This year in June, we saw OnePlus 5, the flagship killer that offers all-round experience until the OnePlus 5T arrived and it made the OnePlus 5 look obsolete. OnePlus 5T has gone bezel-less and it’s the biggest difference to the OnePlus 5. The rest things are almost the same, the hardware, camera, design. To be precise, the OnePlus 5T is what the OnePlus 5 should to be. Check out our OnePlus 5T review.
What’s in the Box
- OnePlus 5T with built-in battery
- Dash USB Cable (Type-C)
- Dash Charger (5V, 4A)
- Screen Protector (Pre-applied)
- SIM Tray Ejector
- Quick Start Guide and Safety Information
- OnePlus Brand Decals
OnePlus 5T Specifications
- Display: 6.01-inch Full Optic AMOLED display with 18:9 aspect ratio, Full HD+ resolution (2160 x 1080 pixels), sRGB/DCI-P3 color coverage, 2.5D curved glass, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- Operating System: OxygenOS 4.7 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, on the back Yes, on Home button
- CPU: Up to 2.45 GHz octa-core Kyro 280 processor, 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, 64-bit
- DSP Processor: Qualcomm Hexagon 682 DSP
- GPU: Adreno 540
- Memory: 6 GB or 8 GB RAM, LPDDR4X
- Storage: 64 GB or 128 GB UFS 2.1 internal storage, no microSD slot
- Main Camera: Dual Cameras (16 MP + 20 MP)
16 MP (Sony IMX398), f/1.7
20 MP (IMX350), f/2.6
Telephoto lens, Portrait Mode, Smart Capture, Fast AF, OIS, dual-tone LED flash, 4K video @30fps, 1080p video @60fps, 720p video @120fps - Selfie Camera: 16 MP (Sony IMX371), f/2.0, Screen Flash, 1080p video @30fps
- Connectivity: USB 3.1 (Type-C), 3.5 mm port, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS
- Cellular: 4G network, VoLTE-enabled, 2x nano SIM (GSM)
- Battery 3,300 mAh (non-removable), Dash Charge technology
- Dimensions 156.2 mm x 75 mm x 7.3 mm
- Weight 162 grams
- Colors: Midnight Black
- Released: 16th November 2017 (Global) 17th November 2017 (India)
- Price: ₹32,999 or $499 or €499 (6 GB RAM, 64 GB Storage), ₹37,999 or $559 or €559 (8 GB RAM, 128 GB Storage)
- Availability: Available in North America and Europe from 21st November 2017. First flash sale in India on 21st November 2017 from 4.30 pm onwards via Amazon India. General sales kick off from 28th November 2017.
Design, Built, & Ergonomics
The OnePlus 5T has the same sleek metal body, the same rounded corners as its predecessor OnePlus 5. Most notable change is the display which squeezes the bezels to offer a larger AMOLED screen. The fingerprint scanner is fortunately moved to the back, which may sound good for some people (some people). The design of the OnePlus 5T remains as much the same we saw on the OnePlus 5 launched 5 months ago.
The overall design aesthetics are premium, the looks are according to the current design trends. It’s skinny, weights 162 grams, and has a solid build quality. OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 5 all relate to each other in terms of design except the OnePlus 5T which looks different due to its bezel-less display.
A bigger display offers a better viewing experience and less hinderance of the bezels while reading, browsing or watching videos. Larger screens may not be suitable for all, you may need to stretch your thumb to the top when navigating. The Home button is removed, it rather uses onscreen buttons for navigation.
The left side offers the Silent key and Volume keys while on the right side is the Power key and a dual SIM tray that holds two 4G SIMs and no microSD slot. The bottom comes with a type-C USB port, a loudspeaker, microphone, and a 3.5 mm port.
Display
OnePlus 5T sports a 6.01-inch Optic AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution with 18:9 aspect ratio. When we speak about its display, it’s all about that screen, nothing has changed aside from the size of the display. The display is stretched to 6.01-inches with the same Full HD resolution.
