The New OnePlus 6 Thrives on Speed

If you haven’t heard of OnePlus before, it’s definitely time to get with the programme.

The Chinese company, which launched in December 2013, is now worth over a billion dollars and is available in 38 countries around the world. Although co-founder Carl Pei said that the mobile “usually engages with the community online”, the company decided to host an official launch of the new OnePlus 6 and wireless earphones in London last week.

Speaking at the event, Pei felt that the company has evolved greatly and the name derives from ‘one’ being the product and the ‘plus’ being word of mouth, which is how people understood what the company was all about.

Chief executive officer and founder Pete Lau said that the key lies in focus. “OnePlus is creating the best flagship phones. You shouldn’t simply jump on trends. We only create products if we can do better than what’s out there.”

Concerning earphones, they are known as Bullet Wireless, promising a whole lot of bass and stretch resistant wire. They are also enabled with Google Assistant, so while you’re on the go, you can ask questions, set up appointments and basically do what virtual assistants do. And here’s a new feature that you don’t see in everyday earphones: OnePlus has magnetic earphones. “They’re also backwards compatible with OnePlus 5 and other devices,” Lau announced.

Often, we find that anything wireless runs out of battery power quickly, but OnePlus ensures that this won’t be the case. Within 10 minutes of charging, the company guarantees five hours of usage. And you can charge them with any standard USB cable. Apple’s AirPods also claim five hours worth of usage on a single charge, but don’t specify how long it takes to get them fully charged. However, the AirPods claim 15 minutes of charging gives you three hours of listening time, so they may have just found their new competitors.

“We think we’ve finally created a product that meets our standards,” Lau said. And luckily, the headphone jack is still around.

And then there’s the second new product – the OnePlus 6. Fitted with the new Snapdragon processor, eight gigabytes of random access memory (RAM) and 256 gigabytes worth of storage, with the OnePlus 6, you no longer have to settle for less. One of its most impressive features is its charging speed – you can have a day’s power within half an hour.

“This is the fastest phone that OnePlus has ever experienced,” Lau confirmed.

But let’s get into the design. The front is all screen and more or less resembles the iPhone X with a notch harbouring the front-facing camera. Although this is a feature that has annoyed tons of mobile users around the world, Lau claims that the camera should sit in the middle of the device for “perfect symmetry”. We’re still getting used to it. But it’s 6,8 inches of beauty.

The rounded corners and a gently shaped back offer a glass-like design and Lau said that it has advantages over metal. “It allows for better transmission and is much more malleable.”

Getting technical, the phone offers 16- and 20-megapixel dual cameras which mean clearer photos and higher resolutions. Luckily, the space accommodates this. Also, you can expect slower videos and picture and video editing (which is fast becoming a necessary feature in phones).

It also comes with Android 8,1 with Oxygen OS which means a smaller chance of lagging and stress. But according to techrader.com who have reviewed the phone, “if you’re a fan of 4K HDR movies and shows, you won’t be able to take full advantage of their quality”.

Oh, and its speakers may need some tweaking too. But for a phone that is already considered premium, we’re considerably impressed.

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