The main flagship, or another failure?
Everyone's favorite startup for the production of “flagship killers” yesterday announced a fresh OnePlus 6 — the main smartphone of this spring. The most fashionable, most powerful, most correct Android smartphone.
Or is everything not as rosy as it seems?
This time, OnePlus failed to release the first flagship on the new Qualcomm platform: they were ahead of Samsung, Xiaomi and even Asus with its Zenfone 5Z, which also went on sale. By the way, all competitors of 1+6 are already on sale.
However, none of them offer what the OnePlus 6 has. The company has grown above itself, and no longer offers a slightly modified OPPO smartphone for the international market - the “six” is a completely original device. With many advantages and a number of compromises that can radically change the opinion about it.
Appearance
Contrary to the established tradition, familiar to us from previous devices of the OnePlus team, OnePlus 6 has not a metal, but an all-glass body on an aluminum frame. The proprietary glass Gorilla Glass 5 was chosen as the main material - it protects both the back and front panels. The rear glass is curved and the front privacy panel uses 2.5D glass.
However, the shape of the case has retained its ergonomics and recognizable outlines. The scanner crawled onto the back panel in OnePlus 5T and became a fairly familiar design element. However, to maintain the overall style, the designers chose not a round, but an oblong shape for the sensor - exactly the same as the multifunction button under the screen.
The bottom end (as well as the top) has completely migrated from previous models: two neat grilles, between which the USB-C port is hidden. And here the problems begin: there is only one speaker, USB 2.0. It’s good that they kept the standard 3.5 mm jack. As well as the proprietary physical Alert Slider switch, which is now located on the right side, above the power button. With it, you can quickly switch between loud ringing, vibration and silent modes.
Is it usual? Yes. The price for this habit was the lack of moisture protection. Although the company claims that it is present and even working, we understand that in case of any problems, returns or warranty repairs will not be provided. Therefore, there is virtually no protection.
The volume rocker is located on the left side, next to it is a tray for two nano-SIMs without the ability to install a memory card. Another failure? No, rather a deliberate way to force the user to pay. Either put up with the lack of memory (and 64 GB in 2018 is clearly not enough for a flagship smartphone), or buy a 256 GB modification.
Definitely, OnePlus did an effective job on the new device, presenting not 1, but 3 color designs at once. The company's classic matte black Midnight Black is complemented by matte white (like the Star Wars version for OnePlus 5) Silk White and glossy black Mirror Black. They all look incredibly cool, maintaining the impressiveness inherent in all “1+” smartphones.
Screen
The front side of OnePlus 6 is occupied by a huge display with a non-standard diagonal of 6.28 inches and a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels - a consequence of the still new 19:9 aspect ratio. As always, an AMOLED display is used with incredible brightness and incredible color reproduction. By the way, the maximum brightness is 638 nits, and this is perhaps the highest among modern smartphones. Even the bright spring sun and direct light from a table lamp cannot spoil the image.
The viewing angles are excellent: no complaints. The same can be said about the white balance and color of the screen as a whole: the colors are closer to real, and are not similar to those traditional for previous generations of AMOLED matrices. No more “gouging out your eyes”!
The system settings are encouraging: not only can you enable adaptive brightness (which, by the way, works almost lightning fast), but also set color correction. Moreover, in the ready-made presets you can find the DCI-P3 mode familiar to iPhone users with a softer and wider range of colors.
Overall, this is an indicatively good AMOLED panel, completely devoid of any of the inherent shortcomings technologies: PenTile, gradients, screen graininess are a thing of the past, as are the cables familiar from OnePlus 5. Of course, a 2K or 4K matrix would be more appropriate - this is the only thing today that protects OLED screens from image defects. But lowering the resolution to FullHD+ has long become the norm for the company - primarily to maintain decent battery life.
It is worth remembering the little things: the oleophobic coating and anti-reflective coating are present, and of high quality. The screen practically does not retain fingerprints and is easy to clean. There are practically no “bunnies”, light sources are barely reflected and are noticeable only at reduced brightness.
The main difference between the screen and its dimensions was the appearance of the notorious “unibrow”. Surprisingly, the live OnePlus 6 does not cause the rejection that one might feel when looking at the huge insert of the iPhone X. The effect is mitigated by the dark interface theme, which conceals the “unibrow” with a system status bar with information icons on both sides.
The main thing is that with all the changes, the body remains the same dimensions as the OnePlus 5T. But the usable screen area is much larger!
Standard Android on-screen buttons are used as navigation keys. They can be used in all or only certain applications, although it is much more convenient to hide them completely. Instead of keys, it is much more convenient to use the OnePlus proprietary set of gestures, reminiscent (or rather, copied) of those of the iPhone X.
Due to the most efficient use of the front panel, the frames around the display are minimal - there are no complaints that we constantly have in relation to other vendors: no frames, no buttons, no unused places.
