ASK a friend, one who has even a passing interest in technology, which is the tech capital of the world, and in all likelihood he or she will tell you that it’s Silicon Valley, that chunk of precious land in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. It is here where some of the biggest names in technology (Google, Apple, Facebook…you get the idea) have been happily headquartered, long before the youngest millennial was born.
Perhaps nobody will readily identify China as the hub where the most influential piece of technology in recent years comes from, and that would be the smartphone of course. This slab of glass, metal, plastic and silicon has increasingly been determining how we conduct our lives for more than a decade now. What we talk about. Which movies do we watch. What music do we listen to. Who do we have sex with. Which person to friend or, as the case may be, unfriend. And on and on, it goes.
Indeed, mainland China is where almost all of the world’s best-selling smartphones come from, whatever the brand, be it Google’s Pixel, Apple’s iPhone or Sony’s Xperia. And not surprisingly, Chinese companies have decided to get in on the smartphone action beyond the assembly line, with not a few gaining global market traction, most notably Huawei, which now ranks as the No. 3 smartphone manufacturer in the world, and Xiaomi.
Add to this list of breakout Chinese tech companies OnePlus, a subsidiary of another emerging major tech player Oppo.
Founded in December 2013 and headquartered in Shenzhen in Guangdong, China, OnePlus (not to be confused with O+ USA, a smartphone brand with claims to American origins) aims to bring to market smartphones “that would balance high-end quality with a lower price than other phones in its class”, embracing as its rallying cry “Never Settle”.
After releasing four smartphones that were well-received by tech pundits everywhere, the company continues to make inroads in the global smartphone market and now makes its presence felt in the Philippines with its latest flagship: the OnePlus 3T, a Turbo-charged iteration (hence the “T”) of the OnePlus 3, the acclaimed elder “twin” released in June 2016. It’s being exclusively distributed not by the local office of Oppo but by Digital Walker, which according to its Facebook page is “the country’s largest retailer of premium gadgets and accessories.”
The OnePlus 3T builds on what brought widespread acclaim to its immediate predecessor with a new processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 versus the older 820 CPU, a heftier 3400 mAh battery versus the previous 3000 mAh kit, and a beefier 16-megapixel front-facing camera versus the 8-MP selfie shooter of the original OnePlus 3. The 3T is available in Gold and Gunmetal iterations, with 64/128GB of user-available memory, and Digital Walker is providing one-year local warranty to all buyers.
Not surprisingly, except for the new Gunmetal color option, the OnePlus 3T looks indistinguishable from its predecessor. It has the same metal unibody with the rounded corners and tapered backside, the same dimensions of 152.7×74.7×7.4 mm, the same excellent front-facing fingerprint sensor, the same 16-MP rear-camera placement with the same minimal protrusion, the same 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 1080p resolution providing vibrant colors and really deep blacks. As the saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Indeed, in terms of design and build quality, the OnePlus 3T can be placed alongside such rivals as the iPhone 7 Plus, Huawei Mate 9, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and LG G6, and it wouldn’t look like somebody’s poor relation. Notwithstanding its metal body, the phone doesn’t feel heavy in the hand, while the tapered sides make it much more ergonomic to use than most phones with a 5.5-inch display. Meanwhile, the fingerprint sensor located below the display is bookended by capacitive back and recent-apps keys (which, by the way, can be reconfigured in the Settings app).
OnePlus is one of the early adopters on the USB Type-C port for data transfer and charging, which can be found at the bottom side of the 3T, along with speaker. At the right side is the power button and the dual nano SIM slot (hurrah!), with the volume rocker and notification slider (increasingly rare in new smartphones) adorning the left side.
With the new hardware, the OnePlus 3T is even more of powerhouse workhorse than its predecessor. Still aided by 6GB of RAM, the new Snapdragon 821 processor, clocked at 2.35 GHz, makes this phone quite the nimble performer even when you have multiple applications running in the background, or are playing resource-hungry games, like Puzzle & Dragons, or listening to music on Spotify, while checking your Twitter feed full of anti-Trump screed. Meanwhile, the upgraded battery means the phone can last you a full day on a single charge even when you’re a bit of a heavy user.
Moreover, the company leverages what it calls Dash Charge technology, which not only gives the 3T a 60 percent charge in 30 minutes but also protects the phone when charging by containing the generated heat in the wall adapter. Meaning, there won’t be a Samsung Note 7-like flame-ups happening with the OnePlus 3T.
The other notable hardware upgrade of the OnePlus 3T is the 16 MP front-facing camera with a f/2.0 aperture, optical image stabilization and phase detection autofocus. The aperture and the megapixel bump should delight the selfie—or “groufie”—addict, as these impact image quality when shooting in low-light conditions or when zooming and cropping.
No doubt, there will be some users who might have issues with the Oxygen OS 3.5.1 the 3T is running on, which is a layer of customizations laid on top of the Android 6.0 version the phone ships with. Our advice is give a day or three to familiarize yourself with the interface, which isn’t really unlike that of iOS and also adds to the user experience without being heavy-handed as most such layers are. Alternatively, you can always choose which works for you best from the excellent launchers available on Google Play, such as Nova Launcher (our preference) and Google’s own Google Now Launcher.
Some weeks ago OnePlus unveiled its newest smartphone, the OnePlus 5. That may put you off from making the trip to Digital Walker for the 3T—but don’t let it. It will be some months before that gorgeous piece of kit comes to these shores, and the OnePlus 3T isn’t diminished by it. This is a great smartphone, and the pleasures to be had from it will last for quite a while.