OnePlus 3 review: A flagship experience, even at the cost of a few specs

Some phone brands have that an innate ability to generate buzz--lots of it. OnePlus, with their meticulously managed ‘premium’ perception, was one such that made the masses yearn for their devices. Ever since their first smartphone, they have been known for their cutting-edge selection of hardware and features, packaged in an unmistakably premium design. With the latest OnePlus 3 this credo prevails, but they appear to be doing things slightly differently.

On the one hand, there’s an obvious selection of best-of-class specifications such as the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 platform with its quad-core processor, 64GB of internal storage and the seemingly over-the-top 6GB of RAM. On the other, the phone uses a less-than-cutting-edge Full HD screen instead of opting for a 2K display, as is the norm with most flagship phones today.

So what’s the catch? Well it seems the company--this time around--has decided against going with the best all-round specifications, and instead select a blend of specs that offer the best overall experience. Case in point, the lower-than-ideal screen resolution is a better match for its Snapdragon 820 processor and 3,000mAH battery as a denser screen would have adversely affected battery life.

At first glance

As noted in my first impressions of the device, the OnePlus 3 is a tangibly well-built phone. That copious use of metal, the surprisingly slim and light form factor, the matt finish on the back and the excellent tactile response of its buttons all spell meticulous attention to detail.

Starting with the first charge, its Dash charging was on point--the company claims 30 minutes to reach over 60 percent of charge. I logged 64 percent in that time. 15 minutes later it hit 90 percent, and after just over an hour of charging (74 minutes, precisely) it reached full charge. Very impressive, given that the device barely even got warm during the process, despite it pulling a significant 4 amps of current during the process. The only issue with the Dash charging is that the phone necessarily requires both the supplied power adapter and the USB 3.0 Type-C cable--both--to function correctly.

The package itself is otherwise sparse--besides the device there is the Quick Start and User Guide, the SIM tray removal pin, and the proprietary Dash charger and USB 3.0 cable. No headphones or accessories of any kind (although there are several available optionally.).

Putting it through its paces

Not once during the time I’d been using the device had it ever stuttered, or showed any signs of struggling. And I’ve been using it to the hilt--from social media to photography to the occasional bouts of gaming to Google Maps and everything in between. The Snapdragon 820 is a speedy platform, and clubbed with the gratuitous 6GB of RAM, it appeared to have performance to spare. Even when using memory-intensive apps like Photoshop Lightroom the response was fluid when opening and processing RAW images on the phone--the phone camera can save images in both JPEG and DNG format, the latter enabling higher quality post processing, should you require it.

As expected, the synthetic performance scores of this phone were stellar: Antutu clocked 142155 and 3DMark logged a score of 2535, the highest we’ve seen on any smartphone to date. The tests--especially the 3D-intensive ones depicting scenes with massive detail and realistic lighting effects--ran smoothly, where on other lesser-capable devices they ran almost like a slideshow. If it’s gaming or serious phone-based image processing (applying Instagram filters, beautification modes, camera phone image editing and the like,) this phone sails through.

About that 6GB of RAM…

This is more RAM that the computer I used to write this review had. It’s more than most laptops offer--the ones that run complete desktop operating systems. Which begs the question: when would a phone ever require 6GB of RAM? The short answer: hardly ever.

Even after firing up and cycling between smartphone memory-eaters like the Facebook app, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, YouTube, Google Photos and EA’s Real Racing 3, the system indicated average RAM usage at barely 1.5GB (about 25 percent.)

Even though smartphone operating systems are designed to keep inactive apps running in memory (so they can load quicker when needed,) 6GB is completely overkill. Unless the intent was to have the phone double up as a device for powering a desktop experience (a la the Lumia 925, which didn’t take off at all,) there’s no use case we can think of where 6GB is required. So that fact that it’s here on this phone is basically a happy bonus.

The Camera

The phone uses a 16MP primary camera and an 8MP selfie camera. The one aspect that stood out with this phone’s photographs was the surprising amount of sharpness in them--from indoor shots to outdoor panoramas, the photos excellently rendered minute details and appeared to have impressive noise reduction that resulted in grain-free shots. Even in low-light scenarios, the phone’s captures were better than expected, with only trace amounts of image noise.

Then there’s the manual mode, where the user can control focus, shutter speed, white balance and ISO using an intuitive on-screen jog dial.

The one area I wasn’t too impressed with was the camera’s focusing speed--it wasn’t slow, but it wasn’t the fastest I’ve seen either.This was especially evident when toggling between near and far field--the image seemed to ‘bounce’ before locking focus. The optical image stabilization was good though, and worked reliably in both still and video modes. Video recording was decent, with pleasing results in both 4K and 1080p modes (although 4K video recording is restricted to 10 minutes per video.)

The unique stuff

The Oxygen OS v3.1.2 that runs atop Android Marshmallow on this phone has a neat Shelf feature--a quick launch screen that can be used to access often-used apps, quickly save memos, set reminders, access frequent contacts and add widgets. It is accessed by simply swiping right from the home screen.

The phone also implements a ‘night mode’ that cuts down on blue light emission, which is said to reduce eye stress when using the phone in the dark. This is accessed via an icon on the notifications shade. In here is also an ‘invert colors’ setting that results in a trippy ‘negative’ effect system wide. In line with its ability to be customized, the OS also lets you control characteristics of the notification light, the soft buttons at the bottom of the device and the status bar.

The verdict

The OnePlus 3 is an excellent phone. The camera is one of the best I’ve seen on Android, rivalled only by that of Samsung’s Galaxy S7/Edge, although I’d have liked the focusing to be a bit snappier. It’s craftsmanship is exquisite, and the combination of the Snapdragon 820 platform with the 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage make for a smooth all around experience.

The only real downside is the choice to to go with a Full HD display instead of 2K, but in the real world this won’t make a big difference unless you’re using the device in a VR setup that uses 2K content (which is probably very unlikely in the near term.) With this singly, smartly chosen tradeoff, the result is excellent performance coupled with comfortably day-long battery life.

Price and performance considered, the OnePlus 3 has set the bar for flagship phones.

What we liked: Splendidly built, top-notch performance, multitasking is a breeze, great photo quality, sensibly priced

What we didn’t: The 1080p screen makes it less than ideal (only for applications like high-end VR though,) the camera have offered faster focusing