OnePlus 3 review

Introduction:

A great act is tough to follow and sometimes delivering two great devices in a row requires that you take a completely different approach with the successor. Now on its third "flagship killer" (with the OnePlus X taking a different path), OnePlus has taken on the tough task to mature from a business standpoint, while still retaining that ambitious "never settle" attitude that brought it where it is today.

Only time will tell if that works out, but it's beyond the point of this review anyway. What we are determined to find out here is whether the OnePlus 3 is worth your hard-earned cash.

On paper, the formula is right - match the specs of rivals and undercut their pricing. However, it is the approach towards the latter that has really changed this time around. Instead of going for an absurdly low price and being unable to sort out production, mandating stuff like the dreaded invite system, OnePlus has gone to reasonable levels this time and dropped the sales tricks.

Overall, the OnePlus 3 is best described as driven by pragmatic choices. There is nothing really unusual, bold or even remotely eccentric from a design standpoint - just a really elegant and thin metal unibody with very few things that may raise questions. The same goes for the specs. They have always been more than robust in OnePlus devices, but typically hand-picked and arranged for optimal performance, rather than just there for the sake of pure numbers.

Key features:

• 5.5" Optic AMOLED display of 1080p resolution; 401ppi; Corning Gorilla Glass 4; Metal back
• 64GB model with Snapdragon 820 chipset (2x Kryo at 2.15GHz and 2x Kryo at 1.6GHz cores); Adreno 530 GPU
• 16MP f/2.0 main camera with OIS and phase detection autofocus, single LED flash; 2160p video at 30fps;
• 8MP f/2.0 front-facing camera, 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 4G LTE; Dual-SIM support; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.2; NFC; GPS, GLONASS and BDS; Fingerprint reader; USB Type-C connector
• Oxygen OS, based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
• 3,000mAh non-removable battery
• Fast battery charging: 60% in 30 min (Dash Charge)

Main Shortcomings :

• No microSD card slot

With a Snapdragon 820 SoC and Adreno 530 GPU, pushing pixels to an extremely power-efficient 1080p, 5.5-inch AMOLED panel, you don't expect any performance bottlenecks. If anything the 6GB of RAM put it ahead of the pack and with a Sony-made 16MP OIS camera imaging department holds plenty of promise too.

   

All bases seem covered, but a modern smartphone, and particularly a flagship is more than a mechanical sum of its parts. Premium user experience goes beyond the things you can put on a specs sheet and we are yet to see if OnePlus managed to deliver it. Follow along on the next page, as we unbox the 3 and take a closer look at its exterior.

Unboxing One Plus 3 :

Unboxing the OnePlus 3

OnePlus definitely has its own signature when it comes to packaging and presentation. In a way, it is very clean and streamlined, like what you would expect form Apple or Xiaomi, with lots of white and uniform surfaces.

  

You do get that with the OnePlus 3 and its white rectangular two piece box. But, at the same time, the signature red color accents are still prevalent throughout. There is the big red OnePlus logo on the front as well as a thin red data cable. In fact, the whole bottom half of the box is painted in bright red.

It is also worth noting that OnePlus has spared no expense when it comes to the packaging. It is all done with a soft finish cardboard with a few neatly arranged compartments sliding effortlessly in place. The OnePlus 3 itself actually sits inside a plastic cradle instead of plain cardboard.

As part of the standard package, you get the aforementioned USB Type-C cable, as well as the company's new Dash charger. It is an extremely compact 4A unit that actually uses a custom version of Oppo's VOOC technology, which we still believe is the industry leader when it comes to fast charging.

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