OnePlus 5T review: 18:9 screen adds 1+ to capable mid-range flagship device

China-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus, after coming up with a few affordable flagship devices, has now set a new benchmark by launching two flagships in a year. The company recently launched the OnePlus 5T, a flagship smartphone that breaks away from OnePlus’ 5.5-inch display culture in favour of an ultra-wide 6-inch 18:9 aspect ratio screen.

In a way, OnePlus has indeed repeated itself in its upgrade experiement – the company had last year launched the upgraded flagship OnePlus 3T soon after coming up with the OnePlus 3. This time, the OnePlus 5T has come within five months of the OnePlus 5 launch.

But how worthy was the OnePlus 5 for an upgrade? And is the OnePlus 5T even a worthy upgrade of the predecessor? Business Standard reviewed the OnePlus 5T and compared its features with the OnePlus 5 to assess the upgrade quotient. Here are our observations:

Display
OnePlus’ choice of the future-ready ultra-wide 18:9 aspect ratio screen in the OnePlus 5T is a welcome move. However, continuing with a fullHD resolution seems to limit the otherwise perfect display. Competitors have long been offering quadHD screens in their flagships. With the new ultra-wide format screen in the OnePlus 5T, the quadHD screen resolution might have been a real upgrade.

The OnePlus 5T display offers good sunlight legibility, contrast ratio and saturation. It covers almost the entire front with minimal top and bottom bezels. Also, the screen is no more prone to ‘Jelly effect’, which had been seen in some OnePlus 5 units.

Camera
Camera is another area where the OnePlus 5T carries some tweaks from the previous version. The OnePlus 5T still sports a dual camera set-up – 16+20 megapixel. But, the 20-megapixel telephoto lens is now replaced by a new 20 MP camera of 27mm focal length and f/1.7 aperture – similar to the primary 16 MP camera.

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