Around this time yesterday, I was advising a friend to get the OnePlus 3 from one of the resellers in Nairobi while he could as it was (then) one of the best smartphones one could buy without going above the Kshs 55,000 price ceiling (inclusive of taxes) and it had 64GB onboard storage, a far cry from the 32GB that most premium smartphones from renown brands at that price pack.
A few hours later (in the evening), I had to message the friend telling them that the OnePlus 3 was no longer the “hottest” device OnePlus had to offer. 5 months after unveiling the OnePlus 3, OnePlus is already back with its successor.
The OnePlus 3T, announced by the Chinese company yesterday, is pretty much similar to the device it is replacing with only several internal components having been upgraded to match the expectations of any device entering the market in the second half of the year. The front-facing camera, for instance, has been updated to deliver better quality not just when taking selfies but also when live-streaming (this is the age of live video like Facebook Live, remember?)
The price, too, has changed.
Whereas buyers of the OnePlus 3 only needed to part with $399, those going for its successor will need to part with an additional $40 ($439) for the base storage model and a further $40 ($479) for the 128GB model which also comes in the exclusive Gunmetal gray colour.
The one disappointing thing that many will quickly notice is that the OnePlus 3T ships with the dated Android 6.0 Marshmallow buried under the company’s own Oxygen OS overlay even though OnePlus says that it is working on delivering the Nougat update soon. OnePlus 3 users can also expect Android 7 to hit their devices soon.
OnePlus 3T Specifications
| Size and weight | 152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35mm, 158g |
| Display | 5.5-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) AMOLED protected by Gorilla Glass 4 |
| Processor | Octa-core Kirin 960 backed by a Mali-G71 MP8 GPU |
| Memory | 4GB RAM; 64GB internal storage (expandable via microSD) |
| Camera | 16MP Sony IMX 298 sensor with OIS, EIS and PDAF, 4K video recording at 30fps; 16MP Samsung 3P8SP sensor with fixed focus, 1080p video recording at 30fps |
| Operating System | Oxygen OS based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Battery | 3,400mAh (non-removable) with Dash Charge |
| Network | 3G, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | USB Type-C, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, NFC |
| Other | Nano dual-SIM, fingerprint sensor |
The OnePlus 3T starts selling on November 22nd and as a result, the OnePlus 3 will exit the market in its favour.
