After using the OnePlus 3T for almost a month I see why OnePlus did best to cross the t’s and bring in a super phone in 2016

When OnePlus decided to launch an upgrade version of its newest flagship phone within six months of the rather popular OnePlus3 release, it was rather surprising not only because the Chinese smartphone maker in only two years in the market and has a limited product portfolio but the launch of OnePlus 3T was even more surprising considering OnePlus3 was very well received and within no time was the one of the hottest devices out there.

Then why the upgrade, well it looks like with this upgrade, OnePlus has focused on the specs that matters the most to the users. If I have to really break it down to you, OnePlus 3T is a faster device topped with bigger storage along with longer lasting battery and can click better selfies!

After using the device for quite some time I found that the slight spec bumps made in OnePlus3T added up in a great way taking the usability of the phone to a whole new level.

Processor
Even though OnePlus3 was a smooth device, one of the snappier ones out there but the OnePlus 3T feels faster and even smoother when you jump from one task to the other. Given how smooth the phone functions I quite understand why OnePlus wouldn’t wait for 2017 to add these changes. The bump to the SnapDragon 821 seemed like a perfect move considering it draws the same amount of power as the SnapDragon 820, but is a lot faster. You can certainly feel the change but why they couldn't do this for OnePlus3 escapes me!

Storage
My phone is not just a phone but a media device just like almost everybody else’s these days so I am happy with as much storage as can be possibly made available. Also considering India is one of the top video consumers in the world so its only understandable that at any given point you would want a massive amount of videos, movies and series at your disposal. And it’s a huge jump from 64GB to a 128 GB of storage! While a 64 GB is also an option in the new phone but why would one go for it specially because the phone does not have an expandable storage. The 128GB variant will be perfect for heavy media users be it storing media content or shooting a whole lot of videos.

Battery
One thing that didn’t go well for OnePlus3 was the fact that while the rest of the smartphone makers tried to pack in bigger and bigger batteries, the battery capacity for OnePlus3 went down even when compared to the company’s earlier flagship OnePlus2 but that has been corrected as OnePlus 3T battery gets boosted to 3400mAh making sure it lasts you a whole day without pulling any stops on usage. I could easily sustain a day checking mails, clicking pictures, watching videos, social networking and what not. The extra 400mAh may seem small but does make a great deal of difference as I had one less thing to worry about in the day – my phone dying on me! OnePlus 3T also has a dash charger that helps you charge rapidly, the company claims “a day’s power in half an hour”, and I find that it’s almost true if you let the phone charge in peace.

Camera
OnePlus3 camera was a winner from the word go and a total photographer’s delight as you can save the raw image files for later if you wish to revisit and retouch it. And thankfully nothing has changed there. But if you are more hooked to the front facing camera, the smartphone maker has made a great shift by fitting in 16MP camera from Samsung. I can tell you that my selfies never looked better but the front camera serves a great deal more than selfies be it online chatting or video calling, features that will be heavily used in near future. So re-doing the front facing camera is certainly a change that serves great many purposes.

Cost
Coming to the cost, it’s (thankfully) more expensive than the five months older Oneplus3 which was priced at Rs. 27,999, the 64 GB OnePlus 3T costs Rs. 29,999 and the 128 GB option is priced at Rs. 34,999. Although the price is not much of hike but given that both phones are available users would go for that extra T with a slightly bigger price but again it’s not going to be that easy for the now new phone considering the price pushes through the Rs. 30,000 mark.

So I would say that OnePlus3T is an impressive handset that knows exactly what the users want. Even though the changes may seem small and far too soon over the already high specced OnePlus3 but these changes certainly up the usability of the phone by a great deal. And I guess there’s no reason to wait for the next flagship to cross the t’s.