The wait is over and the OnePlus 6 is now official. At an event in London Carl Pei took to the stage to announce their company’s new flagship and surprised everyone by beginning with announcing a product that was not expected, a pair of wireless headphones but first let’s unpack the announcement that everyone was looking forward to.
OnePlus 6
After the detour into headphones Carl Pei announced the OnePlus 6 to much fanfare from the fans in attendance in London. Mr Pei first began by talking about the specs in the new phone, emphasising that although the phone has some of the best specs around it is nothing if they do not all work together to bring a combined package that results in a great experience. OnePlus believe they have done exactly that creating their fastest ever flagship.
- 6.23 inch Optic AMOLED display, aspect ratio 19:9
- Display resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels, 2.5D Gorilla Glass 5
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
- 6GB or 8GB of RAM
- 64GB / 128GB / 256GB of onboard storage
- USB 2.0, Type C
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- 3300mAh battery with 5V 4A charging
- Alert Slider with more functionality
- LTE 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/32/66/71
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4G/5G
- Bluetooth 5.0
- NFC
- Rear Sony dual camera 16MP/20MP with OIS and EIS, f/1.7
- Super Slow Motion: 1080p video at 240 fps, 720p video at 480 fps
- Front camera Sony 16MP with EIS f/2.0
- Dual SIM
- Water resistance
- 155.7×75.4×7.75 mm
- 177g
- Mirror Black/ Midnight Black/ Silk White
- OxygenOS based on Android 8.1 Oreo (and supports Android P beta)
Wow. That is every spec-junkies fix right there. Although there were a few things not mentioned Mr Pei paid great attention to how OnePlus are planning to speed up the phone even more now and in the long run aside from the impressive specs. A change in the way the OS caches memory and how it renders graphics on the display is designed to give an impressive, smooth speed long term.
While there was a mention of the water resistance of the OnePlus 6 there was no mention of any rating. OnePlus tell us how they have done it foam to prevent water seeping into the wiring, waterproof materials in the headphone jack and fingerprint scanner and all buttons sealed using silicone loops. OnePlus have told the Verge that the water resistance is “comparable” to other flagships but they do recommend to not take it swimming. Depending on how important water resistance is to you, you need to determine if this is enough for you.
OnePlus talked a lot about the camera, promising fast capturing along with slow motion (as a post processing tool) at 480fps/720P that can be shot for a full minute.
The designs are impressive but for those who dislike a glass covered phone are not going to be impressed. The front and back are entirely Gorilla Glass 5. OnePlus use glass as it is more malleable and they have more options and can do more with it in their design process.
The phone is available from May 22nd in Midnight Black and Mirror Black with the White Silk available in three weeks on June 5th. The prices, in US dollars as the UK and Euro prices are a very poor conversion, are impressive for a phone with these specs. The phone begins at US$529 (AU$673) for the 6GB/64GB variant up to US$629 (AU$801) for the 8GB/256GB variant.
At this stage it is not available here in Australia but can be purchased online from OnePlus themselves (add in a mail forwarder used for Australians). We do not have any word on if/when it will become available here but of course will let you know as soon as we hear anything.
Bullets Wireless
OnePlus have done headphones for a while but were never entirely happy with the wireless experience of headphones but think they finally have something that is up to the standard they deem acceptable. The new Bullets Wireless headphones come in black and give up to 8 hours of playtime and strangely only use Bluetooth 4.1 (the OP6 is BT5.0). They are available for US$69 beginning the 5th June.
There was no mention of a special edition Avengers OnePlus 6 in London so we will keep an eye on Beijing and Mumbai today to bring you up to date on that when it happens. Interestingly though there is a “Special Offers” link on the buy OnePlus 6 page but at this stage that link isn’t active.
If you want to know more about the OnePlus 6 head on over to the OnePlus website and check it out. We are hoping to have a review unit cross our desk in the coming weeks as well if you want to hear real world reviews before making any purchasing decisions.
