Tech - Review: One Plus 3

OnePlus has come a long way in a very short time. It's generated enough buzz the world over to make it one of the most eagerly tracked smartphone makers in the world. And it's done all of this with a roster that now has a total of four smartphones. By striking at your value-for-money chords, the company offers its trademark flagship smartphone experience at prices that are nowhere near flagship-level. The newly launched OnePlus 3 is available for Rs. 27,999.  On paper, this phone is an absolute beast and appears to have what it takes to challenge the set conventions of flagship pricing. However, it faces tough competition from other smartphones that have already succeeded in defying those conventions like the XiaomiMi 5.    The OnePlus 3 sticks to the same display size and resolution as its predecessors, with a 5.5-inch 1080x1920-pixel screen that has a pixel density of 401ppi. However, OnePlus has decided to go with an AMOLED screen this time around. There is however a polarising layer that assists legibility under bright sunlight. Although it isn't as crisp as the 1440x2560-pixel screens on many flagship phones these days, it's suitably sharp and will give you an excellent picture.   Specifications   The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC is finally picking up some steam, and is now on a handful of devices available in India. Not only does the OnePlus 3 have this SoC clocked at 2.2GHz for two cores and 1.6GHz for the other two cores, but it also sports a colossal 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of internal storage (non-expandable).   Apart from this, there's also dual-SIM 4G connectivity with support for both FDD-Band 3 and TDD-Band 40, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, and NFC. The phone has a 3000mAh non-removable battery, and is the company's first device to feature some kind of fast charging technology. It comes bundled with a 20W Dash Charger, which charges the phone up to 60 percent in 30 minutes. About an hour's charging should fully top up your phone even from near zero.   The technology shifts power management from the device to the charger, which ensures that the phone doesn't heat up too much while charging. We tried it, and it worked like a charm. This also means that it's possible to keep using the phone while it's charging without slowing down the charging process too much. Charging and connectivity are through a USB 2.0 Type-C port, and the cable included in the box allows for ordinary connectivity with most computers and chargers thanks to one end being a standard USB Type-A plug.   It's interesting to note that OnePlus will also be selling a Dash Charger for cars, which plugs into a standard 12V car socket. We tried it with the phone, and although charging is expectedly not quite as fast as with a standard wall-socket charger, it's still a fairly quick and will be a useful accessory to buy if you spend a lot of time on the move.   Tech Specs:   Software: OxygenOS 3.1.1 (based on Android 6.0.1)    Camera: Primary camera: 16-megapixel Sony IMX 298 sensor (4K and can also shoot slow motion video at 120fps, Features optical image stabilisation, phase detection autofocus and RAW image format support).   Front camera 8-megapixel sensor with 1.4-micron pixels.    Performance   Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone    6GB of RAM   AnTuTu score 142,674   Cons:    64GB of internal storage with no expandable option    Single speaker    Low-light photos aren't really good.