OnePlus 3 launched ($399) Updated: reviews out

[Trixanity]

Today OnePlus 3 was launched. It's a major upgrade compared to OnePlus 2 as can be seen by the table:

Spoiler

	OnePlus 2	OnePlus 3
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810	Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
GPU	Adreno 430	Adreno 530
RAM	2/4GB LPDDR4	6GB LPDDR4
Display	5.5" 1920 x 1080 IPS LCD	5.5" 1920 x 1080 PenTile AMOLED
Size / Mass	151.8 x 74.9 x 9.85mm, 175g	152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35mm, 158g
Rear Camera	13MP 1.3 μm OmniVision OV13860 f/2.0	16MP 1.1 μm Sony IMX298, f/2.0, OIS
Front Camera	5MP 1.4 μm OmniVision OV5648, f/2.0	8MP 1.4 μm Sony IMX179, f/2.0
Storage	16/64GB eMMC	64GB UFS 2.0
I/O	USB 2.0 Type-C connector, 3.5mm audio
Connectivity	802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1 USB-C, GPS/GNSS	802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.2, USB-C NFC, GPS/GNSS
Price	$329 (3GB/16GB) $389 (4GB/64GB)	$399 (6GB/64GB)

Although it's not without potential caveats. The pixels are smaller on the new cameras but Sony's sensors are usually superior to the rest of the market, so image quality should be improved. 

The display might also be polarizing.

Quote

The display maintains its size and resolution, but OnePlus has moved to an AMOLED panel and is targeting the NTSC color gamut. Unfortunately, neither of these things seem like improvements, with the effective resolution of red and blue on the panel now being halved, and the color gamut not conforming to the sRGB standard as it should. I'll be putting the OnePlus 3 through our standard display workflow with the full review, and if you value an accurate display I would wait until that time before you make up your mind about buying the phone.

The switch to a PenTile AMOLED display can prove to be a poor decision. 

 

Battery life should be decent as it's clocking in at 3000 mAh and it will have their own fast charging technology called "Dash Charge" which according to OnePlus will put you at 63% within 30 minutes of charging. Some will probably criticize the battery as too small given the display size of 5.5". However, it's a 1080p display which will be less taxing than a QHD display. The display is covered by Gorilla Glass 4.

There will be no microSD support but there is dual nano-SIM support.

On the upside: UFS 2.0 storage. Good riddance to eMMC! And 6 GB LPDDR4 RAM (world first?). And the return of NFC. Hooray. Improved fingerprint scanner too.

 

OnePlus moves away from a sandstone finish to metal unibody. It's kinda like the older HTC devices.

However, if you like the old materials, you'll be able to buy slim cases in "black sandstone" and wood as well.

The phone will come in two colors: graphite or gold. Design can be seen in the picture below.

Spoiler

There will apparently only be one model and that's the 64/6 GB model. It'll be $399, which if I'm not mistaken is the most expensive phone from OnePlus to date. However the specs of the phone have probably driven the price up. It'll ship with OnePlus' own OxygenOS based on Android Marshmallow 6.0. OxygenOS is supposed to be a close to pure Android but with added features. So it shouldn't be horribly bloated.

 

Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10419/oneplus-launches-the-oneplus-3

Anandtech review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10411/the-oneplus-3-review

Review can be found below (courtesy of @Suika)

Spoiler

 

 

[alexyy]

Don't see any reason to upgrade from my 6P any time soon,  for the price not bad I suppose only the display and the USB 2.0 limitations to be only real disappoints. 

[Kimmers]

Looks like a nice budget phone. All the things you need and no frills.

[Suika]

3 minutes ago, alexyy said:

Don't see any reason to upgrade from my 6P any time soon 

Coincidentally I'm considering upgrading from my Nexus 6P.

[alexyy]

1 minute ago, Suika said:

Coincidentally I'm considering upgrading from my Nexus 6P.

Having issues? I've had mine for a while now and it's going strong. 

[Suika]

25 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

-snip-

Also, if you want to include this in the OP.

 

 

[themaniac]

2 minutes ago, Kimmers said:

Looks like a nice budget phone. All the things you need and no frills.

maybe its me but how is a $400 phone a budget phone, imo a budget phone should be around <=$200

[alexyy]

1 minute ago, themaniac said:

maybe its me but how is a $400 phone a budget phone, imo a budget phone should be around <=$200

When the competition is $600+ I'd say it's not budget but good value. 

[Trixanity]

1 minute ago, themaniac said:

maybe its me but how is a $400 phone a budget phone, imo a budget phone should be around <=$200

The specifications of the phone are typically found in >$500 phones. That's why it's called budget even though it isn't. A "cheap" flagship if you will, a good value. I wouldn't call it an actual budget phone either. 

[Trixanity]

8 minutes ago, Suika said:

Snip

Done.