Ease of use
Since the OnePlus 6 body retained the dimensions of the previous model, and the functional controls remained the same in their places, we can say that the smartphone also retains the highest ergonomics. It is very pleasant to hold any of them in your hand. However, brushed metal cases are more grippy, and the “six” is extremely slippery, especially in comparison. For those who have previously used smaller smartphones, this may be a fatal experience that will have to be interrupted.
In addition, the choice of material is not entirely clear: although protected glass provides high protection against scratches, it breaks easily and is less tactile than the standard rear for OnePlus smartphones panel. It would be logical to see wireless charging in this case - but there is none. It turns out that the only real benefit of glass is the absence of antennas on the outer part of the case.
So-so advantage. But OnePlus 6 is incredibly beautiful, especially in a glossy design.
There is a fly in the ointment here: it seems that OnePlus forgot about the oleophobic coating on the back panel, so it instantly collects fingerprints.
Once you get used to it a little, you realize that all the controls are located perfectly, despite the dimensions - and it’s unlikely that another vendor will be able to replicate the ease of use of OnePlus 6. But to realize this you will have to get used to it.
Hardware platform
The platform for OnePlus 6 is the most modern Qualcomm Snapdragon 845: the most productive, the most modern, the coolest. There is nothing better - except, of course, the iPhone X processor. It is to this that OnePlus is inferior in various performance tests - except for the company's favorite Antutu. Among the losers of OnePlus 6 are even the most powerful Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s, Samsung S9 and Huawei P20 Pro.
| Single core | Multi-core | AnTuTu 7 | |
| OnePlus 6 | 2124 | 9045 | 267001 |
| Huawei P20 Pro | 1921 | 6837 | 209658 |
| Huawei Mate 10 Pro | 1906 | 6740 | 178091 |
| Galaxy S9 Plus | 3720 | 8890 | 251205 |
| iPhone X | 4257 | 10364 | 235607 |
| Pixel 2 | 1917 | 6312 | 184336 |
The incredible performance of OnePlus 6 is based on 3 pillars: the incredible performance of the Snapdragon 845, the powerful Adreno 630 video accelerator and 6/8 GB of the fastest UFS 2.1 memory. The drive can be 64, 128 or 256 GB - and it also increases performance significantly due to its phenomenal read speed and records.
The new chipset brought a lot of the coolest modern features. So, this is the company’s first smartphone to support gigabit LTE. At the same time, OnePlus 6 works in all common ranges. More modern Wi-Fi calls, as well as VoLTE, also work. But Europeans may not like the smartphone - it does not work with CDMA.
Other interfaces are not far behind: Wi-Fi boasts unique support for 4x4 MIMO, occupying 4 channels of the router at once (accordingly, the smartphone has 4 separate antennas). Bluetooth is also good news - OnePlus 6 has a 5.0 chip with support for aptX, aptX HD and more.
The smartphone is equipped with a non-removable battery with a capacity of 3300mAh. Charging is carried out using USB-C connector corresponding to interface 2.0. Dash's proprietary algorithm is used for fast charging Charge. It provides a full battery charge in 40 minutes. Other modes are interesting: in 15 minutes the smartphone receives 30% of the battery capacity, half an hour is required to replenish by 70%.
Unfortunately, like other OnePlus smartphones, fast charging only works with a proprietary charger. Which, although sold separately, costs a lot.
In real-world use, the OenPlus 6 is faster than any current flagship. Doesn't hesitate for a second even with the heaviest games or applications. Communication is beyond praise in any modes and combinations of use. And it will be like this for another couple of years, the productivity reserve is simply phenomenal. This is largely due to the correctly selected operating system.
operating system
The operating system of OnePlus 6 is Android 8.1 Oreo with the Oxygen OS shell. In fact, this is the “cleanest” version of Android, as close as possible to the version of the system used in Google Pixel. There is nothing superfluous, absolutely nothing - just a pristine OS and basic applications from the Google Apps package.
Nevertheless. There are certain branded features.
The main one is OnePlus 6’s own gestures, similar to those used in iOS. It can be used both in conjunction with and instead of on-screen Android buttons. The second option is even nicer, since it allows you to use the entire surface of the screen without highlighting the key area. In the future, it will be replaced by the official version of gestures developed by Google - but only after updating the smartphone to Android P.
The “Reading Mode” complements the system functions, switching the screen to black and white, simulating an electronic ink screen. Overall, the effect turned out to be very cool - a smartphone can be used instead of a regular E-Ink “reader”. And if you remember that the diagonal of its screen even exceeds that of the common Kindles, the choice speaks for itself. An interesting feature is that in the settings you can specify a number of applications for which monochrome will be turned on automatically.
Otherwise, Oxygen OS is perhaps the best Android option out there. In it, as in OnePlus 6 itself, there is nothing superfluous: no endlessly adapting artificial intelligence, no inconvenient interface modifications of our own - even the set of programs corresponds to those recommended by Google. And 1+ has no analogues here.
Cameras: are they really waiting?
