OnePlus 5T is no OnePlus 3T. This time, the force has truly awoken

What does the smartphone contain

The OnePlus 5T in India comes in two variants: 6GB/64GB for Rs 32,999 & 8GB/128GB for Rs 37,999. You get a beautiful, bezel-less 6.09-inch OLED display with a 1080x2160 resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio. There is Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB/8GB RAM, 64GB/128GB storage and a 3,300 mAh battery under the hood. There are dual-cameras (16-megapixel + 20-megapixel) on the rear and a 16-megapixel front camera. Finally, the phone comes with Oxygen OS that is based on Android Nougat.

Is the phone actually good?

I'm not going to go in depth here, as you can get that from a million other places, but I'll tell you how it has been, as a day-to-day user of OnePlus, since the days when I purchased a OnePlus 3. The short take here is that this is the most refined OnePlus model out there till date. It's refined to a T. The bezel-less AMOLED display is the crown jewel of what is going to be in all the year-end lists of "best smartphones of 2017".

• OnePlus 3: Revolutionised the term 'flagship killer' for the industry. Brought in a solidly built, blazingly fast smartphone for a price around Rs 35k.
• OnePlus 3T: The T signified nothing and the smartphone was a damper on what would have been a good year for the Chinese company. Zero incentive to buy one for the consumers.
• OnePlus 5: "Still the Lewis Hamilton of smartphones" is what I had written in my review. It may not have been as elegant as the Nokia 8, but it was a powerhouse.
• OnePlus 5T: Late to the bezel-less trend but one of the best executions. Sacrifices unnoticeable things - like a QHD display - for overall stellar performance.

OnePlus 5T, like all other bezel-less smartphones, has kept the fingerprint scanner at the back. There is more screen, without the need of a bigger handset. It's housed in a slim aluminium unibody, with rounding of corners. The neat and clean finish gives this mid-ranger a premium look.

It has the volume rockers, the power button, the famous alert slider and, surprisingly, a 3.5mm headphone jack!

That AMOLED display

It wasn't until putting Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 side-by-side with the OnePlus 5T that I noticed any difference. The 6-inch AMOLED display only goes to 1080p, but to the average user, that is more than acceptable. On a massive 55-inch TV, the difference can be seen. On a screen as small as 6 inches, it's hard to perceive any difference. Watching American football matches and The Grand Tour on the device and I was excited at the sharp and vivid colours. I did miss the Galaxy Note 8, but that is available at almost twice the cost of a OnePlus 5T.

There are enough settings that one can tweak to find the right colour profile that one prefers.

Blazingly fast performance

Boy, oh boy, is the OnePlus 5T fast. Actually, fast is an understatement. It's got more internals than anyone would ever have imagined in a smartphone. In day-to-day usage, this phone is as snappy as it can be. Multitasking is a dream, even when switching between two games. Having 40+ tabs in the Chrome browser (yes, I purge them only once a week) was no sweat for the OnePlus 5T. Having as much RAM as the average laptop turns out, is actually good for a smartphone.

Oxygen OS for the win

Yes. Oxygen OS is by far the best Android skin out there. Some may prefer Motorola's or even Samsung's, but OnePlus with its almost untouched stock Android wins the day. OnePlus has made some small weight improvements to the Android OS. Out of them, it is the "reading mode" that has got me excited. It turns the phone into the look of a Kindle, all for a more pleasurable reading experience.

The battery

It has a 3,300 mAh battery, but most of you wouldn't really care about that number. What people care about if "kitna degi" (how much mileage will it give). The answer to that is this. Comfortably one day with ample charge to last you till the next morning and maybe even until lunch time. Sure, it isn't the 48-hour marathon battery you'd ideally like, but couple it with the 'Dash Charger' and you can get a day's performance out of the phone with just a 30-minute charge.

The camera

It is no Google Pixel 2. It is no Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Yet, at just Rs 33k, this camera performs admirably well. In fact, I'll go as far as saying that only one smartphone, priced below the OnePlus 5T, has a better camera. That is the Honor 8 Pro, priced at Rs 29,999.

What I like is how easy it is to whip out the smartphone and take a picture. The OnePlus 5T's dual-lenses are basically the same, unlike most other smartphones. This was done for better low-light performance, which I definitely noticed. One sensor uses "Smart Pixel" technology to take better low-light shots. Since there is a dual-lens, there is also "portrait" mode photography that everyone is going crazy over.

This "portrait" mode is far better than the implementation in the OnePlus 5. For what it's worth, the OnePlus 5T shoots remarkably in good-lighting conditions and admirably well in not so well lit situations.

Face unlock

Yes, everyone went mad when OnePlus announced that, as a result of moving the fingerprint sensor to the back, it had to introduce a feature called 'Face Unlock'. Privacy concerns aside, this one works as fast as Usain Bolt. It unlocks in less than a fourth of a second. Well, at least in most situations. Hold your phone up at eye level and see the magic.

This Face Unlock, for those wondering, cannot be fooled with photographs. It works slowly in dimly lit situations and never works in dark situations. It's the main purpose is to just unlock your phone and nothing else.

What didn't work for me

The list is shorter than one might expect.

• The smartphone isn't waterproof.
• No wireless charging
• The screen protector that comes with the phone gets massively scratched in just a few hours of usage
• The bottom facing speaker is horrendously bad. At low volumes, the sound may be clean, but be warned, the higher the volume, the more jarring it is
• It doesn't come with Android Oreo out-of-the-box.
• The screen isn't QHD, though many aren't perturbed by this.

Final thoughts

OnePlus 5T is a winner, yes, but it isn't a clear winner. That's because, on the back of my mind while writing this article, was the brilliant Nokia 8. In the face of the OnePlus 5T, the Nokia 8 is getting close to zero attention and that is a travesty. I'll talk more about the Nokia 8 in my review next week.

Still, bang for the buck, OnePlus 5T offers you more than you could have ever imagined. Small niggles do prevent the phone from being 'the' smartphone of the year, but nonetheless, there won't be one disappointed should out there who has picked up this smartphone.

If you value an all-around solid package and are willing to spring between Rs 30k-40k, then the OnePlus 5T should be on top of your list. It gives you a flagship quality smartphone without breaking the bank. It may be the most expensive OnePlus device till date, but it is also by far the best. Refinement and polishing are the two words that come to my mind when summarising the OnePlus 5T.

If the design isn't the only criteria for buying a smartphone, then get out and buy the OnePlus 5T. regret will never cross your mind.