[captain cactus]

6GB of RAM in a fucking smartphone. "Because we know it will look good on a spec sheet while in reality about 3.5GB stays unused no matter what."

[ThinkWithPortals]

27 minutes ago, alexyy said:

Don't see any reason to upgrade from my 6P any time soon,  for the price not bad I suppose only the display and the USB 2.0 limitations to be only real disappoints. 

 

25 minutes ago, Suika said:

Coincidentally I'm considering upgrading from my Nexus 6P.

Another 6P owner here, won't be upgrading. The 6P's screen, speakers and camera are just too damn good

[Lehti]

I own a OnePlus X and I have to admit I'm quite disappointed in the way OP is handling the updates. I haven't seen a security patch in months and in all honesty I gave up hope on ever seeing Marshmallow on it.

[ShadowCaptain]

I am gutter there is no micro sd

 

i was going to buy one, but now I am not sure

[alexyy]

9 minutes ago, ThinkWithPortals said:

 

Another 6P owner here, won't be upgrading. The 6P's screen, speakers and camera are just too damn good

Best panel on a phone I've seen also damn great speakers. 

 

Reason why I kept my M7 for so long. 

[The Benjamins]

When will Android phones have USB 3.0 again. I don't get why they use USB 2 type C

[Trixanity]

18 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

When will Android phones have USB 3.0 again. I don't get why they use USB 2 type C

Probably because it's more expensive and I've also heard that there could be issues with power consumption but nothing solid on that. So probably just saving money.

[bob345]

47 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

When will Android phones have USB 3.0 again. I don't get why they use USB 2 type C

There is a reason one plus phones are so much cheaper than the competition. They cut quite a few corners on all their phones.

[atrash]

56 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Probably because it's more expensive and I've also heard that there could be issues with power consumption but nothing solid on that. So probably just saving money.

Just curious how much can they actually saved from not implementing usb 3.0? Also besides faster data transfer, what other usage scenario can an android phone benefit from usb 3.0?

[Trixanity]

17 minutes ago, atrash said:

Just curious how much can they actually saved from not implementing usb 3.0? Also besides faster data transfer, what other usage scenario can an android phone benefit from usb 3.0?

Probably not much. $1? $2? I can't imagine much more. But keep in mind that it's per phone, so that adds up. Produce one million phones and you've spent $1,000,000 or more on USB 3 chips. Obviously they could try to bump the price to compensate or absorb it themselves, but you know corporations. Neither option is attractive, so we just exclude it instead so the price is the same and the margins are the same. No need to rock the boat  

 

The bandwidth will mostly improve transfer speed but could also open up possibilities for peripherals (can't come up with any useful examples at the top of my head). It has no bearing on the connector (USB-C is USB-C) and it has no bearing on power delivery. So for a lot of people, they probably don't give a crap. For me, it's a bit annoying. I fairly frequently need to move files to and from my device and I would appreciate 5 or 10 gigabit speed for that. There is no excellent wireless solution. I mean they do exist and everything and actually work well to boot but it's not exactly seamless and obviously even the fastest wireless is slower than USB 3.1. And damn it, sometimes you need to actually store files on your external storage  

[atrash]

24 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Probably not much. $1? $2? I can't imagine much more. But keep in mind that it's per phone, so that adds up. Produce one million phones and you've spent $1,000,000 or more on USB 3 chips. Obviously they could try to bump the price to compensate or absorb it themselves, but you know corporations. Neither option is attractive, so we just exclude it instead so the price is the same and the margins are the same. No need to rock the boat  

 

The bandwidth will mostly improve transfer speed but could also open up possibilities for peripherals (can't come up with any useful examples at the top of my head). It has no bearing on the connector (USB-C is USB-C) and it has no bearing on power delivery. So for a lot of people, they probably don't give a crap. For me, it's a bit annoying. I fairly frequently need to move files to and from my device and I would appreciate 5 or 10 gigabit speed for that. There is no excellent wireless solution. I mean they do exist and everything and actually work well to boot but it's not exactly seamless and obviously even the fastest wireless is slower than USB 3.1. And damn it, sometimes you need to actually store files on your external storage  

 

WIth not micro sd storage option, they probably thought transfer speed is not going to matter that much with that limited internal storage. The reason I ask for the usage scenario is because I see the benefit of having one on W10M I own with Continuum but idk about Android phones.

 

ANd that display,imo what's good in having great camera when you have poor display to view your photos with. Kinda disappointed with that.

[Yog]

Looks strictly better than the 5x I just got for the same price. Though, since I'm using project fi I got $150 off of the 5x.

[The Benjamins]

1 hour ago, bob345 said:

[The Benjamins]

47 minutes ago, atrash said:

Just curious how much can they actually saved from not implementing usb 3.0? Also besides faster data transfer, what other usage scenario can an android phone benefit from usb 3.0?

If they had full featured type c you can charge faster, and run display port though it

[Sauron]

I'm relieved to see they have a jack.