They say third time’s the charm, and for OnePlus, this is certainly the case. Having used both its predecessors – my husband and I are both OnePlus users, in fact – I can safely say that the brand has taken its latest flagship to greater heights. On paper, everything has gotten an upgrade, with the exception of its 5.5-inch display size. Offering better specs than its alleged competitor – ASUS ZenFone 3 – the OnePlus 3 houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. It’s benchmark results certainly reflects its awesome capabilities – in both performance and graphics. 

Where’s My Sandstone?!?

I know a lot of people don’t share my sentiments on this; I am genuinely upset that the OnePlus 3 has traded its textured sandstone back panel for a anodised aluminium one. Generally, I found the latest rendition of its mega-popular flagship to be uninspired. For heaven’s sake, at first glance, it looks like a HTC-branded device.

Sure, it does look much sleeker and streamlined, but I really did like that the sandstone rear panel provided an extra grip – something that a lot of bigger phones seem to lack. At least it is won’t slither away like the ZenFone 3 would. 

Snappy Response

Design aside, the OnePlus 3 is like quick-witted device that is nimble and snappy. You can especially see this when you unlock the phone, whether it’s through conventional on-screen methods or fingerprint scanner. After using various Android devices with a fingerprint scanner on the back, the OnePlus 3’s scanner is the same as the home button – it seems so unnatural now. Also, from my previous experience, the fingerprint scanner on our OnePlus 2 gave way after only a few months of ownership. Not sure if OnePlus has resolved the issue; this is one what we’ll have to wait and see. 

Not Quite Perfect

And like its predecessors, the camera remains to be a point of contention for me personally. While the quality and performance has improved, I much prefer the outcome of other devices – the Huawei P9 and ASUS ZenFone 3 being some of them. I find that the colours produce are inaccurate and a lot warmer when captured with Auto mode. For mobile photography enthusiasts, the OnePlus 3 will not satisfy your needs as the manual mode is far too simple. If you’re not looking for fantastic camera capabilities, everything else trumps that. 

POINT 1:  Thumb Scanner

Instead of your index finger, your thumb will likely be used as your main finger scanning digit. 

POINT 2: No Strained Eyes Here

OnePlus 3 takes it a step higher for its screen by using an Optic AMOLED FHD display. Doesn’t hurt your eyes in low-light conditions!

Photo examples:

Feel The Heat : Taken using the standard photo mode, pictures come out warm. In the case of this back-lit landscape, it is appropriate.

Over-exposed : If it’s a bright sunny day, using the Auto mode could mean over-exposed images like this. A warm photo made warmer, colours are not accurate either

Can’t Quite Catch That : Unlike the ASUS ZenFone 3, we lost some details on the bubbles – not sharp and crisp.

Specs

Price: RM1,888

Dimensions: 152.7×74.7×7.35mm

Weight: 158 g

Display: 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED FHD 1920×1080 pixels with Corning Gorilla Glass 4

Operating System: OxygenOS based on Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow)

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820

CPU: Quad-core (2×2.15 GHz Kryo & 2×1.6 GHz Kryo)

GPU: Adreno 530

Storage: 64GB Internal Storage

Memory: 6GB RAM

Camera:  Front: 8MP, 1.4μm pixels, EIS, Fixed Focus, f/2.0 aperture, 1080p video at 30fps. Rear: 16MP, 1.12μm pixels, OIS, EIS, PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, 4K resolution video at 30fps. 

Benchmarks

AnTuTu: 143952 (3DBench: 59544)

PCMark (Work Performance): 6456

3DMark: 2370

Rating

Value: 9/10

Performance: 9/10

Feature: 8/10

Design: 8/10

Usability: 8/10

Total Score: 8.4

Verdict: The specs on the OnePlus 3 is enough to ignore the average camera performance