Opponents offer a better display quality with higher pixels, take the Samsung Galaxy S8 which comes with a Quad HD display in 5.8-inch size. OnePlus 5T has settled for a Full HD display in 6.01-inch size. It does have an AMOLED panel which ensures that the colors are vibrant and clear. Also, the large screen will give you a better multimedia experience.
The display enhancements include Ambient Display, Night mode, Reading Mode, Screen calibration, and LED notification light customizer. We have explained more about the display in our OnePlus 5 review.
Software & User Interface
Our OnePlus 5T unit came with a customized Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, it runs on Oxygen OS 4.7. We did want to see the Oreo running and OnePlus 5T seems capable to provide the Oreo update due to its clean interface. The security patch it’s running is dated 1st October 2017. Assuming in the coming months, OnePlus should be shifting already on the Android Oreo before anyone does.
Just like all the other OnePlus phones, the OnePlus 5T offers a near stock experience with a few pre-installed apps which can be removed. What’s newly added in the software is the addition of the Face Unlock feature that relies on face recognition technology to unlock the smartphone. According to OnePlus, the Face Unlock works 99% of the time when your nose and eyes are visible properly. It works fast and it’s all seems reliable, it doesn’t unlock with facial photographs. Please note that it does require some lighting to work, and it works well and quick.
In addition to the features, OnePlus has also introduced a feature called Parallel Apps that allows you to clone the app and use two different accounts of the same app. For instance, run two WhatsApp accounts on the phone simultaneously. Other features include the gestures like Three-finger screenshot that we have seen in the OnePlus 5. The gestures are also added to the fingerprint scanner, swipe on fingerprint scanner for notifications and long press to take a photo.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
When it comes to raw power, OnePlus 5T tops out leaving expensive flagships behind. It is powered by Snapdragon 835 octa-core SoC with 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB UFS 2.1 storage in its top variant and that makes it a high-end device. Although the hardware is pretty much same as the OnePlus 5, it still has enough power take down most flagships in the market.
Moving to the benchmarks of the phone, you can clearly see the OnePlus 5T stays at the top in AnTuTu benchmark beating the expensive phones like Samsung Galaxy Note8 and Sony Xperia XZ Premium. Other benchmarks include Geekbech 4 which scored 1,954 points (single-core CPU), 6,693 points (multi-core CPU), and 7,962 points (GPU). The 3D Mark scored 3,689 points in the Sling Shot Extreme.
AnTuTu Benchmark
- 179,421 points
Geekbench 4
- 1,954 points (single-core CPU)
- 6,693 points (multi-core CPU)
- 7,962 points (GPU)
3D Mark
- 3,689 points
The OnePlus 5T takes on gaming at an extreme level. No matter what you throw, the OnePlus 5T handles the games with ease. It equips a high-end Adreno 540 GPU that certainly plays all the games without any issues or lags. The gaming performance is almost the same as OnePlus 5.
Games Tested on OnePlus 5T
- Shadow Fight 3
- Sonic Forces
- Need for Speed No Limits
Storage, Memory & Connectivity
On the storage side, the OnePlus 5T has two variants 64 GB and 128 GB, both UFS-type storage. You won’t be running out of the RAM and storage, there’s plenty of it the user gets.
The storage performance is very identical to the Samsung Galaxy S8, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, and Samsung Galaxy Note8. The results are almost the same as the OnePlus 5.
OnePlus 5T supports GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou. The GPS module locates the areas very well, both indoors and outdoors. The accuracy is just a few meters, hence, the GPS positioning is reliable in practice.
