OnePlus 3T Review - Pay More, Get More.
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,479 words · ~7 min read
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so normally when i start writing these videos i put my sim in the latest shiny
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gadget fire it up and i start taking notes on
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all the little things that jump out of the screen and make me sit
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up and take notice a strategy that really doesn't work as
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well when you're basically reviewing the same phone for the second time
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but is the oneplus 3t the same phone
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but at a higher price or like an apple s refresh have they
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added enough to make it worth sitting through my video again
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well there's only one way to find out
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by sitting through my video again
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are you looking for a new gaming desktop or laptop check out ibuypower's black
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friday deals which include dozens of free upgrades at the link in the video
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description physical tour time if you've never seen
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a oneplus 3 the t other than replacing
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the graphite color with gunmetal looks identical from the
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outside at the back is the oneplus logo a flash a camera bump a noise cancelling
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mic and a couple of racing stripe i mean antenna lines on the right is the dual
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sim tray and one of my biggest complaints about the 3t the easy to
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accidentally press lock button directly opposing the on the right volume rocker
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and notification mode switch that i didn't use much my first time around
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with the 3 but actually started to really like this time i don't know if
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it's a new feature of Android wear but my watch actually tells me what mode
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it's in in real time on the top of the screen so i never forget that i'm in
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silent mode anymore one of the reasons i never use silent mode
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then on the bottom is the usb 2-speed
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dash charging type-c connector a grille for the single speaker though now that
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apple has implemented dual speakers through the earpiece hopefully that'll
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show up in the four and every other phone from now on
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and a headphone jack which i hope doesn't go
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away for that same industry follows apple reason
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then around front are a couple of my favorite things about the 3t
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but also the 3. no changes here the gorilla glass 4 covered 1080p amoled
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display it's bright performs admirably
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in direct sunlight doesn't waste GPU power on pixels that no one will be able
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to see from further than four inches away and comes calibrated for a neutral
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natural look rather than an over saturated one
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and the lightning fast fingerprint reading touch home button flanked by
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built-in capacitive buttons which can easily be swapped in software if you
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prefer back on the right side or on the left or disabled out right if you prefer
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on-screen buttons which i am pretty much
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over at this point but your mileage may vary
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internally more though it's still not much has changed
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the snapdragon 820 CPU has been replaced by an 821
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also with an adreno 530 GPU this is not
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an architectural or manufacturing process update just a clock speed bump
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then for the heavy users oneplus has stuffed a 3400 milliamp hour battery
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into the same size chassis without adding any weight very nice
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the camera is the same which is actually a good thing its low light performance
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is excellent so is its highlight performance shutter speed launch time by
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the way everyone should have double click to launch because it is freaking
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awesome and its under the hood options are great with raw capture available for
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the shutter bugs and tweakers
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then you've got six gigs of lp ddr4 memory a 128 gig non-expandable option
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instead of just 64 and it's all running on a slightly updated Android
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marshmallow though it should be noted that most if not all of the enhancements
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here are also coming to the three this includes the updated quick access icons
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in the status bar a way to fingerprint protect apps though it didn't really
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come up for me a call blocker blacklist
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it is bewildering to me that this isn't a base Android feature with cloud
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synchronization at this point and a new clear all mode that wipes out background
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processes too they'll use it with caution because sure your CPU usage will
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go down but you might stop getting notifications and stuff
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so what isn't coming to the three
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good question a higher price for one the 3t is being sold alongside the 3 as a
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more premium model for 440 bucks for a
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64 gig or 480 if you want the 128.
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this is basically oneplus bowing to the realities of competing in the flagship
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smartphone market by hiking prices again just like they've done every
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generation to cover presumably the cost of extra marketing customer support
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supporting more colors and capacities and the like
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also you get the better 16 megapixel
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selfie camera i mean i don't personally take a lot of selfies but its
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performance is noticeably better very good and the
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smile to capture mode would probably work really well if you
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were trying to take selfies not with your children for whom waiting three
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seconds for a countdown timer would be some kind of christmas miracle
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which leads us pretty well into customization
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some stuff oneplus does really well here
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being able to make my google bar clear or white being able to nickname apps on
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the home screen three finger swipes screenshots so cool and having better
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control over power saver features all resulted in real experiential
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improvements battery life on the 3t is excellent even with all my crap loaded
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on it i couldn't burn it in a single day but they still missed some basic stuff
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digging deep enough i found some poorly translated english in the settings menu
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and some more customization options are still needed why can i turn on the
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flashlight or pause media by drawing on
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the blank screen but i can't bind those functions to a
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double press of a button like i can with other functions and why can't i launch
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an app via either of these means finally
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why oh why can't i set up a five wide grid of home
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screen icons with the default launcher which i like and want to use
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i don't know but these are minor complaints and the
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oneplus 3t thanks to google's decision to abandon
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their low price strategy way back with the nexus 5 and price the pixel like an
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iphone means that even at a slightly higher price it is still very
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competitive it's a shockingly easy to hold five and a half inch phone that
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performs well here's a real world look at their supposed faster app launch
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speed compared to the s7 by the way and just feels quality in the hand highly
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recommended just like last time
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and it's time for another mass drop spot mass drop they take lots of buyers and
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they take lots of sellers and they put them together they sell more you buy for
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cheaper everybody gets a good deal and today's feature drop is the monk plus
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blue from venture electronics really they actually sound surprisingly good
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like shockingly good for the price just the thing that's confusing to me is that
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they're only five bucks so i'm really not sure how mass drop is going to
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recoup the money they're spending on this advertising spot that they're
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buying right now but i guess that's not my problem and it's not yours either so
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check them out at the link in the video description to get your hands on a pair
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of earbuds that sound far better than what you get at the dollar store but are
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cheap enough that you can basically treat them like they're disposable if
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you're one of those uh scatterbrained people who often loses your earbuds
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so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that
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like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured it down do they have this at amazon well
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whatever we'll have a link to where to buy in the video description also link
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down there is our merch store which has cool shirts like this one in our community forum which you should totally
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join now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering gee what should i watch next oh maybe that video
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right up there