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- [MrMobile] Never settle.
It is the core of the OnePlus philosophy.
The mantra that to some,
makes it more than just another smartphone company.
But OnePlus has settled in some sense.
It's traded the brash
and bold claims of its youth for the calm consistency
of maturity, churning out phones year after year
that deliver on its central promise of value.
So from a storytelling perspective,
the OnePlus 6 is frustratingly predictable,
because what it is, is what it's always been.
Most smartphone for less money.
So the narrative is predictable too.
It's one of the best buys in wireless, again.
I'm MrMobile, this is the OnePlus 6 review.
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Folks, I'm not here to soft sell it to ya.
Fact is there are a few things I don't
like about this phone.
OnePlus gave it a glass back,
Guerrilla Glass 5 on both sides in fact,
but didn't include wireless charging.
That's a paddlin'.
The speaker is in the worst possible place
for doing anything in landscape,
and the speaker itself
is as mediocre as is the vibration motor.
Also, the frosted finish on the matte black trim
is beautiful, but so slippery
that I covered it with a case for the entire review period.
Fortunately, one comes in the box.
And, well, why put it off?
Let's talk about the camera.
See, the OnePlus 5 from last year used its secondary shooter
for telephoto pictures.
Well, that was kinda underwhelming.
So for the 5T, OnePlus switched
to a dedicated lowlight shooter.
Well, that didn't work out too well either.
So for the sixth, the company just kinda threw up its hands
and said, okay, the second one is just a depth sensor now.
No ultra wide angle, no monochrome,
no telephoto, just depth data for fake portrait shots.
Now with new bokeh options
but with the same edge detection problems
we've been seeing since the HTC One M8.
The second camera feels like a wasted opportunity here.
Now here comes the turn.
The primary camera has enough improvements
to make me forget all about
the squandered potential of the secondary.
I'm talking mainly about video.
Optical stabilization makes its return
and makes for a very smooth footage,
while a new 4K mode let's you shoot at 60 frames a second
for up to five minutes.
That's a combination of smoothness
and sharpness better seen than talk about,
so take it in for a few seconds here
without me talking over it.
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Now, factor in the new slow-motion mode,
which scales you back to 720p,
but let's you crank the frame rate all the way up
to 480 fps in exchange.
While we're getting steamed up here,
I'll reiterate something I said in the hands-on.
You're not supposed to bring the OnePlus 6 this close
to deep water, since it lacks an official IP rating.
But the weatherproofing the company
has applied is holding up okay.
Daniel Bader at Android Central
took his out into a Canadian thunderstorm
with no ill effects.
Granted, those are very polite storms they
have up there, but still.
Hey, before we leave the camera,
I'll say that it also impresses in stills.
HDR is not as dynamic as you'll get from,
say, the Google Pixel 2, and on occasion,
you may have to try more than once
to get your perfect photo.
But the robust image processing
from the Snapdragon 845 meant
I was usually happy with the photos I came away with,
whether at the very large array in the middle of the desert,
or at Carlsbad Caverns across the state.
This is what's really impressively,
no prior OnePlus phone could've produced photos this solid
or even acceptable at 700 feet underground.
The only thing that I got really mad about
was this focus hunting problem
you can see when we switch back to video.
You see it wobbling there,
it sometimes takes several frustrating
seconds to lock focus.
Hopefully a future update will correct the problem.
Speaking of updates, the OnePlus 6 will get
the next major version of Android,
so I didn't really play much with the new gesture controls,
as they'll likely be superseded by whatever Android P does.
For the most part, the rest of the software is unchanged,
which is a good thing.
I was happy to apply my usual cocktail of dark theme,
green accent color, and purple LED notifications,
and nothing I did to
the phone could slow down its speedy responsiveness.
I'll invoke the Pixel again
to say this is the fastest phone short of that.
And an honorable mention to the Razer Phone.
I showed you the spec sheet last week,
but it's impressive enough to bring it back again.
No one else is offering this kind of power at this price,
which might perk you up if you're into gaming.
Battery life is about the same too,
which is to say, right down the middle,
given my typical day, currently scrolling on the screen.
I wasn't able to hit the SOT targets some other folks have,
that screen on time, but honestly,
I listen to so much audio
that my SOT is typically low anyway.
Nothing exemplary, nothing concerning,
just straight middle-of-the-road for endurance.
When you do plug-in, Dash Charge is also unchanged.
The phone stays cooler than most,
because the circuitry
that regulates the replenishment lives in the adopter,
not in the phone body,
so you can keep playing your game
or watching your video without your device slowing down
due to thermal throttling.
Now, the dark side to this
is that while all the older chargers lying around
your house will charge the OnePlus 6, they'll do it slowly.
You need both a OnePlus adopter
and the thicker cable for Dash Charge to work,
which means if you wanna do the dash,
you gotta drop the cash.
Don't act like you didn't see this segue coming.
You will have the cash left over if you get a OnePlus 6.
Folks, 529 is the starting price,
though, I reviewed a slightly pricier version.
And look, I know, you're scrambling down
to the comments to say it's too expensive,
and let me tell ya, I feel that.
I said in the hands-on, and I'll say that again.
The Pixel 2 is just 649, and you can find it for cheaper.
You'll get a better camera
and faster updates by going that way.
Or if you want a bigger boombox
and a more innovative camera and some wireless charging,
you can get the LG G7.
Wait for that to come down in price, which you know it will.
But right now, the OnePlus 6 is newer and cheaper.
It's powerful, it's sleek,
it's fast, and its headphone jack cancels out its notch,
if you care about that.
And the ranch dressing on this pizza, it's got an It factor.
A cool brand that its makers are now capitalizing on
to bump the price yet again.
I don't really like it,
but I can't say it's not worth it, because it is.
You know it's coming next,
'cause you only tell me it's
your favorite part of the video.
The dbrand spot.
But seriously, dbrand's vinyl skins
are the best in the business,
and they will save you from dropping this slick brick.
You'll look pretty cool sporting one too,
especially since you'll avoid scratches like this one,
which came from who knows where?
Even though I had a case on the thing the whole time.
Treat yourself nice, and dbrand your device,
at the link in the description below.
Got questions on call quality?
I missed that one.
Fingerprint speed, face unlock?
Yeah, where was that?
Hey, couldn't fit a lot into the script, folks.
This is how it goes.
But that's what the comments are for.
Drop your question below, friends.
And I'll do my best to answer it for ya.
Also, stay tuned to themrmobile on Instagram,
where I'll be showing off the white version of this phone if
and when I can get my hands on it.
And finally, please subscribe
to the MrMobile here on YouTube
so you don't miss the next review coming a lot
sooner than you think.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.