An honest review of the OnePlus 3 flagship killer

Can you imagine what would happen if a 60-ton battle tank rolled over a passenger car? The same thing happens with the top smartphones of the promoted brands when the new OnePlus appears. We checked how the next flagship killer lives up to its high-profile title, and prepared for you a review of OnePlus 3 in an experimental format.

What an experimental format

A typical review of a gadget is such a long and often boring sheet of words, not always clear numbers and graphs, as well as pictures, which tells in detail about all the components of the device. It turns out to be too many letters, and the key advantages and disadvantages are smeared over the text and are not deposited in the head.

We decided to discard all unnecessary things, leaving the most important. Extremely useful information that you can quickly get acquainted with and learn everything about the gadget. Only the pros, cons and controversial features of a device with a much lower water content.

What kind of killer is he if it costs 30 thousand rubles?

Comparing OnePlus 3 with budget Xiaomi or Meizu for a little over 100 dollars is the same as putting Lada and BMW on a par.

is a smartphone that was created as opposed to expensive tops from well-known brands and is equipped with the most powerful filling and the best materials.

Review of the "flagship killer" OnePlus 3

In terms of performance and execution, the flagship killer beats the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5 and others, but at the same time it costs significantly less.

pros

Performance with a margin

Someone says that a modern Android smartphone lacks 2 GB of RAM. For some, 3 GB is not enough. The new OnePlus is packed with honest SIX GIGABYTES OF OPERATING LPDDR4. Such a large amount of memory is certainly redundant, but even the most demanding Android enthusiast will not blame a smartphone for a lack of RAM. Again, you can shake the number in front of the faces of Samsung owners, feeling their own superiority. In general, gigahertz and gigabyte competitions are widely practiced among power users, and OnePlus 3 was created specifically for them.

In combination with the most powerful Snapdragon 820 and Adreno 530 graphics, the smartphone becomes a real monster that easily pulls ANY most demanding game on ultra-graphics, keeping three more heavy applications and a couple of dozen ordinary ones in memory.

Flexible Android without tinsel

The OnePlus 3 runs OxygenOS and is based on the current Android 6 Marshmallow. This assembly, on the one hand, is similar to the reference, pure Android from Google, but on the other hand, it hides in itself a very large potential for customization. Suffice it to say that the user can add their own actions even to the system buttons and change the position of the "Back" button, placing it either on the left or on the right, depending on the habit.

The assignments of the three-position physical switch of the notification mode are not yet configurable, but the next update will probably add such a function, or it will be done by someone from third-party developers.

The absence of heavy graphic kits makes the system fast and stable. There is no unnecessary software, which often duplicates Google applications, creates additional confusion and slows down the entire system. OxygenOS is almost perfect in terms of simplicity and functionality.

Balanced design

If you want, you can get to the bottom of any case, but in the case of the OnePlus 3, this is difficult. Solid aluminum, with impeccable fit of parts.

Moderately weighty, not too thin, at the same time austere, but streamlined thanks to rounded corners and 2.5D glass.

Without the stupid glass back that collects tons of grease from your fingers. The OnePlus 3 is very comfortable and looks great in both rough male paws and fine female hands.

Scientifically based night mode

The health-safe night mode isn't just about dimmed and dark. The blue light from the screen is a wake-up signal for our brain. For this reason, we cannot fall asleep when we are buried in a smartphone before going to bed. The OnePlus 3's Night Mode turns off blue and doesn't cause untimely hormonal surges.

Fast fingerprint scanner that is correctly positioned

The responsiveness of the OnePlus 3 fingerprint scanner is as fast as the Galaxy S7, Nexus 6P, and iPhone 6s, but the most important thing is its location.

We do not know what the engineers were guided by, who came up with the idea to put the sensor REAR. Perhaps these people hold the phone in their hands 100% of the time. An ordinary person very often has situations when you need to do something in a smartphone lying on the table. In this case, the front-facing scanner does not interfere in any way, but with the rear position you have to first take the device in your hand, then grope for the sensor, release the lock and return the device to the table surface. This is terribly inconvenient and infuriating. Do not buy smartphones with a scanner on the back: you will regret your choice.

The scanner not only unlocks the lock, but also acts as a Home button. Unlike the iPhone, the button is touch-sensitive, not mechanical.

Great cameras from Sony

A modern smartphone is unthinkable without good cameras, and OnePlus 3 offers two cool sensors at once: the main 16-megapixel Sony IMX298 with PDAF autofocus, HDR and dynamic noise filter, as well as the front 8-megapixel IMX179 also from Sony.

Naturally, these cameras are very good at shooting, as you can see by looking at the image below. It was made without any preconfigurations, literally on the go.

OnePlus records video up to 4K at 30 fps. Standard 1080p is recorded at 60 frames, while 720p is available in slow motion at 120 frames.

Lovers and lovers of self will love the auto-selfie mode, in which the smartphone automatically focuses on the face, after which it starts the countdown and takes the picture itself. An extremely handy feature.

There is NFC

Those who have learned the delights of contactless payment using NFC rarely pick up cash and a bank card. Despite the aluminum body, OnePlus 3 engineers miraculously squeezed NFC into the smartphone. And everything works flawlessly.

