I’ve always found it a bit tricky to review OnePlus phones. Their handsets tend to have the newest and most powerful CPUs available, so I always fall into the habit of stacking them up against flagship models from Samsung or Apple -- competition that they just can’t live up to.
But then I’ll remember that the Shenzhen-based company has always priced its handsets at half (or less) the cost of an iPhone or Galaxy. And once you factor that in, it becomes clear that OnePlus produces phones with the best value for money on the market. That’s been the case every year, and it’s the same story with their newest handset, the 5T.
Genuine upgrade
Usually when tech companies slap a random letter after an existing model’s name, it means an iterative upgrade with minimal improvements -- think the iPhone 6s versus the iPhone 6. But the 5T is a genuine step up from the 5, which is all the more surprising given that the latter was released just a few months earlier.
The 5T drastically trimmed the top and bottom bezels (aka forehead and chin) of the device, giving the 5T the same all-screen front as other current flagships. The capacitive buttons and home button that have been a staple of past OnePlus phones have also been scrapped here, in favor of a rear fingerprint reader -- still as fast as ever -- and digital on-screen buttons.
Otherwise, the rest of the phone’s hardware matches the 5, with an aluminum body, well-hidden antenna lines, slightly chamfered sides and a dual camera on the back that’s nearly identical in both physical look and capabilities to the iPhone 7 Plus.
Powering it all is a Snapdragon 835 processor -- the same chipset found in more expensive Samsung or LG phones -- and either 6GB or 8GB of RAM depending on the model. Most phones on the market right now have only 4GB of RAM. The cream of the crop have 6GB. OnePlus is going beyond that by giving consumers the option for 8GB.
