OnePlus 3: The Legit Flagship Killer?
A lot of smartphones usually claim that they’re “flagship killers”. Smartphones that deliver the same experience as the premium flagships of global brands such as the Galaxy S7 but at a fraction of the cost. If there’s one brand that has been delivering on this promise since they came to the market, it’s OnePlus and the OnePlus 3 lives up to that and more.
Here’s a quick refresher on the specifications.
OnePlus 3 Spec Sheet
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 2.15GHz quad-core processor
- Adreno 530 GPU
- 6GB RAM, 64GB internal storage (non-expandable)
- 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED display Full HD, 1920×1080 pixels
- 16-megapixels primary camera, Sony IMX298 sensor, OIS, PDAF, LED flash
- 4K video recording
- 8-megapixels secondary camera, Sony IMX179 sensor, EIS
- Dual-SIM, 4G (Cat. 6), WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC
- 3,000mAh (Dash Charging Support)
- Oxygen OS 3.1.3 (Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow)
- SRP: Php21,000 on Widget City
*We’ve only had the device for a couple of days so we’re give you guys first our initial impressions. Full review should be out later this week or early next.
Hardware: Can Stand Toe-to-Toe with the Very Best
OnePlus went all metal on the OnePlus 3 and scrapped the sandblasted back of the previous OnePlus 2 model. From whatever angle you look at it, the OnePlus 3 is a beauty. If there are two major changes that you’ll see her compared to most other devices, they’re the USB Type C port at the bottom and a slider button on the side which allows you to quickly change phone settings.
Up front the 5.5-inch optic AMOLED display, in our eyes, is even better than the display of the LG G5. Colors were sharp and just properly saturated (not as saturated as Samsung which is good). Viewing angles were also okay. Perhaps if there’s one major issue we have with the display is that it fails under direct sunlight. We had a hard time with it even if we had it on full brightness levels.
Performance: Blazing Fast, Comparable to Flagships
In terms of power, the OnePlus 3 delivers everything that you would need from a flagship device. We never felt or saw any lag in the week that we’ve been playing with it. Games, like Marvel Future Fight, loaded fast and played smoothly. Multi-tasking was a breeze with only minor delays on major memory eating applications. To be honest, we couldn’t even tell the difference anymore between the speed and power of this compared to the Galaxy S7 or the LG G5. It’s that good.
Initial Cons: Wireless Charging, Battery Life
If ever we do have issues with it, it’s the lack of wireless charging and the average battery life. But those are not really deal breakers unless you’ve invested in a lot of wireless charging pads (which probably means you’re a Samsung user). Connected to that, battery life so far hasn’t been impressive. It’s just standard. You’ll need to charge at the later part of the day just like any other flagship.
Initial Verdict: It’s an Amazing Deal at Php21,000
In terms of value and bang-for-your-buck, the OnePlus 3 is pretty hard to beat. It’s 2/3 the price of other premium flagships and yet it delivers comparable power and parity on the hardware build and design. While we haven’t thoroughly abused this yet to give you a full review and proper recommendation, we can already say this early that this is a very practical choice for power users. It’s proof that you don’t have to go over the top with your budget for your next smartphone in order to get best-in-class performance.
Watch out for our full review coming this weekend!
