OnePlus 3T review: New processor, bigger battery, and a bit more expensive

Overview

The OnePlus 3T is an updated version of the six-month-old OnePlus 3 - the 's' model if you will. It has exactly the same design, but sports the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, a slightly larger 3,400mAh capacity battery, options for either 64GB internal storage like the original OnePlus 3, or a new 128GB storage, and a new 16-megapixel front camera. Software-wise, it's running on the same Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow build with OnePlus' Oxygen OS 3.2.4 skin, however, an Android 7.0 Nougat update is apparently due soon.

The 3T is slightly more expensive than its predecessor, with the 64GB version priced at S$799, and the 128GB version coming in at S$899 (although prices on Lazada, their official retail channel partner, are generally lower, with the 64GB version going for as low as S$599 and the 128GB version for around S$708). For comparison, the original OnePlus 3 was just S$699.

We loved the original OnePlus 3 and declared it the best affordable flagship smartphone of 2016, but how much better is its successor?

Design

The OnePlus 3T has exactly the same design, dimensions and weight as its predecessor. For a quick recap, like the original OnePlus 3, the 3T has a unibody aluminium alloy design with a curved rear. It's quite reminiscent of HTC's M series phones. OnePlus has renamed the dark grey color option to Gunmetal, but it looks pretty much exactly the same as the original Graphite color that was on the 3. It may be a shade darker, but without both phones available to compare side-by-side, it's hard to say with much certainty.

On the bottom of the phone, there's a speaker grille, a USB-C port and a headphone port.

Along the left edge, you'll find OnePlus' signature three-level Alert Slider that lets you toggle between notification profiles. You can set it to all, priority or none, just like the OnePlus 3. Below this is the volume rocker. The power button can be found on the opposite side of the phone.

On the front of the phone, the Home button doubles up as a fingerprint scanner. Like the original OnePlus 3, it's a capacitive button, which means you can't actually press it (much like the iPhone 7 home button, but without the vibration feedback). On either side of the Home button, capacitive back and menu buttons are marked by a backlit dot, rather than their standard icons. This is because you can swap their positions in the OnePlus 3T’s settings menu. The dots only light up when you press them.

On the back of the phone, you’ll find the same 16-megapixel camera used on the original OnePlus 3. There's a moderate camera bump here, but it's not as bad as many others we've seen.

Unfortunately, the OnePlus 3T still lacks a microSD port, which means you're stuck with internal storage only. As such, we recommend going for the new 128GB model.

For a more thorough breakdown of the design and handling of the OnePlus 3T, check out our original OnePlus 3 review.

Display

The OnePlus 3T uses the same 5.5-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels, 401ppi) Optic AMOLED display as its predecessor. On the original OnePlus 3 we noticed that the phone display had a very warm color temperature out of the box (although this was easily fixed through the settings menu). OnePlus seems to have corrected this for the 3T, and its display looks a lot more neutral from the start.

Benchmark Performance

The OnePlus 3 is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor and this is one of the earlier phones to sport it. This is an updated version of the 820, with clock speeds on the two high-power processing cores bumped up to 2.35GHz from 2.15GHz. The Adreno 530 GPU also received a small boost to 652MHz, up from 624MHz on the OnePlus 3. Other than that, the two SoCs are identical in features and capability.

Sunspider Javascript

SunSpider JavaScript measures the browsing performance of a device when processing JavaScript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience.

The OnePlus 3T was quite a bit faster than the OnePlus 3, although it trailed slightly behind the Huawei Mate 9, and was much slower than the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Apple iPhone 7 Plus. In actual usage, the 3T was smooth and responsive when it came to web browsing, and I didn't notice it to be any slower or laggier than my iPhone 7.

Quadrant

Quadrant is an Android benchmark that evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O and 3D graphics performances. As this is an Android benchmark, the Apple iPhone 7 Plus is not included. The OnePlus 3T showed pretty decent gains over the OnePlus 3, although it still trailed quite far behind Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge.

3DMark Sling Shot

3DMark Sling Shot is an advanced 3D graphics benchmark that tests the full range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and ES 3.0 API features including multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. The test also includes impressive volumetric lighting and post-processing effects. We're running this benchmark in Unlimited mode, which ignores screen resolutions.

The 3T's gains weren't quite as pronounced here, although the higher clock speeds on both the processor and GPU still gave it a slightly higher score. The iPhone 7 Plus remains the reigning champion in this benchmark.

Battery Life

Our standard battery test for mobile phones has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on

• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

The OnePlus 3T has a 3,400mAh battery, compared to 3,000 on the original OnePlus 3. The larger battery resulted in a nice increase in battery life, with the 3T lasting just over 14 hours on our video looping benchmark. This puts it very close to the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Huawei Mate 9.

Like the 3, the 3T is equipped with OnePlus' Dash charging technology. This is basically OnePlus' version of QuickCharge, and will get the battery to around 60 percent in about 30 minutes.

Conclusion

The original OnePlus was one of the best phones of last year, and the refreshed 3T version keeps it as relevant as ever. While it isn't an upgrade for existing OnePlus 3 owners, it keeps OnePlus right at the head of the pack in the tightly contested S$600-800 price bracket, with benchmark performance and battery life that rivals and exceeds more expensive phones from the likes of Huawei, LG and ASUS.

The biggest drawback to the original OnePlus 3 was a lack of storage space, with only 64GB internal storage and no microSD card slot. While the 3T still doesn't have expandable storage, at least there's a 128GB option available now.

OnePlus is also rumored to be releasing an Android 7.0 Nougat update for the 3T soon, which will make it a great alternative to Google's Pixel XL smartphone. The Pixel XL uses the same 821 processor as the 3T, but as it isn't officially available here, it costs nearly twice as much (current street prices for the 128GB Pixel XL are around S$1,300).

In this price range, the only real competition for the OnePlus 3T is the 821-powered Xiaomi Mi5s, which also isn't officially available locally, and the newly announced Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017). On paper, Samsung's A7 looks like it will be tough competition thanks to its expandable storage, IP68 build, and always-on display, but it remains to be seen if Samsung's mid-range Exynos 7880 processor can beat the mighty Snapdragon 821.