OnePlus 6 Review

The OnePlus 6 hit shelves on 22 May 2018, and it packs in a lot of premium features for the competitive starting price of £469. All models of the OnePlus 6 boast a sleek, thin, all-glass design, fingerprint and face detection unlocking, dual rear cameras, and a long lasting and fast-charging 3300 mAh battery. It comes in three different models. You can choose between 6 GB of RAM with 64 GB of storage, 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage, or 8 GB of RAM with 256 GB of storage. All models of the OnePlus 6 feature the powerful SnapDragon 845 processor and a combination of Android 8.1 and Oxygen OS, the latter of which is an original OS from OnePlus.

Undoubtedly the most stand-out feature of this phone is its beautiful all-glass design, reminiscent of the iPhone X. If all that glass is making you anxious, you'll be reassured to know that this phone uses the very hard to break Gorilla Glass 5, and also comes with its own case and screen protector. The display measures in at 6.28 inches (15.95 cm) with a 19:9 aspect ratio, which makes it the company's largest display to date. Some enthusiasts might find the full HD display is lacking compared to other QHD smartphones on the market. This was likely done to keep the OnePlus 6 affordable. The phone's display still features plenty of vivid pictures and colours with its full optic AMOLED display panel.

There is a small notch at the very top centre of the display for the front-facing camera, earpiece, sensors, and the notification light. The inclusion of the notch in the OnePlus 6 means that the screen to body ratio is an impressive 84%. The notch seems to be fashionable lately, but some people feel that a notch is unsightly and may block important functions of their apps. There's no reason for this to upset your productivity or enjoyment though, as you have the option to display a black band at the top to render the notch virtually invisible.

If you're one of the millions who use your phone as your main camera, you will be pleased to know that the OnePlus 6 has a very nice camera setup. It features dual rear cameras that are 16 MP and 20 MP, and an impressive 16 MP front-facing camera for all your selfie and video chatting needs. Dual cameras mean that your pictures will come out much more vividly than with a single camera, and you even have the option of capturing 3D images. They're even powerful enough to capture slow motion video. Due to some stabilisation features, the cameras will also be far less likely to snap blurry photos. The cameras are also optimised to work in lower lighting settings.

Speaking of going out and about, you can easily put the OnePlus 6 into silent mode using the handy alert slider. For fans of the OnePlus series, the alert slider has been a very popular feature. It allows the user to switch between hearing the ringer and alerts, having only vibrations, or pure "do not disturb" silence. The OnePlus 6 now positions the alert slider on the right side of the phone, which means it will work much better for people who enjoy flip covers.

Other unique features of this phone include a setting to turn your display into monochrome for easier reading, the ability to navigate using gestures, and its OS offers a great deal of customisation options. There are, however, some downsides to using this phone. One downside is that the OnePlus 6 has no slot for a MicroSD card, so please consider that when choosing your model. As well, the speaker is placed awkwardly at the base, which means that your fingers could muffle the sound when watching films in landscape mode. There is a headphone jack that can negate that issue altogether.

Overall, the OnePlus 6 is a fantastic smartphone for its price. It has the sleek design as well as the power of much more expensive phones on the market. Benchmark testing placed it only slightly below the level of the iPhone X, but at a significantly more affordable price. It has just about every feature anyone could ask for, other than that missing MicroSD slot for extra storage. If that is not a deal-breaker for you, it would be worth your while to purchase this beautifully designed smartphone.