The firm says that the new feature makes use of advanced facial recognition algorithms that use about 100 facial features to securely unlock the phone. However, it is not as reliable as the FaceID on the iPhone, so the feature won’t work for payment applications.
There is a slight bump to the camera department as well. The secondary sensor remains the same 16MP Sony IMX398 sensor with aperture f/2.0 as the OnePlus 5. But, the dual camera setup on the rear has received a few improvements. Speaking of, the 5T uses a 20MP Sony IMX376K sensor, with a f/1.7 aperture, as the wide angle lens and a 16MP sensor, with a f/1.7 aperture, as the telephoto lens. The change is appreciable as the new higher aperture offered by the wide angle lens lets it shoot better pictures in low-light conditions. Finally, the device is backed by the same 3,300 mAh battery as its forerunner.
And no, it does not come with Android 8.0 Oreo on board. Instead, the smartphone runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, though the Oreo update should be just around the corner.
OnePlus 5T Specs Recap:
- Dimensions: 156.1 x 75 x 7.3 mm
- Build materials: Aluminum rear and frame, glass front
- SIM: dual nanoSIM
- Display: 6.01-inch 1080x2160p Optic AMOLED, 18:9 aspect ratio
- RAM: 6/8GB
- Storage: 64/128GB
- CPU: Octa-core Snapdragon 835
- GPU: Adreno 540
- Camera: dual 16+20 rear sensors, 16MP front-facing sensor
- Battery size: 3300 mAh
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, 4G VoLTE
- Ports: 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C (for charging and data transfer)
- Biometric security features: Fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
OnePlus 5T Review Roundup:
A handful of popular reviewers has got their hands on the OnePlus 5T already, and here is what they had to say about the new flagship killer. We’ve rounded up reviews from PhoneArena, TechRadar, BGR, Engadget, and Tom’s Guide.
John V. of PhoneArena is all in favor of the incredibly affordable price tag of the OnePlus 5T. He says:
What’s incredible about the OnePlus 5T is its starting price of $500 for the base 64GB model! That’s seriously being aggressive, given that the majority of the phones announced this fall have landed anywhere between $800 and upwards around $1100. At a fraction of the typical flagship price, the OnePlus 5T indicates to us that it’s making a sharp, direct statement to its competitors. Sure, it’s not perfect and might not have some of the other secondary features we find in other competing phones, but the price alone certainly justifies a lot of things about it. If it’s able to perform fantastically in all the major areas, like camera performance and battery life to name a couple, it could seemingly be the flagship this year to offer the most bang for the buck.
Meanwhile, John McCann of TechRadar sounds worried about the battery life of the 5T. He notes:
The increased screen size is welcome and the camera looks stronger, although we worry that keeping the battery the same size as in the OnePlus 5 could have a negative effect on battery life.
Zach Epstein of BGR says the new phone is as fast and smooth as its predecessor.
OnePlus just announced its new OnePlus 5T flagship phone an hour ago, but I’ve been able to spend some time with it and so far I’m impressed. The phone is just as fast and smooth as the OnePlus 5 from earlier this year, which obviously makes sense since it has the same specs. It features some two big hardware design changes though, as well as some smaller ones and a handful of new software features.
Chris Velazco of Engadget writes:
This is the device OnePlus 5 should’ve been in the first place. There’s nothing to be done about the past, though, and the 5T feels like a worthy successor to the 5 in just about every way that matters. Basically, your holiday smartphone shopping decision just got a little harder. That said, OnePlus still has its work cut out for it: There’s some lingering distrust among some users from when the company seemingly meddled with benchmark results, not to mention recent concerns about software snooping. We’ll soon see if the OnePlus 5T is enough to get smartphone fans feeling the faith again.
Adam Ismail of Tom’s Guide says that the addition of 18:9 display will put the 5T on par with the top Android dogs in the market.
The OnePlus 5T doesn’t appear to bring enough to sway existing OnePlus 5 owners, but then, that’s not the point. This phone clearly targets customers who didn’t upgrade to the OnePlus 5, possibly because they were holding out for something with a more expansive display. With the addition of an 18:9 display, Android’s budget darling has a golden opportunity to truly join the ranks of 2017’s premier handsets.
OnePlus 5T Price and Release Date
The best part about the OnePlus 5T is that it sells for just about the same price as the OnePlus 5. That means you can get one of the shiny new 5T handsets for $499 for the 6GB RAM variant, and $559 for the 8GB RAM variant. In India, it will sell for Rs 32,999 and Rs 37,999 for the 4GB and 6GB RAM variants respectively.
Talking about the release date, the handset will go on sale starting November 21 in the US, UK, and other European countries. However, countries including India, Hong Kong, and China will be receiving the device only a week later.
