OnePlus 5T review
OnePlus is back with the OnePlus 5T, a revised version of its excellent OnePlus 5 smartphone. Much like Apple’s “S” revisions, like the iPhone 6S,
OnePlus’ “T” phones largely stick with the same hardware and design as
the original, with minor changes that make the phone a more attractive
purchase in the latter half of the year. It’s the same approach the
company took in 2016 with the OnePlus 3 and 3T, despite saying future T-versions of its smartphones weren’t certain.
The changes with the 5T make a dramatic difference to the way the phone looks. In our OnePlus 5T review, we found a smartphone that’s impossible not to recommend. It offers a brilliant, bezel-less smartphone experience at an amazing price. OnePlus proves again you don’t need to break the bank for a flagship phone.
It transforms the way the OnePlus 5T looks, making it truly a peer alongside other bezel-less smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S8, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, and the LG V30. It’s taller and slimmer than the OnePlus 5’s screen, and now measures 6.01-inches rather than 5.5-inches. Despite the larger screen, the phone’s body is almost exactly the same size, though a little heavier at 163 grams. The weight is different enough to notice when you compare the two together, but not in everyday use.
The anodized aluminum body is curved at the sides and smooth to the
touch. The back is comfortable and ergonomic, but the sides have a sharp
edge to them, which slightly improves grip but isn’t especially
pleasing to hold. It’s slippery too, forcing you to hold on tight and
further emphasizing the sharp line. We wrapped it in a OnePlus case — the new red silicone one is our favorite — which cured both problems.
Changing the design like this has made the OnePlus 5T look less like an iPhone, and we really adore the minimalist approach throughout. Just look at the back: A OnePlus logo, neatly blended in antenna lines, and that’s all.
It’s not all great news though. The camera lens bulge has got bigger, and it’s a shame the fingerprint sensor looks like an afterthought — we would have liked to see it a little more indented or have chamfered edges to make it a little more distinguishable.
None of these tiny issues spoil the OnePlus 5T.
What’s the difference between looking at a OnePlus 5 (or any other 16:9 aspect ratio screen) and the OnePlus 5T? Let’s take a Twitter feed as an example. On the OnePlus 5T’s screen you see almost an entire tweet more than on the OnePlus 5. The same effect will be seen in most social networking apps, browsing the web, and in other text-based activities in portrait orientation.
In landscape mode, you can pinch out to expand YouTube videos so they
take up the whole screen. It crops the image, so videos look cut off
sometimes. Does this make it pointless? No. Some Netflix content is made
in 18:9 and will fill the screen now, with more to come in the future.
Selected games also stretch across the landscape screen, look great, and
provide a genuinely more immersive experience.
In addition to a Reading Mode, where color temperature is altered and the screen calibrated based on ambient light to improve reading conditions, OnePlus added Sunlight Display to its adaptive brightness mode. OnePlus said this “changes the contrast of the display to automatically reduce glare in situations where it’s needed,” such as outdoors on a bright day. It kicks in when it’s needed, but is it effective? We have no complaints regarding the screen’s visibility outdoors, so we assume the silent feature is doing its job effectively.
How does Portrait Mode work without the telephoto lens? OnePlus told Digital Trends “the sensors work like your eyes: One is optimized to bring the subject matter to the forefront and one is able to achieve the background blur. You do not need a telephoto lens to achieve bokeh-effect images.”
So how do they look? Results vary, just like all artificial bokeh modes on smartphones. What the OnePlus 5T does well is pick out edges, whether it’s an object or someone’s face, and the shots aren’t cropped down to achieve the portrait effect.
It reminded us more of the Galaxy Note 8’s camera than the iPhone or the OnePlus 5. The low-light performance of the OnePlus 5T’s camera when using Portrait Mode is better than the 5, with less grain and more detail. Taking shots at night outside didn’t reveal the OnePlus 5T to be overly adept at handling poor lighting, despite both lenses having an f/1.7 aperture, and it certainly can’t match the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for stunning nighttime shots. The camera is relatively feature-sparse and has a Pro mode, a panorama mode, plus a time-lapse and slow motion video mode.
The camera app is dead simple to use: Swipe left or right on the
viewfinder screen to access video or Portrait Mode. It’s a little
annoying that some features, like the grid, are hidden under a settings
mode that’s not immediately easy to find. One new feature we did like
works with the rear fingerprint sensor — you can long press the sensor
to take a photo. This works with both rear and selfie cameras, and it’s
handy. The 16-megapixel selfie cam doesn’t have a portrait mode, but
takes good pictures. Its only feature is a simple beauty mode.
