OnePlus 3T Unboxing, First Impressions

OnePlus’ flagship device gets an upgrade with a speedier processor, bigger battery, and sharper cameras as if it’s not already an excellent smartphone before. Here’s our unboxing and initial impression of the OnePlus 3T.

Like before, OnePlus made the packaging for handset simple and straightforward. Once you open the box, you’ll be greeted by the phone itself lying on a vibrant orange box.

You can pull the tab to pick up the phone and get right on it. Contents of the box include the quick start guide, warranty guidelines, sim ejector tool, USB Type-C cable, and Dash charger. A free screen protector is also included but it’s already applied to the phone.

The OnePlus 3T is completely identical to its predecessor. It’s similar to how an iPhone gets an upgrade internally with an “S” but OnePlus goes with a “T”.

It still boasts a 5.5-inch Full HD Optic AMOLED display topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Although, as mentioned, a screen protector is already applied out of the box. You can take it off if you want to as the display’s glass is already scratch-resistant.

Above the display is the upgraded 16-megapixel selfie shooter along with a couple of sensors and the earpiece. An LED light for notification is also present up top. The fingerprint scanner is positioned just below the display flanked by hidden capacitive keys. The scanner also acts as a home button when enabled.

The right-hand side of the phone has the power/lock button and the Dual-SIM card tray. There’s no hope for a microSD card here as this is not a hybrid slot and OnePlus doesn’t want to deal with slow memory cards. Nevertheless, you’re left with the spacious 64GB (or 128GB) internal storage.

On the left we the alert slider and volume rocker. The buttons on the handset sport the same aluminum material that the main body has to keep the premium build consistent throughout.

The top end is completely empty leaving the bottom quite busy. First off we have 5 drilled holes for the loudspeaker, the USB Type-C port for charging and connectivity, main microphone, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s also a pair of screws for the maintenance of the device.

The rear of the OnePlus 3T is, again, completely clean and industrial. The phone has an aluminum unibody with a couple of plastic strips for the internal radios. Here we have the another 16-megapixel camera equipped with optical image stabilization and an f/2.0 aperture beside a single LED flash. A tiny hole is hiding in the upper strip which is for the noise-cancelling microphone and a shiny OnePlus logo sits in the middle.

The handset is powered by the most powerful mobile processor available — Qualcomm Snapdragon 821. Not only that, it’s got a whopping 6GB of RAM to keep up with your tasks. OnePlus comes with OxygenOS which is currently based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with a planned update to 7.0 Nougat. Lastly, it’s got an upgraded 3400mAh battery with quick charging feature called Dash Charge that promises 60% fill in just 30mins.

OnePlus 3T specs:
5.5-inch Full HD Optic AMOLED display, 401ppi
2.35GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad-core CPU
Adreno 530 GPU
6GB LPDDR4 RAM
64GB / 128GB UFS 2.0
16MP Sony IMX298 PDAF rear camera w/ OIS, LED flash
16MP front-facing camera
Dual-SIM (Nano)
4G LTE Cat.6
WiFi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.2
NFC
GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
USB 2.0 Type-C
Fingerprint sensor
Dirac HD Sound
OxygenOS (Android 6.0 Marshmallow)
3,400mAh battery w/ Dash Charge (5V, 4A)
152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35 mm
158 g
Gunmetal / Soft Gold

The OnePlus 3T we have is provided by Widget City who’s selling the device for Php25,000USD 426INR 36,115EUR 406CNY 3,103 for the 64GB variant (link here). We’ll be using the handset as our daily driver to give a full review in the coming days.