Oneplus’s refreshing T adds up to another blazing bargain

Oneplus has held the smartphone value crown for years now, with top-spec blowers that don’t destroy your bank balance. The Oneplus 5 might have bumped up the price, but it was still a bit of a steal – and now the 5T looks like an even better bargain. It takes the same hardware and design, but updates it with skinny screen bezels, an improved camera and some fancy facial recognition. It’s more of a bonus than an essential add-on like Apple’s Faceid, as it can only unlock the phone, but it works pretty well considering it just uses the selfie cam to scan your facial features.

Inside, fan favourites like Dash Charging return alongside a Snapdragon 835 CPU, 6/8GB of RAM and 64/128GB of storage, so it’s still a bit of a powerhouse. The headphone jack hasn’t gone anywhere either.

This is still a phone made to a budget, which is clear when you stick it next to its more expensive rivals – there’s no waterproofing, wireless charging or expandable storage, for example. The design’s also rather unspectacular: bezels are skinny, but the 5T isn’t going to bewitch people, especially as Oneplus has stuck with a sensible metal back instead of glass.

Really though, the price is what makes the 5T such a winner. You’re getting a more modern screen, a slicker camera and smart bonuses like facial recognition, for the same price as the old phone – and that’s around half the price of the top Apple or Google handset.