6 reasons the OnePlus 3T could be the new best phone ever

1) It’s looking good

If you’re going to go grey, do it properly, we say, and there’s no better grey than gunmetal. This new OnePlus colour is available only on the 3T, and while you might think us shallow, recent studies have shown that the average person spends 36.7 hours a day staring at, and holding their smartphone. It might as well look fabulous, right?

Colour aside, the OnePlus 3T looks identical to the regular model, which means you get the same superb all-aluminium build which belies its price tag.

2) It has an unbreakable camera

OK, not quite unbreakable, but almost certainly unscratchable. The OnePlus 3T’s rear camera, you see, is now covered in sapphire crystal glass.

That means it’s super-hard. So hard, in fact, that you’re going to need a diamond to scratch it, though we wouldn’t advise testing that theory. Just enjoy your scratch-free lens and artifact-free photos, in addition to telling everyone your smartphone is diamond-proof.

3) It’ll take gorgeous selfies

While the rear 16MP camera remains the same, with Optical Image Stabilisation for better night-time snaps, OnePlus has upgraded the Electronic Image Stabilisation in the 3T for even better stabilisation when recording video.

The Google Pixel has shown just how impressive electronic stabilisation can be, so if the 3T matches that, videographers will be very happy indeed.

Selfie fans will also be glad to hear that the front-facing 8MP camera has been boosted to a 16MP affair – all the better to capture the subtle beauty of your many, many pout poses.

4) It runs on an all-new engine

The OnePlus 3T packs the power of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 821 processor, which makes it, on paper at least, one of the most powerful handsets around, matching the Google Pixel and surpassing the Samsung Galaxy S7 in terms of pure number-crunching power.

Throw in the same 6GB of RAM, and you’ve got yourself a handset that’s more than future-proof, that can handle anything and everything Android Nougat – which will be available on both the 3 and 3T by the end of the year – can throw at it.

5) It’s denser than ever

Well, its battery is, anyway. OnePlus has managed to manufacture a newer, denser battery, which means that more capacity has been packed into the same sized battery unit.

The result of this engineering wizardry is a handset that’s identical in size and appearance to the original model, with a 13% increase in battery capacity, from 3000mAh to 3400mAh.

Coupled with the newer processor, we expect to see an increase in battery life, which already lasts around a day with heavy use.

Once again, OnePlus’ Dash charger will work its magic too, with half an hour’s worth of fast charging providing enough power to last almost a whole day.

Because the processing is done is OnePlus’ charger itself, the handset runs nice and cool when charging too, even when you’re playing demanding games. Clever stuff.

6) It looks like the new bang-for-buck king

The 64GB and 128GB versions of the OnePlus 3T will set you back £400 and £430 respectively, when they land on 28 November.

That’s £70 more than the asking price of the regular £330 OnePlus 3, but still cheaper than the 32GB Samsung Galaxy S7, which can currently be snapped up for around £470. And a hell of a lot cheaper than the £600 32GB iPhone 7.

No, it’s still not waterproof, and no, there’s no microSD card. And alright, the tweaks and improvements are probably not worth the upgrade for existing owners who’ve only rocked their OnePlus 3 handsets for a few months or so.

But, from what we’ve seen so far, pound-for-pound, the OnePlus 3T looks set to be the new best bang-for-buck smartphone around. We’ll have a full review of it very soon.