The OnePlus 5T’s camera is very good, but it’s not spectacular. It’s missing some of the excitement we feel when using the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, the LG V30, or the Google Pixel 2. Regardless, we’re confident the OnePlus 5T will do everything we ask without fuss, and we’ll be happy with the end results.
It works superbly, and it is indeed convenient. If you’re worried about it not being secure, you can turn it off, and stick with the fingerprint sensor.
Running some benchmarks, we got the following results:
The software experience is the same as the OnePlus 5. Android 7.1.1 is installed, disguised as OnePlus’s OxygenOS, and it’s relatively close to standard Android with a few simple changes. What’s frustrating is it’s not Android 8.0 Oreo underneath. Yes, OnePlus said it’s coming in the first quarter of 2018, but for a company that told us its software department was working harder to bring out more timely updates, we’re disappointed not to see the latest version on a brand-new phone.
The changes with the 5T make a dramatic difference to the way the phone looks. In our OnePlus 5T review, we found a smartphone that’s impossible not to recommend. It offers a brilliant, bezel-less smartphone experience at an amazing price. OnePlus proves again you don’t need to break the bank for a flagship phone.
Slimmed down bezels
The OnePlus 5T is the phone the OnePlus 5 should have been. The most visual change is on the front — the 5T swaps the chunky edges around the screen, and the 16:9 aspect ratio screen for a modern 18:9 screen, with skimpy bezels at the top and bottom.It transforms the way the OnePlus 5T looks, making it truly a peer alongside other bezel-less smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S8, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, and the LG V30. It’s taller and slimmer than the OnePlus 5’s screen, and now measures 6.01-inches rather than 5.5-inches. Despite the larger screen, the phone’s body is almost exactly the same size, though a little heavier at 163 grams. The weight is different enough to notice when you compare the two together, but not in everyday use.
The OnePlus 5T is the phone the OnePlus 5 should have been.
Minimizing the edges around the screen also meant getting rid of
capacitive buttons and the home button, which doubled as a fingerprint
sensor. The sensor has now relocated to the back of the phone, and you
can only use on-screen navigation buttons on the 5T. OnePlus has used
the outgoing format since the OnePlus 2,
and some hardcore fans may find this change controversial. We actually
welcome it. Fingerprint sensors on the rear are almost standard across
the Android world now, with LG, Samsung, Google, and others all adopting
it. It’s natural and convenient, largely because the sensor is
well-placed. It also helps that it’s beyond lightning fast.Changing the design like this has made the OnePlus 5T look less like an iPhone, and we really adore the minimalist approach throughout. Just look at the back: A OnePlus logo, neatly blended in antenna lines, and that’s all.
It’s not all great news though. The camera lens bulge has got bigger, and it’s a shame the fingerprint sensor looks like an afterthought — we would have liked to see it a little more indented or have chamfered edges to make it a little more distinguishable.
None of these tiny issues spoil the OnePlus 5T.
A great AMOLED screen
All this talk about 18:9 aspect ratio screens, and the continued adoption of them by the smartphone industry, may make you wonder if they’re worth the hype. How does the OnePlus 5T’s new screen look? It’s still a gorgeous Full Optic AMOLED panel, just like the one of the OnePlus 5, only with a slightly adjusted Full HD+ resolution, reaching 2,160 x 1,080 pixels spread over the 6.01-inch panel. It’s crisp, has a beautiful color spread with deep blacks, and its high brightness level makes it easy to read in direct sunlight. The OnePlus 5T’s screen really is wonderful.What’s the difference between looking at a OnePlus 5 (or any other 16:9 aspect ratio screen) and the OnePlus 5T? Let’s take a Twitter feed as an example. On the OnePlus 5T’s screen you see almost an entire tweet more than on the OnePlus 5. The same effect will be seen in most social networking apps, browsing the web, and in other text-based activities in portrait orientation.
The OnePlus 5T’s screen really is wonderful to look at.
