OnePlus: How midrange flagship brand is discreetly inching towards premium

In 2014, Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus debuted in the smartphone space with the launch of the OnePlus One, which was termed a flagship but had the price of a midrange device. Thanks to its top-notch specifications and brilliant build quality, the phone famously became the first midrange flagship, giving birth to a smartphone segment that had never before been explored or experimented with but had a huge potential in India’s price-conscious smartphone market.

Over the years, the company has continued to offer value-for-money products in the midrange segment, redefining the flagship smartphone segment and proving that a flagship need not be costly. However, with every consecutive launch, the company has raised the price substantially and moved closer to the premium smartphone segment. OnePlus still continues to offer value-for-money smartphones when compared with premium flagships. However, with the premium edition of its current-generation flagship priced at nearly Rs 44,000, OnePlus does not look like a midrange flagship brand any more.
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Surprise! OnePlus 3, 3T also had OnePlus 5T's face-unlock feature all along

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has been promoting face unlocking as one of the OnePlus 5T, besides other upgrades that the phone brings. The feature is promised to roll out in the OnePlus 5 with the Android Oreo update. However, the yesteryear’s flagships are said to have been kept out from the list of phones that get the feature in the software update.

If you are using one of the earlier OnePlus flagships – OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T – and thinking of upgrading to the OnePlus 5T only for its face-unlock feature, we have a reason for you to stick around for a little more.

It turns out, the face unlock feature has all along been available in the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T devices as well -- sitting within the settings options. And, it works flawlessly -- almost as quickly as the one in the latest flagship.

Here’s how to enable the face-unlock feature in the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T devices running on the Android Oreo operating system:

Step 1: Go to settings and look for ‘security & fingerprint’ option and click on it

Step 2: In the security & fingerprint option, there is another option of ‘Smart Unlock’ under the device security tab

Step 3: The smart unlock option provides 5 different ways that can be used to unlock the device – On-body detection, Trusted places, Trusted devices, Trusted face and Trusted voice. Click on Trusted face option to set up the face-unlock feature

Step 4: Find a place, which is not too bright or too dim before setting up the face-unlock feature, and hold the phone at the eye level

Step 5: The phone recognises your face in the same manner as the OnePlus 5T does.
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