A1 SD Bench
- 418.00 MB/s (Read)
- 213.77 MB/s (Write)
- 6,965.76 MB/s (RAM Copy)
AndroBench
- 712.05 MB/s (Sequential Read)
- 201.78 MB/s (Sequential Write)
- 135.33 MB/s (Random Read)
- 19.4 MB/s (Random Write)
PC Mark Storage Benchmark (Internal) – 4,891 Points
- 507.12 MB/s (Sequential Read)
- 142.99 MB/s (Sequential Write)
- 16.91 MB/s (Random Read)
- 3.31 MB/s (Random Write)
Cameras
OnePlus 5T sports a dual-camera setup on the back. The rear camera has a dual camera setup (20 MP + 16 MP) with dual-tone LED flash and the front side carries a 16 MP selfie camera. A small change in the 20 MP camera is the sensor which is now updated to the Sony IMX376K (versus the Sony IMX350 in OnePlus 5) with f/1.7 aperture emphasizing more on the low-light conditions.
OnePlus 5T Camera Specifications
- Camera: Dual Cameras MP PDAF, f/2.0 aperture
- Camera Sensor (Rear): Sony Exmor IMX376K (20 MP), Sony Exmor IMX398 (16 MP)
- Optical Image Stabilization (OIS): Yes
- Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS): Yes
- Flash: Dual-tone LED
- Features: Portrait Mode, HDR, Manual, Tap to Focus, Geo-tagging, Panorama, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, Burst Shot,
- Video Recording (Rear): 4K video @30fps, 1080p video @60fps, 720p video @120fps, HDR Support
- Front Camera: 16 MP, f/2.0 aperture
- Camera Sensor (Front): Samsung 3P8SP
- Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS): Yes
- Video Recording (Front): Up to 1080p video @30fps
- Flash: Screen Flash
The camera app offers a Pro Mode, HDR, Panorama, Time-lapse as well as records 4K videos, 120fps slow-motion videos. There aren’t much things the camera has to offer, like Honor and ASUS smartphones with the featured camera app, the OnePlus 5T uses a stock-like camera app.
The camera performance is impressive, the shots taken in the daylight are detailed, offers very good colors and contrast. The Portrait mode works exceptionally good, take a look at the samples we have shared. The low light performance of the camera seems quite good but it still can’t compete with the Samsung Galaxy S8, Sony Xperia XZ1, and Honor 8 Pro.
Selfies turn out to be great in the daytime, during low light, it uses the screen flash. The overall camera package is very good.
OnePlus 5T Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
Since OnePlus 5T equips a larger screen, a larger battery is essential. Well, that’s not the case, the battery is still kept same from the OnePlus 5 i.e. 3,300 mAh capacity. Fortunately, the battery life for a powerhouse like OnePlus 5T seems more than average and there’s not much difference after the screen is enlarged. We’ve no complaints about its battery life.
The battery life is almost identical to the OnePlus 5, it lasts easily a day on moderate to heavy usage with 5 hours of screen-on-time. Our test results indicate that the OnePlus 5T lasts 3 days on minimum usage and 2 days on below average use with screen-on-time of 3 hours 40 minutes. Please note that our tests are based on single 4G SIM.
If you still feel short on battery, the OnePlus 5T supports Dash charging which charges the phone in less than 80 minutes from 0% to 100% and that makes it the fastest charging smartphone in the world. OnePlus 5T can be charged from 0% to 60% in just 30 minutes. Check out the screenshot which shows that the Dash charge fills the battery from 1% to 88% in 52 minutes on standby mode.
We have shared the battery performance result which should give you a rough idea how much battery is consumed by the apps that you may be using on daily basis.
OnePlus 5T Battery Test Results
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Verdict
OnePlus 5T is relatively an inexpensive smartphone that performs exceptionally great in all aspects and competes with the expensive flagships. Although OnePlus 5T is a high-end device, it’s far from perfect, it lacks water resistance (IP68), wireless charging, a Quad HD display, and Oreo out-of-the-box. Despite all these, the OnePlus 5T is still one of the best smartphones available and it’s highly recommended.
Rivals
- Sony Xperia XZ1 (64 GB) – ₹44,990
- Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 (64 GB) – ₹35,999
Strength
- Bezel-Less Design & Large AMOLED Display
- Blazing Fast Performance
- Very Good Camera Package
- Face Unlock Works Well
- Dash Charging Support
Weakness
- No Android Oreo out-of-the-box
- Not IP68 Certified
- Lacks microSD support