Normal procedure for buying a smartphone without invites

Previous OnePlus models could not be purchased without an invite. Artificially complicating purchases through an invitation system is a working, but rather disgusting, way to create additional noise and an aura of "elitism" around your products. Fortunately, OnePlus has given up on nonsense and is now selling smartphones without unnecessary complications. Paid - waited - received.

Minuses

No choice

Only one configuration. No options. Don't want to overpay for the frankly extra 6 GB of RAM? Sorry. I would like to save money at the expense of the size of the internal memory, because you are unlikely to take up 64 GB? Sorry again.

We are sure that if OnePlus released a lower version of the smartphone with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, sales would have flooded even more.

No moisture protection

This is where the OnePlus 3 merges frankly in front of Samsung, whose latest flagships are IP68 water and dust resistant. Hopefully, water resistance will appear in the next generation of these wonderful smartphones.

5.5 inches - not for everyone

Have an iPhone 6 Plus in your hands? Not everyone likes this shovel. It seems to us that the 5-inch diagonal is optimal for a modern smartphone.

By releasing a phablet, OnePlus deliberately narrows the pool of potential buyers.

A sad battery that leaks at night

A 3,000 mAh battery with such an energy-hungry filling is not much, very little. The situation is aggravated by the fact that if you leave your smartphone overnight at a charge level of, say, 80%, you can wake up in the morning and find only 65–70% of the charge. At the same time, no nightly downloads of a large amount of information were guaranteed. Updates were not installed either. We hope that the next update will solve this problem, but for now, OnePlus 3 is not at all standalone. To hold such power in your hands and not use it in full force, fearing to be left without any connection at all, is a shame.

Two SIM cards, but no microSD - breeze

Any Chinese now offers a hybrid slot in which you can put either two SIM cards or replace one SIM with a microSD memory card. Hey OnePlus, have you really heard of such a convenient solution, or have you deliberately given up to Samsung, which has a microSD smartphone?

Service difficulties

OnePlus 3 is only sold online. There are no services, especially in Russia, where the smartphone has not officially appeared yet. If something happens, you will have to send it by mail to another country. Long and expensive.

Controversial points

Optic AMOLED display and unnecessary marketing

The pros and cons of AMOLED displays have long been known. The screen of OnePlus 3 is very bright, juicy, saturated. True black color thanks to independent power supply of each pixel, Full HD 1,920 × 1,080, density in the region of 400 ppi per inch, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Everything is cool.

You have to pay with the realism and accuracy of color reproduction. The colors are so crazy that they seem fake. Sometimes they are downright poisonous. Those who are accustomed to AMOLED will not notice anything, but those who have switched to OnePlus from IPS screens will be surprised.

Another bad point concerns marketing terms. Do you know what Optic AMOLED is and how is it better than regular AMOLED? Nothing. This is the same Samsung display we tried to tweak to improve color fidelity. It didn't work out very well, but for a person unfamiliar with the topic who is too lazy to google, such marketing can be misleading.

USB-C DASH Charge - Exclusive and Expensive

OnePlus 3 proprietary fast charging technology allows you to charge your smartphone up to 60% in 30 minutes. True, it works only with a native adapter and only with a native wire.

If these are not at hand, you will have to be content with the standard USB-C battery filling characteristics.

By the way, when buying a phone with USB-C, you need to be prepared for the fact that all your friends and colleagues, who shared their wire and charger in difficult times, will no longer be able to help you. USB-C is still rare and quite expensive.

A removable USB-C cable with DASH Charge support from OnePlus will cost 15 euros. Fork - 20 euros. Expensive!

OnePlus 3 specifications

Dimensions:	152, 7 × 74, 7 × 7, 35 mm
Weight:	158 g
Case material:	anodized aluminum
Colors:	graphite / Soft Gold
Operating system:	OxygenOS based on Android Marshmallow
CPU:	Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, Quad Core, Kryo: 2x 2.2 GHz, 2x 1.6 GHz
Graphics:	Adreno 530
RAM:	6 GB LPDDR4
Inner memory:	64 GB UFS 2.0
The fingerprint scanner:	there is
Ports:	USB-C, dual nanoSIM, 3.5mm
Battery:	non-removable 3000 mAh, DASH Charge (5 V, 4 A)
Communication (Europe model):	GSM: 850, 900, 1 800, 1 900 WCDMA: 1/2/5/8 FDD-LTE: 1/3/5/7/8/20 TDD-LTE: 38/40 Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac Bluetooth 4.2 NFC GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
Screen:	Optic AMOLED 1080p Full HD (1,920 × 1,080), 401 ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Main camera:	Sony IMX298 16 MP, f / 2.0, HDR, PDAF, 4K @ 30fps, 720p @ 120fps
Front-camera:	Sony IMX179 8 MP, f / 2.0, 1080p @ 30fps, auto selfie

Total

As much as we try to scold the OnePlus 3, it's still gorgeous. Samsung Galaxy S7 costs 50,000 rubles. OnePlus 3 - 30,000 rubles. Do you feel the difference? It's still the flagship killer, the best in the business.