Friends+Design
- Absolutely immaculate fit and finish - OnePlus’ design refinement has grown alongside the entire mobile industry to the point where it’s hard to now find flagship phones that don’t look like pieces of precision-engineered electronic jewellery
- The design is in fact a subtle (and well done) enhancement over the standard OnePlus 6T - the back panel in the McLaren edition is layered with carbon fiber beneath the glass — this is something that has otherwise been a fixture of very premium phones thus far - there is also the McLaren inspired orange accent colour (popularly known as Papaya Orange) frame around the phone—this is thicker and brighter near the bottom and narrows as well as fades out towards the top - there is the McLaren branding on the back as well, that's a visual delight - when light reflects off it, the logo gives you the illusion that it is moving around
- Pretty good ergonomics for a large phone (it is a large phone though, mind you, in line with the dimensions of the Google Pixel 3 XL and iPhone XS Max)
- The in-display fingerprint reader is good - and works well most of the time - though like other in-display readers, it's not quite as quick as separate fingerprint readers can be, and can sometimes be finicky - that's the trade-off you make when you buy into cutting edge of technology
- Still not fully waterproof (there is some water resistance but it's not IP certified)
Display
- Big, beautiful 'dewdrop' notch display
- OnePlus’ Reading mode is still there and is as useful as ever - it turns the screen to a reading-optimized monochrome, and it can be assigned to activate when you’re in certain apps
Software
- The implementation of Oxygen OS UI on the OnePlus 6T is a faultlessly smooth and pleasurable experience - OxygenOS adds genuinely good and desirable things without taking anything away from the core Android experience - and it is today arguably the best custom Android approach by any brand - and a lot of people might argue, even better than stock Android
- OnePlus' gesture-based navigation system is intuitive, borrows from the iPhone, and is arguably better than the default gesture navigation system on Android Pie - of course, OnePlus also gives you the option to revert to the old trio of Android navigation buttons, if you so wish
- In fact, thanks to things like OnePlus’ gesture navigation, a focus on smoothness, better app management and an built-in dark theme, Oxygen OS genuinely feels like an improved take on stock Android
Performance
- Buttery smooth performance throughout with top-line hardware, as you would expect from a OnePlus - but the company has stepped up even further the level of polish to an impressive degree - it gives a sensation of both speed and comfort - the fluidity of the user experience here isn’t merely on par with the world’s most expensive smartphones, it surpasses many of them, thanks to good design decisions from OnePlus - there’s no unnecessary Bixby button here, none of the daft spam notifications you’d get from Oppo or Huawei, and no irksome theme stores that demand you create an account just to be able to modify your phone’s interface to your liking - using a OnePlus phone, for anyone who’s had to suffer the friction of dealing with other Android manufacturers’ software, is frankly liberating - speed at every turn, easy and flexible customization of both the interface and app icons, and precious little in the way of annoyances
- The phone also comes with an incredible 10GB of RAM, making it as future-proof as you can get at this time
Camera
- The camera performance is improved a bit, with some software tweaks and optimizations, over the OnePlus 6 - and overall, it's still an excellent camera for far less than its competitors
- That said though, there is still some way to go before OnePlus can have a camera that matches to the level of a Pixel 3 or a Galaxy Note 9 - and it is the camera, more than anything else, where you’ll experience the price delta between the OnePlus 6T and the pricier flagships above it
Audio
- Like most flagships now, OnePlus too has made the transition to audio over the USB-C port - which means that if you want to use your existing 3.5mm jack headphones, you will need to use the (included) dongle, or buy separate USB-C or wireless headphones
- The loudspeaker is a bit on the quiet side
Battery
- Very strong battery life - the biggest OnePlus has yet put in any of its phones - the 6T lasts that extra bit more than the 6, nudging it from good to almost great battery life - the OnePlus 6T will make it through a day of intensive use without a problem
- OnePlus's excellent 'Dash charging' is this time replaced by an even more amazing 'Warp charging' - the phone will top up from 0 to 50% in just 20 minutes!
- No wireless charging support
More
- Simply put, the OnePlus 6T is the most affordable, top-notch Android you can get - offering some amazing bang for your buck - and the McLaren edition is a nice little 'premium' upgrade on top of it
- It improves on its predecessor (OnePlus 6) and pushes mobile innovation further with choices like a smaller notch and an in-display fingerprint sensor
- Overall, it's 90% of the ultimate flagship phone for 60% of the price - and for most people that will be an excellent deal
