Five months after the initial introduction of the OnePlus 5, the Chinese company moved on to greater things; literally.

The new OnePlus 5T is regarded as a cost-effective rival to some of the most powerful smartphones on sale today, in fierce contention with the likes of iPhone 8, LG V30, and Samsung Galaxy ranges. But how does it stack up?

OnePlus 5T Review: Design

The OnePlus 5T is 156.1mm tall and 75mm wide and 7.3mm thick.

The sleek metal unibody makes it aesthetically pleasing, and it got a modest makeover with smaller bezels, and a gently-curving rear.

Even though the OnePlus 5T is neither dust nor water resistant, the 2.5D Gorilla Glass, anodized aluminum, and ceramic coating are basic protective measures.

Lastly, it weighs 163g, making it fit the description of big, bold, and beautiful. The OnePlus 5T colors are Lava Red, Sandstone White, and Midnight Black.

OnePlus 5T Review: Display

This is perhaps, the single biggest improvement on this device. The OnePlus 5T boasts a 6.01-inch full HD (18:9) AMOLED panel, making it one of the few handsets available with a screen larger than 6-inches.

One disappointing feature, however, is its full HD resolution; a mere 2,160 x 1,080 with a 401ppi pixel density. For the price, sacrifices have to be made, and this is obviously one of them for the 5T. It’s not ‘bad’ as a screen though.

Display Modes:

Adaptive mode
Reading Mode
Night Mode
Lift Up Display
Ambient Display

Software

Equipped with OxygenOS 4.7 and Android 7.1.1 (Nougat), the OnePlus 5T is upgradable to Android 8.0 and Oxygen OS 5.0.3.

Face Unlock uses a plain 2D recognition feature, which makes it faster and easier to use for unlocking the phone, however, it is unfit for any other authentication outside the lock screen – so you won’t be able to use it for payments, for example.

Its chipset is the Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 and the OnePlus 5T has an Octa-Core (4 x 2.45 GHz Kryo & 4 x 1.9 GHz Kryo) processor. It offers 6GB/8GB of RAM and 64/128GB storage, depending on where you are in the world.

There is no external memory slot available, however.

OnePlus 5T retains the 3.5mm headphone jack and the company announced that it will continue to support this connector until USB-C headphones garner enough momentum to making the switch painless. There is also an active noise-cancelling microphone to make audio quality clearer on calls.

Related Accessories

OnePlus 5T Review: Camera

The OnePlus 5T is home to dual cameras; the primary 16-megapixel and the secondary 20-megapixel. OnePlus employs what it calls ‘Intelligent Pixel Technology’, which is useful in brightening dark scenes without causing a distortion.

The camera features a pro mode, panorama mode, time-lapse, slow-motion video mode and a rear fingerprint sensor that can be long-pressed to take photos with either camera.

It also comes with a face unlock interface which allows you seamlessly unlock your phone. On the other hand, the removal of the telephoto lens makes an optical zoom impossible and the front camera lacks a portrait mode.

The face unlock is not as reliable as that of the Samsung S8, however.

OnePlus 5T Review: Battery

Like its predecessor, the OnePlus 5T comes with a 3,300 mAh battery.

Tests reveal that the life-span under heavy usage is 11 hours, 22 minutes, however, some users find that they get a lot less than that under any conditions.

On paper, it’s about on par with the Samsung Note 8 and Google Pixel 2, as long as you don’t suffer the same problems as some of those other users linked above.

OnePlus 5T Review: Pricing & Availability

The OnePlus 5T is available in almost every country in the world.

The phone price ranges from $450-$600 depending on the specifications you choose, and it’s available directly from OnePlus, third-party retailers or on contract deals – again, depending on what country you’re in.