The main improvement of OnePlus 6 compared to its predecessors is the dual camera, consisting of a main 16-megapixel sensor and an additional 20-megapixel sensor. The second camera is used for increased detail, dual hardware zoom (with a new system update) and blur effect.
The cameras have nothing in common with the photographic system of the OnePlus 5 or 5T: the main sensor has larger pixels, and, more importantly, optical stabilization. Now the camera can honestly handle 4K video at up to 60 frames per second. Slow-motion shooting also appeared immediately, without waiting for updates: for FullHD the maximum speed is 240 frames per second, for regular HD - 480 frames per second.
The shooting quality has increased noticeably compared to last year's OnePlus 5 and 5T. The footage from the OnePlus 6 camera is sharper, brighter, and juicier. This is especially true for night photography and shooting in difficult conditions - low light is finally no longer a real problem for OnePlus.
But portrait mode has become almost worse. Optical stabilization works perfectly. Colors are good and exposure is generally accurate, but images have a harsh, overly sharp look to them, especially when you zoom in. HDR does a good job, especially in manual mode.
In daytime conditions, with the help of OnePlus 6 you can create unique photo masterpieces, which a couple of years ago were the domain of only SLR cameras. In night photography, it is inferior to the Samsung S9 and Huawei P20 Pro, but daytime photos are on the same level. Video shooting is also good - stabilization works at 100.
The app hasn't been improved, but it's still as user-friendly as ever. Simple and intuitive interface, fast operation.
But the 16-megapixel front camera is familiar to fans from the company’s previous smartphones. Still the same, still the same. An excellent enhancement mode complements the accuracy of the image, but for artistic photography it will come in handy after the next operating system update.
Sound and multimedia
Speaking about OnePlus 6, we cannot fail to mention the performance of the sensors - and above all, the fingerprint scanner. Its accuracy and speed could be the envy of any brand, including Xiaomi. YES, and for Samsung or Vivo, for reasons unknown to me, the sensor works slower.
In addition, the company's engineers have introduced their own face unlock system into the smartphone under the simple name Face ID. Works great - almost like an iPhone. Fast, accurate. A beard, scarf or hat does not matter to the system - software algorithms effectively filter out accessories. The only problem with face unlock on Oneplus 6 is insufficient lighting. But in this case, the iPhone X has no competitors (that’s why it costs 2 times more).
In addition, OnePlus specialists note that face unlocking is less secure, so it can only be used to unlock the smartphone itself. Payment and entry into applications are only possible using a scanner.
Another important parameter for a modern smartphone is sound. Although the OnePlus 6 does not have a separate DAC or amplifier, the sound of the smartphone through a standard mini-jack can only be compared with rare audio flagships (for example, LG V30). The sound is incredibly rich, powerful, detailed and bass-heavy. If necessary, it can be further refined using the system equalizer. And one more thing - the output power is such that OnePlus 6 can easily drive even high-impedance headphones designed for desktop audio systems. The already mentioned V30 fails a similar test.
The presence of aptX HD support makes OnePlus 6 one of the audiophile's best friends. There are still very few such smartphones, and without support for this protocol, listening to music wirelessly is a real disgrace. Bluetooth 5.0 support allows you to stream sound from different applications to different audio devices, which adds to the attractiveness of the smartphone as an audio source.
It's a pity that there is only 1 loudspeaker again. It is not clear to me what the engineers were guided by. On the other hand, with the power of this single speaker, the second one simply could not be heard - the volume reserve of the OnePlus 6, even with 1 speaker, is enough for any use scenario. You can even use it as a Bluetooth speaker.
conclusions
So, the bottom line is that OnePlus has achieved its goal: the sixth version of the popular “flagship killer” has again become the FASTEST SMARTPHONE OF THE YEAR. Neither Samsung, nor Huawei, nor Xiaomi have anything to offer yet. And it is unlikely that they will be able to change anything during 2018 - at least until Qualcomm introduces a new platform. Then we will wait for the release of OnePlus 6T, probably with wireless charging.
In the meantime, OnePlus 6 can be safely recommended to everyone: both fans of the 1+ brand and ordinary users of Android smartphones. It has much fewer shortcomings than one might expect, and the reserve of clean power and excellent operating the system will allow you not to think about updating your smartphone for another 2-3 years, until fundamentally new ones are released devices.
Among the most important advantages of OnePlus 6: incredible convenience (a mode switch is necessary for all smartphones), excellent grip (especially in the matte version), incredible performance. The cameras are also very good for their price range and overall configuration.
The price of the smartphone at the moment (pre-order) is as close as possible to the recommended one:
MIDNIGHT BLACK
- 6GB/64GB – $620
- 8GB/128GB – $729
- 8GB/256GB – $829
MIRROR BLACK
- 6GB/64GB – $620
- 8GB/128GB – $729
- 8GB/256GB – $829
So far, in this price range there are no competitors to OnePlus 6 in terms of speed and quality of work. And it won't.
