OnePlus 6 vs 6T: What's the difference?
For close to two years, Chinese smartphone maker, OnePlus, has stuck to its strategy of upgrading its flagship phones every six months. The strategy has seen it come out with a flagship in the first half of the year, only to phase it out months later with a phone that again has best in class specs.
Though unusual for the industry, this strategy has, by and large, reaped rich dividends for the company – so much so that OnePlus' revenues have soared over the last few years and helped it become one of the biggest smartphone makers in the world.
Continuing the tradition, OnePlus on October 29 announced its latest flagship phone – the OnePlus 6T.
The device builds on the success of the OnePlus 6 and brings with it a familiar design and similar specs to its predecessor. Yet, there are a number of differentiating factors between the two. Let's take a look at them and figure out if the new phone is worth your money.
Design and display
As the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Well, that appears to be the idea behind the design of the OnePlus 6T. The device borrows heavily from its predecessor's basic design scheme that saw OnePlus generously use glass on the front and back of the OnePlus 6 to give the device a premium look and feel.
The 6T follows the same idea and as such uses slightly curved polished glass at the back that merges into the phone's metallic frame in the middle. However, moving to the front, certain design refinements start to show up.
For starters, the phone has a more edge-to-edge feel in comparison to the 6T as it sees OnePlus shaving off a considerable amount of chin on the device. At the top, the panel does away with the iPhone-style notch and instead sees OnePlus housing the phone's front camera inside a more manageable water-drop notch.
The new notch also helps the device achieve an 86 per cent screen-to-body ratio (up slightly from around 83.8 per cent on the OnePlus 6).
Talking about display, this is also the biggest one on a OnePlus phone yet – a slightly larger 6.4-inch 1080p OLED display (vs 6.28-inch for the OnePlus 6).
Apart from this, there are three other important changes to the build of the phone, with the first one being the use of much sturdier Gorilla Glass 6 on the phone. The other big change sees OnePlus removing the fingerprint scanner on the back and moving it under the display of the device. The feature works very much like the other in-display fingerprint scanners we have seen on devices from Huawei and Oppo.
Last, but not least, is the lack of a headphone jack on the phone. This particular omission may bother many users — however, OnePlus is bundling a Type-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box to help smoothen the transition.
What makes the device works
Under the hood, much remains the same as the device comes sporting the same Snapdragon 845 SoC which was seen on the OnePlus 6 paired with up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. However, unlike the last phone, the base variant now starts with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, instead of 64GB on the last one.
Apart from this, the 6T also brings with it some marked improvements in terms of the battery pack. As opposed to the 3400mAh pack on the OnePlus 6, we now have a phone which brings with it a 3700mAh pack. DashCharge support again makes a comeback — however, wireless charging is still amiss.
The bigger battery, paired with a better optimised OS, should thus help the phone last 10-15 per cent longer than the OnePlus 6 on a single charge. Software optimisations also see the OnePlus 6T become the fastest OnePlus phone yet.
Latest Antutu benchmarks show that the OnePlus 6T is the second fastest Android phone after the Asus ROG phone which comes with specially binned versions of the Snapdragon 845 SoC.
Camera
Coming to the optics, the OnePlus 6T features the same hardware that was seen on the previous generation OnePlus phone. Both the devices have the same dual-lens camera on the back – a 16MP f/1.7 sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS) and a 20MP f/1.7 one without OIS. Both phones also have a 16MP f/2.0 camera on the front.
Yet, the pictures snapped by the two products end up being quite different. The company claims to have used a new algorithm that brings better focus for bokeh shots as well as improved colour accuracy for night scenes.
Turn up the lights with the low-light capabilities of the #OnePlus6T. pic.twitter.com/kedDsV0Ipt
— OnePlus (@oneplus) October 21, 2018
Is the OnePlus 6T worth your money?
Starting at $549 in the US for the 6GB RAM+128GB storage Mirror Black variant, with the 8GB+128GB Mirror Black and Midnight Black variant priced at $579 and the 8GB+256GB Midnight Black variant priced at $629 the OnePlus 6T – like other OnePlus phones before it – represents great value for money.
Refinements in design and software also ensure that it is the best OnePlus device yet.
But is it the device for you?
To be honest, if you're a OnePlus 6 owner, the promise of a bigger, more edge-to-edge display and better battery – and overall performance – may sound like a good enough reason to upgrade.
But it's not.
The updates to the phone are very incremental in nature and as such, do not represent value if you've already shelled out a good amount of money on the OnePlus 6 only a few months back.
However, if you've been using an older OnePlus device or want to upgrade from some other older Android or iOS smartphone, then this is arguably the best option in the price range for you.