We hesitate to call the 18:9 aspect ratio screen larger or better
than its 16:9 counterpart; but it certainly shows more content in the
right situation, which means less scrolling and more reading. We didn’t
notice any difference in performance between the AMOLED on the OnePlus 5
and the OnePlus 5T. Viewing angles are excellent, and you can hide the
Android navigation keys away from sight to make the most of the
edge-to-edge screen.In addition to a Reading Mode, where color temperature is altered and the screen calibrated based on ambient light to improve reading conditions, OnePlus added Sunlight Display to its adaptive brightness mode. OnePlus said this “changes the contrast of the display to automatically reduce glare in situations where it’s needed,” such as outdoors on a bright day. It kicks in when it’s needed, but is it effective? We have no complaints regarding the screen’s visibility outdoors, so we assume the silent feature is doing its job effectively.
A no frills, reliable camera
OnePlus has retained the dual-lens, 16-megapixel and 20-megapixel cameras from the OnePlus 5 on the T model, but has made some changes to the lenses. Gone is the telephoto lens and in comes a standard lens with an f/1.7 aperture. The intention is to improve low-light performance. Without a telephoto lens, there’s no optical zoom — though you can still quickly jump to 2x digital zoom — and Portrait Mode photos aren’t as close up.How does Portrait Mode work without the telephoto lens? OnePlus told Digital Trends “the sensors work like your eyes: One is optimized to bring the subject matter to the forefront and one is able to achieve the background blur. You do not need a telephoto lens to achieve bokeh-effect images.”
So how do they look? Results vary, just like all artificial bokeh modes on smartphones. What the OnePlus 5T does well is pick out edges, whether it’s an object or someone’s face, and the shots aren’t cropped down to achieve the portrait effect.
It reminded us more of the Galaxy Note 8’s camera than the iPhone or the OnePlus 5. The low-light performance of the OnePlus 5T’s camera when using Portrait Mode is better than the 5, with less grain and more detail. Taking shots at night outside didn’t reveal the OnePlus 5T to be overly adept at handling poor lighting, despite both lenses having an f/1.7 aperture, and it certainly can’t match the Huawei Mate 10 Pro for stunning nighttime shots. The camera is relatively feature-sparse and has a Pro mode, a panorama mode, plus a time-lapse and slow motion video mode.
The OnePlus 5T’s camera is very good, but it’s not spectacular. It’s missing some of the excitement we feel when using the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, the LG V30, or the Google Pixel 2. Regardless, we’re confident the OnePlus 5T will do everything we ask without fuss, and we’ll be happy with the end results.
Unlock with your face
Knowing it may face some backlash to for moving the fingerprint sensor to the rear, OnePlus has added another way to unlock the phone on the front. Face Unlock works with the selfie camera to identify and unlock your face, and it works exceptionally well. Glance at a locked screen and the phone quickly springs to life. It’s incredibly fast, and in our experience beats the iPhone X and the Galaxy Note 8 for speed. It matches LG’s similar system.
Face Unlock works with the selfie camera, and it works exceptionally well.
How has OnePlus managed such a feat? It’s not used for security, so
the requirements aren’t as stringent as they are on the iPhone or the
Note 8. OnePlus said it’s for convenience, and to emphasize this, you
can’t use Face Unlock with Android Pay or with any secure app.It works superbly, and it is indeed convenient. If you’re worried about it not being secure, you can turn it off, and stick with the fingerprint sensor.
Customizable software, strong performance
OnePlus has left the internal specifications alone for the 5T, keeping the Snapdragon 835 processor and offering a choice of 6GB of RAM with 64GB of storage space, and 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage space. Don’t be fooled into thinking 8GB of RAM makes the OnePlus 5T perform differently to the 6GB model. We tried both OnePlus 5 models and couldn’t tell the difference, and we expect it’s the same with the OnePlus 5T. It’s worth paying extra for the 128GB of storage space if you download a lot of media, as the 5T doesn’t offer a MicroSD card slot.Running some benchmarks, we got the following results:
- GeekBench 4: Single-core 1,934; Multi-core 6,678
- AnTuTu 3D: 180,588
- 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme: 3,199
The software experience is the same as the OnePlus 5. Android 7.1.1 is installed, disguised as OnePlus’s OxygenOS, and it’s relatively close to standard Android with a few simple changes. What’s frustrating is it’s not Android 8.0 Oreo underneath. Yes, OnePlus said it’s coming in the first quarter of 2018, but for a company that told us its software department was working harder to bring out more timely updates, we’re disappointed not to see the latest version on a brand-new phone.
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