Oneplus 6
Equals seventh phone heaven
We usually think of competition in the consumer-technology market as a race, but Oneplus has turned it into something more like whack-a-mole. Each year, all the major phone brands fill the shops with their new top-end models at 700-odd quid, and then along comes this direct-selling independent manufacturer, based in China’s Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, and announces something of very similar quality for under £500. And yes, they’ve done it again.
What must make this all the more galling for rivals is that Oneplus don’t even copy other people’s designs. Their hardware is as distinctive as more expensive phones. This time you get a huge 6.3in screen, bigger and taller than the iphone X. It’s protected by curvyedged Gorilla Glass 5, and although the phone isn’t waterproof, Oneplus says it’s “water-resistant for everyday use,” which we’d take to mean a bit of rain won’t hurt it. The very sharp AMOLED screen isn’t especially bright, but it’s rated for the wide DCI P3 colour range and in the SRGB mode it covered 100 per cent of the gamut with very high accuracy.
The back comes in a polished Mirror Black, matt Midnight Black for those who prefer not to be constantly removing smudges, or pearlescent Silk White. It features twin cameras, a fast new fingerprint reader (supporting the Android Pay contactless system) and Oneplus’s attractive logo.
The unique three-way silent switch has moved from the left to the right, but is still just as handy, letting you switch from standard alerts to vibrate or silent without having to use the screen. There’s now a visual indicator of which mode you’re in. Charging is via USB Type-c, and a proper 3.5mm headphone jack is on the bottom edge.
Inside is an eight- core Snapdragon 845 processor, the same as you’d get if you paid £699 for a Sony Xperia XZ2. With Adreno 630 graphics performance that beats the £739 Samsung Galaxy S9 and almost equals the £999 iphone X.
Despite having 2.5 million pixels to cope with, the battery lasted 17 hours 18 minutes in our video-playback test, which is two hours fewer than last year’s smaller Oneplus 5T but still qualifies as ‘plenty’, again beating nearly all rivals at any price. As usual, Oneplus provides no microsd slot but gives you a sensible 64GB of storage as a minimum.
The main 16-megapixel rear camera has a bigger sensor than the 5T’s as well as a fast f/1.7 aperture. Combined with optical stabilisation, omitted from the 5T, that means you can get decent pictures even in low light – but not quite as good as the very best current phone cameras. Our pictures did show good balance and lots of detail, improving visibly on the 5T. The second lens doesn’t add zoom or black-and-white shooting, only depth perception for the blurred-background mode (the front camera also offers this, but without a second sensor it can be glitchy). Nor do you get the XZ2’S ultra slow motion. But you do get to keep 230 more of your pounds, and that optical stabilisation works right up to supersmooth 60 frames-per-second 4K video.
Android 8.1 comes in Oneplus’ well-thought-out Oxygenos version, with a new Gaming Mode to maximise performance and banish interruptions while you enjoy the latest 3D games. There’s also a Night Mode to reduce blue light, and a monochrome Reading Mode. Face Unlock is supported if you prefer it to fingerprint unlock. The forthcoming Android P should arrive soon via Google’s Project Treble, which helps manufacturers roll out updates quickly.
Its price tag may be mid-range, but its specs are high-end