Thursday, November 1, 2018

The OnePlus 6T is officially on sale!

Say hello to OnePlus's most advanced smartphone to date.

The OnePlus 6T has arrived, and similar to past T models, it retains most of what made its predecessor great while adding a couple of new features and slightly increasing its price.

We were already quite enthralled with the OnePlus 6 from earlier in the year, and the 6T aims to offer an even better experience for about $20 more.

Need some help deciding if this is the phone for you? Here's everything you need to know about the OnePlus 6T!

The latest OnePlus 6T news

November 1, 2018 — The OnePlus 6T is officially on sale!

Just a few days after it was announced, the OnePlus 6T has exited the pre-order stage and is now available for purchase.

If you live in the United States, you can buy the phone from both OnePlus's website and through T-Mobile. While T-Mobile is only selling the 128GB + 8GB RAM model in Mirror Black for $579, you can drastically lower the price by trading in an eligible phone, buying it on a monthly installment plan, and then get a total of $300 back in bill credits.

Alternatively, OnePlus's website has all available models with prices starting at $550 for the 128GB + 6GB RAM configuration and going up to $629 for 256GB + 8GB RAM.

See at OnePlus

See at T-Mobile

All the big details

Read (and watch) our full review

The OnePlus 6T is a great piece of tech, but is it something that you should spend your hard-earned dollars on?

If you're in the market for a flagship smartphone experience but only want to pay a fraction of what Samsung, Apple, and Google are charging, the 6T delivers on almost every front. It's outfitted with top-of-the-line specs, a pair of fantastic rear cameras, and one of the best software experiences that you can currently find on Android.

The lack of an IP water resistance rating and removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack could be dealbreakers for some, but if you want the most bang-for-your-buck in the $500 - $600 price range, you'll be hard-pressed to do much better than the OnePlus 6T.

OnePlus 6T review: 90% of the phone for 60% of the price

Check out the specs

Every single year, OnePlus packs its smartphones with the very latest and greatest specifications it can get its hands on. With the 6T, that's no different.

Some of the highlights this time around include the Snapdragon 845 processor, 6 - 8GB of RAM, 128 - 256GB of storage, a 3,700 mAh battery, and Android 9 Pie available right out of the box.

OnePlus 6T specs: 6.41-inch display, 3700mAh battery, 128GB base storage

OnePlus removed the 3.5mm headphone jack...

All that glitters is not gold, and for some potential buyers, the 6T will no longer be a viable option once they realize that the phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

OnePlus was one of the few remaining brands that continued to outfit its devices with the legacy port year after year, and for die-hard fans, this has the potential to be a deal-breaker.

...But there's now an in-display fingerprint sensor

On the upside, the removal of the 3.5mm jack allowed OnePlus to equip the 6T with an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Similar to phones like the Vivo NEX, the 6T's fingerprint sensor has been removed from its backside and now lives underneath the display. Just hold your finger on the new fingerprint icon on the screen, the sensor will ID you, and then unlock your phone.

While it's certainly a cool party trick and the first big phone in the U.S. to ship with the feature, it's not quite as fast or reliable as the OnePlus 6's fingerprint sensor.

The notch is even smaller

The OnePlus 6T follows in the OnePlus 6's footsteps by having a notch at the top of its display, but this time around, the notch is considerably smaller.

OnePlus adopted the "waterdrop" style for the 6T's notch, and while there aren't any functional changes that come with this, it does make the front of the phone look a lot cleaner and doesn't cut off as much screen real-estate as the 6's notch.

Nightscape and Studio Lighting come to the 6T's cameras

Google recently wowed us with its new Night Sight feature for Pixel phones that drastically improves low-light photos, and in an attempt to build its own version of that feature, OnePlus ships with the 6T with its take on this called "Nightscape."

Nightscape is described as being perfect for "capturing low-light urban environments with improved clarity, less noise, more accurate color reproduction and better dynamic range."

Also new is Studio Lighting. OnePlus says it worked with photographer Kevin Abosch on this feature that's "been fine-tuned to recognize faces and adjust the lighting accordingly to simulate professional lightning. In other words, it's OnePlus's take on the iPhone's Portrait Lighting.

There are just two launch colors

At launch, the OnePlus 6T is only available in two colors — Midnight Black and Mirror Black. These are the exact same finishes that were available for the OnePlus 6, with the former featuring a matte finish while the latter has a glossy coating.

It's entirely possible (and very likely) that OnePlus will offer additional colors later on down the road, but for the time being, you need to choose between black and black.

The phone's available for purchase now

If you're interested in buying a OnePlus 6T it's available for purchase right now with pricing starting at $549 for the model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Along with that, you can get 8GB RAM + 128GB storage or 8GB RAM + 256GB storage for $579 and $629, respectively.

The 6T is being sold through OnePlus's website, and for the first time in the U.S., it's also being offered directly through a wireless carrier — T-Mobile, specifically.

T-Mobile's only carrying the 128GB + 8GB RAM model in Mirror Black, but if you trade in an eligible phone and buy the 6T on a monthly installment plan, you can get $300 back via monthly bill credits.