OnePlus 6 Review: Premium High Performance Android For Less
OnePlus 6 Display, Design, Build Quality And Hardware
In regard to design and build quality, the OnePlus 6 is a premium affair, though perhaps a little understated and utilitarian in spots. This phone isn't going to compete with the likes of Samsung's new Galaxy Note 9 for style points, but at almost half the price, it doesn't have to. That said, the Midnight Black version we're working with sports a nice matte sheen that is virtually fingerprint proof on the backside of the device. Though the white version OnePlus 6 may just be the apple of our eye; no pun intended whatsoever.
The edges of the OnePlus 6 are strapped with polished and rounded aluminum, the chassis is all glass, and there is a very thin seam that runs along the edge of the display glass that does pick up a little muck and grit if you let it. The right edge is home to a power/screen lock button as well as a physical Ring/Vibrate/Silent mode slider switch that is rather unique among handsets these days. It's a welcome feature that can make for a quick, confident switch into a DND mode that takes any guess work out of making sure the setting is activated. It also protects better against it being deactivated accidentally.
The left edge is home to a combination SIM/microSD card slot and the volume rocker, while on bottom there's a single down-firing speaker, USB-C port, a mic, and an analog headphone jack, thankfully. That downfiring speaker isn't going to rock the casbah by the way, but it's loud enough to get the job done for the majority of users that actually don't often use external smartphone audio. However, if you're the type that relies on smartphone speaker output, you'll likely be disappointed.
Three Cameras, All High Resolution, One Scanner And Lots Of Speed
The backside of the OnePlus 6 is home to a solid dual camera setup with not only a 16MP primary shooter with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and an f1.7 aperture lens, but also a 20MP secondary camera with an f1.7 aperture, but without OIS. There's also a center-mounted fingerprint scanner that does a great job of quickly picking up prints (OnePlus claims in under .2 seconds) and is easily within reach of the average index finger. On the top front face of the OnePlus 6 is another 16MP selfie cam that also offers facial recognition and unlocking that OnePlus claims is one of the fastest systems on the market with a 100 point identifier system. We would have to agree; the OnePlus 6's face unlock is incredibly fast and seemingly reliable as well for secure rejections.
Finally, as we noted earlier, OnePlus managed to sheath the Midnight Black version of the 6 we have here in a finish that is almost completely resistant to smudging. It's not only a premium feeling feeling surface and material finish but, you literally have to try to muck it up. The Mirror Black finished version, on the other hand, might be the antithesis of the finish you see here, fingerprint maintenance-wise.
A Cost-Efficient OLED Display That Looks Great
And then there's the OnePlus 6's 6.28 OLED display, with a 2280X1080 resolution, 19:9 aspect, thin bezels (84% screen to body ratio) and as you can see no notch, as configured here...
Propped up on a little smartphone bean bag chair of sorts, courtesy of wireless charging circuit semiconductor manufacturer IDT, the image captured by our studio camera here doesn't adequately convey how bright and punchy this display is. In fact, brightness, contrast and color accuracy of the OnePlus 6's display is about as close as any phone we've seen come to competing with some of Samsung's Super AMOLED displays in the Galaxy line. Is it Galaxy Note 9 level? Not quite but that's a tall order. However, this display is impressive, both in terms of overall brightness, deeps blacks for contrast, pure whites and general color accuracy. There's also a screen calibration utility built in as well, that can come in handy and allows you to choose specific presets for DCI-P3 (HDR) and sRGB color gamuts, as well as custom color presets. If you're looking for QHD resolution it's not in here, but we don't miss it a bit and pixel density, while only at 402 ppi, seems plenty tight to us in its Pentile Diamond Pixel array format.
In short, kudos on a solid display that likely does a good job of keeping costs down and will satisfy all but the most discerning pixel snobs. Now if we only had wireless charging on board, to complete the hardware check list here. Perhaps some IDT silicon in the next gen OnePlus 6T? We can hope but for now we have to get by with the included quick charge AC adapter, which does charge the phone ridiculously fast; maybe the fastest we've ever seen for an Android phone yet. Thirty minutes of charging will power the phone for an entire day via technology OnePlus calls Dash Charge. Dash Charge keeps charging voltage down, but delivers more current than traditional fast charge solutions. This also results in cooler charging that allows the handset to remain cool while simultaneously charging and under heavy loads like gaming or in GPS navigation.
That's the long and short of the hardware side. Let's look at some software...
In short, kudos on a solid display that likely does a good job of keeping costs down and will satisfy all but the most discerning pixel snobs. Now if we only had wireless charging on board, to complete the hardware check list here. Perhaps some IDT silicon in the next gen OnePlus 6T? We can hope but for now we have to get by with the included quick charge AC adapter, which does charge the phone ridiculously fast; maybe the fastest we've ever seen for an Android phone yet. Thirty minutes of charging will power the phone for an entire day via technology OnePlus calls Dash Charge. Dash Charge keeps charging voltage down, but delivers more current than traditional fast charge solutions. This also results in cooler charging that allows the handset to remain cool while simultaneously charging and under heavy loads like gaming or in GPS navigation.
That's the long and short of the hardware side. Let's look at some software...
