After weeks of rumours and speculation, the OnePlus 3 is finally here! The latest ‘flagship-killer’ is the first OnePlus phone to be available for general sale, without an annoying invite system, and it comes with high-end specs, a new metal design and a clean version of Android Marshmallow.
Design
After plumping for a sandstone polycarbonate finish on its first two models, OnePlus have followed industry trends to arrive at an all-metal design for their latest phone. The OnePlus 3 is ‘carved from a single slab of premium aluminium’ and measures 7.3mm thick. The colour options are Graphite (silver) and Soft Gold (gold).
The design includes the unique ‘alert slider’ that appeared on last year’s OnePlus 2, which allows you to swap between receiving all notifications, just priority notifications or no notifications without even looking at the screen.
Hardware
Internally, the OnePlus 3 is pretty high-end. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 820 octa-core processor, backed with 6GB of LPDD4 RAM (more than most PCs) and 64GB of UFS 2.0 internal storage (although there’s no Micro SD card slot). The Optic AMOLED screen measures 5.5 inches, and hits a resolution of 1920 x 1080 — a little behind the current 2560 x 1440 standard for a full-fat flagship, but perfectly tolerable and better for battery life.
In terms of wireless connectivity, all of the standards are there: Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, and even NFC, which somehow wasn’t included on the OnePlus 2 and is required for Android Pay and other contactless payment systems. All of the standard 4G LTE bands in use in the UK are also supported.
The rear camera has a 16-megapixel Sony sensor, with optical image stabilisation and phase detection autofocus. The video camera is capable of 4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 60 fps, or 720p slo-mo at 120fps. The front-facer is unchanged from last year’s model, with an 8-megapixel sensor for detailed selfies.
The battery has been reduced in size compared to the OnePlus 2, moving from 3300mAh to 3000mAh, but ‘Dash Charge’ rapid recharging has been added. This lets you push 4A through the USB-C connector at 5V, providing extremely fast charging without your phone getting too hot. It’s basically a rebranded version of Oppo’s VOOC charging, which has been well received thus far and compares favourably to other rapid charging solutions from Qualcomm and others.
Software
The OnePlus 3 comes with Android 6 Marshmallow, which is generally regarded as one of the nicest versions of Android in a long time. There’s the Doze feature, which reduces battery life while your phone isn’t being used, and there’s Now on Tap, which gives you a way to find additional information about whatever is on screen (like the address of a restaurant your friend mentions in a message). It’s fast, it’s stable, and it’s generally pretty sensible. If you haven’t used Android in a while, you’ll be impressed with the progress that has been made here.
On top of this, OnePlus have added their own tweaks and features; the resultant package is called OxygenOS. There are additional customisation options, gestures, a dark mode, and all sorts of other bits and bobs that power users will love and everyone else can safely ignore.
Conclusion
The OnePlus 3 is available now from the OnePlus website for £309. We’ll be stocking a full range of cases and accessories for the phone, which will be available via the buttons below. Thanks for checking out the article, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below!
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